6:02AM
MAY 31 2007
Science, ethics and history
From The New Atlantis, Adam Keiper on The Trouble With Nanoethics; Leon Kass on The Right to Life and Human Dignity; and an essay on Brave New World at 75. A new issue of Edge is out. A review of From Epicurus to Epictetus: Studies in Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy by A. A. Long. A review of A Theory of Virtue: Excellence in Being for the Good by Robert Merrihew Adams. A review of Appearances of the Good: An Essay on the Nature of Practical Reason by Sergio Tenenbaum. A review of The Ethical Imagination: journeys of the human spirit by Margaret Somerville. A review of The Flight from Reality in the Human Sciences by Ian Shapiro.
From Seed, if we're serious about building a society that makes scientifically informed decisions, then science needs to figure out a way to get its message across effectively. From Salon, Inside the Creation Museum: Adam and Eve frolic amid the dinosaurs in the new $27 million museum that demonstrates Darwin has nothing on the Book of Genesis. Travelling via the US is a bit of a trial for Richard Dawkins, thanks to security gone mad. But later, he goes on to encounter another, lovely, kind of booby - and a terrific eco-friendly sports car. A review of The Richness of Life: The Essential Stephen Jay Gould.
A review of Wild: An Elemental Journey by Jay Griffiths. A review of A Guinea Pig's History of Biology: the Plants and Animals who Taught us the Facts of Life by Jim Endersby (and more). Life decisions separate "hawk" from "dove": The way animals decide how to live their lives, and when to reproduce, may control their "personalities", according to a new model. Animals differ strikingly in character and temperament. Yet only recently has it become evident that personalities are a widespread phenomenon in the animal kingdom.
Research finds children can perform approximate math without arithmetic instruction. A review of The Poincare Conjecture by Donal O'Shea. A review of Flat Earth: the History of an Infamous Idea by Christine Garwood (and more). Thomas Fleming reviews Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors by Nicholas Wade. Evidence from ancient European graves raises questions about ritual human sacrifice. A review of The Great Pyramid by John Romer. And a review of Scenting Salvation: Ancient Christianity and the Olfactory Imagination
6:02AM
MAY 31 2007
Religion, commerce and the environment
A review of The Messenger: The Meanings of the Life of Muhammad by Tariq Ramadan. Middle class, mainstream, murderous? Cathy Young on what the polls tell us about American Muslims. The evolution of daft ideas: Islamic creationism is growing and the movement is now repackaging ideas from reactionary American Christian groups. Senator Sam Brownback on what he thinks about evolution. An interview with Peter Irons, author of God on Trial: Dispatches from America's Religious Battlefields. Signs From God: Doree Shafrir on the curious history of church marquees.
From Skeptic, an elemental impulse: Religion is so powerful that even Soviet antireligious policy failed. A review of The Atheist Manifesto by Michel Onfray. More and more and more on God is Not Great. Christopher Hitchens debates Chris Hedges in a battle of wits and faith over the meaning of religion in our lives and politics today. A review of Forbidden Fruit: Sex & Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers.
A review of Jon Savage's Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture. Who Cares? Why young progressives should embrace charity. Why is the stock market still bullish? You can thank leveraged buyouts and corporate buy-backs of stock — and understand that this can't last. Is Wal-Mart too cheap for its own good? A confidential report concludes that the chain’s reputation for discounts has worked against its efforts to move upscale. More on Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole by Benjamin R. Barber.
A review of Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage by Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston. A review of Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future By Bill McKibben. Two billion cups are sold daily in a £40bn global industry, but now a controversial documentary showing the plight of growers asks whether there is such a thing as ethical coffee.
Combining libertarianism with green values might be a pragmatic way to convince some of the worst polluters to cut back by essentially bribing them with cash. Clive Hamilton in Scorcher: the dirty politics of climate change says that Australia rather than the US is the major stumbling block to a more effective Kyoto Protocol. Energy Incrementalism: An article on a good (but not great) alternative fuel policy. A Full Tank of Hypocrisy: Higher gas prices may be the best way to slow global warming. And George Monbiot on Alexander Cockburn and the corruption of science
6:02AM
MAY 31 2007
Global issues, American foreign policy, American politics and conservatism
From Monthly Review, a review of A People's History of the World by Chris Harman. Robert J. Shiller on the myth of "superstar cities". A review of Bound Together: How Traders, Preachers, Adventurers, and Warriors Shaped Globalization by Nayan Chanda. Will Robert Zoellick be able to get the World Bank back on its feet after the failed presidency of Paul Wolfowitz? Kenneth Rogoff investigates (more from Financial Times and more from The Economist and more).
From Newsweek, why another face-off between Washington and Moscow isn’t as impossible as you might think. From Foreign Affairs, Barack Obama on Renewing American Leadership and Mitt Romney on Rising to a New Generation of Global Challenges. Henry A. Kissinger on the lessons of Vietnam: Iraq desperately needs a political solution in the short term to make the war more manageable for the next president. Fred Kaplan on Bush's failed campaign to rebrand America: The administration believes public relations is a synonym for diplomacy. A look at what Bush and America have in common with another overreaching hegemonic power: The New York Yankees.
From The Guardian, America was in uproar last week when Jimmy Carter described George Bush's foreign policy as the worst in history. He broke an unwritten rule: Past presidents don't attack incumbents. Gaby Wood finds him unrepentant. Democrats beware: Attacking the incompetence of the Bush administration is too easy. Republicans have no answer to such criticisms, but they do not need one. Presidential Scouting Reports: A libertarian fan's guide to the World Series of politics. As America's presidential campaigns seek fresh sources of finance, hedge fund and private equity executives are finding their political voice. The thespian's new clothes: Actor Fred Thompson's bid for the Republican presidential candidacy has supporters deluded into believing he is the next Ronald Reagan. If you promise not to squeal to his bosses, Andrew Glass will tell you how to run for vice president.
From Rolling Stone, an interview with Grover Norquist. Jonathan Chait on white-collar crooks, dictatorships, and other conservative causes. Can conservatism be realistic about its own popularity too? George Will investigates. John Berlau on why Rush Limbaugh should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. And now that Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter has presented him with a grandson, maybe it's time for Grandpa to join PFLAG
6:02AM
MAY 31 2007
Books, non-fiction, technology and the Internet
From Inside Higher Ed, heading to the publishing world’s biggest gathering, Scott McLemee reviews a hard-hitting analysis of American literary culture, academic and otherwise. This year's BookExpo America will be a story of networking, the old way and the new (and more). In print forever? Sometimes, authors would rather go out of print. We're courting disaster if we begin judging books by boasts on their covers. I've always loved books: that's why I collect them: Children's Laureate Jaqueline Wilson explains a life-long hobby and obsession. What better way to relax after a kid-filled day than with a nice book—and what less likely scenario can many parents imagine? For page-turners everywhere, here's has a novel idea. The death of biography is exaggerated: A review of Biography: A Brief History by Nigel Hamilton. Carlin Romano reviews The Case for Literature by Gao Xingjian.
From Ralph, a review of Wanting Enlightenment Is a Big Mistake: Teachings of Zen Master Seung Sahn, and a review of When the Impossible Happens: Adventures in Non-Ordinary Realities by Stanislav Grof. A review of A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. A review of A Tranquil Star. Writing Africa, Writing Ourselves: An interview with Ed Pavlic, author of Labors Lost Left Unfinished. A review of Kinfolks: Falling Off the Family Tree — The Search for My Melungeon Ancestors by Lisa Alther. A review of Four Queens: The Provençal Sisters Who Ruled Europe by Nancy Goldstone. A review of World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War.
From PopMatters, The Evolution of Vintage: One of the glaring paradoxes of technological evolution is its ability to reconnect us to history. And if we know anything about human nature, it's that as we step into the future, we always look back. From The New Atlantis, a spate of new websites aim to shame, bust, or at the very least publicize illegal, incompetent, and just plain indecent behavior—no, not of celebrities, of neighbors. The website Crappers Quarterly gives the 411 on where to do your business the world over.
From Reason, an article on Wikipedia and Beyond: Jimmy Wales' sprawling vision (and an interview with Wired). Can we save the Internet? Andrew Keen and Kevin Kelly debate the scary introduction to primeval man. How much does the Internet weigh? Discover puts the online world on the scale. And e-charmed, e-nergized, e-lated: Now that e-mail has pretty much replaced letter-writing, Carmine Starnino says, it's worth a look as an art form
1:30AM
MAY 30 2007
Legal theory, philosophy and the Middle East, book reviews, literature and more
Mark Greenberg (UCLA): Naturalism and Normativity in the Philosophy of Law. John Hasnas (Georgetown): The Depoliticization of Law. Russell Pearce (Fordham): The Legal Profession as a Blue State: Reflections on Public Philosophy, Jurisprudence, and Legal Ethics. Curtis J. Milhaupt and Katharina Pistor (Columbia): Law and Capitalism: What Corporate Crises Reveal About Legal Systems and Economic Development Around the World.
From Dissent, teaching Plato in Palestine: Can philosophy save the Middle East?; and an interview with Sari Nusseibeh, author of Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life. A review of Talking India: Ashis Nandy in conversation with Ramin Jahanbegloo.
A review of Robert of Arbrissel: Sex, Sin and Salvation in the Middle Ages. A review of Demonstration and Scientific Knowledge in William of Ockham. An excerpt from Empires of the Atlantic: World Britain and Spain in America 1492-1830. A review of Wilfred Thesiger: The life of a great explorer. A review of The Silent Deep: The Discovery, Ecology, and Conservation of the Deep Sea by Tony Koslow and The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss by Claire Nouvian.
From PopMatters, a review of New Cultural Studies: Adventures in Theory, ed. Gary Hall and Clare Birchall. A review of Impossible Conservatism [Le Conservatisme impossible: Libéraux et réactionnaires en France depuis 1789]. From n+1, Nikil Saval on V., in honor of Memorial Day. From The New Yorker, How I Spent the War: Günter Grass as a recruit in the Waffen S.S.
From New York, Literary Idol: Discussion of, and the engagement in, the unearthing of pleasantly surprising books, including a gimmicky showdown among the city's most promising up-and-comers, and a critic-compiled list of 60 criminally underrated novels, and more. Publishing gets a little less indie: There’s soul searching among the industry’s little guys as Perseus closes two recently acquired imprints. A review of The Little Book of Plagiarism by Richard A. Posner. Atheist authors grapple with believers: Many books decrying religion's negative influence on the world are bestsellers.
Reading the Book of Jim: The co-discoverer of the double helix is making his DNA public, pioneering the personal genome. A review of The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph From the Frontiers of Brain Science. From Wired, "Hacking My Kid's Brain": An article on how a child's neurons were rewired; and researchers claim to have developed the first mathematical model for creating invisibility simulations on a computer. What is it about nitrogen that makes it so eminently employable, so readily and indispensably incorporated into the cell’s premier laboring masses? From Scientific American, A.D. 100 Billion, Big Bang goes bye-bye: Cosmic expansion may leave astronomers of the far future with no hint of the big bang that started it all.
From Governing, data storage is the backbone of today’s Internet economy. But are power-hungry server farms worth wooing for economic development? Jonathan Freedland on how the internet will revolutionise the very meaning of politics. And order is in the Eye of the Tiger: An excerpt from Everything Is Miscellaneous
1:30AM
MAY 30 2007
The war on terror, Islam, energy and the environment, ideologies and more
From Mother Jones, a message to you, Rudy Giuliani: How the zero-tolerance policies of "America's Mayor" set us up for the Patriot Act and Guantanamo. A review of Ghost Plane: the inside story of the CIA’s secret rendition programme. Pearl's wisdom: A new film about the murder of the American journalist raises the question: why doesn't more mainstream culture delineate radical Islam?
From TNR, who's afraid of Tariq Ramadan? Paul Berman reviews To Be a European Muslim; Islam, the West, and the Challenges of Modernity; Western Muslims and the Future of Islam; and In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad; the cult of the Washington whistle-blower: Whistle-blowing has become a full-fledged personal identity—a scene with its own specialized lawyers, therapists, 40-odd advocacy groups, a publishing imprint, swag, and even a timeless philosophy; and how energy independence threatens the environment: Bradford Plumer on how Big Coal cozied up to Democrats, and a look at how the Bushies killed the EPA's clean-up program.
Robert J. Samuelson on The Case for Gouging: Higher gas prices may be the best way to slow global warming. Even supporters of alternative energy agree that the easiest way to cut carbon emissions and air pollution is to focus more on efficiency. When it comes to energy sources, nuclear fusion used to be the wallflower. But now, scientists are working to see if it could be a safe and environmentally-friendly way of producing electricity. How to turn global warming into a tourist attraction: Celebrities are flocking to a small town in Greenland – helping to accelerate the very climate-change process they've come to witness.
From FT, Gideon Rachman on Obama and the comforting myth of political consensus. In defence of the rich, sort of: Criticising candidates who fight for the poor while enjoying a life of personal excess misses the reality of American politics. Ezra Klein on giving bigger government a chance: For too long, we've bought the idea that government has failed us. For the record, it isn’t until the fourth page of the introduction to his new memoir, No Excuses, that Robert Shrum begins making excuses. Party Unfaithful: Jeffrey Goldberg on the Republican implosion. The Conservative Mind: Peter Berkowitz on how the American right is a cauldron of debate; the left isn't. From 3:AM, The Last Revolution in Town: An interview with Christopher Hitchens on the death of that other religion: liberalism.
A review of Our First Revolution: The Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America's Founding Fathers by Michael Barone. A review of Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr. A review of Blood and Thunder: An epic of the American West; Crazy Horse: A Lakota life; and Violence Over the Land: Indians and empires in the early American west. A review of Mencken: The American Iconoclast (and part 2). A review of Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. An interview with Thomas Mallon, author of Mrs. Paine’s Garage and the Murder of John F. Kennedy.
From New York, Cramer vs. Cramer: “Why does everybody hate me?” The Wall Street maniac explains his critics, the market, and himself. A review of The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co. And from The Brookings Institution, an article on economic mobility: Is the American Dream alive and well?
1:30AM
MAY 30 2007
Literature, fiction and more
From The Wilson Quarterly, a review of The Case for Literature by Gao Xingjian. The Modernist who hated modernity: A review of Henry James Goes to Paris by Peter Brooks. A master analyst of his times, and of the human heart, it's an ongoing mystery why Philip Roth, America's best novelist, has yet to receive his rightful laurels. Frank Rich reviews Falling Man by Don DeLillo. Is DeLillo equating survivors of 9/11 with terrorists? A debate on Falling Man (and a review).
Newt Gingrich's new novel is an alternative history of the war — World War II, that is. But are there contemporary lessons to be learned from rewriting the past? What’s so funny about that? Even when it wasn’t explicitly about the Holocaust, Primo Levi’s fiction was haunted by his time at Auschwitz. More on A Tranquil Star: Unpublished Stories of Primo Levi.
The responsibility of the novelist: Samir El-Youssed, Mohsin Hamid and Gabriel Vasquez discuss complexity in fiction at Hay. A successful journalist resigns to pursue a new life - and an ambitious reading list: A review of Inglorious by Joanna Kavenna.
From First Things, if the Ministry of Truth had devoted their full attention to obliterating the memory of Harry Sylvester, his elimination from the public consciousness could not have been more total; Ross Douthat on Stephen King’s American Apocalypse; and lots of novel readers—from the highest brow to the lowest—nod politely when the science-fiction writer Gene Wolfe is mentioned. Both the Soldier cycle and the Book of the New Sun series reveal the problem and the promise of Gene Wolfe. A law professor's first legal thriller hits its mark: A review of Scott Gerber's The Law Clerk.
If you find much of life and politics so absurd as to be hilarious, you need to read Christopher Buckley. Words that once shocked and surprised have become standard expressions, but do we really need to use the F-word in every sentence? Seeking Signs of Literary Life in Iran: Forget reading Lolita in Iran. In the officially vetted edition of Madame Bovary, even adultery is off limits. A review of Karaoke: the global phenomenon by Zhou Xun and Francesca Tarocco. Land of the rising daughters: A review of Kickboxing Geishas by Veronica Chambers. A review of Bento Box in the Heartland: My Japanese Girlhood in Whitebread America by Linda Furiya.
A review of The Empty Nest: 31 Parents Tell the Truth About Relationships, Love, and Freedom After the Kids Fly the Coop. Judd Apatow, the director of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and now “Knocked Up”, makes comedies about saving yourself for marriage and staying together for the sake of the kids. An interview with Rebecca Mead, author of One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding. A work of genius has more in common with its brilliant opposite than it does with a dozen dull siblings. Witness the following unlikely pair, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: A Novel in Cartoons by Jeff Kinney and How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor. And misery loves comedy: Grief takes on many forms, though it’s rare to hear about a sudden addiction to comedy clubs and Seth Meyers’s political impersonations
1:30AM
MAY 30 2007
China, Japan, the developing world, the Catholic Church and more
From Japan Focus, Reins of Liberation: An article on geopolitics and ethnopolitics of China, Central Asia and the Asia Pacific. They loom, desolately incandescent, over the city that was. Glowing spikes claw at the sky, reaching ever upward, wilfully ignorant of what lies beneath. This is modern Shanghai. From Defense News, an essay on US and Chinese nuclear and missile development, and the risk of accidental nuclear war.
Why Japan won't save the whales: The Japanese government is expanding its whale catches and winning international support with pseudoscience. It's all about me: Have today's Japanese lost their empathy? Thomas Palley on how Japan fuels global financial instability.
Buy American! China does. The Saudis too. Loaded with dollars, they are buying U.S. assets. Is that good? A review of The Emerging Markets Century by Antoine van Agtmael. Design that solves problems for the world’s poor: The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum is honoring inventors dedicated to helping the billions of people living on less than $2 a day. "Food Force", the world’s first humanitarian video game for children, is celebrating the launch of three new language versions.
From The Economist, a question of life and death: The struggle between “pro-choice” and “pro-life” forces around the world. Johann Hari on the tricky question of Gordon Brown's God. The New Alliance, a new political party challenging the role of religion in public life, has been an instant hit in Denmark. The pope's half-hearted apology to indigenous groups in the Americas shows he has a long way to go in understanding history. For a man with such strong convictions, Pope Benedict has shown a surprising penchant for verbal missteps. Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to expand permission to use the pre-1960s Latin Mass will be hyped beyond all recognition, because doing so serves the purposes of both conservatives and liberals within the church, as well as the press.
A review of Full Circle: Death and Resurrection in Canadian Conservative Politics by Bob Plamondon (and an excerpt) pdf. An article on the perfect slogan for Toronto, coined by a citizen genius. They Came, They Toured, They Offended: It may be time to retire the term "ugly American". When it comes to tourists, bad manners may be a global phenomenon. To many critics, US embassies are like the US itself: remote, foreboding and impenetrable. Andrew J. Bacevich lost his son to a war he opposes. They were both doing our duty.
From Public Opinion Pros, a special issue on terrorism and the media. A review of If They Only Listened to Us: What Women Voters Want Politicians to Hear by Melinda Henneberger. Hillary Clinton’s competence-based campaign has been stealthily making progress. But two bios put her persona back in the spotlight.
From New York, five teams compete to make Governors Island an urban paradise. Only one will survive; and The Vandalism Vandal: Who’s been splashing the city’s most prized graffiti? The hunt for the radical, young and possibly lovelorn conceptual-Marxist street-art supervillain. Howard Kurtz on Celeb Rag Shocker: Us's Exposé Exposé! And look out Paris, Britney: Perez is watching you
11:45AM
MAY 29 2007
Book reviews, economics, philosophy, academia, and science
A review of Plato and Aristotle in Agreement? Platonists on Aristotle from Antiochus to Porphyry. A review of Locke: A Biography. An except from John Wilkes: The Scandalous Father of Civil Liberty. A review of The War on Privacy. A review of New Dimensions in Privacy Law: International and Comparative Perspectives. A review of A Common Law Theory of Judicial Reviews: The Living Tree.
Who's afraid of democracy? A review of The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies by Bryan Caplan. A look at how economists lost Hayek, and then found him. Is eBay rational? Tim Harford on why auction sites make economists so giddy. A Bettor World: Once apprenticed to a bookie, Justin Wolfers of Wharton now draws economic insight from the behavior of gamblers. They may not realize it, but good economists who coach students into the economic way of thinking are actually practicing a type of mental yoga.
A review of The Animals Reader: The Essential Classic and Contemporary Writings, ed. by Linda Kalof and Amy Fitzgerald; Rights and Moral Philosophy by Julian H. Franklin; and The Moral Menagerie: Philosophy and Animal Rights by Marc R. Fellenz. Critics say modern philosophy is a useless waste of time. They are wrong. At its best, modern philosophy tells us how to waste time usefully. Julian Baggini on Descartes’ Meditations (Digested).
From Counterpunch, Robert Jensen on what the Finkelstein tenure fight tells us about the state of academia. What happens at the intersection of brute politics and public higher education? For a case study, review the past year at the University of Massachusetts. A look at why Columbia's expansion plans will benefit West Harlem. Oxford University should end its support for the homophobic, misogynist evangelicals at Wycliffe. Elite colleges open new door to low-income youths: Wanting to keep a role as engines of social mobility, some schools have pushed to diversify economically.
Test-takers, not students: Test madness and centralized curriculum control squeeze creativity out of the classroom. Teach Your Children Well: Joel Waldfogel on the economic case for preschool. IQ is dumb: A test designed in the 1920s sorts the philosophers from the electricians from the copilots and makes one wonder: Whither aptitude? Genes may help people learn Chinese: A link between brain development genes and speakers of tonal languages has been shown for the first time.
The Science of Disgust: A new study explains why we think some things are icky — and marketers are starting to pay attention. If it feels good to be good, it might be only natural: New research is showing is that morality has biological roots that have been around for a very long time. The more researchers learn, the more it appears that the foundation of morality is empathy. Want to improve your relationship? Do the dishes because you really want to: Research finds if you do something positive for your mate, it does it matter why you do it.
Score one for body language: It seems that body shape and the way people walk hold major cues to their attractiveness to others. Have you ever had the impulse to pull your hair out? You may have Trichotillomania. Snooze function: Why do we sleep? And can smart drugs be developed to combat tiredness? And erasing with bread crumbs, pencil as murder weapon, and more: 20 things you didn't know about pencils
11:45AM
MAY 29 2007
American politics, gender issues, religion and more
The New Establishment: How evangelicals became part of Washington's fabric. A review of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America Are Winning the Culture War by Dan Gilgoff. The Young and the Restless: Monica Goodling is merely an emblem of the conservative legal establishment's strange youth culture—one that offers extraordinary opportunities to people at bizarrely young ages. The Goodling Girl: Emily Bazelon and Dahlia Lithwick on how Monica Goodling played the gender card and won. Justice by a Lower Standard: Here are lessons from the U.S. Attorneys scandal.
From Logos, a review of The History of Human Rights: From Ancient Times to the Globalization Era. Niall Ferguson on reviving the evil empire: There is no such thing as the future. There are only futures, plural. Historians are supposed to confine themselves to the study of the past, but by drawing analogies between yesterday and today, they can sometimes suggest plausible tomorrows. Fascism and America: Comparisons between Nazi Germany and today's US government are glib, inaccurate and unworthy. Matthew Parris on why the trouble with democracy is that you just can’ t trust it. A counsel of despair: The age of empires and foreign intervention is over, said Eric Hobsbawm at Hay, and it is far from clear what will replace them.
As the Bush era reaches an undignified end, marred by the Iraq war, Americans are doing what they do best: Chasing their next dream. Come in, it's safe: Claims that illegal immigrants threaten national security are based on a misunderstanding of both immigrants and security. Black culture itself is in trouble: The greatest obstacle to success for middle-class blacks is not white racism but the allure of hip-hop culture. Frank Furedi diagnoses something rotten in the trend to label political or cultural views as phobias that must be treated.
In this era of political correctness, any hint of male/female differences often leads to roaring anger among the masses and, if possible, the firing of a powerful male a la Harvard's Larry Summers - - unless, of course, the said sex difference makes men look animalistic or ridiculous. Beware of the "on ramp" myth currently being peddled to unwitting women. The road back to a full-time career after taking time off to raise kids is far from smooth. Crisis pregnancy centers focus on the woman — and stretch the truth — to save the child.
A review of Waiting for Daisy: A Tale of Two Continents, Three Religions, Five Infertility Doctors, an Oscar, an Atomic Bomb, a Romantic Night, and One Woman’s Quest to Become a Mother by Peggy Orenstein. From IEET, an article on sex selection and women’s reproductive rights. Form Logos, a review of Defiant Birth: Women Who Resist Medical Eugenics and Too Late to Die Young: Nearly True Tales from a Life; Kurt Jacobsen on the mystique of genetic engineering; and Ian Williams on the afterlife of an atheist.
From Reset, an interview with Daniel Dennett on Breaking the Spell. A review of In Defence of Atheism: The Case Against Christianity, Judaism and Islam by Michel Onfray (and more). A Canterbury Tale: A review of Grace and Necessity by Rowan Williams. More on Sacred Causes by Michael Burleigh.
75 years ago in The Atlantic, in the midst of the Great Depression, British economist John Maynard Keynes considered the prospects for capitalism's survival. Humility Kills: Peter Singer on how an ancient virtue hampers the fight against extreme poverty. A review of The Worst of Evils: The Fight Against Pain by Thomas Dormandy. And Death & Politics: Joseph Bottum on how the deepest roots of a civilization are in its funerals and memorials. The dead define culture
