From TLS, a review of Salman Rushdie's The Enchantress of Florence; a review of The Dress of the People: Everyday fashion in eighteenth-century England by John Styles; and a review of books on jihad and radical Islam. A review of Beyond Practical Virtue: A Defense of Liberal Democracy Through Literature by Joel A. Johnson. A review of books on baseball. From Salon, is it coming to a soup kitchen near you? Here's how we'll know if the current recession is turning into something much worse. From The Nation, is this The Big One? Jeff Faux investigates; Robin Blackburn is for a social bailout: Let's reinvent progressive economic policy, starting with our own sovereign wealth fund to deal with urgent social needs; and who are they calling elitist, and why do conservatives continue to feel oppressed by the "liberal elite"? A review of Postmortem: How Medical Examiners Explain Suspicious Deaths by Stefan Timmermans. Striking a blow for science: A review of Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics by Tom Rogers. Why blog? Reason No. 92: Book deal. More on Matt Bai's The Argument. Flat Earth Society: A look at the two-dimensional world of Thomas Friedman. From Popular Mechanics, here are 7 energy efficiency myths debunked. Martin Amis may not know much about Islam and 9/11, but he knows what he hates (and more; and more from the latest issue of Bookforum).
