A new issue of Catalyst is out. From Telos, Michael Marder (Toronto): In the Name of the Law: Schmitt and the Metonymic Abuses of Legitimacy; David Pan (UC-Irvine): World Order and the Decline of U.S. Power: Hard or Soft Landing?; and an essay on political divisions and the financial crisis. From The Atlantic Monthly, presiding over the debate, gently — too gently? — prodding the communion toward acceptance of gay clergy, is Rowan Williams, the brilliant and beleaguered archbishop of Canterbury (and an interview). Beyond anarchy at PM Press: Twenty-five years after launching AK Press, Ramsey Kanaan took his democracy elsewhere. A review of The Political Thought of Jacques Ranciere: Creating Equality by Todd May. A review of God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get it by Jim Wallis. Does Jacob Heilbrunn, the author of They Knew They Were Right, really think he has done nothing wrong? A review of Jonathan Gottschall's Literature, Science and a New Humanities. A review of The King of Madison Avenue: David Ogilvy and the Making of Modern Advertising by Kenneth Roman (and more). From World Affairs, Mitchell Cohen on Moral Burdens: Iraq and the Ghosts of 1956; and Alan Wolfe on the demise of a species, liberal hawks. An interview with Adam Gopnik, author of Angels and Ages (and more). 

From The American Scholar, Amitai Etzioni and Radhika Bhat on second chances, social forgiveness, and the Internet: We need the means, both technological and legal, to replace measures once woven into the fabric of communities. Regulate, baby, regulate! Why the stimulus will be worthless if Obama doesn't bring transparency to Wall Street. The first issue of Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Connection is out (and more). Stanley Fish on neoliberalism and higher education. From Variant, a review of Estates: An Intimate History by Lynsey Hanley and Urban Nightmares: The Media, the Right and the Moral Panic over the City by Steve Macek; a review of Subversion: The Definitive History of Underground Cinema by Duncan Reekie; a review of Keri Smith's The Guerilla Art Kit and Learning to Love You More by Harrell Fletcher and Miranda July; and a review of Paul Mason's Live Working or Die Fighting: How the Working Class Went Global. Alexandra Starr on defending the new generation of driven, sharp-elbowed female politicians. More and more on A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx by Elaine Showalter. From Le Monde, 20 years after his death, audience and academic interest in Samuel Beckett has not waned; and "Born in the USA" turns 25: The song’s real message has been forgotten.

From FT, a special section on The Future of Capitalism; and Amartya Sen on how Adam Smith’s market never stood alone. From TNR, Jonathan Chait reviews The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes, Herbert Hoover by William E. Leuchtenburg; and Nothing to Fear: FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days that Created Modern America by Adam Cohen. From The New Yorker, F.D.R. was called a lot worse names than socialist — he didn’t let it stop him; these days credit-card companies are trying to get rid of customers; and why do vampires still thrill? Joan Acocella wants to know. From PHD Comics, beware the Profzi Scheme. The household is flat: An article on the rise of the Core Competency Mom. A group of Shakespeare scholars and art historians say that a recently discovered portrait is the only known likeness to have been painted in his lifetime. A review of Moral Relativism by Steven Lukes (and more). Two new novels by Roberto Bolano have reportedly been found in Spain among papers he left behind after his death (and a review of Distant Star, a review of Last Evenings on Earth, a review of The Savage Detectives, and an excerpt from Nazi Literature in the Americas). Has Stephen Wolfram designed a better search engine? (and more) How Michelle Obama’s “Sleevegate” should help retire dated racial stereotypes. 

From The Atlantic, Robert Wright on One World, Under God: Why did early Christians preach tolerance and brotherhood? From Islamica (reg. req.), an article on Al Jazeera and the information warfare; what went wrong with Bernard Lewis? Firas Ahmad on one academic who should have remained in his ivory tower; a review of Reflections in a Bloodshot Lens: America, Islam, and the War of Ideas by Lawrence Pintak (and a series of articles on Shaping Islam in America); and why did the current global economic crisis leave Islamic finance relatively unscathed? From PENNumbra, implicit race bias and the 2008 presidential election: Much ado about nothing? Laura Tyson defends Obamanomics. Those with a political agenda will demonize congressionally directed spending, but we are a country of states, we are states of cities, we are cities of neighborhoods — and earmarks bring our tax dollars home, so earmarks aren't the real problem; in fact, take away the small-ball game, of which earmarks are a significant part, and Republican members of Congress and Senators face a bit of a dilemma (and more by Thomas Mann of Brookings). More on The Case for Big Government by Jeff Madrick. Small Tent Conservatism: An article on questioning the Dear Leader, Rush Limbaugh. Here's a profile of Jonathan Krohn, the 14 year old conservative pundit. Christopher Hitchens remembers Sir John Mortimer.