From TNR, driven up the Rawls: William Galston on why it's dangerous to think of politics as more than politics. John Quiggin on an agenda for social democracy. From Vox, Barry Eichengreen and Kevin H. O’Rourke on how the world economy is now plummeting in a Great-Depression-like manner. The recession heats up romance novels: In a down economy, sales of bodice-rippers are growing — escapism is part of the allure, but there's more to the story. Healing art: A look at the long partnership of medicine and literature. From African Amereican Review, a review of Jacqueline Goldsby's A Spectacular Secret: Lynching in American Life and Literature; and a review of Louis Chude-Sokei's The Last "Darky": Bert Williams, Black-on-Black Minstrelsy, and the African Diaspora. A review of Earth: An Intimate History by Richard Fortey. Rather than relying on warm, fuzzy feelings to protect animals, conservationists suggest appealing to something more reliable: greed. An interview with Bernard Wuthrich, an expert on Swiss politics: “Economics has defeated racism”. Can democracy be introduced from outside, and what conditions make the effort legitimate? Daniele Archibugi investigates. When news goes totally digital, how do you create trust? Sexing books: Does an author's gender change the way we read them? A review of Graphic Design History: A Critical Guide by Johanna Drucker and Emily McVarish.
