From TLS, Joshua Cohen and Thomas Nagel on how Rawls's political philosophy was influenced by his religion. A review of Pessimism of the Intellect? A History of New Left Review by Duncan Thompson. An article on treasonous clerk Stanley Fish and the lasting professoriate. A review of Vote for Caesar: How the Ancient Greeks and Romans Solved the Problems of Today by Peter Jones. Blow up the Manhattan Project: When someone says we need a new Manhattan Project, do they really mean what they think they mean? Farewell, etui: An article on the changing language of crosswords. From The August Review, the radical polarization of law enforcement: Patriots, Christians and concerned citizens are increasingly in the cross hairs of the U.S. intelligence community. The lonely planet guide: Attempts to find alien life on Earth and elsewhere. To a striking degree, "Lonely Planet" readers no longer travel in Bolivia or Thailand, but within the elastic, infinitely portable boundaries of the Lonely Planet nation. From Bookforum, Eric Banks reviews Waveland by Frederick Barthelme. The certainty principle: From evolution to climate change, the real culture wars are about language, not science; to win these wars, science needs to change the way it talks about knowledge. Should basketball's top prospects go to college, should they even go to high school? 

From Lost, escape from America: Christopher Buckingham as "The Real Jackal"; articles on gravestones and clotheslines; and dispatches from the Women's Army Corps. The financial crisis has created an industrial crisis — what should governments do about it? Foreign Policy's survey of international relations professors reveals they’re worried about climate change, Russia’s rise, and their own irrelevance. A review of Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line by Martha A Sandweiss. While most university press books don't have much commercial appeal, they are finding that they can still be the targets of pirates. The local news is seldom good, but Johannesburg is still a place that can capture your heart. A review of Free Expression and Democracy in America: A History by Stephen M. Feldman. From New Statesman, David Hillstrom gives his take on faith, science and philosophy. From L'Homme, feminism, biography and cheshire cat stories: A geopolitical journey through a biographical dictionary. Cop for a day: To help fund expensive crime-fighting tools, New York's finest allow paying members of the public to take command. Blame it on Keynes: Everyone's got a view of the theory, but what about the man? (or blame it on the Keynesians?). Russell Jacoby reviews BHL's Left in Dark Times. From Dissent, Michael Katz on the death of "Shorty".

From Foreign Policy, memo to Iraq, from Colombia: How to go from being a conflict-ridden deathtrap to a sunny tourist haven; and an article on Somalia, the most dangerous place in the world. Private companies have become major players in all types of modern warfare; the implications for fighting wars — and fighting against wars — are more complicated than you think. No competition: We say we believe in competitive markets; in practice, we usually don’t want them. From Fortune, a look at how Facebook is taking over our lives (including old fogies' lives); and an article on why we need a 9/11-style commission on the financial crisis. Nouriel Roubini on how laissez-faire capitalism has failed. A review of Falling off the Edge: Travels Through the Dark Heart of Globalization by Alex Perry. Why Microsoft will never be cool (and should stop trying). More and more and more on Flannery by Brad Gooch (and more from Bookforum). What is it about the lilac-haired international "gigastar" Dame Edna Everage that has proven so enduring? Would you take off your clothes in front of a room full of strangers if the money were right? Love and layoffs: How do you best stand by your jobless man? So many laws, so little time: The law — all 100 million words of it — stands between President Obama and his capacity to act (and an excerpt from Life Without Lawyers; and a review). 

From First Monday, Carolyne Lee (Melbourne): Wordlings in a Web 2.0 World; Ryan McGrady (Emerson): Gaming against the Greater Good. From Slate, did Charles Dickens' 1867 trip to America inspire the first stirrings of modern celebrity culture? Matthew Pearl investigates. When Charles Dickens died, his British contemporaries were quick to blame his recent trip to America — certainly his relationship with the New World was peculiar. Phillip Blond's “Red Tory” thesis is attracting support from left and right, and the man emerging as the Conservatives' philosopher-king is a grave threat to Labour. A review of Simon Sebag-Montefiore's Heroes: History’s Greatest Men and Women. A review of Words in Air: The Complete Correspondence Between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell. Alan Wolfe on the politics of opera. Volunteering for duty: Veterans of the Iraq war try to complete their mission in a new way — charity. A review of Experiencing War: Trauma and Society from Ancient Greece to the Iraq War. Could a guy who once starred in "Half Baked" actually help Benyamin Cohen get into heaven? A review of Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop by Adam Bradley. Liberty Hyde Bailey was part Al Gore, part Indiana Jones. Finding the lost city: Does the Amazon jungle conceal a vanished empire? The slumming of suburbia: The poor are fleeing our cities, but life is not always greener, even when affordable housing comes with a two-car garage. A review of Two Billion Cars: Driving Toward Sustainability by Daniel Sperling and Deborah Gordon.