The New Republic

by David A. Bell Tim Flannery's piece "We're Living on Corn!" (subscription required) in the new New York Review, reviewing books by Michael Pollan and Bill McKibben, has some of the best black humor I've seen in a while (or perhaps it should just be called corny): READ MORE >>

by Damon Linker [Matthew Yglesias responded to Damon Linker's piece on Richard Rorty in The New Republic, and what follows is Linker's response to Yglesias, originally published here.] READ MORE >>

by Linda R. Hirshman READ MORE >>

by Jacob T. Levy Via Kieran Healey, Richard Rorty has died. I saw Rorty in action, I believe, four times, three in debate-ish settings. He was an extraordinary speaker, so I count myself lucky. READ MORE >>

by Richard Stern I write now from our Georgian "foot in the earth," where we arrived two days ago. For the last few years, after spending eight hours at O'Hare waiting first for a plane, then for a crew, we've driven here from Chicago. The route passes through six other states, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North and South Carolina. We usually overnight in eastern Tennessee on the edge of the Great Smokies whose winding roads we drive over the next morning. What never fails to strike us is the sheer wealth of the country, the READ MORE >>

by Richard Stern Fans of Roger Federer and "The Sopranos" had a mixed weekend. Federer had some grand moments, his off-and-on speed, high- and-low spin and flat shots to Nadal's backhand threw the indominitable Majorcan for as close to a loop as we've seen, and there were enough surprising, ungettable backhands and forehands to give our beloved Federer 16 break points and the second set; but the Nadal-wall did not come down, and at crucial points, the 21 year old hit beautiful passing and READ MORE >>

by Linda Hirshman READ MORE >>

by Sanford LevinsonThe latest CBS/New York Times poll conducted between May 18-23 shows the "favorable" rating of Vice President Dick Cheney at a record low. See here. Perhaps the White House takes heart that the "not favorable" rating has actually dropped because the "undecided"s and "haven't heard"s went up by a total 14 points. (The wonders of public opinion surveys!) READ MORE >>

by Eric Rauchway A while back, my department hosted a panel officially titled "Historical Scholarship and the New Media," but everyone called it "the blogging panel" anyway. Partly, I think this was only natural, as people have come to recognize that term; partly, I think, this helped safely to marginalize scholarly Internet discourse, keeping it in the world of lolcats--which is a natural reaction to the more evangelical pronouncements made on behalf of scholarly blogging. READ MORE >>

by David GreenbergMichael Kazin's recent post about our hunger for authenticity in presidential candidates--really, in all politicians--takes on what I think is one of the most important and difficult issues in our political culture today. Although the charge of inauthenticity sticks to some politicians more than others--and not always fairly--few if any are immune. READ MORE >>