A new issue of Common Ground is out. From TNR, a look at how Simon Cowell saved American democracy. From Archeology, the origin of form was abrupt not gradual: An interview with cell biologist Stuart Newman about the ongoing revolution in evolutionary theory. Could Napoleon have coped in a credit crunch? Our desire to see history through the lives of great men blinds us to the real complexity of politics, business and finance. More on Reinventing Knowledge: From Alexandria to the Internet by Ian F. McNeely. From Economic Principals, who can plausibly be said to be responsible for a mess made mainly on Wall Street? New Scientist ranks methods to save the world. Web journals "narrowing study": Critics warn online publishing reduces academic research to little more than a "popularity contest". Back to the Seventies: A review of Erratic North: A Vietnam Draft Resister’s Life in the Canadian Bush by Mark Frutkin. The introduction to The Nature of Demography by Herve Le Bras. What can "neuroeconomics" teach us about how we think about money? A look at how econ bloggers are gaining clout in financial crisis. The best kind of blogging could lead to a “golden era for journalism”: An article on the state of blogging and the fate of journalism. More on David Runciman's Political Hypocrisy. A review of Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin.

From Seed, the damnedest lies: The success of fivethirtyeight.com is a credit not only to statistical prowess but also to keen intuition about social habits; and how can evolution explain both the appeal and recent failings of negative campaigning? McJustice: Jeffrey Rosen on liberals' long-feared judicial apocalypse is nigh. From Reason, have libertarians been driven out of the GOP? A review of Taking on the System: Rules for Radical Change in a Digital Era by Markos Moulitsas Zuniga. More on The Numerati by Stephen Baker. Was Pope Pius a moral coward or a saint? One year after re-introducing the Tridentine Mass and two years after the Regensburg address, Benedict XVI's popular new traditionalism has re-ignited the Catholic culture wars. The introduction to A Modern Legal Ethics: Adversary Advocacy in a Democratic Age by Daniel Markovits. I swear I am a patriot: Academics should be paying close attention to the political debates about loyalty to the United States. Jonathan Yardley reviews In Search of Bill Clinton: A Psychological Biography by John Gartner. The introduction to Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage by Kenneth S. Deffeyes. A review of Belching out the Devil: Global Adventures with Coca-Cola by Mark Thomas. From The Guardian, a look at ten of the best fake deaths. Man's BFF: An article on cloning dogs for love and profit.

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.