From Meta, a special issue on the New Realism and Phenomenology. Amanda Rees (York): Exploring Nature: Geographies of Science’s History. Lt. General Daniel Bolger writes the first after-action report on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq: Why we lost. Inside the secret world of pro wrestling: Garrett Martin on the media’s complicated relationship with a controversial sport. The real, shameful story behind “Don’t give up the ship!”: Tom Halsted goes behind the iconic American slogan, a military loss—and a PR win. From NYRB, Sue Halpern reviews No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the US Surveillance State by Glenn Greenwald; The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man by Luke Harding; and The NSA Report: Liberty and Security in a Changing World by the President’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies: Richard A. Clarke, Michael J. Morell, Geoffrey R. Stone, Cass R. Sunstein, and Peter Swire. Attention Democrats: Stop promising not to raise middle class taxes. Simon Ings reviews The Story of Pain: From Prayer to Painkillers by Joanna Bourke (and more: “the history of pain is racist, sexist, and classist”). The shape of things: Maps are no longer simply pieces of paper pointing us in the right direction but a visual framework for our ideas about the world and about ourselves. Republicans finally admit why they really hate Obamacare. Elizabeth Drew on how the time has come to talk about “the Beltway”. That story about Irish babies buried in a septic tank was shocking — it also wasn't entirely true.
