selected essays

Great Recession or Mini-Depression?

by Robert Z. Aliber
Words may be failing economists and others who characterize the economic downturn that began in 2008 as “the Great Recession.” “Mini-Depression” may be more like it.

Man as Machine

by Max Byrd
A peculiar experiment inspired by the Enlightenment sheds light on the age-old question of what makes us human.

My Own Private Nietzsche: An American Story

by Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen
The German philosopher whose ideas would leave an indelible mark on Europe was embraced by Americans eager to see in him a reflection of their own image.

Pakistan’s Most Dangerous Place

by Zahid Hussain
Pakistan’s remote and poorly understood tribal region has emerged as key to the future of both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Revisiting the Great Depression

by Robert J. Samuelson
The role of the welfare state in today’s economic crisis recalls the part played by the gold standard in the calamitous 1930s.

The Debt Bomb

by Louis Hyman
When wages stagnate and inequality rises, Americans try to borrow their way toward the American dream. Inevitably, the bubble bursts. But we can learn from the lessons of 1929.

in essence

Being Muslim in America

THE SOURCE: “The Muslim-American Muddle” by Peter Skerry, in National Affairs, Fall 2011.

Body of Proof

THE SOURCE: “Post-Mortem Imaging as an Alternative to Autopsy in the Diagnosis of Adult Deaths: A Validation Study” by Ian S. D. Roberts, Rachel E. Benamore, Emyr W. Benbow, Stephen H. Lee, Jonathan N. Harris, Alan Jackson, Susan Mallett, Tufail Patankar, Charles Peebles, Carl Roobottom, and Zoe C. Traill, in The Lancet, Nov. 22, 2011 (online).

Brazil’s Popularity Problem

THE SOURCE: “A Leader Without Followers? The Growing Divergence Between the Regional and Global Performance of Brazilian Foreign Policy” by Andrés Malamud, in Latin American Politics and Society, Fall 2011.

Capitalism, Chinese Style

THE SOURCE: “China’s Changing Guanxi Capitalism: Private Entrepreneurs Between Leninist Control and Relentless Accumulation” by Christopher A. McNally, in Business and Politics, Aug. 2011.

Checkpoints, Not Checks

THE SOURCE: “Do Working Men Rebel? Insurgency and Unemployment in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Philippines” by Eli Berman, Michael Callen, Joseph H. Felter, and Jacob N. Shapiro, in Journal of Conflict Resolution, Aug. 2011.

Climate Patterns

THE SOURCE: “Climate on Cable: The Nature and Impact of Global Warming Coverage on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC” by Lauren Feldman, Edward W. Maibach, Connie Roser-Renouf, and Anthony Leiserowitz, in The International Journal of Press/Politics, Nov. 2, 2011 (online).

Democracy Deferred

THE SOURCE: “Morocco: In the Kingdom of Illusions” by Martine Gozlan, in World Policy Journal, Fall 2011.

For Love or Money

THE SOURCE: “Big Criticism” by Evan Kindley, in Critical Inquiry, Autumn 2011.

Harding’s Hidden Halo

THE SOURCE: “Time for Another Harding?” by Ronald Radosh and Allis Radosh, in The Weekly Standard, Oct. 24, 2011.

Holy Rights

THE SOURCE: “The Church of Labor” by Lew Daly, in Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, Fall 2011.

India's Musical Menace

THE SOURCE: “That Ban(e) of Indian Music: Hearing Politics in the Harmonium” by Matt Rahaim, in The Journal of Asian Studies, Aug. 2011.

Indispensable No More

THE SOURCE: “The End of the American Era” by Stephen M. Walt, in The National Interest, Nov.–Dec. 2011.

It Was the Economy, Stupid

THE SOURCE: “Free Trade, Sovereignty, and Slavery: Toward an Economic Interpretation of American Independence” by Staughton Lynd and David Waldstreicher, in William and Mary Quarterly, Oct. 2011.

Mending Malpratice

THE SOURCE: “Dropped Medical Malpractice Claims: Their Surprising Frequency, Apparent Causes, and Potential Remedies” by Dwight Golann, in Health Affairs, July 2011.

Polarization Without Parties

THE SOURCE: “The American Political Parties Are Breaking Down” by Walter Russell Mead, in Via Meadia (blog), Oct. 31, 2011.

Protectionist Psych

THE SOURCE: “Explaining Mass Support for Agricultural Protectionism: Evidence From a Survey Experiment During the Global Recession” by Megumi Naoi and Ikuo Kume, in International Organization, Fall 2011.

Retractions Under the Microscope

THE SOURCE: “The Trouble With Retractions” by Richard Van Noorden, in Nature, Oct. 6, 2011.

Squawk Box

THE SOURCE: “Understanding the Rise of Talk Radio” by Jeffrey M. Berry and Sarah Sobieraj, in PS: Political Science & Politics, Oct. 2011.

Stand By Taiwan

THE SOURCE: “Should the United States Abandon Taiwan?” by Nancy Bernkopf Tucker and Bonnie Glaser, in The Washington Quarterly, Fall 2011.

Staying Put

THE SOURCE: “Internal Migration in the United States” by Raven Molloy, Christopher L. Smith, and Abigail Wozniak, in Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 2011.

The Empty Threat of Cyberwar

THE SOURCE: “Cyber War Will Not Take Place” by Thomas Rid, in Journal of Strategic Studies, Feb. 2012.

The Postpartisan Folly

THE SOURCE: “The Mirage” by Sean Wilentz, in The New Republic, Nov. 17, 2011.

The Warhol Bubble

THE SOURCE: “A One-Man Market” by Bryan Appleyard, in Intelligent Life, Nov.–Dec. 2011.

The Westphalian Mirage

THE SOURCE: “To Order the Minds of Scholars: The Discourse of the Peace of Westphalia in International Relations Literature” by Sebastian Schmidt, in International Studies Quarterly, Sept. 2011.

Ukrainian Gloom

THE SOURCE: “Counterrevolution in Kiev” by Rajan Menon and Alexander J. Motyl, in Foreign Affairs, Nov.–Dec. 2011.

book reviews

A Man of Conscience

by Christopher Merrill
ROGER WILLIAMS AND THE CREATION OF THE AMERICAN SOUL:
Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty.
By John M. Barry.
Viking. 464 pp. $35.

Building Up

by Jill Jonnes
THE HEIGHTS:
Anatomy of a Skyscraper.
By Kate Ascher.
Penguin Press. 207 pp. $35

Continental Rift

by Brian Bow
THE NORTH AMERICAN IDEA:
A Vision of a Continental Future.
By Robert A. Pastor.
Oxford Univ. Press. 264 pp. $24.95

Jesus H. Jones

by Mark Reutter
UNPRECEDENTED POWER:
Jesse Jones, Capitalism, and the Common Good.
By Steven Fenberg.
Texas A&M Univ. Press. 611 pp. $35

Mythical City

by Andrew Curry
ROME:
A Cultural, Visual, and Personal History.
By Robert Hughes.
Knopf. 498 pp. $35

New Life for Old Cities

by Patrick Piuma
SMALL, GRITTY, AND GREEN:
The Promise of America's Smaller Industrial Cities in a Low-Carbon World.
By Catherine Tumber.
MIT Press. 211 pp. $24.95

No Man’s Land

by Michael J. Bustamante
GUANTÁNAMO:
An American History.
By Jonathan M. Hansen.
Hill & Wang. 428 pp. $35

Papa's Beginnings

by Michael C. Moynihan
THE LETTERS OF ERNEST HEMINGWAY:
Volume 1, 1907-1922.
Edited by Sandra Spanier and Robert W. Trogdon.
Cambridge Univ. Press. 431 pp. $40

Pointed Questions

by James Reston Jr.
GOD’S JURY:
The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World.
By Cullen Murphy.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 310 pp. $27

The Uncontainable Diplomat

by Martin Walker
GEORGE F. KENNAN:
An American Life.
By John Lewis Gaddis.
Penguin Press. 784 pp. $39.95

Then She Came to the End

by Joshua Wolf Shenk
BLUE NIGHTS
By Joan Didion.
Knopf. 188p. $25.

True Believers

by Darcy Courteau
A THOUSAND LIVES:
The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown.
By Julia Scheeres.
Free Press. 307 pp. $26

What's Next?

by James M. Morris
NEW:
Understanding Our Need for Novelty and Change.
By Winifred Gallagher.
Penguin Press. 259 pp. $25.95