What’s the Point of a Supreme Court Dissent? What’s the Point of a Supreme Court Dissent?
A recent book shows that, before Antonin Scalia, dissents were valuable to the Court. Now they may be endangering the institution.
Jan 21, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Michael O’Donnell
December 28, 1973: Alexsander Solzhenitsyn’s ‘Gulag Archipelago’ is Published December 28, 1973: Alexsander Solzhenitsyn’s ‘Gulag Archipelago’ is Published
“The duty is not only to memorialize the fallen, it is also to confront the living.”
Dec 28, 2015 / Richard Kreitner
How Has Islamic Orthodoxy Changed Over Time? How Has Islamic Orthodoxy Changed Over Time?
A new book by the late scholar Shahab Ahmed reveals the capaciousness, complexity, and contradictions of Islam.
Dec 23, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Elias Muhanna
Is Anxiety the Price We Pay For Freedom? Is Anxiety the Price We Pay For Freedom?
The neuroscience of fear is incomplete without an account of philosophy and politics.
Dec 23, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Simon Wolfe Taylor
Dreamers, Drifters, Mopers, and Defeatists Dreamers, Drifters, Mopers, and Defeatists
Adrian Tomine’s universe features a society of contingent values, ill-defined expectations, and diminishing options.
Dec 23, 2015 / Books & the Arts / David Hajdu
Support the Troops… and Support Me Support the Troops… and Support Me
A new history of the military welfare state shows how politicians and military leaders have draped themselves in yellow ribbons to advance their own careers.
Dec 17, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Martha Saxton
December 16, 1901: Margaret Mead Is Born December 16, 1901: Margaret Mead Is Born
“The Samoan girl leads a busy, unconscious existence in which impulse and duty appear to play pleasantly correlative roles.”
Dec 16, 2015 / Richard Kreitner
December 15, 2011: Christopher Hitchens Dies December 15, 2011: Christopher Hitchens Dies
“Posterity is unlikely to deal kindly with his willingness to be a singer in the camp of George W. Bush.”
Dec 15, 2015 / Richard Kreitner
Voting Rights and the Second Redemption Voting Rights and the Second Redemption
Ari Berman’s Give Us the Ballot argues that democratic rights can never be taken for granted.
Dec 3, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Eric Foner
November 24, 1859: Charles Darwin Publishes ‘On the Origin of Species’ November 24, 1859: Charles Darwin Publishes ‘On the Origin of Species’
“Mr. Charles Darwin is probably the man who has done most to make the nineteenth century famous, full as it has been of wonders.”
Nov 24, 2015 / Richard Kreitner