From IHE, an interview with Elizabeth Aries, author of Race and Class Matters at an Elite College; and a look at the worst academic careers worldwide: Are things getting so bad that a new kind of ranking is called for? The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood wins a victory against Bratz. From the latest issue of Bookforum, a review of Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt (and more and more and more and more). But they mean well: A review of Have a Nice Day by Justin Webb and In Defence of America by Bronwen Maddox. From Cosmos, it can fly or it can crawl and it waits for no man; Erica Harrison looks at what makes our sense of time tick. An interview with steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal on politics, football, and philanthropy. The Numbers Guy on the most-common English words (and more on making every word count). A look at how the globalization of language will muzzle the nation-state. Contemporary populism and its discontents: A review of David Sirota's The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington. From International Viewpoint, an interview with Gilbert Achcar on the decline of US imperialism. Irwin Redlener on how to survive a nuclear attack.
