The New Republic

Evil in Modern Thought: An Alternative History of Philosophy by Susan Neiman (Princeton University Press, 343 pp., $29.95)  READ MORE >>

Assassination Tango (United Artists) That Girl from Paris (Films Philos) READ MORE >>

From milkweed to lupine a woman shadows a monarch. Slowly makes her way, conveys her weight with care. And in the womb her son flutters, then butterfly-kicks against walls. The woman tracks a trail of burnished wings, migrating into the heart-notch of forest, then settles on a lichened tree-trunk where underground rivers flowing out of snow- mountain lakes rumble the decree of her unborn son: "Journey farther, journey deeper." Into darker woods she transports a monarch ruling, even now, unnamed territory.   READ MORE >>

To describe Roman Polanski's film The Pianist in less than superlatives might get one branded obtuse or hard-hearted. "A powerfully meticulous epic," extolled Richard Corliss in Time. "A remarkable story, handled with an expert lack of sentimentality," the New Statesman's Philip Kerr agreed. READ MORE >>

A Race Against Death: Peter Bergson, America, and the Holocaust by David S. Wyman and Rafael Medoff (The New Press, 269 pp., $26.95) READ MORE >>

First Among Equals: The Supreme Court in American Lifeby Kenneth Starr(Warner Books, 320 pp., $26.95) READ MORE >>

For those of us who believe that architecture is an unfailingly accurate mirror of a society's values, the current state of the proposed redevelopment of Ground Zero offers the most graphic evidence of how little things have changed in this country since September 11, 2001. This is not due, of course, to a lack of attempted involvement by the public in general or the architectural profession in particular. READ MORE >>

The Black Veil: A Memoir With Digressions by Rick Moody (Little, Brown, 288 pp., $24.95) Rick Moody is the worst writer of his generation. READ MORE >>

Elvis in Jerusalem: Post-Zionism and the Americanization of Israelby Tom Segevtranslated by Haim Watzman(Metropolitan Books, 167 pp., $23) READ MORE >>

I. That investment in education is critical for economic growth, improved health, and social progress is beyond question. That poverty is a scourge that the international aid community and industrialized countries should work to eradicate is also beyond question. There is also no doubt that terrorism is a scourge of the contemporary world. What is less clear, however, is whether poverty and low education are root causes of terrorism. READ MORE >>