Life, liberty, and the folks back home: First they come to America. Then they start changing the world. From Logos, Philip Green on Immigration: Myths and Principles and Charlotte Collett on France and immigration; and a review essay on The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic and Blowback: The Causes and Consequences of American Empire by Chalmers Johnson.
Bush's Amazing Achievement: Jonathan Freedland reviews Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic by Chalmers Johnson; Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower by Zbigniew Brzezinski and Statecraft and How to Restore America's Standing in the World by Dennis Ross. George Weigel on Just War and Iraq Wars. You could be forgiven for thinking that neoconservatives have had their day. But that would be a grave error, warns political philosopher Shadia Drury. More on Are We Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America by Cullen Murphy. George Scialabba reviews The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West, by Niall Ferguson. A review of The Utility of Force: The Art of War in the Modern World by Rupert Smith.
A review of Napoleon in Egypt: The greatest glory, by Paul Strathern. A review of Garibaldi: Invention of a Hero. Less than Frank: A review of FDR by Jean Edward Smith. If Hitler was crazy, too often it was like a fox: A review of The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy. A review of The Unknown Gulag: The Lost World of Stalin's Special Settlements. A review of The Fire: The Bombing of Germany, 1940–1945, by Joerg Friedrich. A review of In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War by David Reynolds. A review of Pearl Harbor: A Novel of December 8th by Newt Gingrich. More on Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power. A review of The Reagan Diaries (and more).
From NYRB, a review of The Averaged American: Surveys, Citizens, and the Making of a Mass Public by Sarah E. Igo. The Specter Haunting Your Office: James Lardner reviews The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequences by Louis Uchitelle; The Great American Jobs Scam by Greg LeRoy; and The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism by John C. Bogle. More and more on Al Gore's The Assault on Reason.
The Unintended Consequences of Hyperhydration: Health-conscious Americans consume 30 billion single-serving containers of bottled water a year. Supporters of new bottle bills are trying to figure out what to do with all the plastic. And increasingly, the military sees energy efficiency — and moving away from oil — as part of its national security mission. Does that mean the Pentagon is turning green?
