From Prospect, everyone knows you can be famous just for being famous — but, with a new kind of reality show on the rise, is celebrity-land witnessing a flight towards authority?; and Britain’s got talons: Have anti-discrimination laws made us kinder than in previous eras? If Frank Ricci loses his discrimination claim, blame the Supreme Court's conservatives. In Vino Veritas: Binge drinking may look like a communal act, but it as an act of solitude, celebrating the self. The other Susan Boyle: The global success of the Britain's Got Talent star has had an unlikely impact on one unassuming Texas artist. A review of Paradise Found: Nature in America at the Time of Discovery by Steve Nicholls. The next tropical paradise: New ideas for what to do with America's piece of Cuba. If arts journalism is in trouble, what about publishing? Roger Scruton on Beauty and Desecration: We must rescue art from the modern intoxication with ugliness. My kingdom for a beer? An article on Heineken’s “Eurotopia”. Garrett Oliver, Brooklyn Brewery brewmaster, celebrates the end of the beer-industrial complex. Elizabeth Wilson reviews Diaries by Sergey Prokofiev; Sergey Prokofiev and His World, edited by Simon Morrison; and The People’s Artist: Prokofiev’s Soviet Years by Simon Morrison.

Joel Olson (NAU): Between Infoshops and Insurrection: U.S. Anarchism, Movement Building, and the Racial Order. What follows is a long, largely unoriginal rumination on the state, coercion, the Odessa Steps, and Tank Man. World Refugee Day turns spotlight on millions of displaced people worldwide. From New Statesman, a review of The Spectre at the Feast: Capitalist Crisis and the Politics of Recession by Andrew Gamble; irresponsible capitalism has left us in economic and political turmoil — the solution is a new democracy and a new socialism; and 20 ways to save Labour: Figures including Germaine Greer, Richard Dawkins and John Pilger suggest policies to revive Labour. From Capitalism, Edward Cline on the irrelevancy of conservatism. Will Wilkinson on the rise of collectivist conservatives. Money makes the (Greek) world go round: What the ancient Greek anxiety about money has to tell us about our own economic predicaments. Spiritual Citizenship: An article on the life and times of Richard John Neuhaus. Bombs, man-apes, and ancient cities: A history of science publishing in images from the archives of Nature magazine. Surfing Alone: Is digital technology destroying relationships? Brother, you can spare a dime: why you should give away more of your hard-earned cash.

From Reason, Ronald Bailey on the Invisible Hand of Population Control: The tragedy of the commons meets economic freedom; and the paranoids are out to get me: Jesse Walker on the return of the militia scare. Conor Clarke interviews Paul Samuelson (and part 2). From Scientific American, do gay animals change evolution? The hottest month of the year as about to become the hottest quarter of the year. It’s time to cool the planet: Cutting greenhouse gases is no longer enough to deal with global warming — we also have to do something more direct and risky. Is Iran ripe for revolution? Possibly, but Mir Hossein Mousavi is no Mikhail Gorbachev. From Vanity Fair, Christopher Hitchens visits Greece’s new Acropolis Museum, devoted to the Parthenon and other temples; and more on the Madoff Chronicles: Did the sons know? (and Ruth Madoff?) Bring on the Traitor Democrats: Who cares if Obama's electoral coalition is fragile? Democrats need to run against other Democrats to push Congress to the left. From TED, Diane Benscoter on how cults rewire the brain. From THES, a review of The Cambridge Companion to Bob Dylan; a review of Idiocy: A Cultural History by Patrick McDonagh; and I poke dead people: An article on the paradox of Facebook. The Tramp Stamp Story: Is lower-back ink sexy or slutty?

A new issue Popular Science is out. The isolationism of health reform: Why won't Congress consider how other countries do it? David Leonhardt on how rationing already happens in health care — it just needs to be made more effective. From Slate, an "audio book club" on John Cheever and Flannery O'Connor. Fred Kaplan on why he wrote a book about 1959 (and more). Iranian philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo on how the split between younger Iranians and their revolutionary or religious elders presents risks to the nation and the reason. Twitter won't bring down Ahmadinejad: The real action in Iran is in the streets; social media is documenting the revolution — not leading it (and more and more). From TED, Clay Shirky on how Twitter can make history. Alain Badiou tells Nina Power why he’s still interested in communism, and why Brad Pitt should play Plato. Let the rest of the world have its Brad Pitt; D. C. knows who the real dreamboats are. From Ode, bestselling author Dave Eggers believes helping young people learn to express themselves can make all the difference'. A review of Bear Trap: The Fall of Bear Stearns and the Panic of 2008 by Bill Bamber and Andrew Spencer. The first chapter from The Next Justice: Repairing the Supreme Court Appointments Process by Christopher L. Eisgruber.