Steven M. Teles (JHU): Transformative Bureaucracy: Reagan’s Lawyers and the Dynamics of Political Investment. From New Statesman, a special issue on the ten people who could change the world. From The Nation, can Labor revive the American Dream? Esther Kaplan wants to know. A review of Human Rights and Health Care by Elizabeth Wicks. A review of A Natural History of Seeing: The Art and Science of Vision by Simon Ings. A review of Behind The Bedroom Door: Getting It, Giving It, Loving It, Missing It. A review of The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America by James Bamford. It so happens that we can give an exact date for the birth of musical romanticism, more than two centuries ago. From PhysicsWorld, a look at the Periodic Table of Videos. An interview with Woody Tasch, author of Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms, and Fertility Mattered. From Ctheory, three meditations on aspects of the screen as it relates to knowledge and technological living. A review of Bernard Williams. From Popular Mechanics, a look at the 9 most important watches in the world. Keynes is back in fashion, but his policies did not give to the state, at all levels, the leading role in investment that is now necessary. Are local journalists and fixers in hot spots cut loose by our news media?

From Rolling Stone, Bush apologizes: The farewell interview we wish he'd give. From LiveScience, an article on the myths and realities of bipartisanship in D.C. Research suggests revenge can be counterproductive. You might be a liberal if: Here are 10 findings on the party in your mind. No one seems to care about global warming; the problem is the dull and nannyish way we are beseeched to "save the planet". A review of The Man Time Forgot: A Tale of Genius, Betrayal, and the Creation of Time Magazine by Isaiah Wilner. I Dream in Malcolm Gladwell: A new sport is taking hold, one that involves marshmallows, sticks, and fire. From n+1, here are the confessions of a DJ. Iason Athanasiadis explores America’s quixotic and sometimes clumsy attempts to engineer non-violent regime change by promoting democracy in Iran. What would our forebears have made of test-tube babies, microwave ovens, organ transplants, CCTV and iPhones? A review of America Anonymous: Eight Addicts in Search of a Life by Benoit Denizet-Lewis. Preach what you plan to practice: People will change behavior rather than be seen as hypocrites. Surfing the satellite: How Jordanian TV is a window to the world's soul. An interview with Mark Micale, author of Hysterical Men: The Hidden History of Male Nervous Illness.  An interview with Sarah Weinman on how to read 462 books in one year.

From Mute, with Mastaneh Shah-Shuja's recent book Zones of Proletarian Development, the anti-capitalist movement has finally found its political theorist; and how can the economy's need to wipe out a mountain of fictitious value be squared with its need to maintain social control?A review of Nationalism in the New World by Don H. Doyle and Marco Antonio Pamplona. How birthrate is turning modern conventional warfare on its head: An excerpt from The War Nerd by Gary Brecher. An interview with Louis Fisher, author of The Constitution and 9/11. An interview with Susan Wise Bauer, author of The Art of the Public Grovel: Sexual Sin & Public Confession. Pulp Friction: A private equity firm’s decision to shut down a profitable paper mill devastates a Wisconsin community. A review of Deployed: How Reservists Bear the Burden of Iraq by Michael Craig Musheno and Susan M. Ross. From The Chronicle, Gregory Pence on how to be happy in academe. From IHE, history beyond the nation-state: An article on "transnational" history. Capitalism's demise?: An interview with Immanuel Wallerstein. Stephanie Klein, author of Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp, goes on a rant about japs. As the philosopher Mel Brooks once remarked, it’s good to be king — but does being king make you good? An article on Hesiod versus Aristotle on generational wealth. 

From The Atlantic, who is responsible for the past eight years of dismal American governance? “George W. Bush” is a decent answer, but we should reserve some blame for the Founding Fathers, who created a presidential office that is ill-considered, vaguely defined, and ripe for abuse. How will Bush’s legacy fare? Politico asked the experts to consider his place in history. Worse than Hoover: Alan Brinkley on the personality flaw that's made Bush one of the worst presidents ever. As George W. Bush ends his eighth and final year as president, The Daily Beast takes stock of the aftermath. Bush's Achievements: Fred Barnes on ten things the president got right. All politicians are prone to make slips of the tongue in the heat of the moment — and President George W Bush has made more than most. When a college drinking buddy invited C. Brian Smith to hang out with her parents, he tried not to sweat the fact that they lived in the White House; he even had fun — until 9/11 made watching bad movies with the president feel like a guilty pleasure America. Here is The Beast's annual 50 most loathsome people in America, 2008. Why didn’t a consensus of economists at universities and other institutions warn that a crisis was on the way? The field of social psychology provides a possible answer. Back on Tracks: A nineteenth-century technology could be the solution to our twenty-first-century problems.