From The Atlantic, Jay Parini on how historical fiction went highbrow: Paperback writers pass the torch to Joyce Carol Oates and Gore Vidal; finding intelligent life in the cosmos requires leaving the solar system — one group of scientists may have found a way; and a review of books on Hitler and Nazi Germany (and more from Bookforum). A review of Great Powers: America and the World After Bush by Thomas PM Barnett (and more and more and more). Be It Hereby Resolved: The Texas Legislature attempts to pay homage to George W. Bush. Conservatives in Britain try a new idea: Defend the community from global corporations. Brad DeLong on the crisis — and Geithner plan — explained, and James K. Galbraith on why the Geithner Plan won't work. We've been here before: If protectionism impedes globalisation, it doesn’t contradict capitalism. Why do more open economies have bigger governments? Unions to the rescue: How proud free-trader Jagdish Bhagwati justifies supporting the Employee Free Choice Act (and more). What difference does inequality make? A review of What Comes Naturally: Miscegenation Law and the Making of Race in America by Peggy Pascoe. What? You've not been honored by the Webbys? On the least exclusive award on the planet.
