Muslims' inner spiritual lives are on the decline, throwing off their moral equilibrium and clouding their visions of a potentially bright, peaceful tomorrow, writes Ali A. Allawi.
In Dhaka, Bangladesh, a cellphone ad next to a mosque's minaret (Photograph from Abbas, Magnum Photos)

Why are errors in feminist scholarship so long-lasting and difficult to correct? Christina Hoff Sommers says it's because politicized scholars are wedded to their worldview of victimization.

Author Cristina Nehring takes on eros, our need to shrink-wrap it, and a new book on romantic passions in ancient Greece.

The proposed Google Book settlement is a good, if not perfect, way to rescue millions of works from oblivion, writes Tim Barton.

Fascination with the 60s endures among today's undergrads. John McMillian offers some possible explanations.

Books & Arts

For decades, creative-writing programs have been knocked as faddish factories for self-conscious strivers. But Mark McGurl argues that we should take such programs seriously as a driving force in American literature, writes Jennifer Howard.
Mark McGurl (above), an associate professor of English at the U. of California at Los Angeles, writes that "the rise of the creative-writing program stands as the most important event in postwar American literary history." (Photograph by Ed Carreon)

NEW SCHOLARLY BOOKS

Observer

Teaching English in California and analyzing data in Afghanistan involve remarkably similar skill sets, writes William C. Corley.