online archive
12:00PM
JUL 12 2007
Multiculturalism, sex, religion and the environment
From Arena, multiculturalism, long the bête noire of the Right, has come under increasing attack from the Left. But whether multiculturalism is a threat to Enlightenment values or not, the real debate must be over how we understand the term itself, writes Per Wirten. Evil and pathetic: How the phrase "moral relativism" was hijacked and misused. Identity crisis: Multiculturalism may seem a liberal policy, but it reinforces prejudices. Better Dead Than Rude: Political correctness set out to reform our manners, but now seeks to smother our thoughts. It won’t succeed. A review of Camelot and the Cultural Revolution: How the Assassination of John F. Kennedy Shattered American Liberalism by James Piereson. Ellis Weiner on how to write like a conservative.
From Writ, a review of When Sex Counts: Making Babies and Making Law by Sherry Colb. A look at what proponents of the "rape exception" teach us about abortion. A review of Girls on the Stand: How Courts Fail Pregnant Minors by Helena Silverstein. Sex Panic! An interview with Debbie Nathan, author of Satan's Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt. On Intimacy with Dogs: Sensuality, pleasure, loyalty, and love outside the norms of heterosexual relationships. A review of Modern Sex: Liberation and Its Discontents. GOP candidates cross the line in the Culture War: Despite their carefully cultivated images, both Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson have recently found themselves on the wrong side of the conservative view of sex.
God and country: A look at what it means to be a Christian after George W. Bush. Among the most durable myths of American public life is that conservatives are more authentic in their religious faith than liberals and progressives. The Democratic front runners are leading their party's crusade to win over religious voters. A review of With God on Our Side: One Man's War Against an Evangelical Coup in America's Military by Michael L. Weinstein. A review of Wayward Christian Soldiers: Freeing the Gospel from Political Captivity by Charles Marsh. A review of Bonds of Imperfection: Christian Politics Past and Present by Oliver O'Donovan and Joan Lockwood O'Donovan.
From Mother Jones, when will the next Katrina hit? An interview with Mike Tidwell, author of The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Coming Death of America's Coastal Cities. Field of Dreams: Burning ethanol made from corn is supposed to reduce our dependence on oil; instead, it's wreaking havoc on agriculture. What our grandparents can teach us about saving the world: The World War II home front was the most important and broadly participatory green experiment in U.S. history. Is it a model we should use today? Eco Indulgence: The $800 green-tini and other luxuries for the trust fund tree-hugger. The paradox of green consumerism: We're always going to buy stuff. So maybe the solution isn't to consume less, but to consume differently.
12:00PM
JUL 12 2007
South Asia, Africa, Europe and Canada
From Outlook India, a review of The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence and India's Future by Martha C. Nussbaum. Abdul cannot get inside boiled egg: A review of Holy Warriors: a Journey into the Heart of Indian Fundamentalism by Edna Fernandes (and more). Stars of India: What lies behind Indian managers’ success? And can it be more widely replicated? Peter Bergen on what the Red Mosque siege says about the future of Pakistani democracy. A review of Military Inc.: Inside Pakistan's Military Economy by Ayesha Siddiqa Agha.
A review of The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West and the Fight Against AIDS by Helen Epstein. How Bush's AIDS Program is Failing Africans: The president's much-lauded international AIDS initiative has succeeded in saving lives through treatment. But its abstinence-focused prevention programs have put many more lives in jeopardy. Gospel Riches: Africa's rapid embrace of prosperity Pentecostalism provokes concern—and hope. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has vowed to press ahead with plans for a single African government, an idea that was first promoted by Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah.
From Vox, borders, language, and the future of European integration: Insights from the 19th century Habsburg Empire. A review of The Primacy of Politics: Social democracy and the making of Europe’s twentieth century by Sheri Berman. Who are the citizens of Europe? Current citizenship laws in the European Union vary dramatically. The tension between freedom of movement and national self-determination of citizenship within the EU has the potential to create serious conflicts in the future, writes Rainer Bauböck. From Ovi, an essay on Europa as the Return of the Gods (and part 2). Internal market vs. Scandinavian welfare: The building of a new school in Sweden opens up the debate on the social and economical structure of the EU.
Canada announces plans to increase its Arctic military presence in an effort to assert sovereignty over the Northwest Passage — a potentially oil-rich region the United States claims is international territory. Rising up: The stereotype is wrong. Canadian history isn’t that peaceful. A retrospective on four under-appreciated Canadian rebellions whose effects are still with us. Terror seems to surround us again: From last week's foiled plot in Britain, to reports at home of stolen nuclear devices. But are Canadians even anxious about the threats in the air? For that matter, should you be? Do you believe in ferry tales? The mayor of Toronto may not like the idea of aqua-transit, but there's no denying that boat rides transform the urban experience into something magical. The “O Canada” Personality Test: What Canadian province or territory are you?
12:00PM
JUL 12 2007
Biotechnology, human nature and space
From NYRB, Freeman Dyson on Our Biotech Future. From TED, Alan Russell studies regenerative medicine — a breakthrough way of thinking about disease and injury by helping the body to rebuild itself. He shows how engineered tissue that "speaks the body's language" has helped a man regrow his lost fingertip, how stem cells can rebuild damaged heart muscle, and how cell therapy can regenerate the skin of burned soldiers. A review of Devices of the Soul: Battling for Our Selves in An Age of Machines by Steve Talbott. The Bliss We Can't Buy: For better or worse, there are limits to re-engineering the human spirit.
Genetic engineers who don’t just tinker: Forget genetic engineering. The new idea is synthetic biology, an effort to rewire the genetic circuitry of living organisms. Life after Humans: Today, we are modifying and augmenting our bodies and abilities in ways which were not only impossible 100 years ago, but unfathomable. Existence is Wonderful: An article on bioengineering, modification, and motivation. Bathed in soft light and formaldehyde, these grisly exemplars of bone and tissue, skulls, faces and colons, represent one of the most important collections of body parts in all of medical history. They are the still-life models for Grant's Atlas of Anatomy.
How the brain and an iPhone differ: Researchers fine-tuning theories on how short-term memory works. A small coterie of devoted professionals and amateurs are working to make fully articulated, humanoid and even sinuously dancing robots a reality. Children with autism are often described as robotic: They are emotionless. They engage in obsessive, repetitive behavior and have trouble communicating and socializing. Now, a humanoid robot designed to teach autistic children social skills has begun testing in British schools. A review of True to Our Feelings: What Our Emotions Are Really Telling Us by Robert C. Solomon.
Life Beyond Earth: An ocean on Mars. An Earth-like planet light years away. The evidence is mounting, but are astronomers ready to say we're not alone? From The Space Review, a review of Contact with Alien Civilizations: Our Hopes and Fears about Encountering Extraterrestrials by Michael A.G. Michaud; a review of Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961–1965 by Francis French and Colin Burgess; a review of Destination Space: How Space Tourism is Making Science Fiction a Reality by Kenny Kemp and The Hazards of Space Travel: A Tourist’s Guide by Neil F. Comins; and a review of Distant Worlds: Milestones in Planetary Exploration by Peter Bond.
12:00PM
JUL 12 2007
Book reviews, art, sci-fi and music
From LRB, a review of The Poems of John Dryden: Vol. V 1697-1700 and Dryden: Selected Poems; Through the Trapdoor: A review of The Narrow Foothold by Carina Birman; and Marlon Brando didn’t believe in acting, except in real life, and he took every opportunity, in interviews and his autobiography, to trash the profession. It’s tempting to say this is why he was a great movie actor, but the story is more complicated.
From TLS, Orientalist art and photography: A review of Odalisques and Arabesques: Orientalist photography 1839–1925 by Robert Irwin and Ken Jacobson; Images of the Ottoman Empire by Charles Newton; and The Art of Omar Khayyam by William H. Martin and Sandra Mason; a review of Henry James Goes to Paris by Peter Brooks; and a review of A Tranquil Star: Unpublished stories by Primo Levi.
From Mute, in her recent anthology Participation, Claire Bishop targets the suspect utopianism of relational aesthetics – a new model public art for the age of consensus. But, writes Paul Helliwell, her alternative reading of participation, made across a set of historical texts and concerned to preserve the autonomy of art, may have blocked itself with her deployment of the fashionable Jacques Rancière. Tales of Titans and Hobbits: Both Ayn Rand and J.R.R. Tolkien passionately tell their tales about freedom, but they resort to completely different aesthetics, and, in consequence, paint two entirely different pictures of the world, with different heroes and different challenges. Are those differences important?
He coined the term "cyberspace" in his novel Neuromancer. So it's fitting that William Gibson's latest book, Spook Country, will be promoted in cyberspace — in Second Life, to be exact. On the centennial of Robert Heinlein's birth, Scott Van Wynsberghe examines the legacy of one of science fiction's most renowned pioneers. “We must ride the lightning”: An article on Robert Heinlein and American spaceflight. From American Heritage, Star Wizards: How a handful of desperate innovators took special effects to new heights in two 1977 movies—Star Wars and Close Encounters. Lucasfilm's Phantom Menace: Lawrence Lessig on how the Lucasfilm's empire is pulling a Jedi mind trick on collaborative recreators. Is Tinseltown really about to disappear from our cultural radar screens? A review of The Decline of the Hollywood Empire by Hervé Fischer.
From 3:AM, an interview with Bookslam impresario Patrick Neate, author of Culture is Our Weapon. A review of Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop. How Rap Cat Made It Into This Headline: As old ad agencies try to get a grip on their future, the new guerrilla ad guys think they’ve got it all figured out.
