From The Nation, John Palattella on the Death and Life of the Book Review: Newspaper books sections have been ailing for decades, but there's no better time than now for writing about books. Amitav Ghosh and Margaret Atwood's decision not to boycott the Israeli Dan David Prize throws open questions of the public role of writers and the stances they often take with regard to institutions with chequered histories. What exactly is the blockade of Gaza? (and more) As it retreats into greater indifference toward global opinion, Israel has come to rely on cynical appeals to American technophiles and evangelical Christians. From Arts and Opinion, an interview with David Solway, author of Hear, O Israel!; and Jeremy Rifkin, author of The Empathic Civilization, argues that man is empathic, while P. W. Singer says we are Wired for War — can they both be right? Andrea Miller on how to date an Indian (and Neel Shah on how to date a white bitch). From Fast Company, Addy Dugdale on the Bilderberg Group, a real-life Illuminati for conspiracy theorists. From Big Think, special series on Moments of Genius. Returning to the U.S. after a decade of aid work, William Powers finds himself in the heart of the world's richest nation, but living a subsistence life. Craig Seligman reviews The Escape by Adam Thirlwell. Life in a glass house: Why are people so eager to invade their own privacy? Desperately Seeking Sugar Daddies: Looking to give up her day job but maintain a steady income, Vanity Fair's Melanie Berliet joined a Web site where rich older men shop for girlfriends. It’s a funny locution, offshore; as if the rig is an accident of terrestrial displacement, a little patch of shore, really, only it’s off — not at sea, not maritime, and yet, most of oil rigs are ships, properly speaking.
