A new issue of Common-place is out. From Eurozine, an interview with Mike Davis on the new ecology of war. Jeff Madrick on how the entire economics profession failed: At the annual meeting of American economists, most everyone refused to admit their failures to prepare or warn about the second worst crisis of the century. Here are five things Google could do for newspapers (and more). Getting the economy back on its feet, giving taxpayers a break, saving your retirement fund and your kid's college tuition? Done — and it won't cost you a penny. Dickonomics: A look at how 5 everyday businesses trick you. The Obliging Order: An article on William F. Buckley’s war on totalitarianism and blandness. The War on Rhetoric: When politicians declare war on something, it's not usually a good sign. John Judis worries that Obama doesn't realize just how bad things are. An interview with Len Fisher, author of Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game Theory in Everyday Life. We've come undone: The short history of an un-trend. A review of The Invention of Air: A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution, and the Birth of America by Steven Johnson (and more and more and an interview). From JBooks.com, an article on Heinrich Heine, father of Secular Judaism; the medium shapes the message, and that is as true for Torah as for anything else; and Ken Gordor on being a marginally Jewish reader.

A new issue of Print is out. Damon Linker on Liberalism: Political and/or metaphysical? Who are you calling anti-Semitic? Slavoj Zizek responds to TNR's critiques. From Prospect, one two three articles on Israel and Gaza. Onward Christian Zionists: Rod Liddle on the crazed, quasi-fascist evangelicals in Britain and America who believe war in Gaza heralds the Second Coming of Christ. An interview with Loretta Napoleoni, author of Terror Inc: Tracing the Money Behind Global Terrorism. Experts on how the incoming administration should deal with the legal legacy of the war on terrorism. The Enigma in Chief: We still don't know how or why Bush made the key decisions of his administration. Can political speeches make a difference? The geeks behind Obama's Web strategy: A group of Boston geeks helped Barack Obama turn the Web into the ultimate political machine; will he use it now to reinvent government? Can the new president's team of no-life, sleep-is-for-wimps workaholics last for four whole years? How can you tell if you're an Obama insider? Follow these simple rules. Hack your brain: How to hallucinate with ping-pong balls and a radio. From Sirens, an article on the recession as birth control. Reinventing morality: Evolutionary biology and neuroscience are adding to our understanding of a historically unscientific area. Never ask a gay man for directions.

Marko A. Rodriguez and Vadas Gintautas (LANL) and Alberto Pepe (UCLA): A Grateful Dead Analysis: The Relationship Between Concert and Listening Behavior. An article on the Edgar Allan Poe Bicentennial: The real horror story is how poorly he's taught in schools. Extending Darwinism: Is there more to heredity, natural selection, and evolution than genes and DNA? A review of Banquet at Delmonico's: Great Minds, the Gilded Age, and the Triumph of Evolution in America by Barry Werth (and more from Bookforum). Barney’s Great Adventure: The most outspoken man in the House gets some real power. From The New York Observer, meet the Media Mensches, 2009; and it's geek to you, but not to them: Meet the early adopters. Why we are hard-wired to become attached to a particular piece of land — and how these primal tendencies may be playing out in Israeli-Palestinian disputes. The introduction to Shaping Strategy: The Civil-Military Politics of Strategic Assessment by Risa Brooks. Paul Kennedy on how American power is on the wane. Cutting-edge legal mind Lawrence Lessig turns to an age-old problem: corruption. From Reason, chiefs, thieves, and priests: An interview with Matt Ridley on the causes of poverty and prosperity; and would you have been a Nazi? A new test of Milgram's obedience experiment asks if it can still happen here.

From The Wilson Quarterly, P. W. Singer on Robots at War: The New Battlefield (and a review of Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century from Bookforum). A review of Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry by P. W. Singer. From Mother Jones, why the mess Obama inherits might be his greatest opportunity; and forget FDR — Reagan is the presidential role model Obama needs now (and more). As a politician, Lincoln's greatness lay in his capacity for growth — can Obama follow suit? Eric Foner wonders (and more). Chucky Taylor was an ordinary suburban teenager — until he went to live with his father, one of Africa's most brutal dictators; how did a kid from Orlando end up as the first U.S. citizen on trial for torture abroad? An article on mass suffering and why we look the other way. Children of the Left, Unite! A new anthology of radical children’s literature shows that Marxist principles have been dripping steadily into the minds of American youth for more than a century. An excerpt from Frontiers: A Short History of the American West by Robert V. Hine and John Mack Faragher. The importance of being honest: The wild claim that Oscar Wilde sexually abused children is just another bout of hero-bashing. Gentle Jason Ashlock ignores recession, opens literary shop in the Hamptons.