January 2012
1 post
Scott McLemee | 'The Passion of Tiger Woods' |... →
“But that mask flew off, so to speak, when [Tiger Woods’] car hit the fire hydrant in late 2009. Starn fills out his chronicle of the scandal that followed with an examination of the conversation and vituperation that took place online, often in the comments sections of news articles — with numerous representative samples, in all their epithet-spewing, semiliterate glory. The...
December 2011
8 posts
Jackson Lears | A History of Disappointment |... →
“To those of us who hoped that Barack Obama’s election marked a departure from right-wing rule, the president’s failure of leadership has been stunning. Seldom have insurgent expectations – even sceptical, guarded ones – been deflated so swiftly.”
Adam Kirsch | Whole in One | Tablet →
“More practically, the most reliable way of defining a Jew in the 21st century is that he is someone who worries about what it means to be a Jew in the 21st century.”
Daniel Mendelsohn | The Mad Men Account | New York... →
“But then, why not have captions when so many scenes feel like cartoon panels?”
Scott McLemee | On Reading 'On Rereading' | Inside... →
“A book remains the same through time, but the context and personality of the reader don’t. Whether the consequence is nostalgia or embarrassment can be the luck of the draw.”
Scott McLemee | Christopher Hitchens,... →
“But the end result in either case, Soviet or Hitchensian, was militaristic belligerence and an ideology sealed off from contamination by empirical evidence. Unless someone finds proof to the contrary, Hitchens went to the grave certain that Saddam Hussein’s WMDs are out there, somewhere. Say what you will about the contrast in their prose styles, but late-phase Hitchens possessed an almost...
Benjamin Kunkel | Hitch | n+1 →
“But another part of the sadness of Hitchens’s death is that it makes the loss of him for the left, which occurred a decade ago now, absolute and final. The most energetic and often the most brilliant polemicist in the language lavished his last ten years on attacking religious belief and advocating and defending a war that was at best an awful tragedy.”
Scott McLemee | Under the Bridge | Inside Higher... →
“Trolls are in it for the lulz, and they take getting b& in stride.
Clearly a little translation is in order. It is simple enough to figure out what b& means. Just pronounce it: “banned” – enough of an occupational hazard to merit a shorthand expression. But “lulz” takes a bit of unpacking. While derived from the familiar interjection LOL, for “laugh out loud,” lulz...
Adam Kirsch | Mysteries and Masterpieces | Harvard... →
Adam Kirsch | Mysteries and Masterpieces: The latest stage in the “American conquest of the Middle Ages” | Harvard Magazine
“The combination of these worldviews produced some strange syntheses—pagan, erotic poetry written by priests, Biblical stories retold as Homeric epics. After exploring these volumes, the Middle Ages are sure to strike the reader as more familiarly human, and more...
Why WikiLeaks Is Bad for Scholars | The Chronicle... →
Smart, well-written argument that the Wikileaks cable-dump will boomerang in the medium run—lead to an information clamp-down that will hamper future scholarship.
November 2010
1 post
Later | The New Yorker | James Surowiecki →
Well-written story I’ve been meaning to post here.
October 2010
3 posts
Confounding Fathers | Sean Wilentz | The New... →
Fascinating attempt to anchor Tea Party in John Birch Society conspiracy theorizing. Not fully convincing about Tea Party in general, but has Glenn Beck’s number.
Charles Taylor in conversation with The Utopian. →
Articulate interview from greatest living philosopher.
The Storytellers | TNR →
A passionate review of a new Brothers Grimm translation.
September 2010
2 posts
The art market: Hands up for Hirst | The Economist →
A fascinating look at supply and demand in the art market, courtesy of Damien Hirst.
Ralph Miliband and sons | Books | The Guardian →
Smart as per normal from John Gray, but also blackened with pessimism about future of social democracy.
August 2010
3 posts
Meritocrats | Tony Judt | New York Review of Books →
Recently deceased Tony Judt on King’s College Cambridge years. Brilliant.
Liquidator →
Neal Ascherson’s fair-minded, almost saintly take on Hugh Trevor-Roper.
Seven Years as a Freelance Writer, or, How To Make... →
Hilarious and human.
July 2010
9 posts
One State/Two States: Rethinking Israel and... →
Danny Rubinstein claims waning nationalism and new support among Palestinians for a one-state solution—a binational state. Surprising if true.
The Hidden God | The New Republic →
Review of James Shapiro’s new book on pretenders to Shakespearean authorship. Entertaining read.
Wasting Away In Hooverville | The New Republic →
A little old but utterly relevant piece by Jonathan Chait on Keynes and the new Hooverism.
Neuroscientist Vilayanur S. Ramachandran | The New... →
John Calapinto on the “Marco Polo of neuroscience.” Great New Yorker-style profile—a pleasure.
Vietnam Now | The New York Review of Books →
Haunting, observant account of modern Vietnam, by Jonathan Mirsky.
Flaubert's simple heart by Anthony Daniels | The... →
Quirky, intelligent meditation on Flaubert’s unironic A Simple Heart.
God, Science and Philanthropy | The Nation →
The Nation’s exhaustive take on the rich, unpredictable Templeton Foundation.
Alone, With Words | The New Republic →
Really nice mediation on writing, thought, and solitude, by Jed Perl, the TNR art critic.
A More Perfect Monument | The New Republic →
Old-school TNR: multi-page review of historian’s revisionist volume on Athenian democracy, arguing that the book has implications for the way we think about participatory democracy. Recommended.
June 2010
10 posts
Helenism | The New Yorker →
Nicely done treatment of new biography of Helen Gurley Brown, that resists subtly the Brown-as-feminist tack of the bio.
A More Perfect Monument | The New Republic →
Fascinating, TNR-style extended review of Josiah Ober’s ancient Athens-focused Democracy and Knowledge, which Danielle Allen argues has major relevance to our politics.
The Green Line | The New York Review of Books →
The incomparable Tony Judt—one of his memoir vignettes on a childhood bus route, but touching on the decline of public service values in Britain.
On Isaiah Berlin: Explorer | The New York Review... →
Nicholas Kristof of the Times on Isaiah Berlin. Well-written embrace of Berlin’s value-pluralism.
Prince Charles' sinister speech attacks science... →
Insane thesis—that Prince Charles’ loony speech on the environment could pave the way for Islamofascism—but some classic Hitchens dagger thrusts, like this one:
We have known for a long time that Prince Charles’ empty sails are so rigged as to be swelled by any passing waft or breeze of crankiness and cant.
WikiLeaks and Julian Paul Assange | The New Yorker →
New Yorker profile of Julian Paul Assange, WikiLeaks founder, with focus on his paronoid-libertarian half-heroism.
Beyond the Fields We Know | Inside Higher Ed →
Classic Scott McLemee: well-written and digressive. On the late Martin Gardner.
The Magazinist | The New Republic →
Tom Bissell on Jake Silverstein’s weird new collection. Sensitive, well-written, a reading pleasure. Last sentences:
It is almost as though Silverstein asks you to follow him into a battle that both you and he know he will lose. He is such a good nonfiction writer that you follow him anyway. He is such a good nonfiction writer, in fact, that you do not believe a word he says.
Operation Make The World Hate Us | The New... →
Superb, surprisingly cogent piece from Leon Wieseltier at TNR on Gaza-bound ship fiasco.
Hirsi Ali, Berman, and Ramadan on Islam →
Superb *New Yorker* piece—softly cutting—on Paul Berman’s Promethean worldview.
May 2010
1 post
Martin, Maggie and Me →
Mistitled, but Hitchens at his mischievous, English-sculpting best. Vanity Fair excerpt from a forthcoming memoir, focused on Martin Amis and late 1970s London literary scene.
April 2010
4 posts
Wikibollocks: The Shirky Rules →
Harsh but fair take-down of Clay Shirky’s anecdotal distraction and big-think hot air.
Ending the Slavery Blame-Game →
Provocative essay on African involvement in slave trade, by Henry Louis Gates Jr., in the NYT. Perhaps reparations case is weakened.
The Corrupt Reign of Emperor Silvio →
Alexander Stille on Italy’s Burlesconi personality-driven cult of corruption. Shocking.
Being And Time | The New Republic →
Insightful portrait of Collingwood (in form of biography review) by Simon Blackburn
March 2010
6 posts
Obama and Israel →
Really smart, well-written commentary on recent Israel-Obama flap, by David Remnick, New Yorker editor.
The Illiberal Imagination →
Nice review by Damon Linker, for TNR, of new book comparing Trilling and Chambers.
Bearable →
Lilian Ross’s short eulogy for JD Salinger, from February. Moving, and rings true.
Girls Gone Anti-feminist →
Really well done conversational style, by master of that form, Susan Douglas. Post-feminism isn’t feminism.
Books in the Age of the iPad →
Less hyperbolic than it sounds.
The Daley Show →
Very upbeat profile of Chicago mayor Richard Daley. Great writing. Still not sure why Daley deserves the “best mayor ever” accolades, though.
February 2010
1 post
A Skeptic’s Skeptic →
Very nice review of a new Derrida biography, in Tablet. Delves into the context of the American humanities reception. No mention, though, of the classic Michele Lamont treatment: “How to Become a Dominant French Philosopher: The Case of Jacques Derrida.”