From N1BR, Christian Lorentzen reviews Walter Kirn's Lost in the Meritocracy: The Undereducation of an Overachiever (and more and more and more); Nikil Saval reviews Mark Rudd's Underground: My Life with SDS and the Weathermen (and more from Bookforum); Jessica Weisberg reviews the career of Ed Vega; Edward Morgan Day Frank reviews Clancy Martin's How to Sell (and more from Bookforum); Isaac Scarborough reviews Dilip Hiro's Inside Central Asia; Michael Lindgren reviews two books on John Cheever (and more from Bookforum); and Benjamin Kunkel reviews three books on the internet. What’s a feminist like you doing in a place like this? From Spiked, an article on John Gray, the poster boy for misanthropy. The Department of Homeland Security profiled several left-wing groups in a memo claiming they were potential threats — not all of them are. An interview with Rick Steves, author of Travel as a Political Act. An excerpt from Lost Paradise: From Mutiny on the Bounty to a Modern-Day Legacy of Sexual Mayhem, the Dark Secrets of Pitcairn Island Revealed by Kathy Marks. Are there women paedophiles? Finding kitsch's inner beauty: Garden gnomes and Elvis busts be damned! The GOP's feigned outrage: It takes chutzpah to protest what you've created. More and more and more and more and more and more on Voodoo Histories by David Aaronovitch.

From The Believer, Analects on the Influence of Artaud: Must one be willing to become mentally ill in the name of art? Rick Moody wants to know; and here are short takes on books that don’t exist. From TAP, why clinic violence is Obama's problem: Dr. George Tiller's murder should push the federal government to get serious about fighting harassment of abortion providers; and the mystery of the Right: The right's abrupt decline is one of the most puzzling questions in political history. From Slate, Jacob Weusberg on a Republican rescue plan, and John Dickerson sorts through the various roles and players in the Republican Party. From Commentary, Arthur Herman on the Gitmo Myth and the torture canard; and an article on the end of medical miracles. From The New Criterion, a review of David B. Hart's Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies; a review of 1848: Year of Revolution by Mike Rapport; the state despotic: Mark Steyn on our gradual slide into servitude; and the relics of oppression: Has Romania changed, and changed fundamentally? Enlightenment therapy: How a Zen master found the light (again) on the analyst’s couch. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Data-Entry Supervisor: Alain de Botton on why it's time for an ambitious new literature of the office.

The inaugural issue of the Journal of Information Architecture is now available. From Newsweek, a cover story on Oprah Winfrey: Live your best life ever! Wish away cancer! Get a lunchtime face-lift! Eradicate autism! From The Guardian, can the newspaper novel survive in the internet age? The charm of Michael Frayn's Towards the End of the Morning gives hope that fictional hacks will survive the new age; who is the most famous fictional character? There are various candidates, but all of them seem to have appeared in media beyond print; and once thriving genres such as political and literary biography are ailing — is it the end for quality non-fiction? Here's Robert Stacy McCain's advice to any ambitious young writer seeking the quickest path to wealth and fame. Johannah Rodgers reviews A Monster’s Notes by Laurie Sheck. From Forward, the sole lynching of a Jew on American soil is a story that many do not know; shake a family tree and a Jew falls out; a review of Conscience: The duty to obey and the duty to disobey by Harold Schulweis; and a review of Liebling: The Sweet Science and Other Writings. Michael Fullilove on how Obama divides — and conquers. Now that the flurry of appraisals of Barack Obama’s first hundred days are behind us, what of the next five hundred?

Diane Gurman (UCLA): Why Lakoff still matters: Framing the debate on copyright law and digital publishing. From Policy Review, an article on Orwell’s Instructive Errors: The edifying commentator is also a flawed one; an essay on underage drinking and the drinking age; articles on corruption around the world, regulation and American business and nuclear weapons; Peter Berkowitz reviews A Brief Inquiry into the Meaning of Sin and Faith by John Rawls; Henrik Bering reviews The Gamble by Thomas E. Ricks and Butcher and Bolt: Two Hundred Years of Foreign Engagement in Afghanistan by David Loyn; and James Kirchick reviews The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan: A History of the End of the Cold War by James Mann. Are a lot of us potential militant extremists? Lee Siegelman investigates. Neo-Nazis and extreme right-wingers love Joe Arpaio, and there’s evidence that the MCSO keeps them close. Is homophobia the new anti-Semitism? As the gay-rights movement has been globalized, so has religious and political opposition to homosexuality. This crisis is a moment, but is it a defining one? Martin Wolf wonders. From The New Yorker, should creative writing be taught? Louis Menand wants to know; James Surowiecki on Argentina’s great coin shortage; and Jeffrey Toobin on Sonia Sotomayor and a breakthrough nomination.

A new issue of the Cato Institute's Regulation is out. Bookmakers still prove a magnet for punters: Literary festivals are sort of a live porn show for the educated classes. An article on the challenge of writing something funny. Those of the wrong class, gender, colour or sexuality have always been left outside locally defined "humanity" — where does this leave a bill of rights? Zbigniew Brzezinski reviews War of Necessity, War of Choice: A Memoir of Two Iraq Wars by Richard N. Haass (and more and more). War-opoly: How history's most popular board game helped defend the Free World. An excerpt from Craig M. Mullaney's The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier’s Education. A review of Soft Despotism, Democracy's Drift: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville, and the Modern Prospect by Paul Anthony Rahe. A review of Fool’s Gold: How an Ingenious Tribe of Bankers Rewrote the Rules of Finance, Made a Fortune and Survived a Catastrophe by Gillian Tett (and more and more). In most parts of the world, mass unemployment brings the specter of mass social unrest — not in the U.S., though. Who is Spengler? Even to the casual reader it is clear that Rosenzweig was not the major thinker of the 20th century. Who is to blame for the next attack? Frank Rich investigates.

From Blatter fur deutsche und internationale Politik, an article on Battlefield Europe: Transnational memory and European identity. From City Journal, Heirs to Fortuyn: Muslim immigration and sclerotic welfare states push Europe right (sort of); and a modern witch trial: Theodore Dalrymple on racism, the charge against which there is no defense. A Tale of Two Exurbs: Most outer-ring suburbs are being developed into unwalkable sprawl, but it doesn't have to be that way. The downward spiral of progress: Why companies keep ruining your favorite products. Chris Arnot meets Professor Martin Knapp, who aims to give the baby boomer generation a groovy old age. Why are so many female Florida teachers sleeping with male students? The oldest sculpture ever discovered is a 36,000 year old woman with really big boobs — is anyone surprised? A review of Goth Culture: Gender, Sexuality and Style by Dunja Brill. Joseph Epstein reviews The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot by Gertrude Himmelfarb. A review of Slaves of the Passions by Mark Schroeder. The Gospel of St. Christopher: Hitchens unveils his 11th, 12th and 13th Commandments. The religious right's era of unquestioning Christianity is over; in fact, Americans have incredibly complex feelings about God and country.

From Esquire, a look at why Cheneyism 2.0 undermines democracy. Stephen Holmes reviews Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency by Barton Gellman. Nicolle Wallace asks, is Bush becoming history's classiest ex-president? (and more by Matthew Yglesias). Does the Internet really change politics? Michael Walzer investigates. An article on The Life and Death of the Social Network: The glory days are over. Amy Rosenberg reviews In the Kitchen by Monica Ali. Broadway’s no-hitter: What’s wrong with the American musical? See Dick Pay Jane: Chaste dating for cash. From Slate, Clarence Thomas is a great justice — Sonia Sotomayor will be, too (and more); and why are we in Puerto Rico? Timothy Noah wants to know. Niall Ferguson on how economists can misunderstand the crisis. Niall Ferguson is flying first class, while Nigel Farndale is in steerage — and they're the same age. What’s the place of Pat Buchanan’s The American Conservative in a post-Bush world? Frail, cowardly Winston saved us: George Orwell got many things wrong in his great novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, but he changed the way we see ourselves. From Animal Farm to Zog, here's an A-Z of Orwell (and more). From Episcopal Life, a look at why Padre Alberto's story resonates worldwide.

From Vision, an interview with Emilio Gentile on the sacralization of politics; an article on Ayn Rand in Fantasyland; and and an essay on capitalism as the unknown ideal? From Reason, a review of The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates by Peter T. Leeson; and Brink Lindsey on how liberal economists pine for days no liberal should want to revisit. From Wired, Chris Anderson on The New New Economy: More startups, fewer giants, infinite opportunity; Kevin Kelly on The New Socialism: Global Collectivist Society is coming online; Steven Levy on the Secret of Googlenomics: Data-fueled recipe brews profitability; and Charles C. Mann goes Beyond Detroit: On the road to recovery, let the little guys drive. A review of The Only Superpower: Reflections on Strength, Weakness, and Anti-Americanism by Paul Hollander. From TNR, a review of Right is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe (And What You Need To Know To End The Madness) by Arianna Huffington. The Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities was held in Washington last week; Scott McLemee experiences "the wisdom of repugnance". No one much likes Al Sharpton, but should white folks consider rallying behind a paler-skinned version?