Meditation On Leaves Of Grass At 150
Leaves of Grass is the best book of poetry ever produced in the United States. It is the holy individualized commentary on the inner meaning of democracy. It remains the authoritative subjective exegesis of the Constitution. As time passes, it is no mere work of poetics, but the soul of what it is America could…
Read MoreEnding World Poverty: Jeffrey Sachs’ Millenarian Vision
Material Reviewed: Jeffrey Sachs, The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time, (New York: Penguin, 2005) Jeffrey Sachs, et.al., “Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals,” (New York: UN Millennium Project, 2005), www.unmillenniumproject.org Jeffrey Sachs, et.al., “Ending Africa’s Poverty Trap,” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1 (2004), 117-240, www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/about/director/publicat.html…
Read MoreRashid Khalidi On The Middle East: A Conversation
Rashid Khalidi on the Middle East: A Conversation Q: Perhaps you can give us a sketch of your background and intellectual development? Rashid Khalidi [RK]: Well, the easiest way to do that is to talk about my academic career. I started out as an undergraduate here in the States. I did my doctoral work in…
Read MorePicture Imperfect: Utopian Thought For An Anti-utopian Age, By Russell Jacoby
These Are The Times That Try Men’s Souls” (Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, December 23, 1776) In dark times hard-pressed people frequently fall into cynicism and, ultimately, nihilism. An infectious despair can persuade many citizens to accede to authoritarianisms of various stripes. But some exceptionally hardy spirits nevertheless manage to generate hope – moreover, hope…
Read MoreAmerica’s Palestine: Popular And Official Perceptions From Balfour To Israeli Statehood, By Lawrence Davidson
An American president on a mission to fulfill Biblical prophecy. His diplomats at odds with him and viewed as out of touch with the electorate by Congress. A press corps less concerned with investigative journalism than feeding ‘ and appeasing ‘ popular biases. A body politic, fed by Sunday School images and millenarian forecasts, accepting…
Read MoreThe Illusion of Safety: How Israeli Security Arrangements Undermine Lasting Israeli-Palestinian Peace
Introduction: Israel’s Security Foundations Israel’s security doctrine rests on three conceptual foundations. The first is a defensive military strategy designed to deliver a decisive victory upon the presumed failure of deterrence. Prior to the 1967 war, this was the sole foundation of Israel’s security approach. The concept still exists, but it has been complicated by…
Read MoreVoting And Voters
A good many liberals and progressives are shocked at Bush’s victory. Republican gains in the Senate and House only make it worse. It is not that we were unaware of the Republican advantages. We knew that the Bush campaign constant talk of the war on terror stirred fear and excitement among many voters that worked to…
Read MorePower And The Idealists, Or, The Passion Of Joschka Fischer And Its Aftermath, by Paul Berman
Revolutions are not child’s play, nor are they academic debates in which only vanities are hurt in furious clashes, nor literary jousts wherein only ink is spilled profusely. Revolution means war, and that implies the destruction of men and things. -Mikhail Bakunin, quoted in Paul Berman,Quotations from the Anarchists (1972) There are two reasons to…
Read MorePoetry Section
Poetry Poetry Section Contents Suheir Hammad, “a prayer band” Thomas Sayers Ellis, “Groovallegiance” Lorraine Healy, “Where They Were” Stephen Paul Miller, from “I’m Trying to Get My Phony Baloney Ideas about Metamodernism into a Poem” SUHEIR HAMMAD a prayer band every thing you ever paid for you ever worked on you ever received every…
Read MoreThe Plot Against America, by Philip Roth
At the height of the Vietnam War a sly Harvard law student addressed an assembly of parents and alumni. “The streets of our country are in turmoil,’ he said. “The universities are filled with students rebelling and rioting. Communists are seeking to destroy our country. Russia is threatening us with her might. And the republic…
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