Archive
The complete Open Letters Monthly Archive.
As Andrew Bacevich relates in his important new book, US involvement in the Middle East has been characterized by confusion, mistakes, and blundering military force. Greg Waldmann reviews America's War for the Greater Middle East.
Read MoreA fascinating new book presents readers with a bounty of stories surrounding the daily intelligence-services briefing given to US Presidents
Read MoreIn his essay on a new reprint of Edwin O'Connor's great and indispensable novel of old-style American ward politics, Jack Beatty introduces readers to the serious comedy of The Last Hurrah.
Read MoreA new book reminds us that good reporting on the Middle East is more important than ever, and more dangerous.
Read MoreYou can set up a flash mob with Twitter, but you can't run a government with it; Jodi Dean's Crowds and Party looks at protests in the age of social media.
Read MoreJane Mayer's new book uncovers the overpowering fire-hose of private money now being blasted into the American political system by the robber barons of the new Gilded Age.
Read MoreCan fiction be overtly political without becoming doctrinaire? A new novel about the Seattle W.T.O. protests succeeds by emphasizing the human complexities involved.
Read MoreA brilliant new book takes an in-depth look at six American cultural figures who took a stand on principle - and then changed their minds
Read MoreA new book studies the history of copyright and the life and legacy of Aaron Swartz, one of copyright's groundbreaking interpreters for the new century.
Read MoreA harrowing new study tries to determine why the myth of torture's effectiveness persists despite all the evidence - and despite a long line of permanently maimed victims. Greg Waldmann reviews.
Read MoreCan realpolitik - the doctrine of intimidation over ideology, force over ideals - actually be a good thing? Matt Ray reviews John Bew's new study.
Read MoreThe only reverse-canonization ever performed was by Pius II in 1462, against his hated enemy Sigismondo Malatesta. A new book tells the fascinating story of this "precursor of the Antichrist."
Read MoreIn the 1930s, a handful of clubbable Christian scribblers got together for tea and conversation and produced both The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings. What on earth went on there?
Read MoreBefore he was a master biographer, James Boswell was a best-selling author of travel writing. Luciano Mangiafico explores his scandalous life in Italy.
Read More"Always scribble, scribble, scribble!" the King joked to the historian, and we remember it still; Luciano Mangiafico looks at the remarkable life of Edward Gibbon.
Read MoreLate in 1944, the defeated Nazis staked everything on one last throw of the dice, a massive assault on the Allied forces in Belgium. Antony Beevor's latest book tells the famous story of the Battle of the Bulge.
Read MoreControversial former Vice President Dick Cheney and his journalist daughter Liz have written a book claiming that the exceptional nature of American power is being sullied and squandered by the current occupant of the White House. Greg Waldmann reviews Exceptional.
Read MoreIn Timur Vermes’s bestselling novel, newly translated from the German, it’s 2011, the Führer is back, and he’s not happy at how the world has changed. Is it OK to find that funny?
Read MoreA Stanford history professor attempts to make a positive case for one of the most benighted countries on the planet
Read MoreAt the beginning of the 19th century, a small trove of elaboratedly carved chess pieces was uncovered on a remote beach - a lively new book traces the history and strange charisma of the Lewis chessmen.
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