From TNR, a review of Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America by John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr, and Alexander Vassiliev; and David Thomson reviews Kazan on Directing. From Slate, wrong commencement speakers: Don't invite people who succeeded — invite people who failed; and politicians make lousy commencement speakers — hire a celebrity instead. What ever happened to the live album? Web video has made recorded concert albums nearly obsolete. A review of Think Like a Champion: An Informal Education in Business and Life by Donald Trump. Why is there so much unemployment in a depression? Richard Posner investigates. If such trends continue, new subspecies may develop that are unable to understand one another. A review of Embodied: Victorian Literature and the Senses by William A. Cohen. A review of Evolutionary Psychology as Maladapted Psychology by Robert C. Richardson. A review of The Letters of Samuel Beckett, 1929-1940 (and more from Bookforum). From Splice Today, were Boswell alive today, he might be trolling social networking sites for biographical research; and proof that blogs are the future: The New York State Senate’s website has incorporated bloggers and new media, resulting in one of the most impressive, and functional, government portals.

From Slate, John Dickerson on the logic of empathy: How Obama is like Spock; it's not just liberals who play the empathy card; and a look at why conflating judicial empathy with gender is bad for both women and the law. Our Failing Academic-Industrial Complex: The de-centering of individual departments has made liberal arts education a purely self-serving industry. Great Caesar’s Ghost: Are traditional history courses vanishing? Books are at the vanguard: The dramatic rise in e-readers has redeemed the power of the book. It isn’t just newspapers: Much of the established news industry is being blown away, yet news is thriving. From The Weekly Standard, Harvey Mansfield reviews Soft Despotism, Democracy's Drift: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville and the Modern Prospect by Paul A. Rahe. An article on conservative magazines: Their vision isn’t the G.O.P.’s. Obama's Center-Left Two-Step: How much longer can the president keep sending different messages to different audiences? What does it mean to be sexy? Raju Peddada wants to know. Inalienable right to excessively noisy sex: The lunacy that led to a 48-year-old housewife being arrested for "shouting and groaning". Susan Flockhart on the myth of having it all. An interview with Richard Seymour, author of The Liberal Defence of Murder.

From Review of International Political Economy, a special issue on the American School of IPE. William Galston on the shifting cultural mainstream. What happened to German literature during the second world war? Toxic assets and English syntax: An interview with Aleksandar Hemon, author of Love and Obstacles. The worst way to die: An article on torture practices of the ancient world. An article on the Reaganites self-inflicted recession. Fareed Zakaria on the Capitalist Manifesto: Greed is good (to a point). A review of The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. From The Nation, a review essay on Cuba. New research suggests that as America has become more segregated by class, the power of place has exacerbated the participatory bias in American politics. A review of Foundation: B-Boys, B-Girls, and Hip-Hop Culture in New York by Joseph G. Schloss. The New York Fed is incredibly powerful and a total mess — here's how to fix it. What will happen when the baobab goes global? The Gladwell Method: One part unrelated anecdotal evidence + Two parts misunderstood historical theories + One part mundane conclusions = The world’s foremost McSociologist. An article on Malcolm Gladwell, the future of the media.

From Conversations with History, an interview with Jeremy Waldron on dignity, human rights, and torture; and an interview with John Perry on the problem of identity. A Defense of the Unreasonable: If you want to understand President Obama's soul, read his books, but if you want to understand his beliefs, read John Rawls. From TAC, David Bromwich on how Burkean conservatism must be as much about civil liberties as property rights; and John Mearsheimer on saving Israel from itself: The creation of a Palestinian homeland is in the Jewish state’s best interest, but will Obama make the case? An excerpt from Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States by Trita Parsi. Laura Secor on Iran’s stolen election. Do elections expose weak states to too much foreign influence? The first chapter from The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates by Peter T. Leeson. If gay marriage isn't such a big deal anymore, then maybe the religious right isn't, either. Who controls the Internet? The United States, for now, and a good thing, too. Here are six ways the financial bailout scams taxpayers. Jim Hightower on why Goldman Sachs is the greediest and most dastardly of the Wall Street pigs. A best sport city contest draws fans worldwide.