From First Principles, a symposium on the cultural impact of Obama and the New Progressivism, on economics, on education and on technocracy. Don't write off America: It's fashionable to say the US is in terminal decline; don't bet on it — still less wish for it. Is the battle for same-sex marriage worth it? Here's William Rusher's final column. Neither moderate nor centrist: Peter Robinson on how Buckley, Gergen and Brooks finally realized Barack Obama's left leanings (and a response by Buckley). Alan Wolfe on conservatism in the Age of Wurzelbacher. Intellectuals at the gates: A review of Democracy Denied, 1905–1915: Intellectuals and the Fate of Democracy by Charles Kurzman. A review of The 10000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution by Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending (and more and more). The end of alone: At our desk, on the road, or on a remote beach, the world is a tap away — it's so cool, and yet it's not. A review of Who Does This Language Belong To? by Avital Feuer. The future of reading: In Web age, library job gets update. Last year a single letter written by Albert Einstein changed hands for over $400,000, but could a printout of an email or an electronic file ever reach similar heights?  The art of the con, learning from Bernard Madoff: A skeptic's advice on how to avoid falling prey to con artists (and more from John Allen Paulos).

Daniel B. Klein (GMU) and Charlotta Stern (Stockholm): Groupthink in Academia: Majoritarian Departmental Politics and the Professional Pyramid. From FP, Nathan Brown on how Middle East peacemaking has failed — it’s time for Plan B; and from Tokyo to Riyadh, governments are pouring billions into their economies — find out who stands to gain the most and who's out of luck. Barrett Brown on Thomas Friedman’s five worst predictions. From Literary Review, a review of Hot Flushes, Cold Science: A History of the Modern Menopause by Louise Foxcroft; and a review of Why Us? How Science Rediscovered the Mystery of Ourselves by James Le Fanu. The long and winding road to an MA in Beatles songs: Liverpool Hope University launches UK's first master's course in fab four studies (and more and a quiz). Organic and local is so 2008: Our industrial food system is rotten to the core; heirloom arugula won't save us — here's what will. A look at how Mother Jones is testing the nonprofit model in a race to survive the recession. From The Atlantic, resisting the Kindle: Sven Birkerts comments on what we lose in the page-to-screen transfer; and in defense of the Kindle: Rare books librarian Matthew Battles contends that the Amazon Kindle will promote the culture of letters, not undermine it. Whatever happened to cinephilia? Does it still exist? Scott McLemee wants to know.

From TLS, the ultimate French intellectual: A review of Paul Valery by Michel Jarrety; a review of The Letters of Samuel Beckett: Volume 1, 1929-1940; and what would Conor Cruise O'Brien, the prophetic analyst of Irish militancy, have made of recent events in Northern Ireland? The Czech novelist Milan Kundera is accused of informing on an anti-communist as a student; is there any truth in the charge? An excerpt from The Subversive Copy Editor Advice from Chicago (or, How to Negotiate Good Relationships with Your Writers, Your Colleagues, and Yourself) by Carol Fisher Saller. From OJR, a look at how the Web can help the WaPo (and other papers) write a new chapter about the world of books. Get off the bus: Amanda Michel on the future of pro-am journalism. America's Shame: When are we going to do something about global poverty? Peter Singer wants to know. Is pop culture bad? Queries like this tempt academics to make use of one of several ploys. A review of Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America by Jeff Wiltse. Here are two excerpts from The Posthuman Dada Guide: tzara and lenin play chess by Andrei Codrescu. Agonies of the Twitterati: More on Elsewhere, U.S.A. by Dalton Conley (and more from Bookforum). If Harvard MBAs are all so clever, how come so many are now in disgrace?

From Dissent, should we still make things? A symposium with contributions by Marcellus Andrews, Dean Baker, Susan Helper and Jeff Madrick. Here's David Miller's introduction to Thinking Politically: Essays in Political Theory by Michael Walzer. The ICC's indictment of Sudan's president for war crimes may have done nothing other than ruin his holiday plans — but at least that's a start. The activist: An article on Alex de Waal, among the war criminals. From TPM, an index of reports produced by "idea factory" Office of Net Assessment over the past 20 years provides a window into the thinking and concerns at the highest levels of the Defense Department. The Terminator comes to Wall Street: How computer modeling worsened the financial crisis and what we ought to do about it. A review of Philosophy, Black Film, Film Noir by Dan Flory. More and more and more and more and more and more on Snark by David Denby. From NYRB, a review of Let's See: Writings on Art from The New Yorker by Peter Schjeldah. Abu Ghraib investigator Antonio Taguba talks to Salon about why he backs a commission to examine Bush torture policies. "I was Kim Jong Il's teacher": Few people have the chance to watch a shy young man grow into a ruthless dictator — and live to talk about it. Anchors away: A look at the strange resilience of the local TV personality.