From Open Source, an interview with James Q. Wilson on Understanding America: The Anatomy of an Exceptional Nation; and an interview with Rory Stewart, post-imperialist poster hero. The Taliban and Al Qaeda have established a haven in Pakistan’s tribal areas along the Afghan border; this is where the war on terror will be fought — and possibly lost. No matter how much we voters know about a candidate, the truth is we never can tell what kind of president he’ll be. The Sixty-Day War: With one hastily made decision, John McCain upended the presidential race — an investigation of the bloody new political realities; and is Joe Lieberman really supporting John McCain out of principle? David Frum on the vanishing Republican voter: Why income inequality is destroying the GOP base. From Salon, an interview with Markos Moulitsas Zuniga on how to build a vast left-wing conspiracy. Jonathan Yardley on William Strunk, Jr.'s The Elements of Style, a "little book" bursting with the write ideas. Memory-weaving 101: A review of The Autobiographer's Handbook. A review of The Author Is Not Dead, Merely Somewhere Else: Creative Writing Reconceived by Michelene Wandor. The most complicated love story in post-war Germany: The electric and torturous correspondence between Germany's legendary poets, Ingeborg Bachmann and Paul Celan, has now been released in book form.
