The two years I spent in England were enriching in many ways but gastronomically they were a bust. The English like to boil everything from their laundry to their brussel sprouts which, like their socks, come out of the pot blanched white enough to see through. What they don’t
What is government for? That’s the central question co-writers Jim Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge explore in their recent article, ”The State of the State.” (Foreign Affairs, July/August, 2014 pgs. 118-132). They begin their quest with a review of Thomas Hobbes’ Leviat
Recently, a Facebook friend shared a quote attributed to — but not proven to be — by Mark Twain: “Censorship is telling a man he can’t have a steak just because a baby can’t chew it.” I wrote back that I could make neither heads nor tails of this
Some mornings I awake with a deep sense of guilt. The lives of people I have never met are being torn apart by war, their homes bombed, their families separated and many of them killed. Each day the question for them isn’t what movie to see or book to read. The question is how
Elizabeth Lunbeck’s new book The Americanization of Narcissism, explores the fault line between healthy and unhealthy narcissism. (Me, Myself, and ID,” by Laura Kipnis, Harper’s Magazine, pgs. 80) In it she explores the question of narcissism’s origin. Is it nurtured by
I’ve often wondered why our form of democracy is so difficult to transplant in Africa and the Middle East. One reason might be because of our diversity. We began as a nation of differing cultures rather than a homogenous one. To get along we had to build a tent large enough to
When we read about the high wages earned by CEOs of corporations the justification is always the same. Those high salaries are necessary to attract and keep good management. But doesn’t the same logic apply to workers? Aren’t good wages and good benefits part of keeping empl
Several years ago, I read a medical expert’s analysis of James Joyce’s Ulysses. He concluded that the book exhibited not genius but the workings of a diseased mind. If the doctor’s theory had been treated seriously, a number of literary critics and scholars who claim to
While the world rejoices in Pope Francis’ vow to return the Church to its mission of mercy for the poor and the weak, writer Mary Gordon points out he continues to keep American nuns in the critical spotlight for doing just that instead of taking a stand against abortion, homosexual
When I graduated from college my first job interviewer looked at me askance. “What can you do with a philosophy degree?” he asked. “Think,” I replied. I didn’t get the job but never regretted my liberal arts education. As William Deresiewicz wrote in a recent ess