From Liberty, two reviews of Brian Doherty's Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement (and a reply by Doherty). From Socialist Standard, the US anarcho-capitalist Libertarians are wrong to think that capitalism could exist without a state or that its competitive struggle for profits does not lead to wars. A review of Capitalism. A Very Short Introduction; Socialism: A Very Short Introduction; and Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction. A review of Gabriel Kolko’s After Socialism: Reconstructing Critical Social Thought.
From Quadrant, an essay on The True Genesis of Amnesty International; a review of The Triumph of the Airheads and the Retreat from Commonsense, by Shelley Gare; more on Stefan Collini’s Absent Minds: Intellectuals in Britain; and more on Michael Burleigh's Sacred Causes: Religion and Politics from the European Dictators to Al Qaeda. From Free Inquiry, what time is it: Lights out for belief, or the dawn of a new age of faith? Perhaps neither; Sam Harris on the myth of secular moral chaos; and should we respect religion? Barbara Smoker wants to know. Atheists versus Theists Humans need a "likely tale" to hold on to, to give the chaotic mass of their experiential content some coherence.
From Reason, James Dobson, Drama Queen: Big plans from the small-tent Republican; Spiritual Highs and Legal Blows: The power and peril of religious exemptions from drug prohibition; and Looking for God in All the Wrong Places: How can you have a religion without a church? Hanging baptists: Whence this theocratic oligopoly battling the "secular-humanist homofeminists"?
Al Gore's revenge is to have been right: right about the Internet and global warming, and right about Iraq. A review of The Assault on Reason (and more and more). From Frontline, a look at the politics behind the US government's failure to act on the biggest environmental problem of our time. What Stern got wrong: The Stern review on the economics of climate change completely fails to acknowledge the imminent decline in global oil production. Change the rules, change the future: New energy rules could unleash an economic boom and help quash climate change.
From Scientific American, drafty buildings, inefficient appliances and mountains of waste will all need to be transformed to control global warming. The Zero-Energy Solution: How a system installed in your own backyard may one day power your house and your car. A look at why working less is better for the globe. Practise what you preach: An article on the uneven advice of green-living guides. A new issue of Geotimes, is out, including an article on The Plague: Could it happen again? And bad bugs: Drug-resistant microbes are evolving into a public health problem too widespread to ignore
