Michael Betancourt (SCAD): Immaterial Value and Scarcity in Digital Capitalism. From Law and Contemporary Problems, a special issue on making markets in forbidden exchange, with articles on human blood, organ procurement, egg and sperm donation, surrogate motherhood, and parenthood. Catholics are accustomed to hearing about miracles and people being cured through the intercession of the saints, but today's materialistic culture often looks on this with scepticism. To become a Catholic saint today, it takes money, a medical miracle, and a compelling vita. A review of Pineapple Culture: A History of the Tropical and Temperate Zones by Gary Y. Okihiro. More on The Pathologies of Individual Freedom: Hegel's Social Theory by Axel Honneth. Is leading one’s own troops to slaughter ever justified?: Christopher Hitchens reviews The Somme: The Darkest Hour on the Western Front by Peter Hart. The War Over the War on Terror: Can the Obama administration successfully divorce terrorism from religion? Blame Hitler: Why Europe is responding so timidly to its economic crisis. A review of The Authenticity Hoax: How We Got Lost Finding Ourselves by Andrew Potter and More Money Than Brains: Why Schools Suck, College Is Crap and Idiots Think They’re Right by Laura Penny (and more). "It’s interesting how there does seem to be a kind of morality of reading": Sonya Chung on breaking up with books. From Lapham's Quarterly, James Franco on acting and the limits of control. Commie Girl in the OC: Laurie Penny interviews Rebecca Schoenkopf about politics, life, and feminism. Brian Dillon on hypochondria and books written by or about inventive malingerers, providing firsthand testimony from the world of the worried well.
