From Contemporary Review, an interview with the Netherlands' controversial politician Geert Wilders. Immigrant Muslims in Belleville: This multicultural corner of Paris confounds the idea of Europe ultimately being run by an Islamic majority and shows that a melange is more likely. The first chapter from Can Islam Be French? Pluralism and Pragmatism in a Secularist State by John R. Bowen. More and more and more and more on Christopher Caldwell's Reflections on the Revolution in Europe. Will Prime Minister Zapatero's visit to the White House give Spain a nudge on the international stage? From Standpoint, how frightening is a failing democracy? If you want to find out, you don't need to look far — you only have to go to Italy. Setback for Silvio Berlusconi as court lifts his immunity — but why do Italians keep voting for him, and will he ever give up? (and more) Here are five reasons why Italian should be Europe's lingua franca. As Hermann-mania returns to a wary Germany 2000 years after his victory, Clay Risen considers the search for national identity in a post-national age. Who is a European? There are simple, intuitive answers, but the deeper response is still evolving, says Timothy Garton Ash. A review of The European Union and World Politics: Consensus and Division. A new issue of Europe's World is out. Europe-a-Dope: The European Union is becoming ever stronger, and no one seems to care. A look at how Czech president Vaclav Klaus became Europe's public enemy number one. From Strange Maps, a look at Europe, sunny side up. The constitution in verse: Brussels "city poets" slam EU.

From Utne, a special issue on 50 visionaries who are changing your world. Mad about "Mad Men": A review of Kings of Madison Avenue by Jesse McLean. From VQR, a review of Armenian Golgotha by Grigoris Balakian and Black Dog of Fate: A Memoir by Peter Balakian. As Obama grapples with Afghanistan, the final interviews with Robert McNamara and McGeorge Bundy offer the lessons of Vietnam. A review of Roy Sorensen's Seeing Dark Things: The Philosophy of Shadows. From TPM, Daniel Frampton takes a filmosophical view of David Lynch; and while exploring sounds, audition, and sense modalities other than vision contributes to understanding the nature of perception and of its objects, it also reveals difficulties. The "graphic novel" is a great marketing gimmick — so grown-ups can buy comics about men in flashy briefs, unabashedly. Morgan Meis on ''The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'', a bridge between the old myths and the ones yet-to-be-written — oh, and good for Halloween. Imagine how much better you’d feel waking up to next month with your favourite calendar girl: Miss November, Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. From Commentary, a review of Lionel Trilling and Irving Howe: And Other Stories of Literary Friendship by Edward Alexander and The Conservative Turn: Lionel Trilling, Whittaker Chambers, and the Lessons of Anti-Communism by Michael Kimmage. Quirky convergence of two unrelated events is made possible by a new Web site, the Book of Odds. ¡Hola, Hezbollah! How Lebanese mullah Sheikh Hassan al-Burji found happiness in Paraguay.

From World, Bertrand Russell's "firm foundation of unyielding despair" was tragically odd: "One great benefit of going to a good Christian college is that you read important bad books with the help of wise Christian scholars"; and are we being infiltrated and surrounded by people who want us dead and our country destroyed? Republicans are in the grip of an apocalyptic rapture cult centered on revenge and vindication: An excerpt from Frank Schaeffer's Patience with God: Faith for People Who Don't Like Religion (or Atheism). From Religion Dispatches, more on Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party by Max Blumenthal; and a look at how Mormonism built Glenn Beck. John Richardson on the communist connection Glenn Beck doesn't want to talk about (and more). Truther consequences: Meet Alex Jones, the next Glenn Beck. Tea for You: Fans of limited government have taken their lumps lately, and unfortunately, one “tea party” does not a revolution make. For a bogeyman, ACORN sure is small: What's missing from the news media's ACORN stories is any sense of proportion. ACORN is just the latest example of how conservative media love to blast the Times for its shortcomings — so why can’t they live up to the Gray Lady’s standards? A look a how the media push false equivalency between Left and Right rage. Obama's right: It's time to stop taking Fox's skewed news seriously. Liberals, lay off Obama: The left should stop complaining the president hasn’t accomplished anything. Nancy Rosenblum on anything but partisanship: Anti-partyism, bipartisanship, and the luster of independence.

A review of Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places by Bill Streever (and more and more and more). Here are ten differences between the north and south poles. A review of The Magnetic North: Notes from the Arctic Circle by Sara Wheeler. From Wired, an article on hunting Arctic asteroid impact with hovercraft. The Melting Arctic: An article on maths and climate change. A new study finds Arctic land and seas account for up to 25 percent of world's carbon sink, has potential to alter Earth's climate. Change has come to the Arctic; Jess Worth visits an Alaskan village and finds lives being turned inexorably upside down. Life in a cold climate: How Sara Wheeler is shaking up Arctic exploration. One year on: How Iceland is coping with a broken economy (Icelandic architects are finding work in Canada). Is Iceland perhaps too small to be sustainable as a sovereign state? Undersized: Could Greenland be the new Iceland? Oil on ice: Will Greenland become the Nigeria of the Arctic? An article on Greenland as the suicide capital of the world. Blogger Olga Stefanova shows life in Antarctic wilderness. An article on the Russian Orthodox Trinity Church on King George Island in the Antarctic. Regional cooperation at the Third Pole: An article on the Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau and climate change. The thaw at the roof of the world: The slow-motion demise of Baishui Glacier No. 1 on the Tibetan Plateau will have far-reaching consequences. One damn peak after another: A review of Fallen Giants: A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes by Maurice Isserman and Stewart Weaver.