Islamic Civilization in Peril
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)
Never Mind the Facts
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.
Love Among the Ruins
Author Cristina Nehring takes on eros, our need to shrink-wrap it, and a new book on romantic passions in ancient Greece.
Better Web Than Dead
The proposed Google Book settlement is a good, if not perfect, way to rescue millions of works from oblivion, writes Tim Barton.
A Captivating Counterculture
Fascination with the 60s endures among today's undergrads. John McMillian offers some possible explanations.
Books & Arts
Pen Pals
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
Code Name Cassandra
Teaching English in California and analyzing data in Afghanistan involve remarkably similar skill sets, writes William C. Corley.
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Blogs
Brainstorm: Lives of the Mind
Teresa Ghilarducci Is it Time For Bernanke to Leave the Fed? Watch Gary Gensler, new head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and in the cross hairs of the finance industry for wanting to take on oil speculators and derivative markets.
John L. Jackson Jr. Friday Flicks: On Gov't Secrecy and Free Speech Two documentaries that share a pivot point.
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