online archive
12:08PM
JUN 5 2007
Political theory, ethics, science, economics and academia
From the inaugural issue of Studies in Social Justice, David Harvey (CUNY): Neoliberalism and the City (and an interview); Nancy Fraser (New School): Feminist Politics in an Age of Recognition: A Two-Dimensional Approach to Gender Justice; William Carroll (Victoria): Hegemony and Counter-Hegemony in a Global Field; Michael Reisch (Michigan): Social Justice and Multiculturalism: Persistent Tensions in the History of US Social Welfare and Social Work; and Gary Craig (Hull): Social Justice in a Multicultural Society: Experience from the UK.
From Ars Disputandi, a review of Ethics in Crisis: Interpreting Barth’s Ethics by David Clough and a review of Epistemology as Theology: An Evaluation of Alvin Plantinga’s Religious Epistemology by James Beilby. An excerpt from The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil by Philip Zimbardo. An interview with Joshua Foa Dienstag, author of Pessimism: Philosophy, Ethic, Spirit.
The first chapter from Einstein on Politics: His Private Thoughts and Public Stands on Nationalism, Zionism, War, Peace, and the Bomb. Quantum Scoop: The Holy Grail of particle physics may already have been found. The story of mysterious life-forms that existed nearly 600 million years ago might involve rocks in, of all places, Hingham. A radical idea, to be sure. Then again, the provocative scientist leading a study there is anything but conventional. Michael Ruse reviews The Edge of Revolution: The Search for the Limits of Darwinism by Michael J. Behe.
From The Intercollegiate Review, Real Men Prove Darwin Wrong (Again): Peter Augustine Lawler reviews "The Human Beast", A Man In Full and I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe, Manliness by Harvey Mansfield, and The Right Darwin: Evolution, Religion, and the Future of Democracy by Carson Holloway; a review of Return to Greatness: How America Lost its Sense of Purpose and What it Needs to Do to Recover It by Alan Wolfe and a review of Look Homeward, America: In Search of Reactionary Radicals and Front-Porch Anarchists by Bill Kauffman.
A review of The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas by Robert H. Frank. A review of Nature: An Economic History by Geerat J. Vermeij and The Natural Origins of Economics by Margaret Schabas. The first chapter from Lawlessness and Economics: Alternative Modes of Governance by Avinash K. Dixit. An interview with Thomas K. McCraw, author of Prophet of Innovation: Joseph Schumpeter and Creative Destruction.
From The Chronicle, A Grand Unified Theory of Interdisciplinarity: For interdisciplinarity to be more than a buzzword, professors must radically restructure their approach to knowledge, writes Lennard J. Davis; The Scholar in Society: The humanities are not self-sustaining. Humanists must argue for their social value and back up those arguments as convincingly as possible, writes Bruce Robbins; and the AAUP, 92 and Ailing: Mismanagement, declining membership, and a schizophrenic mission threaten the premier faculty association.
You're not earning as much as the guys? If you want to erase that salary gap, ladies, change your major. When Should a Kid Start Kindergarten? Parents, and now states, are trying to work it so that some children are a year older when they enter school. This could lead to better test scores — and more inequality. Boys Gone Mild: When playing and getting hurt become threatened activities in need of adult intervention, it might be time to let go. A note to the forgetful: be thankful you don’t remember everything. It means your brain is working properly.
12:08PM
JUN 5 2007
Iraq and terrorism, social policy, the politics of food and more
From Stars & Stripes, a special report on The Evolving Enemy: Multiple enemies complicate Iraq insurgency, once thought the work of a few, involves a diverse array; and from Time, an article on being careful of your friends in Iraq. A 1956 article, "Communist Interrogation", shows that methods embraced after 2001 were once considered torture that would produce false information. Stuart Taylor Jr. on how not to make terrorism policy. Willing and able potential military recruits are being turned away, causalities of the battle over immigration. Why won't we let them fill the ranks?
The Fight for the Minimum Wage: Voters in several states soundly approved minimum wage increases last fall. But now state legislatures, with a push from industries that employ low-wage workers, are hard at work to gut the new laws. Five years ago, Sylvia Ann Hewlett terrified women with her book Baby Hunger, a warning against leaving motherhood till too late. Now she's back with another shocking message: employers are writing off women once they've had children. And we're all losing out. A review of Taking on the Big Boys: Why Feminism is Good for Families, Business and the Nation by Ellen Bravo. A review of Neither Angels Nor Demons: Women, Crime and Victimization. An interview with Kevin Davis, author of Defending the Damned: Inside Chicago's Cook County Public Defender's Office.
Tim Wise on reflections on the psychopathology of racist thinking. Why are greens so white? The eco-movement faces an uphill battle in engaging newcomers, low-income citizens. Driven to Extremes: For their commutes of up to four hours a day, some enjoy cheaper housing and better pay. But at what price?
The Case Against Mandates: Individual mandates are all the rage among progressive health policy experts. Too bad they're a terrible idea. How a legal case could cripple one of modern medicine's greatest achievements. The Profit Calculator: The wild risks, unexpected niches, and day-in-day-out grind behind making a dollar in New York for everyone... from a drug dealer to Goldman Sachs; how do you improve on water? Pricey new magic potions on tap; and take this quiz to find out if you're a member of the burgeoning green-foodie community, aka. a "groodie".
From Vanity Fair, If You Knew Sushi: A single tuna auctioned for more than $170,000, sake flavored with snake venom, a Moonie consortium—the sushi business is wilder than gourmet wasabi. From the back alleys of Tokyo to New York's most expensive Japanese restaurant, Nick Tosches uncovers the real, raw world behind an epicure's delight. An interview with Barbara Kingsolver, author of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. David Greenberg |inprint/issue=200703&id=273|reviews| Michael A. Lerner’s Dry Manhattan: Prohibition in New York City.
A review of Artificial Happiness: The Dark Side of the New Happy Class by Ronald Dworkin and The Happiness Myth: Why What We Think is Right is Wrong by Jennifer Michael Hecht; and a look at why freedom's just another word for less money, less waste. Does a stressful childhood equate to a liberal adulthood? A controversial study challenges a persistent and potent stereotype. Fifty Ways to Leave Whatever: A couple creates a business out of existential angst. A review of The Real Toy Story: Inside the Ruthless Battle for Britain's Youngest Consumers by Eric Clark and Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantalise Adults and Swallow Citizens Whole by Benjamin R Barber (and more).
The established pornography business is in decline — and the Internet is being held responsible. Sex, With Consequences: Why is it that in books, movies and on stage, jumping into bed is now fraught with danger? The escort who brought down the Rev. Ted Haggard talks about why he wrote a book about it and why the gay community is still divided on his having done it.
12:08PM
JUN 5 2007
Israel, the Middle East and Iraq and American politics
From Commentary, Norman Podhoretz on Jerusalem and the Scandal of Particularity: Thinking about the future of Israel's capital city—and about the mystery of Jewish survival. A review of The Last Resistance by Jacqueline Rose. Three for Thought: What you need to read about the Six-Day War. Forty years ago next week, Israel and its Arab neighbours went to war. Harvey Morris explores the causes and the consequences. The introduction to Barriers to Democracy: The Other Side of Social Capital in Palestine and the Arab World by Amaney A. Jamal.
A pair of histories show the unprecedented effects of two technologies of terror: A review of Buda's Wagon: A Brief History of the Car Bomb by Mike Davis and On Suicide Bombing by Talal Asad. Iraq’s Curse: No faction has been able to secure absolute power, and that has only sharpened the hunger for it. Life in the Inferno of Baghdad: Political reconciliation will take years. Cleansing Baghdad's soul will take generations. Patrick Cockburn interviews Moqtada al-Sadr. If President Bush is committed to fighting on in Iraq, then he needs a fundamentally different military strategy — one that offers the only realistic chance of compelling a ceasefire between Iraq's warring factions.
Hillary’s War: Hillary Rodham Clinton’s decisions on Iraq may point to what sort of president she would be. Will the real Hillary please stand up? Elizabeth Kolbert reviews Carl Bernstein's A Woman in Charge (and an excerpt) and Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta's Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
From New York, a covers story on The Politics of Personality Destruction: Candidates for president are asked hundreds of times a day to feign every possible emotion. Such a task should be repugnant to any authentic human—but do we really want a normal person in the world’s most stressful job? Can conservative Protestants vote for a member of what they consider a cult? An article on Mitt's Mormonism and the evangelical vote. Romney candidacy has resurrected last days prophecy of Mormon saving the Constitution. Is Fred Thompson too lazy to get nominated? John Dickerson investigates. Ron Paul wants to drag the U.S. out of Iraq, can the war on drugs, and overturn the Patriot Act. No wonder Republican power brokers want to boot him off the stage. Here's a question for Giuliani: What, exactly, do you want government to stop doing? Or do you simply want all of government to be less effective and more wasteful? Imagine how the media would cover the divorced rich Republican presidential candidates, if they were Democrats.
From The Politico, an interview with Al Gore and more and more on The Assault on Reason. Al Gore has more to lose than to gain from running for president, and the response to Al Gore’s new book helps prove his point. We need a brainiac president, a regular Mister or Miss Smarty-Pants. We need to elect the kid you hated in high school, the teacher's pet with perfect grades. The quixotic political startup known as Unity08 is not the first third-party movement in the United States, but it may be one of the brashest and most original.
Forget the campaigns. Disregard the position papers and attack ads. One of the best ways to tell who's going to win an election is to see the candidates on TV, watching them for 10 seconds and keeping the sound off. The Brookings Institution creates a special project designed to inject ideas into the 2008 presidential debate, with papers on nuclear proliferation, the budget deficit, U.S.-Muslim world relations, and more. Will electronic voting reform create new ways to steal elections? Steven Rosenfeld investigates. As a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota, Al Franken has become painfully aware of the role money plays in politics.
12:08PM
JUN 5 2007
Books, life and literature, the arts and more
At BookExpo America, conservative publishers worry about future. If you think speed-dating is tough, try selling your book to an editor in three minutes. Scholarly presses offered catalogs and the occasional bowl of tiny candy bars. None of the publicists were dressed as life-sized cartoon characters. Imagine, if you will, walking into a hall with displays of thousands upon thousands of books...
Waxing philosophical, booksellers face the digital: John Updike would not be pleased. Bound miniature books were common in medieval and Renaissance times as illuminated manuscripts, and in the 18th and 19th centuries as everything from alphabet primers to novels. Literary festivals used to be humble gatherings of authors and fans. But now they are undergoing a boom, with new events opening and everyone from politicians to pop stars getting in on the act. Fighting talk: How Chuck Palahnuik became the Marilyn Manson of the literary circuit. An article on literary love: What happens when the writer you admire most becomes your friend? Why do the archives of so many great writers end up in Texas?
From CT, an article on Remembering Auden: And learning how to make sense of his renunciations. Almost 70 years after her first publication, Nadine Gordimer is still breaking new ground as a writer. No difference between politics and art: A review of Touchstones: Essays in Literature, Art and Politics by Mario Vargas Llosa (and more). A review of Fathers and Sons: The Autobiography of a Family by Alexander Waugh. From The New Yorker, Marie Micheline: A life in Haiti by Edwidge Danticat.
A review of From a Cause to a Style: Modernist Architecture’s Encounter With the American City by Nathan Glazer. A review of Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America by Jeff Wiltse. A review of Leaving Dirty Jersey: A Crystal Meth Memoir by James Salant; Another Bloody Love Letter by Anthony Loyd; Wasted by Mark Johnson; and All of Me by Patsy Palmer. A review of Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom by Andy Letcher (and more). A review of The Strange World of David Lynch: Transcendental Irony from Eraserhead to Mullholland Dr. by Eric G. Wilson.
From The Believer, Ker-Chunk! A hit making keyboard made of 8-track car stereos? Meet rock's rarest instrument. Wouldn't it be ironic if you could download a song using an umbrella? It's a not-too-far fetched prospect. A review of The Horse God Built: The Untold Story of Secretariat, the World’s Greatest Racehorse by Lawrence Scanlan. The Lack of the Irish: Long before baseball ruled, the quirky sports of Gaelic football and hurling provided Irish arrivals with a vital link to their homeland. But now, with fewer and fewer legal - and illegal - immigrants washing ashore, these Gaelic games are in the fight of their lives.
The man who discovered flight (and his name isn't Wright): Almost 200 years ago, George Cayley pioneered aviation; and flying is a simple idea, but hardly anything's as complex as a jet – or as difficult to restore to its natural state: airborne. An interview with Eduardo Xol, author of Home Sense: Simple Solutions to Enhance Where and How You Live. A review of The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) by Seth Godin. A review of U-Turn: What If You Woke Up One Morning and Realized You Were Living the Wrong Life? by Bruce Grierson. A review of Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys: True Tales of Love, Lust, and Friendship Between Straight Women and Gay Men.
