archive

Drifting in the dark

From TNR, Simon Blackburn reviews Beyond the Hoax: Science, Philosophy and Culture by Alan Sokal; and Sarah Williams Goldhagen on Jean Nouvel — finally, a deserving starchitect. From New Statesman, Slavoj Zizek reviews Damming the Flood: Haiti, Aristide and the Politics of Containment by Peter Hallward; a look at the tiny island states of the Caribbean are drifting in the dark; Thomas Frank on the plot against liberal America; and nearly forty years ago, an explosion of surreally subversive magazines brought sex, drugs, gay liberation and feminism into the public eye and the courtroom; what survived? From FT, a review of Enough: Breaking Free From the World of More by John Naish; Against Happiness by Eric G Wilson; and Complaint: From Minor Moans to Principled Protests by Julian Baggini. A review of Democracy Stretched Thin: How Complexity Challenges a Liberal Ideal by David J. Blacker. Leon Wieseltier on Google progressivism: No, everything is not changing for the better, and to believe otherwise is marketing propaganda. For the first time, scientists have proven that "beer goggles" are real — other people really do look more attractive to us if we have been drinking. From Rolling Stone, what do Obama and McCain have in common? The same big donors, who will expect to have their way no matter who wins.