Scott McLemee interviews one of the “new sociologists of ideas", Neil Gross, author of Richard Rorty: The Making of an American Philosopher (and an excerpt). Research shows Socrates in the classroom develops students' thinking and changes the distribution of power. A look at how hoax anti-Obama e-mails still fool dumb white guys. A review of US Versus Them: How a Half-Century of Conservatism Has Undermined America's Security by J. Peter Scoblic. A review of The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria (and more and an excerpt). Despite its negative image, nuclear energy may be the most efficient and realistic means of meeting the rapidly-growing demand for power in the United States. From Der Spiegel, a special report on A Day in the Life of Germans. Why are the presidential candidates—and so many counterterrorism experts—afraid to say that the Al Qaeda threat is overrated? The good news in a dreary scenario is that venues for book reviewing seem to be increasing exponentially on the Web. Fred Barnes writes in praise of the "long" campaign. From Nerve, here is a list of the 50 greatest commercial parodies of all time. Not Black and White: William Saletan rethinks race and genes. Airbrushing celebrity and model photos has become so common that it's a popular pastime for magazine readers to spot the digital manipulations; have photo editors gone too far?
