online archive
12:00PM
JUN 19 2007
Critical theory, science and academia
From Studies in Language & Capitalism, Robert de Beaugrande (Primorskem): Critical Discourse Analysis: History, Ideology, Methodology; Phil Graham (QUT): ‘Capitalism’ as False Consciousness; Panayota Gounari (UMass-Boston): Contesting the Cynicism of Neoliberal Discourse: Moving Towards a Language of Possibility; Marnie Holborow (DCU): Putting The Social Back Into Language: Marx, Volosinov and Vygotsky re-examined; Carmen Luke (Queens;and): Eduscapes: Knowledge Capital and Cultures.
Niamh Hennessy (York): The Janus-Face of Language: Reification in the Work of Habermas and the Bakhtin Circle; Isabela Ietcu-Fairclough (Bucharest): Populism and the Romanian ‘Orange Revolution’; A Discourse-Analytical Perspective on the Presidential Election of December 2004; Lisa Perks (UT-Austin): The Nouveau Reach: Ideologies of Class and Consumerism in Reality-Based Television; Peter Ives (Winnipeg): ‘Global English’: Linguistic Imperialism or Practical Lingua Franca?; Christof Demont-Heinrich (Denver): The Ideological Construction of the Juggernaut of English: A Critical Analysis of American Prestige Press Coverage of the Globalisation of Language;
A scientific socialist: A review of JD Bernal: The Sage of Science by Andrew Brown. In the jungles of Costa Rica, a research team studies the social politics of Capuchin monkeys. They quarrel. They copulate. They stab each other in the back. So do the monkeys. Science and art on the ant heap: A review of Six Legs Better: A cultural history of myrmecology by Charlotte Sleigh. Pollen and the hidden sexuality of flowers: Of stigma, pistils and swollen tubes, and how pollen is optimized for "the sex act".
Scientists have been forced to rethink how the human genome turns a single cell into a complex living being following the most intensive study of our genetic code ever undertaken. Neanderthals bid for human status: New research challenges the view that Neanderthals were incapable of technological or cultural development. Recursion and human thought: An interview with Daniel Everett on why the Piraha don't have numbers. Happy or sad? Emotional cues vary by culture, as Americans and Japanese read faces differently, study shows. More clues in the legend (or is it fact?) of Romulus: New archaeological finds are fueling a heated debate about Rome's founding myth. Reconstructing Petra: Two thousand years ago, it was the capital of a powerful trading empire. Now archaeologists are piecing together a more complete picture of Jordan's compelling rock city.
Barbara Anna Markiewicz (Warsaw): The New Education and Virtual Humankind ("The author presents a new education project connected with Rawls’ model of a well-ordered society"). Where the arts were too liberal: This is an obituary for a great American institution whose death was announced. After 155 years, Antioch College is closing (and more from The Chronicle). The little-known story of how a Harvard president and an aspiring astronaut engineered the return of ROTC to Harvard Yard provides an example of the political confrontation needed to allow every patriot to serve in uniform. Grading on the Guilty-Liberal Standard: A liberal professor of religion at St. Olaf College bent over backward to be fair in grading a conservative student. Now he fears he bent over too far. A College Education: Revolt of the alumni and other good news. Credential Creep: Professional doctorates, which take less time than the Ph.D., are spreading fast — as are concerns about their uneven quality. College graduates flock to Teach for America, but critics say its inexperienced teachers are no help to troubled schools. Every child a math whiz: A review of The End of Ignorance: Multiplying Our Human Potential by John Mighton.
12:00PM
JUN 19 2007
The war on terror, the environment, immigration, health care and more
A new issue of Military Review is out. An interview with General Anthony Zinni, author of The Battle for Peace: A Frontline Vision of America's Power and Purpose. A general in God's patriotic army: A review of The Final Move Beyond Iraq: The Final Solution While the World Sleeps by Mike Evans, shock jock for Armageddon. We've lost the war in Iraq. Here's how to handle it. A review of Statecraft and How to Restore America's Standing in the World by Dennis Ross. A review of The Infernal Machine: A History of Terrorism from the Assassination of Tsar Alexander II to Al-Qaeda by Matthew Carr.
From Government Executive, since we can't prevent every disaster or attack, why not shift focus toward surviving them?; and can missile defense systems keep commercial airlines safe? From LRB, who put the bomb on Pan Am 103? From The Economist, a special report on air travel, often nasty, brutish, long and unprofitable. But it need not be like that.
From This Magazine, a review of Pandemonium by Andrew Nikiforuk, The Upside of Down by Thomas Homer-Dixon, and Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning by George Monbiot; and why moving to the country will save us all. The day after tomorrow: An article on making progress on climate change. Paul Johnson on rubbish, entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The truth about recycling: As the importance of recycling becomes more apparent, questions about it linger. Is it worth the effort? How does it work? Is recycling waste just going into a landfill in China? Here are some answers. Can we achieve substantial cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and allow China and India the right to proceed with industrialisation? Peter Singer investigates. The Promise of the Blue Revolution: Aquaculture can maintain living standards while averting the ruin of the oceans.
From Reason, an article on immigration and its side effects: Nativist claims don't hold up under scrutiny. The Roman Empire as the gold standard of immigration: The ancient superpower could teach the U.S. a thing or two about a strong multicultural society. Home Alone: Does ethnic and racial diversity foster social isolation? There is no evidence you can find that people who have no relationships or group memberships are happy about it. People do need to belong.
From The New Yorker, A Drug on the Market: James Surowiecki on the F.D.A. Doctor or Drug Pusher? Pain is difficult to measure, and those who treat pain sufferers have to make highly subjective decisions about dosage levels of drugs that can be abused or even resold. When a doctor gets it wrong, is that bad medicine — or a drug felony?
A review of Breaking News: How the Associated Press Has Covered War, Peace, and Everything Else by Aaron Barlow. Media criticism as self-defense: An article on blaming the media in the mirror. Read all about it—but where, exactly? A review of American Carnival: Journalism Under Siege in an Age of New Media by Neil Henry; We're All Journalists Now: The Transformation of the Press and Reshaping of the Law in the Internet Age by Scott Gant; and The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet Is Killing Our Culture by Andrew Keen.
From Brainwash, Sex, Lies, and Celebrity Trainwrecks: We're interested in Paris Hilton because we're interested in reality. Really; and Stewardship and Martha Stewart: How can libertarianism guide your conscience? Undead culture: Hippies and punks recede into the past, but goth lives. Why is that?
12:00PM
JUN 19 2007
Asia, Africa, Europe and American politics
From FT, for more than a generation Japan has been a rich country with the second largest economy in the world. But it has always been treated as an exception. Where Jesus spent his old age: Forget the Da Vinci Code: This Japanese farming village knows that Christ died here, at age 106. And they have the "tomb" to prove it. With both US and Russian bases, Kyrgyzstan is caught in the middle of a battle for military dominance.
From New Statesman, for years, the west saw Africa as a distant "hell" of coups, refugees and revolutions. But its writers tell a different - and more disturbing - story. A review of Oil on the Brain: Adventures from the Pump to the Pipeline by Lisa Margonelli and Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African Oil by Nicholas Shaxson. A review of When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa by Peter Godwin. It's the oldest territorial dispute in Africa, but it has been dormant for over a decade and a half. Now, Western Sahara sees economic growth in its future. The increasing presence of sub-Saharan Africans in Morocco is forcing the people of the north African country to look behind as well as across to Europe.
The Good American Tackles Sudan: For years, activist John Prendergast has been searching for a solution to the Darfur crisis, one of the bloodiest ongoing wars in the world. But policy makers have consistently looked the other way. What can be done? Frustrated by the West’s failure to halt the slaughter in Sudan, Darfur advocacy groups are pinning their hopes on a country they see as genocide’s enabler in chief: China. But in pressuring an indifferent Beijing, activists are merely helping Western governments evade responsibility for a humanitarian crisis that they could do far more to stop. Will U.N. peacekeepers really be allowed into Darfur? Eric Reeves wants to know.
From The Economist, in vino veritas: Europe's belief in the market wavers when it comes to viticulture; and suddenly, the old world looks younger: Reports of Europe's death are somewhat exaggerated. A review of Flag on the Mountain: A Political Anthropology of War in Croatia and Bosnia by Ivo Zanic. Bohemian Rhapsody: An interview with Vaclav Havel on cigarettes, and the continuing struggle between conscience and tyranny. From Scottish Left Review, a review of Is there a Scottish Road to Socialism? and Tom Nairn looks at recent political developments in Britain in the post-Scottish Election period. From CJR, if the press were an animal, what kind of animal would it be? An article on Tony Blair’s temper tantrum.
With the United States growing more diverse, and the world pushed closer by globalization, fluency in a second language might not be a bad job skill for a president. First-Family Values: In 2009, for the first time, we could have a president and spouse who live like the rest of us. The great drama in American politics today revolves around the question: What is the Republican Party? Giuliani, McCain, Romney, … Haines? He's the most relentless Republican presidential candidate. You've never heard of him. In parsing the Fred Thompson boom, don't underestimate the call of the drawl. Social conservatives threaten to leave GOP if Rudy Giuliani is nominated; controversy part of larger ideological split. The Giuliani-Driven Christians: Paul Gottfried on Giuliani’s newfound faithful. And on the GOP's lonely anti-war candidate: Meet Congressman Ron Paul — staunch libertarian, outspoken critic of American hubris, and Republican presidential contender.
12:00PM
JUN 19 2007
Miscellaneous
From the Rosicrucian Order's Rose+Croix Journal, an essay on The Sistine Chapel: A Study in Celestial Cartography; and Full Circle: West Meets East. The lion in winter: He partied with Isherwood, slept with Kerouac, dined with Auden, was related to the Kennedys, travelled with Tennessee Williams and befriended Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber ... And through it all Gore Vidal's ferocious wit ensured his standing as one of the greats of American letters. But now, at 81, a frailty is giving his fury an unexpected vulnerability. The life of Surrealism's most shameless self-promoter is examined in two new books, Salvador Dali: An Illustrated Life and Dali and Film. Sheila Take a Bow: Lynn Harris sings the praises of chick lit's patient zero. A review of Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson.
The Writing Life: Novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie remembers the desks — including her father's — where she learned to write. From The New Yorker, a review of The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown (and more from The Times). Going to court over fiction by a fictitious writer: Laura Albert, who wrote novels under the fictive alter ego JT Leroy, is being sued by a film production company. Asset-minded professors: A review of Capital Ideas Evolving by Peter L. Bernstein. What kind of women’s magazine skips out on dieting, forgets ab workouts, and leaves makeup by the side of the road? Jane does. A review of Nature's Engraver: A Life of Thomas Bewick by Jenny Uglow.
Summing Up Literature: Statistical analyses of literary texts provide new insights about novels. On Las Vegas stages, daring feats of engineering steal the show. A review of Revolt in the Boardroom: The New Rules of Power in Corporate America by Alan Murray. A review of Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss — and the Myths and Realities of Dieting by Gina Kolata. A review of Miniature Books: 4,000 Years of Tiny Treasures by Anne C. Bromer and Julian I. Edison. Scammer to the stars: A review of You Will Make Money In Your Sleep: The Story of Dana Giacchetto, Financial Adviser to the Stars by Emily White. A review of Shakespeare & Co.: Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Dekker, Ben Jonson, Thomas Middleton, John Fletcher and Other Players in his Story by Stanley Wells.
Byron was asked by his publisher to lengthen his classic poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage and remove some of its “religious feeling” to make it sell better, according to a treasure trove of letters that is to be published for the first time. A review of A History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage (and more). A review of Tommy's Honor: The Story of Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris, Golf's Founding Father and Son by Kevin Cook. Action. Adventure. Excitement. Romance. Inspiration. All to be found in the pages of thrillers penned by master storytellers. Which are the must-reads? Is Rose Tremain a slow reader? No, she's the Porsche 911 of readers. Richard Stern remembers his late friend Saul Bellow and the talented writer.
Matthew Kneale speaks several languages, is advised by experts and writes in voices diverse and realistic. But, he tells Katy Guest, writing a novel is just like preparing a good meal. A review of One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding by Rebecca Mead. A review of The Last Mrs. Astor: A New York Story by Frances Kiernan. A review of Taxi! A Social History of the New York City Cabdriver by Graham Russell Gao Hodges. Form Comment, a conversation on shalom with Chris Anderson, under-appreciated artist. Wedding Gifts: The perplexing and sometimes overwhelming experience of getting free stuff. A review of Dishwasher: One Man's Quest to Wash Dishes in all 50 States by Pete Jordan. A review of Horses: History, Myth, Art by Catherine Johns.
