Here's the inaugural issue of The Manchester Review. From Geist, Alberto Manguel on Jewish gauchos, European Jewish artisans on horseback in Argentina. From San Diego CityBeat, a la recherche du Taco Bell: One gabacho’s run for the border. From NYRB, Freeman Dyson reviews Galapagos: The Islands That Changed the World by Paul Stewart; and is this a "victory"? Peter Galbraith wants to know. Intelligence officials are worried, Richard Clarke writes, that al Qaeda may try to affect elections. While America’s markets plummet, formerly moribund Arab economies are thriving after embracing the same principles that Washington carelessly discarded. So much for Bush's freedom agenda: Right now, global authoritarianism is worse than ever. From The Economist, a poll of economists on the candidates' economic plans. CQ's "Cabinet Maker" lets you assemble that group of advisers for an Obama or McCain administration. Why Obama's agenda shouldn't be compromised by the government's new spending. When Michelle Met Barack: How romance in the sedate corridors of a corporate law firm changed everything for the woman who might become the first African American first lady. From IHE, Scott McLemee profiles Bernard-Henri Levy, the playboy philosopher (and more on Left in Dark Times). The perfect book review? There's nothing like a ban to give a book a good reputation.
