Three books about American politics help illuminate the deep frustration of voters — and suggest how much of a change Democrats must undertake to reach them.
Books, Arts and Culture
Read reviews and commentary on books, movies, video, tv, radio, podcasts, streaming, documentary, media, religion, history, sports, arts and entertainment, social media, Hollywood
Clinton’s Darkness At Noon
Bill Clinton has likened his Starr Chamber travails to those of Rubashov, the protagonist of Arthur Koestler’s Darkness at Noon. The comparison is more apt than he knows.
But Is It Journalism?
From “fly-out menus” to scandal coverage, the ins and outs of Web news.
Dick Morris’s The New Prince
Dick Morris’s The New Prince Machiavelli Updated For The Twenty-First Century 11.01.99 | reviewed by Jonathan Chait Here are some of the chapter headings in Dick Morris’s latest book: Issues over Image, Strategy over Spin, Generosity over Self-Interest, Racism Doesn’t Work. No, really. Dick Morris, inventor of triangulation, who advised President Clinton to alter his […]
State of the Debate: The Moral Meanings of Work
How should we think about work — as just a necessary burden that we’d like to cut to a minimum or as the organizing focus of our lives? A number of new books about work, culture, and family suggest that we need to work for more than bread alone.
Does Liberalism Cause Sex?
Conservatives say liberalized access to contraceptives and sex education in the schools have led to more unprotected teen sex and teen births. But let’s look at the evidence.
Rooting the Home Team
All over America, owners are demanding extravagant subsidies and tax breaks for new stadiums. If communities want to keep their teams, there’s often a cheaper solution than giving way to these demands. Follow the example of Green Bay.
Unsolved Mysteries: The Tocqueville Files II
UNSOLVED MYSTERIESThe Tocqueville Files II “Won’t You Be My Neighbor,” by William A. Galston“The Downside of Social Capital,” by Alejandro Portes and Patricia Landolt
Unsolved Mysteries: The Tocqueville Files
Robert Putnam’s important and disturbing work on civic participation (“The Strange Disappearance of Civic America,” TAP, Winter 1996) has led him to conclude that television is the culprit behind civic decline. But lest we be too disturbed, we ought to consider carefully whether the data adequately measure participation and justify his conclusions and whether his […]
