From Spiked, a review of Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality by Manjit Kumar; and a review of Bad Science by Ben Goldacre. State capitalism offers the developing world growth without democracy; Joshua Kurlantzick wonders whether the West can still compete. From Slate, Oliver Stone, Bob Woodward, Ron Suskind, and Jacob Weisberg debate Stone's "W". A look at why political cinema is so successful. Fighting with photons: The most famous weapon of science fiction is rapidly becoming fact. From Mercatornet, a look at how Levi's takes raunch a step too far in a new ad campaign; and a pair of jeans can define a man, even more than his watch or mobile — but it’s all too easy to get denim wrong. An interview with Steven Waldman on 21st-century struggles over religion in the public square. From Time, an article on the gay mafia that's redefining liberal politics. From MPI, an article on the difficulties of US asylum claims based on sexual orientation. A review of Let Them In: The Case for Open Borders by Jason L Riley. An interview with Jonathan Fast, author of Ceremonial Violence: A Psychological Explanation of School Shootings (and a review). Sally Kohn on why she loves taxes — and most Americans do, too. Ten ways the world will end: Will it be a solar flare, or a gamma-ray burst? Phil Plait lays out the odds.

From Foreign Affairs, Stephen Sestanovich (Columbia): What Has Moscow Done? Rebuilding U.S.-Russian Relations; Barnett R. Rubin (NYU) and Ahmed Rashid (PCIP): From Great Game to Grand Bargain: Ending Chaos in Afghanistan and Pakistan; and Paul Collier (Oxford): The Politics of Hunger: How Illusion and Greed Fan the Food Crisis. Ex-Bush official Nicholas Burns on why we should talk to our enemies. From Military Review, a look at How Jesse James, the Telegraph, and the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 Can Help the Army Win the War on Terrorism. From World Politics Review, a special section on the Al-Qaeda we don't know — the 055 Brigade and the AQIM; and the limits of the counterterrorism approach. Is Osama bin Laden writing a book? Rumors that he’s working on a book called "Nidal" ("Struggle"). Drones vs. Terrorists: Are terrorists regaining the advantage over our killing machines? From The Nation, a review of books on Lebanon. From FT, a review of The Secret Life of Syrian Lingerie: Intimacy and Design by Malu Halasa and Rana Salam. From Vanity Fair, as Bombay heaves its way into the global economy, a car is the most obvious status symbol — despite traffic that congeals first thing each day, honks to a crescendo, and never unsnarls; and a look at why everything's Bigfoot in Texas. And a website memorializes This. Fucking. Election.

From The New Yorker, John Seabrook on suffering souls and the search for the roots of psychopathy; and Malcolm Gladwell on the uses of adversity: Can underprivileged outsiders have an advantage? From New English Review, Theodore Dalyrmple on bibliophilia and biblioclasm and George Orwell's "Bookshop Memories". A review of Facing Unpleasant Facts: Narrative Essays and All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays by George Orwell. From Scientific American, a look at what scares us and why; and are you evil? Profiling that which is truly wicked. A review of The Science of Fear: Why We Fear the Things We Shouldn’t — and Put Ourselves in Greater Danger by Daniel Gardner. From Boston Review, William Hogeland on Constitutional Conventions: Public history should make us think; and a review of The Measure of America: American Human Development Report, 2008-2009. A review of Save the World on Your Own Time by Stanley Fish and Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America’s Schools Back to Reality by Charles Murray. Robert Solow reviews High Wire: The Precarious Financial Lives of American Families by Peter Gosselin. David Brooks on the behavioral revolution and the financial crisis. From Esprit, why has manga become a global cultural product? Researchers find male-to-female transsexualism gene.

From NYRB, David Bromwich reviews books on Bush/Cheney. From Reason, and what happens to federal spending when the Democrats control the Congress and the presidency? John Judis on divided government (and a response). Why getting your way as president isn’t just a numbers game. Why it's going to take a whole lot more than a Democratic majority to save us. Mark Danner on Obama & sweet potato pie. City of transformation: An article on Paul Virilio in Obama's America. A look at why Obama could be a great one-term president. The American Prospect is against the Great Man Theory of the Presidency. An article on the huge opportunities and huge risks of a possible Obama administration. Why Obama stock is overpriced, and a crash could really hurt. William Shawcross on why the world will be disappointed by Obama. Could Europe be a Democratic “blue state” and Asia a Republican “red state”? From WSJ, an article on the dangers of a diminished America: In the 1930s, isolationism and protectionism spurred the rise of fascism. From Der Spiegel, a special report on America, land of extremes: An enigmatic country elects a new president; an interview with Robert Kagan: "America remains Number One"; and an interview with Eric Foner: "Life is getting more difficult for Americans". Jurek Martin on America’s staggering capacity for change.

From The Nation, a special issue on Election 2008. From TNR, should McCain have been expelled from the Senate? Exclusive evidence reveals the Keating Five story you've never heard of (and more on his Bermuda Triangle). Nina Hachigian on John McCain's bizarre fantasy U.N. replacement. From Talking Points Memo, a special section on The Palin Effect. An interview with Sarah Palin: "I haven't always just toed the line". Christopher Hitchens on the GOP ticket's appalling contempt for science and learning. Just in time for the booboisie's vote, a reconsideration of Mencken's Notes on Democracy. How to Read Like a President: You can tell a lot about a presidential candidate by the books he reads, or says he reads. Peter Beinart on the last of the Culture Warriors. The culture wars may fail at the top of the ticket this year, but expect right-wing mayhem further down the ballot. They're still fighting the Civil War in Virginia. What if the between-the-lines Republican message (don’t be afraid, there will be no real change) is the true illusion? Slavoj Zizek wants to know. Mainstream media continue to frame election issues with discredited right-wing assumptions. From Writ, John Dean on how the evidence establishes, without question, that Republican rule is dangerous: Why it is high time to fix this situation, for the good of the nation. Why can't corporate America end its perverse love affair with the GOP?

Here's The American Prospect 2008 Election Night Guide. From New York, take a look at the 2008 Electopedia. From Esquire, here's everything you need to know about the 2008 presidential election. From Popular Science, here's what you need to know about voting machines (and more). If we can nationalize banks, why not our election process? Rick Hansen investigates. What is the probability your vote will make a difference? Vote! Why your ballot isn't as meaningless as you think. Your neighbors could find out, so you'd better vote. What would happen if we banned polling during election season? From The Hill, a look at how the campaign song loses its originality. From Nerve, a look at the 20 greatest political campaign ads of all time (and more from Radar). Here are the top 10 Web political moments. Designs for Democracy: At print-on-demand site CafePress.com, there's been a surge in the design and selling of items related to the Presidential election. These days, answering your phone often means listening to a recorded political message — but do robo-calls work? Why the October Surprise isn't what it used to be. Does it matter where candidates campaign? Not as much as you think. So, you want to be in the Cabinet: Seven strategies that will help you land a plum post in the next administration — and one that won't. A look at why those "other" federal courts are so important in this election.

From TLS, an article on the century of Claude Levi-Strauss: How the great anthropologist, now approaching his 100th birthday, has earned a place in the prestigious Pleiade library; is fiction inherently capitalist? A review of Russell Berman's Fiction Sets You Free: Literature, Liberty, and Western Culture; and who wrote the original Frankenstein? From NYRB, considering their marital difficulties, it is not surprising that Edmund Wilson made fewer entries in his journal during the years the marriage with Mary McCarthy lasted. From Literary Review, a review of Two Planks and a Passion: The Dramatic History of Skiing by Roland Huntford. From The New Yorker, an article on the grammar of fun: CliffyB and the world of the video game. More on Lawrence Lessig's Remix (and an interview). From Slate, Jack Shafer on why you're wasting your time worrying about the "liberal media". Skewed news reporting is taken as a sign of a dysfunctional media — in fact, it may be a sign of healthy competition. Shock: Drudge loses his grip on US media! Barbed wire: A look at how the AP is breaking more than news. Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand think everyone wants them; where do they get their confidence? (and a look at the chequered history of phone-prank comedy). A look at why they don't make hoaxes like they used to.

From The Daily Beast, Cass Sunstein on spreading the wealth around: To suggest that "redistribution" is a dirty word is a terrible insult to American history — and to the democratic process itself. A look at what Obama really meant by "redistributive change". Michael Kinsley on Obama the wealth spreader. Barack Obama favors redistributing wealth — so does John McCain. Perhaps there is some meaningful distinction between spreading the wealth and sharing it (“collectively,” no less), but finding it would require the analytic skills of Karl the Marxist. Barbara Ehrenreich reports from the Socialist International Conspiracy. The Red Scare and Average Joes: What we talk about when we talk about socialism. The Other Issues: The ones that aren't being talked about. From First of the Month, choosy beggars 2008: Writers and readers comment on the election. The U.S. is separated between red and blue, liberals, conservatives but the deepest rift might be linguistic. Hopes for a happy ending: Literary voices on the American Election. Prophet of Palin: Did Stephen King (the self-aware literary badass) foresee the Republican VP candidate? From Critical Mass, which work of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry best captures the realities of American political culture? The Partisan Imagination: Does being an artist make you a liberal? Dubya's reign is nearly over: What impact did he have on the artistic life of his country?

Carolyn F. Pevey and Nelya J. McKenzie (Auburn): Love, Fear, and Loathing: A Qualitative Examination of Christian Perceptions of Muslims. From Contexts, Jen'nan Ghazal Read (Duke): Muslims in America. At the end of a Presidential campaign that has seen "Arab" become a political slur, Arab-Americans remain at the margins of US politics. From Foreign Policy, a look at the world’s top religious power brokers. From The New Yorker, Red Sex, Blue Sex: Why do so many evangelical teen-agers become pregnant? Soulgasms of the Christian Right: A review of Sex in Crisis: The New Sexual Revolution and the Future of American Politics by Dagmar Herzog. Christ Uber Alles: An interview with Jeff Sharlet (and a review of The Family at Bookforum). From Books & Culture, a review of The Party Faithful: How and Why Democrats are Closing the God Gap by Amy Sullivan. From HNN, an interview with G. Calvin Mackenzie and Robert Weisbrot, authors of The Liberal Hour; and the dumbing down of American politics: An interview with Rick Shenkman. George Monbiot on the triumph of ignorance: Why morons succeed in US politics. From Open Source, political scientist James Fishkin’s ideal democracy is ruled by "the voice of the people, when they are thinking"; and historian Gordon Wood on a longer view of 2008.

From The Times, Andrew Sullivan on why Barack Obama ("the chosen one") has got identity politics on the run and on the top ten reasons conservatives should vote for Obama. Jeffrey Hart on why Obama is the real conservative. From TAC, the right to remain silent: Conservatives don’t need a movement and the best have no use for one; and a look at how the Secessionist Spirit of ’76 Lives. Wacko patrol: A look at America's 25 scariest conservatives. Here's a panel on Rick Perlstein’s Nixonland (and an excerpt at Bookforum). Tucker Carlson writes in defense of elitism. Dick Meyer on 5 myths about values voters. From Carnegie Council, a panel on Mark Noll's God and Race in American Politics. The Obama swagger: Why black men everywhere are standing a little taller; and Jack White returns to the Home for Retired Racial Stereotypes to find out about Obama's secret weapon. Chris Hedges on populism arising — but will it be the killer kind? Martin Kettle on why all this inner racist demon stuff is wildly overblown. An interview with David Duke on an Obama Presidency. A look at why white supremacists support Barack Obama. Guess who's coming to dinner: Frank Rich writes in defense of white Americans. Thomas Frank on how Joe the Plumber fits the GOP narrative and on Joe the Plumber and GOP "authenticity": It's hard to reach out to workers while cracking down on unions.