From The New Yorker, everyone wants to close Guantanamo, but what will happen to the detainees? Jeffrey Toobin wants to know; a review of Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America’s Tradition of Religious Equality by Royall Tyler and Martha Nussbaum's Head to Heart: American Christianities; and an article on the effort behind George Clooney’s effortless charm. From New York, a special issue on The New York Canon: 1968-2008. A review of The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB's: A Secret History of Jewish Punk by Steven Lee Beeber. From Dissent, David Bensman on how neo-liberalism is leading the US to the brink of economic collapse; Avishai Margalit on why sectarianism is utterly incompatible with social democracy; the Turin Book Fair Controversy: Mitchell Cohen and Andrew Arato debate Israel and the Left; and Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow reviews Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski (and more from Bookforum). From Think Tank, an interview with Tom Wolfe on the Derriere Guard; an interview with Daniel Gross, author of Pop! Why Bubbles are Great for the Economy; and an interview with Elon Musk on the frontier of technology. From TED, Stephen Hawking asks some big questions about our universe. Bryan Walsh reviews Jiang Rong’s Wolf Totem. Here's a list of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize winners (which include Junot Diaz for fiction).
