From PopMatters, High-Minded Bullshit: Philosophy itself is often regarded as part and parcel with the bullshit of popular culture. But it is philosophers who been trying to determine exactly what bullshit is and how it works its magic. Scenes From An Obscenity Conference in Iowa City: Shit is not happening at this academic meeting—but not for lack of trying.
From AFT, an article on the myth of the tenured faculty; and do high presidential salaries hurt the academy? A debate. Profs show hostility toward evangelicals: An interview with Gary Tobin on "The Religious Identity and Behavior of College Faculty". From TNR, why don't we study military history? David A. Bell investigates. Gen. John Abizaid, who spent three years as the top commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, will start his retirement as a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.
50 years later, Little Rock can’t escape race: An Arkansas school district is still riven by racial conflict, and some question how much progress has been made. From Australian Book Review, an essay on Making the World Safe for Diversity: Forty Years of Higher Education. Exporting Idiocracy: Sending American-style education to China could stunt the dragon’s rise.
A review of Buddhists, Brahmins, and Belief: Epistemology in South Asian Religion. A review of Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction. A review of Bound Together: How Traders, Preachers, Adventurers, and Warriors Shaped Globalization. A review of The Veil of Isis: An Essay on the History of the Idea of Nature.
From Humanist Perspectives, an interview with Michael Shermer, author of The War on Science & Reason pdf. From The Scientist, an article on watching the brain lie: Can fMRI replace the polygraph? From Bookslut, an interview with Mark Solms, a founding figure of neuro-psychoanalysis and the co-director of the International Centre for Neuro-Psychoanalysis.
From Portfolio, the Ka-Ching! Dynasty: How bubbly is the Chinese art market? That might depend on how "Chinese" the art looks; Marianne Boesky—yup, Ivan's daughter—has found that selling contemporary art can be an ugly business; a review of Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich; and when Dad's got too much cash, turning 13 can be a seven-figure affair. Here’s a sampling of the past year's most extravagant bar and bat mitzvahs. Exercise in excess: How did the prom become such a pricey pageant? In her new book on the American wedding industry, Rebecca Mead speaks on the garish events that weddings have become, and what it tells us about ourselves. Dress Sense: Virginia Postrel on why fashion deserves its place in art museums. You Say Renoir, I Say Cézanne: A review of The Clarks of Cooperstown. Nothing like this Picasso: The "ugly" Les Demoiselles, which turns 100 this spring, may be art's most influential work.
Lofty Ambitions: Once upon a time, lofts were cheap spaces for struggling artists. Today they are phony and pricey, and that¹s just fine. From Frieze, what's Left? How the political divide between democratic socialists and romantic anarchists impacts on the art world. From Politics and Culture, a series of essays on Neoliberal Culture. And Give My Returns to Broadway: How a new crop of investors is applying Wall Street ideas about risk reduction to one of the riskiest investments of all
