online archive
12:00PM
JUL 20 2007
Legal theory, book reviews and education
Joseph Raz (Oxford): Numbers, With and Without Contractualism. Leslie C. Griffin (Houston): Political Reason. Louis Michael Seidman (Georgetown): Can Constitutionalism Be Leftist? Paul Edelman and Tracey George (Vanderbilt): Six Degrees of Cass Sunstein: Collaboration Networks in Legal Scholarship. Jeffrey Lipshaw (Suffolk): Memo to Lawyers: How Not to "Retire and Teach".
Gertrude Himmelfarb reviews Our First Revolution: The Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America's Founding Fathers by Michael Barone. A review of The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Philosophy. An interview with Roger Crisp on John Stuart Mill's utilitarian ethical theory. A review of Motherland: A Philosophical History of Russia by Lesley Chamberlain. A review of Whitehead's Radically Different Postmodern Philosophy: An Argument for Its Contemporary Relevance by David Ray Griffin. Philosopher in Thought Only: Hannah Arendt fucked a philosopher, but she didn't want to be one. An interview with Gerald J. Russello, author of The Postmodern Imagination of Russell Kirk. A review of John Lott’s Freedomnomics.
From National Review, an article on sex & the single college student: Conservatives engage the culture. From Nerve's "History of Single Life", an article on Abelard and Heloise: teacher-student sex in the Middle Ages. Why and when Ph.D. students finish: New data point to importance of money and mentors — and to significant differences by discipline. A review of The Sandbox Investment: The Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics by David Kirp.
12:00PM
JUL 20 2007
American government, ideology and the environment
A new issue of The New Leader is out, including William L. O’Neill reviewing 15 Stars: Eisenhower, MacArthur, Marshall: Three Generals Who Saved the American Century by Stanley Weintraub and Partners in Command: George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower in War and Peace by Mark Perry. A review of The Pentagon: A History by Steve Vogel. The CIA often has shaped information to meet White House expectations: A review of Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by Tim Weiner. From Harper's, meet the Pentagon’s New Spin Unit: Bush Administration hacks court bloggers, talk radio.
From Taki's Top Drawer, Paul Gottfried on the Neocons and the Left: Know Your Enemies; and more on The Kirk Wars. A review of What's Left? How Liberals Lost Their Way by Nick Cohen. What if they held a War of Ideas and nobody came? Jonathan Chait wants to know. A review of Putting Morality Back Into Politics by Richard D. Ryder.
The US should adopt the toughest possible fuel economy standards for motor vehicles and join a global framework for managing carbon dioxide emissions, according to a Bush administration-commissioned study of the energy industry, led by the former chairman of ExxonMobil. The End of Cheap Oil? The new cycle of resource nationalism is bad news. A review of Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming by Chris Mooney (and an interview). A deadly challenge to the environment: There are more people alive today than ever before. What will the environmental costs be when we all die? From Plenty, a review of The World Without Us by Alan Weisman (and an interview, and another interview and more).
12:00PM
JUL 20 2007
China
From PINR, a look at why China will not cave to pressure over trade imbalance. The Wild Wild East of Capitalism: Traders in London and New York aren’t quite sure what to make of China’s chaotic stock markets. An interview with Asia economist Andy Xie on the unique psychology of Chinese investors, why the country’s markets are crashing, and how that matters 7,300 miles away on Wall Street. A review of China: Fragile Superpower—How China's Internal Politics Could Derail its Peaceful Rise by Susan L. Shirk. Why the mainland's problems could keep it from becoming the next superpower.
The Green Leap Forward: Environmentalism is China’s fastest-growing citizen movement. Beijing isn’t cracking down on these new activists—it’s empowering them; and a review of Charm Offensive: How China’s Soft Power Is Transforming the World by Joshua Kurlantzick (and more). An interview with Adam Minter on the future of Catholicism in China. An interview with James Farrer, author of Opening Up: Youth Sex Culture and Market Reform in Shanghai. Marx loses currency in new China: Teaching socialism is mandatory, but learning it is monotonous for today's students, who revere money more than Mao. A review of Inside the Red Mansion: On the Trail of China's Most Wanted Man by Oliver August. An interview with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong: "Nobody can control China".
Form LRB, what is remembered so powerfully in Hong Kong about Tiananmen cannot even be mentioned on the other side of the border that separates the Special Administrative Region from the rest of the People’s Republic of China. Ten years ago, as Britain handed over Hong Kong to the Chinese, the predictions for its future were uniformly bleak. So far, however, the pessimists have been proved wrong.
12:00PM
JUL 20 2007
Pop culture
From The New York Observer, The Pisher Kings: With a dearth of fame-worthy men, overhyped youngsters like Shia LaBeouf and Pete Wentz are taking over our culture, our thoughts, our lives. Where are you, Johnny Depp? Simpson Family Values: A cartoon family whacked America's funny bone in 1989, eventually becoming the longest-running TV comedy ever. As The Simpsons jumps to the big screen this month, not everyone involved—including the writers, the voices, and Rupert Murdoch—agrees on what has made it a pop phenomenon. Life is Swell: An interview with Matt Groening his dreams, his alt-weekly past and, oh yeah, The Simpsons Movie.
Assimilation and its Discontents: Why Jews love hip-hop (and try so hard to befriend black people). Say It Loud! PopMatters picks the 65 Great Protest Songs. An article on Manu Chao as a: musical political upstart. Mann and his musical demons: Thomas Mann was all too aware of the ties between music and Nazi ideology, writes Wolfgang Schneider. Drowned in sound: A review of Manifesto for Silence: Confronting the Politics and Culture of Noise by Stuart Sim. In an era that devalues contact, silence is the new no: How passive refusal is quickly rendering outright rejection an anachronism.
The Rise of the Seventh Letter: Once you know what you’re looking for, your sixth (make that your seventh) sense will kick in and you’ll start seeing them everywhere — on empty walls surrounding vacant lots, on the ramparts of the L.A. River, along freeways, on billboards... everywhere. Just what the doctor ordered: Eclipsed by sneaker culture, Dr Martens' moment as a symbol of youth rebellion has long gone, but the company is fighting back with the biggest reboot in its history. Rebel with a cause: Why certain products are used as markers of difference. Breaking Away: In the ’70s, a time of freedom and openness, people felt an obligation to embrace new experiences: by going somewhere unknown you might discover who you were, or could be.
