Kris A. Beck (Gordon State): The Politics of Propaganda in Contemporary Tyrannies. Peter S. Menell (UC-Berkeley): 2014: Brand Totalitarianism. Jerome Roos on how Occupy reinvented the language of democracy: The movement taught millions the language of autonomy, horizontalism and direct democracy — the question now is not whether it failed, but what’s next? The art of the phony: Charles Hope reviews Forged: Why Fakes Are the Great Art of Our Age by Jonathon Keats; Art Forgery: The History of a Modern Obsession by Thierry Lenain Reaktion; and Caveat Emptor: The Secret Life of an American Art Forger by Ken Perenyi. The ethics of admiration: Darryl Pinckney on Arendt, McCarthy, Hardwick, Sontag. Dissimilar climate, similar cuisine: Jim Russell on how culinary traditions are tied to people, not places. What did the continents look like millions of years ago? Artist-geologist Ronald Blakey renders the history of the Earth with maps. Nathan Bullock reviews Battle for Ground Zero: Inside the Political Struggle to Rebuild the World Trade Center by Elizabeth Greenspan. John McWhorter on the foolish, malicious war on apostrophe's. Gabe Gilker on how polyamory is a good way to be slutty without hurting anyone. George Scialabba reviews A Colossal Wreck: A Road Trip Through Political Scandal, Corruption, and American Culture by Alexander Cockburn. His hatred was pure: Connor Fitzpatrick celebrates Alexander Cockburn, the last polemicist.
