A new issue on the International Journal of the Commons is out. From the RSA Journal, in defence of the secular state: Cecile Laborde argues for a secular state that fosters the norms of democratic citizenship; Nick Pearce asks whether the rationalist tradition could help shape a new enlightened politics; and Pascal Bruckner describes a route to resurrection for Europe — by returning to the Enlightenment values that once made it great (and more on The Tyranny of Guilt). Online book reviewers are the common readers of our age, and, despite their common flaws, they deserve better than widespread derision — particularly from those whose livelihood depends upon them. The science of happiness: Roger Caldwell is happy to introduce Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Dubitable Darwin? Why some smart, nonreligious people doubt the theory of evolution. A review of Bullfighting: A Troubled History by Elisabeth Hardouin-Fugier. The future of intimacy is but a text message away: One can't comfortably opt out of a social medium that has become part of everyone's standard reality, if you want to stay in their social sphere. The end of trust: Though Web evangelists will tell you that society is on the verge of a new era in which everyone is always honest and secrets don't exist, the reality is that New Yorkers are keeping more from each other than ever before and watching what they say with unprecedented vigilance. Obama On and Off Base: Eugene Goodheart defends Barack Obama against attacks on him by what has been his liberal constituency. From Bookforum's Paper Trail blog, an interview with Nicolaus Mills, author of The Crowd in American Literature and Like a Holy Crusade: Mississippi 1964—The Turning of the Civil Rights Movement in America, on critics of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.
