The New Republic

Have you been following the evolution of smoked salmon snobbery? It's a fascinating story. First about ethnic deracination and then, following that, foodie fetishism that transcends ethnicity for some imagined posh/poshlost realm of anglophile purity. Some realm that rivals wine snobbery. It's become the Downton Abbey of smoked fish. READ MORE >>

The World Series begins tonight with the San Franciso Giants hosting the Detroit Tigers. In an essay from Jewish Jocks, a new book about important Jewish sports figures edited by TNR's Franklin Foer and Marc Tracy, Ron Rosenbaum recalls the most controversial Fall Classic ever played and the Jewish gangster who was accused of fixing it: Arnold Rothstein. READ MORE >>

"I AM AWARE," H. R. Haldeman writes, "that I there is a cult of people in this country who collect every scrap of information about Watergate because of its many fascinating mysteries." He's more than aware: his memoir. The Ends of Power, is a seething nest of almost every conceivable scrap of Watergate conspiracy theory developed to date. The Democratic Trap Theory, the CIA Trap Theory, the Blackmail Demand Theory: you name it, H. R. Bob buys it. READ MORE >>