From The Wilson Quarterly, Americans love to complain about gridlock in Washington and partisan warfare between presidents and Congress, yet the record suggests that unified party government is no panacea; teaching a hippo to dance: The most brilliant policies will fail if government does not attract talented people and free them to do their best work; William Galston on the five maxims the federal government can follow to regain the public confidence it has lost over the past four decades; and a look at how America’s national security structure is designed to confront the challenges of the last century rather than our own. From Splice Today, an article on the roots of blogging: Literary masters' journals are being reprinted as blog updates, which is perhaps the best way to read them. From VQR, a look at how book reviews are moving from print to podcasts. From THES, children of the revolution: The Sixties generation of academics are approaching retirement, so what better time to consider that contentious era's legacy; and comic-strip hero: Graduate student Jorge Cham decided to look on the bright side of his experiences and created a comic that is entertaining millions. Thomas Frank says bipartisanship is a silly Beltway obsession. A theory that explains the evolution of ecosystems may apply to civilizations as well-and it says we're approaching a critical phase.
