Elizabeth F. Emens (Columbia): Compulsory Sexuality. From The Believer, leaving the witness: A young Jehovah’s Witness travels to China and finds her own religious freedom; and reincarnation in exile: What happens when a monastic system is forced, after eight hundred years, to encounter the temptations of the twenty-first century? Exploiting Reader’s Digest’s iconic brand is the latest strategy for its private equity owners, who put the 91-year-old publisher into bankruptcy to shed $465 million in debt as consumers shift to electronic media. Recently, a printing house refused to print a novel set to be published by Tyrant Books because they found it “obscene”, which seems extremely lame — there are still such things as obscene books? Watching people with absolute self-confidence embarrass themselves is entertaining — and cruel.
