online archive
5:00PM
MAR 21 2008
The only unpardonable act
From LRB, a review of A Life Decoded: My Genome: My Life by Craig Venter; and a look at why those who hear only empty optimism in Obama aren’t listening. A review of On Deep History and the Brain by Daniel Lord Smail. Challenging the assumption that some Americans are at once too good, and not good enough, for the military. We may not know the real motivations behind the Iraq war for years, but it remains difficult to distill oil from all the possibilities. An excerpt from Education's End: Why Our Colleges and Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life by Anthony T. Kronman. Jack Shafer separates bunk from fact in Malcolm Gladwell's performance at a New York storytelling forum. The rise of American incompetence: We used to be the world's most skillful entrepreneurs and managers, but now we're laughingstocks — what happened? From The New Yorker, an article on baseball’s most improbable post-career success story. There have been many retellings of Jesus’ life on screen, but the only unpardonable act in this arena of cinema is a bland, lacklustre narration. A review of Real Change: From the World That Fails to the World That Works by Newt Gingrich. The Big Log Off: Where do computer files go when you die? Frank Schaeffer, John Whitehead and Cal Thomas have repudiated the theocratic movement they once led — here’s why.
1:00PM
MAR 21 2008
The most important new forces
From CJR, a cover story on how the press let the White House craft the narrative about nukes in Iran. On Lawrence Welk's 105th birthday, five videos remember his skirmishes with the Beatles, Lou Reed, and a song about marijuana. A review of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely. A review of The Secret Life of Poems: A Poetry Primer by Tom Paulin. Great Britain's Poet Laureate Andrew Motion explains what made a request to write about 109-year-old Harry Patch, the last surviving First World War soldier, so appealing — and such a challenge. David Mamet on why he's no longer a "brain-dead liberal". A review of Yuichi Yokoyama’s New Engineering. America anti-intellectual? Now, let's think this out: Carlin Romano reviews The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby. Since ancient times, powerful men have pursued sex outside marriage with vigour; New York's disgraced governor simply had the misfortune of being born in a superficially puritan era. The most important new forces in global business are aggressive, wealthy, and entrepreneurial, but they aren't corporations: they're authoritarian governments. The rap on whites who try to act black: Whose voice should interpret the black experience in America? Who says the elite aren't fit to serve? The Bard as pundit: What would Shakespeare think of our cast of presidential characters?
9:00AM
MAR 21 2008
Spoil-proofing elections
From The Smart Set, how fake diamonds, meat by mail, and Marie Osmond turned an aspiring fiction writer into a QVC employee and shopper; and in Mexico, a street musician must deal with drunks, little sleep, and the cold — all for $15 a night. A review of Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America’s Soul by Karen Abbott. More on The Man Who Made Lists by Joshua Kendall. Spoil-proofing elections: The only way to ensure that the person the voters prefer walks away the winner is to fundamentally change voting procedures. Petroleum feeds patriarchy: The more gas you pump and the higher oil prices get, the more likely you are to harm women's empowerment. Is the hydrogen economy a savior of humanity or an economic black hole? Perhaps the proof that once and for all, rock ’n’ roll has expended its countercultural capabilities: The inescapable, hip new frequency of life and commerce in New York City. New research into inter-ethnic unions suggests we're reverting to a less romantic idea of marriage. As US liberals and conservatives call each other fascists, Gideon Rachman reviews Liberal Fascism, Heroic Conservatism, Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again and They Knew They Were Right. An excerpt from Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon—and the Journey of a Generation by Sheila Weller.
