Eric Lawrence, John Sides, and Henry Farrell (GWU): Self-Segregation or Deliberation? Blog Readership, Participation, and Polarization in American Politics. A snake had just slithered into a sauropod's nesting ground, looking for dinner, but a sudden landslide enveloped and killed all involved, as stunning fossils show. Lawyers, Terror & Torture: Liz Cheney's witch hunt against lawyers who represented Guantanamo detainees is a new low. The rock star professor: Who is Farish Noor, this man who gives attention-grabbing quotes on controversial subjects and writes books that make politicians sit up and take notice? Greek Mess, Global Mess: The blame game over Greece's crisis misses the bigger problem — what is happening is a world-wide game of chicken. Ulysses S. Grant deserves his spot on the $50 bill and among our greatest presidents. Dirty tricks of the egg and sperm race: You might think the battle of the sexes is over once mating occurs — but it's just shifted to a new, microscopic arena. An ongoing battle between Rupert Murdoch, Silvio Berlusconi and Muammar al-Gaddafi involves adult television programming, an ultraviolent war film, and lots of money and bitterness flying around. From GQ, Hello, America: An interview with Rielle Hunter. Too much practice: William H. Willimon has second thoughts on a theological movement. The Liveliest Mind in New York: Tony Judt’s dazzling, cantankerous brain is one of New York’s great treasures — now, two years into a devastating battle with ALS, it is all he has left (and his latest at NYRB: Girls! Girls! Girls!). The Penguin story is a great publishing story but its latest campaign is less a celebration of a world-changing event and more a part of the ongoing battle for market share among the major publishers.

And check out Paper Trail, Bookforum's new blog on publishing, literature, and our favorite authors.

From Antiquity, a review essay on human origins, a not so modest affair. Studies of hominid fossils, like 4.4-million-year-old "Ardi," are changing ideas about human origins. An independent team has found that Darwinius masillae, hyped last year as the eighth wonder of the world, is not our ancestor. A look at how DNA evidence tells "global story" of human history. From Scientific American, a panel of scientists challenges what it is to be distinctly human and retraces the evolutionary steps that bipedal apes made to attain human traits; research suggests early humans used brain power, innovation and teamwork to dominate the planet; and what can past climate change reveal about human adaptation? An interview with Rick Potts, the Smithsonian anthropologist who turned heads in scientific circles when he proposed that climate change was the driving force in human evolution. Human culture, an evolutionary force: Biologists are finding evidence that culture has been interacting with genes to shape human evolution. Move Over Darwin: Rachel Armstrong on systems evolution and bio feminism. Eric Michael Johnson (UBC): Deconstructing Social Darwinism. Cachet of the Cutthroat: Social Darwinism isn't only morally wrong; it doesn't even perform the function it claims to perform — fostering real competition. From RSA Journal, Franz de Waal on how bad biology killed the economy: An unnatural culture of greed and fear has brought the global economy to its knees — we need to start playing to our pro-social strengths (and Edward Dolnick reviews The Age of Empathy by Frans de Waal; and more and more); and David Sloan Wilson on policymaking the Darwinist way: We need to shed our prehistoric policymaking practices and turn to evolution for guidance.

From Cercles, a special issue on Defining Americanization, including Olivier Richomme (Lyon): The role of “ethno-racial” classification in the Americanization process; Bruce Plourde (Temple): Frontier as Symptom: Captain Kirk, Ahab, and the American Condition; John D. Schwetman (Minnesota-Duluth): The American Cosmopolitan: Deracination in the Works of Jack Kerouac and Toni Morrison; and J. A. Zumoff (CUNY): The Americanization of the American Communist Party in the Early 1920s. Thomas Meany revisits George Santayana's ambivalent thoughts about his prosperous adopted home — America. Dwight McDonald's Against the American Grain, against the odds, still has something to say. Christopher Lasch’s Culture of Narcissism offered an indictment of American life that displeased both the right and the left. Here's a day in America according to a (baffled) foreigner. From National Review, an exceptional debate: Richard Lowry and Ramesh Ponnuru on the Obama administration’s assault on American identity (and a response and a reply). Real America: Abe Sauer on the gunmen among us. Why are some Americans becoming violent shoppers? Stefany Anne Golberg on America's eclectic ways of mourning the dead. Let there be no mistake, the old world of America is over. From Scott Brown's populist bait-and-switch to Harvey Weinstein's "indie" push for an Inglourious Basterds Oscar, we have become a polarized nation of desperate believers. Americans just aren’t equipped for the 21st century. Joe Biden is right to insist that America has little in common with Rome or Britain before their empires collapsed. Joel Kotkin on America's dubious decline (and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more on The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050).

From Inkling, will Big Pharma's female Viagra-hopeful Flibanserin enliven ailing sex lives — or handcuff women to another daily pill? A review of Why Women Have Sex by Cindy M. Meston and David M. Buss. Why men use prostitutes: The reasons why many men pay for sex are revealed in the interviews that make up a major new piece of research. From Details, meet America's first legal male prostitute, former Marine "Markus"; and an article on the lure of dating an ex-lesbian: So-called hasbians are going for straight guys just like you! A review of Manhood: The Rise and Fall of the Penis by Mels van Driel and The Naked Man: A Study of the Male Body by Desmond Morris. The iPhone app Grindr is the biggest boon for gay sex since Craigslist. A look at how Grindr and the men who use it are changing the way you're hooking-up. Here's a polyamory zine on "infinite relationships", relationships without bounds or boundaries, love without limits, without ends. G. Tracy Mehan, III on cultures monogamous and polyamorous. Damon Linker on how the sky is still falling on the heads of sexual traditionalists. From shame to game in one hundred years: An economic model of the rise in premarital sex and its de-stigmatisation. From Arts & Opinion, Cynthia Peters on 21st century sexuality. The most telling indicator of how late capitalism is shaping human sexuality is found in the proliferation of next-generation sex dolls. The American Psychological Association may no longer consider homosexuality a disorder, but according to its updated guidebook, playing with toys or liking sex a lot is cause for concern. Here is sex explained graphically by pens. Spanish are outraged by teen masturbation workshops. A look at the 5 most horrifying attempts to teach sex ed to children.

The mystery of Zomia: In the lawless mountain realms of Asia, Yale professor James Scott finds a case against civilization (and Joel Robbins reviews Scott's The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia). From Irrawaddy, taking over the airwaves: Private FM radio stations are shooting up all over Burma. Sex, drugs and inner tubes: As Laos opens to tourists, some fear it may be losing its soul — others are merely losing their bikinis. Laos steps into the globalized world — but Vientiane is now inextricably linked with Beijing. What is behind the latest crackdown on democracy activists in Vietnam? In the rapidly developing Cambodia, forcible evictions are an all-too-common way to make room for the new. From Asia Times, a special investigation on drugs and disaffection in southern Thailand. A review of Singapore: A Biography by Mark Ravinder Frost and Yu-mei Balasingamchow. A review of Constructing Singapore: Elitism, Ethnicity and the Nation-Building Project by Michael D. Barr and Zlatko Skrbiss. It's not just politics and racial discrimination: Malaysia's brain drain appears to be picking up speed. From Aliran Monthly, a review of Malaysia at the Crossroads by Jeyakumar Devaraj; and an interview with Andrew Aeria on the divide between east and west Malaysia (and more). From Inside Indonesia, an article on the ongoing challenge of the Papua dilemma. Death in Freeport: 21st Century colonialism flourishes in West Papua. A review of The Next Front: Southeast Asia and the Road to Global Peace with Islam by Christopher S. Bond and Lewis M. Simons (and an excerpt). What's behind Asean's arms race? William Boot looks at the regional rivalry for energy resources while China's growing shadow drives massive spending on weapons in Southeast Asia.

David R. Wenger (Freiburg): The Impotent State: Between Self-assertion Strategies and Illusions of Control. From The New Criterion, a special issue on The New Statism and the Assault on Individual Liberty. The first chapter from A Brief History of Liberty by David Schmidtz and Jason Brennan (and more). A review of Liberal Loyalty: Freedom, Obligation, and the State by Anna Stilz. The many faces of liberalism: Samuel Brittan reviews books on the political philosophy that has shaped our world, from personal freedom to free markets. From Rationality, Markets, and Morals, Frank Dietrich (Leipzig): Individual Interest and Political Legitimacy; and Horacio Spector (UTDT): Value Pluralism and the Two Concepts of Rights. Where are the polyarchists gone?: Tony Curzon Price on the liberty/equality axis. Marc F. Plattner (NED): Populism, Pluralism, and Liberal Democracy. From Public Reason, Christopher Jay (UCL): Keeping Truth Safe From Democracy. The Grasping Hand: Peter Sloterdijk on how the modern democratic state pillages its productive citizens (and Axel Honneth on Peter Sloterdijk). Samuel Bowles (SFI): Machiavelli's Mistake: Why Good Laws are no Substitute for Good Citizens. Small places matter more than big ones: Ron Johnston's investigations into the impact of geography on democracy have revealed that people in the same class position tend to support different parties depending on where they live. From Telos, democracy and modernization will provide popular sovereignty and progress only if they eschew further abstraction from localities, communities and families and instead uphold the "good life" and the common good in which all can share. A review of Politics for the Greatest Good: The Case for Prudence in the Public Square by Clarke D. Forsythe.

Shennette Garrett-Scott (Texas): A Historiography of African American Business. From Americana, Angela Nelson (BGSU): The Repertoire of Black Popular Culture. An interview with author, scholar and MacArthur “genius” winner Charles Johnson on charting a new course in post-academic life. An interview with Zachery R. Williams, author of In Search of the Talented Tenth: Howard University Public Intellectuals and the Dilemmas of Race, 1926-1970. An interview with Cornel West on Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud, A Memoir. Is Harlem no longer black? It depends on where you set the boundaries. A review of Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Trauma and Violence in the Lives of Young Black Men by John A. Rich (and more and more). From Contexts, William Julius Wilson on framing race and poverty; and the emancipation of slaves is a century-and-a-half in America’s past — many would consider it ancient history. Bigots I have loved: Perhaps Faulkner was mistaken and the past really is past — bigotry little more than a rusty whip handle unearthed at the site of a Mississippi plantation. Has the Supreme Court been mainly a friend or a foe to African Americans? A review of Jesus, Jobs, and Justice: African American Women and Religion by Bettye Collier-Thomas. A review of Jackie Ormes: The First African American Woman Cartoonist by Nancy Goldstein. Saving Detroit from itself: As the Motor City falls into greater collapse, a group of frustrated black nationalists are taking its protection into their own hands. An article on rethinking Malcolm X's inflammatory rhetoric. Race in the South in the Age of Obama: James Fields is an African-American Democratic state legislator in a nearly all-white Alabama county that voted overwhelmingly against Barack Obama — is he an anomaly or the future?

From Expositions, Brian Satterfield (Villanova): What is the Good of the “Examined Life”? Some Thoughts on the Apology and Liberal Education. Why are some departments being eliminated while others are secure? Meg Worley wonders about the future. A review of Stanford in Turmoil: Campus Unrest, 1966-1972 by Richard Lyman. Free speech within reason: Constantine Sandis is disturbed by a claim that academics have the right to say what they want at all times, in all places. When the First-Amendment scholar runs the university: Lee Bollinger puts free-speech theory into practice, and practice into theory. At what cost? A successful academic faces lifelong debt. The structure and silence of the cognitariat: In the American university system, recipients of higher education are increasingly prepared for a working life in a knowledge economy where independence and social protections have been eroded. A review of Porn University: What College Students are Really Saying About Sex on Campus by Michael Leahy. A review of Varsity Green: Millionaire Coaches, Ruthless Sneaker Wars, and the Battle for the Soul of College Sports by Mark Yost. Daniel Pearce on Postcollege Ennui: College has proved so reliable a setting for fiction that it’s even laid claim to its own literary genre — but what happens after the campus novel graduates? Neal Gabler on the college admissions scam. Does the English Department have a Jewish problem? The New Math on Campus: A shortage of men. Ramesh Ponnuru on the case against college education. A case for comics in college: My name is (insert name here) and I am a visual learner — and other reasons why comics is a relevant subject for the college curriculum.

Lee Haddigan (Delaware): How Anticommonism "Cemented" the American Conservative Movement in a Liberal Age of Conformity, 1945–64. Justin Raimondo rereads The Political Principles of Robert A. Taft by Russell Kirk and James McClellan. From Humanitas, Bradley J. Birzer (Hillsdale): More than "Irritable Mental Gestures": Russell Kirk’s Challenge to Liberalism, 1950–1960; and Justin Garrison (CUA): A Covenant with all Mankind: Ronald Reagan’s Idyllic Vision of America in the World. Gideon Rachman on how Reagan ruined conservatism. An interview with Will Bunch, author of Tear Down This Myth: The Right-Wing Distortion of the Reagan Legacy. From The American Conservative, Reid Buckley on how before William F. Buckley Jr. shaped American conservatism, the Mexican frontier shaped his father’s creed; and where have you gone, Henry Regnery? Conservative bestsellers run long on celebrity but short on ideas. James Piereson on Irving Kristol, the godfather of modern conservatism. Patrick Allitt on his book The Conservatives: Ideas and Personalities Throughout American History. From Reason, longtime Ron Paul watcher Brian Doherty wonders if his CPAC victory is the dawn of a new age, or the beginning of the end; David Harsanyi on the Ron Paul Delusion: Why the Texas congressman does not represent the future of conservatism; and Jacob Sullum on the unfulfilled promise of “constitutional conservatism”. Christopher Buckley (politely) takes on his first cousin, Brent Bozell III, and the other signers of the Mount Vernon Statement, for trying to redefine conservatism (and Bozell responds; and more and more and more). An excerpt from George H. Nash's Reappraising the Right: The Past and Future of American Conservatism. More and more on We Are Doomed by John Derbyshire.

A review of China's Cosmopolitan Empire by Mark Lewis. Tom Scocca reviews The Last Empress: Madame Chiang Kai-shek and the Birth of Modern China by Hannah Pakula (and more and more and more and more). A veil has begun to lift on prosaic stories of the Cultural Revolution — some sad, some funny, most humdrum to an extreme. From Portal, a special issue on Post-Mao, Post-Bourdieu: Class and Taste in Contemporary China. What in the writings of Alexis de Tocqueville could conceivably be thought to offer any guidance for the study of contemporary China? From Beijing Review, an interview with John and Doris Naisbitt, authors of China's Megatrends; and an article on what has happened to China's cultural relics overseas. From LRB, Perry Anderson reviews books on China (and more ). There's a new Red Scare — but is China really so scary? An interview with Kent Deng on books on China in the world economy. Has China’s economic success left a spiritual void inside the country? (and more) China's love consultants offer dating advice and wardrobe tips — they'll even adjudicate lovers quarrels. How the habits of China’s users are already making an impact beyond the web. China’s Cyberposse: Internet users are hunting down and punishing people who have attracted their wrath. How to spell Chinese porn in Internet: Are they on an anti-smut moral crusade, or simply using porn to censor the Web as their online population explodes? Jill Yen (Essex): Dangerous
 Masculinity:
 The
 Problematisation
 of
  “Johns” 
in
 Contemporary
 Taiwan
. Love Motel 2.0: Taiwan's love motels are stepping up their game with outrageous themes, movie marketing and extra privacy. Meet Chthonic, Taiwan's premier metal act — don't expect to see them in China anytime soon. A look at why Taiwan is more Chinese than China.