A new issue of The Next American City it out. From New York, a look at how Tony Blair is like Barack Obama and George Bush — and why Bush is rooting for Obama. Because it's not just the economy, Miller-McCune experts offer some solutions to problems that were under-discussed during the campaign. From The New York Times, experts on the domestic challenges facing Barack Obama when he takes office. John B. Judis on the best books to help you make sense of Marx, Keynes, the Great Depression, and how we got where we are now. Harold James on the Marx Renaissance. Risk Mismanagement: Were the measures used to evaluate Wall Street trades flawed, or was the mistake ignoring them? A review of The Terrorist in Search of Humanity: Militant Islam and Global Politics by Faisal Devji. Scruffy-haired, home-schooled organizer Nate Westheimer is the fresh young punim on every panel and at every party — buy him a beer before the next big meetup! From NYRB, David Cole reviews books on torturers; a review of books on peace in the Middle East; a review of books by and about Gene Stratton-Porter; and never in recent history had The Guardian faced a libel suit from a major corporation. A review of The Triumph of Music: The Rise of Composers, Musicians and Their Art by Tim Blanning. The Web Masters: Five who are changing the face of the Internet.
A new issue of Common Ground is out, including an article on Life on Google Earth. The scent of a man: To attract a woman by wearing scent, a man must first attract himself. As politicians weigh economic stimulus for cities, research suggests a surprising way to succeed: make it fun. A review of America Aged: How Pension Debts Ruined General Motors, Stopped the NYC Subways, Bankrupted San Diego, and Loom as the Next Financial Crisis by Roger Lowenstein (and more). Dawn of the robots: They're already here — driving cars, vacuuming carpets and feeding hospital patients; they may not be walking, talking, human-like sentient beings, but they sure are clever, and a little creepy. A review of History’s Greatest Heist: The Looting of Russia by the Bolsheviks by Sean McMeekin. A look at 5 homeless guys who accomplished amazing things. Ian McIntyre, author of a new biography about Hester Thrale, on why Dr. Johnson's leading lady was a thoroughly modern eighteenth century woman (and read an erotic love letter from Johnson to Thrale). A review of The Age of Aging: How Demographics are Changing the Global Economy and Our World by George Magnus. From Spiked, an article on the problem with Pinteresque politics. From Eurozine, forget Europe: An interview with Homi Bhabha; and forget journals: An interview with Mark C. Taylor.
From Commentary, an article on the Jewish State and its Arabs: Can an angry, alienated, and growing minority be accommodated without dismantling the rule of the majority? The year in maps: A cartography boom offers new ways to see the world. From The Economist, easy as 1, 2, 3: People come into the world ready to count its wonders; and a look at when 1, 2, 3 is not enough: Arguments over what counts as a number. An interview with Seymour Hersh: "After 9/11 we became a different country". Why don't librarians make good detectives? It's all to do with melting in with a crowd. Twins may appear to be cut from the same cloth, but their genes reveal a different pattern. Michael Lewis and David Einhorn on The End of the Financial World as We Know It and How to Repair a Broken Financial World (and more on Panic). A modest blogging proposal: If "pay per post" lets online writers shill for cash, why not go all the way and sell real-life opinions, too? A review of Confessions of an Eco-Sinner: Tracking Down the Sources of My Stuff by Fred Pearce. More on The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath by Robert J. Samuelson. CQ profiles Henry Waxman, savvy operator with new power base. Men like Bernie Madoff understand wealth, they understand power — and they prefer to keep women away from both. Everybody does it: Who has a closet without a skeleton?
From The Atlantic, if the end of white America is a cultural and demographic inevitability, what will the new mainstream look like — and how will white Americans fit into it? And is race over? (and more and more) From The American Spectator, an article on what conservatives must now do. Are Americans ready to put cataclysmic consumption and hedonism behind them? Climate economics in four easy pieces: Conventional cost-benefit models cannot inform our decisions about how to address the threat of climate change. Omar Call preaches atheism on Tempe's Mill Avenue. Seeing through Wall Street: Restoring trust to the economy will require bringing transparency to the markets. A review of Copyright's Paradox by Neil Weinstock Netane. Can Obama sustain the interest of his online constituents? So far, yes, says Pew study. Move on up: The case for having the inauguration right after New Year's. A review of Killing Civilians: Method, Madness, and Morality in War by Hugo Slim. Newspaper without a country: Its lonely fight against the occupation of the West Bank made Israeli newspaper Haaretz internationally famous; at home, the paper is fighting for survival. Here are 5 things we learned from The Grand Inquisitor's Manual. A review of Quine by Peter Hylton. Translating Our Bodies, Ourselves: The feminist health manual's message has evolved as its impact has spread globally.