From The New Yorker, Adam Kirsch on Hannah Arendt and the power of the impersonal; David Remnick on history, Obama, and the Middle East; tweed wars: A historians’ scuffle at the State Department; when fraudsters go bust: while bank robbers are getting busier, the Bernard Madoffs are starting to get caught; and greening the ghetto: Can a remedy serve for both global warming and poverty? Elizabeth Kolbert investigates. From New York, a review of David Denby's Snark: It’s Mean, It’s Personal, and It’s Ruining Our Conversation. From Vanity Fair, farewell to all that: Here's an oral history of the Bush White House. From Boston Review, Dean Baker on free market myth: Regulation is everywhere — let’s choose who benefits; no new tax cuts: Jeff Madrick on a case for big government; and Robert Pollin on tools for a new economy: Proposals for a financial regulatory system. A review of Social Philosophy after Adorno by Lambert Zuidervaart. America, "Amerika": A new translation of Kafka’s unfinished first novel, set in a dream-world that is not quite America. Here's a completely subjective rundown of the most noteworthy academic research that sprung forth from academia in 2008. A review of The Reagan I Knew by William F. Buckley Jr.  America is the most anxious country on the planet; so will we ever learn to live with fear, racing heart and disaster scenarios?