From The Critical Flame, a review of Reading Geoffrey Hill’s Collected Critical Writings; a review of The Essays of Leonard Michaels by Ted Striphas; a review of Close Calls with Nonsense by Stephen Burt; a review of The Program Era: Postwar Fiction and the Rise of Creative Writing by Mark McGurl (and more at Bookforum); and a review of The Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction. A review of What Intelligence Tests Miss: The Psychology of Rational Thought by Keith E. Stanovich. For a world seeking clarification on America's current stance on space weaponization, no answers have been forthcoming. An interview with Andy Serwer, Managing Editor of Fortune Magazine. The first chapter from Securing the Peace: The Durable Settlement of Civil Wars by Monica Duffy Toft. An interview with Philip Zimbardo on the Stanford prison experiment and its implications for ethics, responsibility, free will, and social policy. The crash of Air France flight 447 from Rio to Paris last year is one of the most mysterious accidents in the history of aviation; the reconstruction of the horrific final four minutes reveal continuing safety problems in civil aviation. Does arts criticism have a future? An exclusive essay to mark the launch of New Statesman's search for young music critics. Depression’s Upside: Is there an evolutionary purpose to feeling really sad? (and a response) An interview with Steve Lance on books on the future of advertising. Altruism is something of a novelty these days, and most people have little time to partake — but altruism is the whole idea behind the new charity, called the Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy. A debate on the pros and cons of commercializing the cosmos; valuing asteroids at $20 trillion each — Peter Diamandis makes a case for private space.
