Magazine Roundup
Tygodnik Powszechny tells the Catholic Church to wake up and smell the environment.
From the Feuilletons
Chinese novelist Jiang Rong describes his country as a nation of sheep.
Who are the citizens of Europe?
Europe needs a binding moral foundation not a pan-European referendum, argues Alfred Grosser
Hijacking Galicia
Sonja Margolina takes up the debate, started by Richard Wagner, about Ukraine's place in the EU
5:00PM
AUG 27 2008
Everything is connected
From the International Journal of the Commons, Derek Armitage (WLU): Governance and the Commons in a Multi-Level World. From Monthly Review, an article on the myth of the tragedy of the commons. A review of The Prisoners' Dilemma: Political Economy and Punishment in Contemporary Democracies by Nicola Lacey. From n+1, take it to the street: Class clash on Seventh Avenue. A profile of LP presidential candidate Bob Barr, the master of a curious universe. A review of Everything is Connected: The Power of Music by Daniel Barenboim and Music at the Limits by Edward Said. Feeding the Beast: In order to weaken federal agencies, the Bush administration has expanded them to the point of collapse. Is it so outlandish to suggest that we sell the right to live in the United States? Gary Becker wants to know. A review of Let Them In: The Case for Open Borders by Jason Riley. Bent Flyvbjerg promotes a cure for billion-dollar cost overruns in government megaprojects: Use past boondoggles as a baseline. A review of Einstein on Politics: His Private Thoughts and Public Stands on Nationalism, Zionism, War, Peace, and the Bomb. A review of High Wire: The Precarious Financial Lives of American Families by Peter Gosselin. Scientists sequence Neanderthal DNA and find no evidence of ancestral interbreeding with our long-lost cousins.
1:00PM
AUG 27 2008
The case of beauty
From Evolutionary Psychology, Menelaos Apostolou (Warwick): Parent-Offspring Conflict over Mating: The Case of Beauty; David M. Buss (UT- Austin) and Todd K. Shackelford (FAU): Attractive Women Want it All: Good Genes, Economic Investment, Parenting Proclivities, and Emotional Commitment; and a review of Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters by Alan S. Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa. Krzysztof Koscinski (AMU): Facial attractiveness: General patterns of facial preferences. Una Gustafsson and Fredrik Bjorklund (Lund): Women Self-Stereotype with Feminine Stereotypical Traits Under Stereotype Threats. Betsey A. Stevenson and Justin Wolfers (Penn): Paradox of Declining Female Happiness. Daniel L. Chen (Harvard): Does Forbidding Sexual Harassment Exacerbate Gender Inequality? From Islamica, an interview with Samuel Huntington; a review of books on political Islam; and an article on the American Muslim community's "Obama" problem: How do you root for a candidate who doesn't want you to root for him? Jonathan Chait on the right's silly obsession with the Obama "cult". A review of Christianity and American Democracy by Hugh Heclo. A review of Muscular Christianity in Colonial and Post-Colonial Worlds. A review of Nietzsche: A Guide for the Perplexed by R. Kevin Hill. More on Victor Stenger's God: The Failed Hypothesis.
9:00AM
AUG 27 2008
Judging a book by its cover
From TNR, Paul Berman on the death of 1989: The vast, frightening fallout of Russia's invasion of Georgia; and the Kosovo Card: Ruth Wedgwood on the moral and legal fallacies of Russia's pretense for invading Georgia. From PUP, the introduction to Because of Race: How Americans Debate Harm and Opportunity in Our Schools by Mica Pollock; the introduction to Why We Vote: How Schools and Communities Shape Our Civic Life by David E. Campbell; and the introduction to The Welfare State Nobody Knows: Debunking Myths about U.S. Social Policy by Christopher Howard. From Rolling Stone, Sean Wilentz on How Bush Destroyed the Republican Party (and a video). Lifehacking for candidates: The pros give productivity advice to the presidential hopefuls. From Mute, Giovanni Arrighi invokes the political economy of Adam Smith to claim that China's labour intensive mode of production is the future of capitalism — it's also the past, argues Daniel Berchenko. A review of Judging a Book by Its Cover: Fans, Publishers, Designers, and the Marketing of Fiction. More on John Allen Paulos' Irreligion. A blueprint for good: A new movement aims to change the world through free architecture. They mean business. A review of Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America's Schools Back to Reality by Charles Murray (and more and more from Inside Higher Ed).
5:00PM
AUG 26 2008
Street art is dead
From Strategic Studies Quarterly, Douglas Peifer (AWC): Genocide and Airpower. From Human Rights and Human Welfare, Eric A. Heinze (Oklahoma): Who Intervenes and Why it Matters: The Problem of Agency in Humanitarian Intervention; exploring universal rights: A symposium on Which Rights Should Be Universal? by William J. Talbott; a review of Democracy as Human Rights: Freedom and Equality in the Age of Globalization by Michael Goodhart; and a review essay on economic rights and the welfare state. Andrew Bacevich on how the next president will disappoint you. In politics, what's fair game and what works? Veteran strategists from both sides of the partisan divide report. How America's favorite tabloid landed one of the biggest political scandals of the year. From The Village Voice, life is short: Have an affair, New York. Radar goes inside the world of high-class hipster hookers; and here's a semiscientific guide to the worst colleges in America. Here are 6 absurd classes taught at actual colleges. From The Philosophers' Magazine, Brian Leiter on the state of the vocation. From Contexts, Dave Zirin on calling sports sociology off the bench. A review of The Book is Dead (Long Live the Book) by Sherman Young. Street Art is Dead: Revolutionary creativity does not shock or entertain the bourgeoisie, read communiques posted at the scene, it destroys them.
1:00PM
AUG 26 2008
The utopian as sadist
The Summer 2008 issue of Contemporary Review is now online. An interview with Michael Kimmel, author of Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men. A review of The Rape of Troy: Evolution, Violence and the World of Homer by Jonathan Gottschall. From Humanitas, Robert H. Bell (Williams): Homer’s Humor: Laughter in The Iliad; Gabriel R. Ricci (Elizabethtown): Goethe’s Faust: Poetry and Philosophy at the Crossroads; Gorman Beauchamp (Michigan): "The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor": The Utopian as Sadist; and James Seaton (MSU): Lyric Poetry, the Novel, and Revolution: Milan Kundera’s Life is Elsewhere. From Anthurium, a special issue on V.S. Naipaul. From The New Yorker, a review of Max Factor: The Man Who Changed the Faces of the World by Fred E. Basten. A review of The Age of Impeachment: American Constitutional Culture Since 1960 by David E. Kyvig. The Orator: Meet Robert Brown Elliot, the Obama of the 1870s. An article on New England's wealth of literary magazines. Handcrafted data: Why many great reference works still rely on paintbrush and pencil, not the digital camera. From PC Magazine, a look at the top 100 undiscovered Web sites. Tiny talents: Instruction, especially in trivial skills, is one of the Web’s great giveaways. From Scientific American, a special section on technology, privacy and security.
9:00AM
AUG 26 2008
A question of balance
From Human Affairs, Hubert Dreyfus (UC-Berkely): Detachment, Involvement, and Rationality: Are We Essentially Rational Animals?; Bart Engelen (Leuven): Rationality, Norms and Institutions: In Search of a Realistic Utopia; and Iris Mendel (Vienna): Myth, Utopia, and Political Action. Andrew Savchenko (URI): Constructing a World Fit for Marxism: Utopia and Utopistics of Professor Wallerstein. Christian Barry (ANU) and Laura Valentini (Oxford): Egalitarian Challenges to Global Egalitarianism. Zofia Stemplowska (Manchester): What's Ideal About Ideal Theory? From City Journal, Steven Malanga on the professional panhandling plague. David Warsh reviews A Question of Balance: Weighing the Options on Global Warming Policies by William D. Nordhaus. In search of world justice: The burden of climate change solutions can only be equitably shared via an international court. Identity politics in climate change hell: Do you want to save the biosphere or boost your own brand of politics? (and more) An interview with Jane Mayer, author of The Dark Side. Sex and the Olympic city: Young men and women with the most fit, toned bodies in the world mingle for the last time — what might they get up to? What's up with black names, anyway? From Tayshaun to Rau'shee, Olympic athletes have been a reminder of distinctive African-American names.
5:00PM
AUG 25 2008
The case for cool
From GJSS, Lee Wing Hin (York): Centering the Center: Finding the "Hetero" in Heteronormativity. From The Gay and Lesbian Review, an interview with Edward Albee: "I’m just too busy to look back"; the search for signs of gay life in occupied Afghanistan and Iraq; an article on the science of gaydar; a look at some of the stranger “cures” for homosexuality, 1892–2004; and Bette at the bathhouse: A hand for the Divine Miss M! Which breakaway state will be the next South Ossetia? Do white people really come from the Caucasus? If Obama loses: Jacob Weisberg on why racism is the only reason McCain might beat him. In defense of race-based rooting: At the Olympics, you sometimes find yourself rooting for athletes because of their race — and that's OK. Happiness on the medal stand: It's as simple as 1-3-2. From Discover, an article on how to teach science to the Pope. An interview with Mary Beard, the classical world's most provocative figure. A review of An End to Poverty? A Historical Debate by Gareth Stedman Jones. An excerpt from Reading the OED by Ammon Shea. Peter Singer on the hidden costs of money. They are drops in an ocean of dominant norms, but some men also do question the roles thrust on them by society. Timothy Mercer on 5 reasons to be skeptical of charities. The case for cool: What, exactly, is wrong with a celebrity candidate?
1:00PM
AUG 25 2008
Picturing our thoughts
From Armed Forces Journal, an article on the counterterrorism paradox: Put the terrorist threat in perspective; carpet bombing in cyberspace: Why America needs a military botnet; and a look at why presidents no longer fire generals. From the new quarterly Dispatches, a multimedia essay on Godville: A Journey Across America; and Muzamil Jaleel is a Kashmiri in America: The lucky shade of brown. From Big Think, Jay Rosen on what the media could do better at the political conventions; and Michael Perelman on getting the right amount of sex. The Whole World Was Watching: 40 years ago this week, Chicago police battled protesters at the DNC; two ’60s radicals remember the madness, and look to Denver for change. Norman Mailer’s account of the 1968 conventions is a portrait of America, and Mailer, at a bad moment. From The Nation, more on Nixonland by Rick Perlstein (and an excerpt at Bookforum). Tim Harford on an amazing economics experiment and how it got field workers to pick a lot more strawberries. If our actions are determined by prior events, then do we have a choice about anything — or any responsibility for what we do? Good traces the most famous trips in history. From Global Journalist, a look at why spin doctors can be friends as well as foes. Picturing our thoughts: We're looking for too much in brain scans. A review of Charles Darwin by Michael Ruse.
9:00AM
AUG 25 2008
On the side of the angels
From THES, a review of Two Bits: The Cultural Significance of Free Software by Christopher M. Kelty; and a review of Criminal Intimacy: Prison and the Uneven History of Modern American Sexuality by Regina Kunzel. Does air conditioning make people vote Republican? An air-conditioned nightmare: In Afghanistan, some soldiers are pampered — should they be? Notes on a Scandal: Soldier Scott Beauchamp decided to write about his experiences in Iraq; he never suspected he'd start a war. From Mother Jones, a special investigation on US military activity around the globe, country by country, and a new primer of the post-Bush world order; is Barack Obama exaggerating when he compares his campaign to the great progressive moments in US history? 20 thinkers respond; and from the eco-MBA to the Christian hipster, college activism is alive and kicking, but what today's students care about might surprise you. The introduction to Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age by Larry Bartels (and more). The introduction to On the Side of the Angels: An Appreciation of Parties and Partisanship by Nancy Rosenblum. Cogito Interruptus: Texting and instant messaging are the wave of the future? Scott McLemee is just too ecstatic. Was New American Review the best literary magazine ever? Gerald Howard dares you to name a better one (ahem).
5:00PM
AUG 22 2008
Rhinotillexomania in an adolescent sample
Christopher Buccafusco (Illinois): Spiritualism and Will(s) in the Age of Contract. From Ryerson Review of Journalism, war correspondents can be “Totally fucked up. They can't face reality": An in-depth look at the hidden aftershocks of covering bloody conflicts up close; an interview with Craig Silverman, author of Regret the Error; and does the drive to digital threaten the integrity of photojournalism? Some like it raw: The fascinating untold story of Big Dairy, Big Government, and the war on unboiled milk. An interview with Robert Sheer, author of The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America. How to Write a Sestina: Tips for writing this challenging form of poetry. A review of The Challenge: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight Over Presidential Power by Jonathan Mahler. The first chapter from States, Scarcity, and Civil Strife in the Developing World by Colin H. Kahl. More on The Way of the World by Ron Suskind. A study called A Preliminary Survey of Rhinotillexomania in an Adolescent Sample, finds most teenagers pick their noses. Why does it take a cliche to draw attention to the problem of fathers' rights? Here's the story of Elleore, a kingdom 12 minutes ahead of Copenhagen. A review of Warrior Girls: Protecting Our Daughters Against the Injury Epidemic in Women’s Sports by Michael Sokolove.
