From The New Yorker, can the Democrats get a foothold on the religious vote? Peter J. Boyer investigates; and Steve Coll on David Petraeus, the pressures of politics, and the road out of Iraq. From Studies in Language and Capitalism, Andrew Sola (Maryland): The Pocket Idiot’s Guide to War-Profiteering in Iraq; and Lisa Glebatis Perks (UT-Austin): The Nouveau Reach: Ideologies of Class and Consumerism in Reality-Based Television. From Luna Park, an essay on the future of lit (mags); an article on how to start a war: McSweeney's 26; and Travis Kurowski on the last movement literary magazine: n+1. From The Liberal, an article on Barack Obama and the Idea of America. From First Things, Joseph Bottum on the death of Protestant America: A political theory of the Protestant mainline. A review of Gay Marriage: For Better or for Worse? What We've Learned from the Evidence by William N. Eskridge Jr. and Darren R. Spedale. Martin Amis on terrorism's new structure. Radovan Karadzic has been caught, but the war is not over yet for the heirs of Yugoslavia's war criminals. A futurologist says . In defense of the beta blocker: Is this a performance drug that could actually increase the fairness of Olympic contests? From IHE, should American Politics be abolished (as a field)? Martha Nussbaum reviews On Religious Liberty: Selections From the Works of Roger Williams.
