Books and Ideas

Mission Impossible Mission Impossible

Three Empires on the Nile, a lively retelling of Britain's colonial exploits in Africa, conjures up images of wild-eyed Arabs waging jihad in the desert.

Apr 12, 2007 / Books & the Arts / Maya Jasanoff

Inevitable Revolutions Inevitable Revolutions

In William Dalrymple's The Last Mughal, the 1857 Uprising against British rule in India is recast as a cross-border friendship gone sour.

Apr 12, 2007 / Books & the Arts / Gyan Prakash

Hiss in History Hiss in History

Although many historians have condemned Alger Hiss as a Soviet spy, the facts of his story remain obscure.

Apr 12, 2007 / Victor Navasky

On John McCain’s Much-Ridiculed Attempt to Use His Shorja Market Visit as Proof That Baghdad Is Being Pacified On John McCain’s Much-Ridiculed Attempt to Use His Shorja Market Visit as Proof That Baghdad Is Being Pacified

McCain bought himself trouble in his visit to Baghdad.

Apr 12, 2007 / Column / Calvin Trillin

Katrina vs. Colbert Katrina vs. Colbert

Katrina vanden Heuvel appears on The Colbert Report to debate the host on the question of truthiness and much more.

Apr 10, 2007 / Books & the Arts / Katrina vanden Heuvel and Stephen Colbert

The Semiwarriors The Semiwarriors

By creating an atmosphere of perpetual crisis, Presidents have expanded their powers and hidden their actions from the public eye.

Apr 5, 2007 / Books & the Arts / Andrew J. Bacevich

Bolaño in Mexico Bolaño in Mexico

As a young writer in the 1970s, Roberto Bolaño was expected to choose between two rival factions of Mexican poets. He chose both.

Apr 5, 2007 / Books & the Arts / Carmen Boullosa

On the News That Mitt Romney Finished First Among Republicans in First-Quarter Fundraising On the News That Mitt Romney Finished First Among Republicans in First-Quarter Fundraising

As a candidate, Mitt is now legit.

Apr 5, 2007 / Column / Calvin Trillin

A Free Man A Free Man

Madison Smartt Bell's new biography of Toussaint Louverture explores the complexities of the man who created modern Haiti.

Mar 29, 2007 / Books & the Arts / Laurent Dubois

On the Genealogy of Morals On the Genealogy of Morals

Inventing Human Rights traces the roots of humanitarian concern back to the eighteenth century. But there's a world of difference between then and now.

Mar 29, 2007 / Books & the Arts / Samuel Moyn

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