Shelf Life Shelf Life
Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen and Sonu Shamdasani’s The Freud Files; E. James Lieberman and Robert Kramer, editors, The Letters of Sigmund Freud and Otto Rank
Sep 26, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Elias Altman
Empire and Revolution: On Joshua Freeman Empire and Revolution: On Joshua Freeman
In a new history of postwar America, Joshua Freeman argues that policy changes occur because of pressure from the bottom up.
Sep 26, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Thomas J. Sugrue
Dave Zirin: The NFL Ref Lockout Highlights Class Problem in the US Dave Zirin: The NFL Ref Lockout Highlights Class Problem in the US
Commissioner Roger Goodell echoes the anti-labor rhetoric of Mitt Romney and Scott Walker.
Sep 26, 2012 / Press Room
Watch the Presidential Debate with The Nation! Watch the Presidential Debate with The Nation!
On Wednesday, October 3, at 9 pm join Nation writers and readers for a live discussion on the first presidential debate!
Sep 26, 2012 / The Nation
GOP Unlikely to Help Akin—Will It Matter? GOP Unlikely to Help Akin—Will It Matter?
The national party isn’t likely to come back, leaving Akin with a coalition of hard-right funders.
Sep 26, 2012 / George Zornick
Romney on Teachers and Their Unions: Silence Them! Romney on Teachers and Their Unions: Silence Them!
The man who owes his GOP nomination to billionaires and Super PACs wants to prevent teachers from pooling small donations to have a voice in politics.
Sep 26, 2012 / John Nichols
After DADT Repeal: Choosing Our Battles After DADT Repeal: Choosing Our Battles
A year ago, the repeal of “don't ask, don't tell” was a great step for LGB rights, but it did not nearly go far enough.
Sep 26, 2012 / Timothy Patrick McCarthy
Puzzle No. 3254 Puzzle No. 3254
Don’t miss Kosman and Picciotto’s crossword blog, Word Salad.
Sep 25, 2012 / Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto
Letters Letters
May Todd Akin Rot in Hell—Legitimately New York City Katha Pollitt has nailed it again with “Women Who Love Republicans Who Hate Them” [“Subject to Debate,” Sept. 17]. I would just add that Todd Akin’s gag-inducing belief about the spermicidal capacity of women who have been “legitimately” raped goes back a lot further than 1988. According to The Guardian: “One of the earliest British legal texts, Fleta…[says]: ‘If, however, the woman should have conceived at the time alleged in the appeal, it abates, for without a woman’s consent she could not conceive.’” Fleta dates to approximately 1290. Yes, folks, the Republican Party, working to take us back to that golden age, the thirteenth century. NORA FREEMAN His Nose Just Grows and Grows Madison, N.J. Pinocchio! Your ad on page 16 of the September 17 issue is the best picture of Governor Christie! I sent it to him and recommended he subscribe to The Nation. LOIS VUONO Still a Difficult Woman Hayward, Calif. Victor Navasky’s review of a biography of Lillian Hellman by Alice Kessler-Harris [“The Antagonist,” Sept. 17] was interesting but uninformative—interesting in retelling some incidents in Hellman’s life, uninformative by avoiding others. The good: Hellman’s defiance of HUAC is still an inspiration. She stood foursquare for the “simple rules of human decency and Christian honor.” The reference to Christian honor puzzles me, though, since Hellman was not Christian and since, in light of fascism and vile McCarthyism, “Christian honor” seems to be an oxymoron. As for the bad: Mary McCarthy attacked Hellman’s autobiographical books as lies. I remember reading those books with admiration for their literary and political style. If the books were in fact a confabulation, my opinion fundamentally changes. So the question is: Were the assertions in those books true (or sort of true) or were they false? I don’t know whether Kessler-Harris gives an answer. Navasky certainly does not. I’d like to know. At least, I’d like to know the opinions of Kessler-Harris and Navasky. JOHN PLOTZ Navasky Replies New York City Which facts is Mr. Plotz talking about? Hellman’s three memoirs were filled with thousands of facts and undoubtedly some factoids. If it helps, I’d add that I don’t agree with Mary McCarthy that “every word” Hellman wrote was a lie. VICTOR NAVASKY The Highest Caliber Tucson Paula Findlen’s review of Brad Gregory’s The Unintended Reformation [“Scissor Work,” Sept. 17] is excellent—learned and subtle, and she comes to the right conclusion, the same negative one as everybody else, but in a very thoughtful way. SUSAN KARANT-NUNN, director Division for Late Medieval and Reformation Studies University of Arizona Corrections: August in Paris… Thomas Meaney’s “The Generalist” [Oct. 1] refers to the liberation of Paris in May 1944. Paris was liberated in August 1944. It also described de Gaulle’s laissez-faire economic policies as beginning in 1948; they began in 1945. Finally, a clarification: the piece stated that de Gaulle’s crowning economic achievement was establishing the European Economic Community in 1957. While de Gaulle was not in power in 1957, he retailored the Treaty of Rome, which established the EEC, to suit Franco-German needs in the late 1950s.
Sep 25, 2012 / Our Readers
US Special Forces Deployed in Iraq, Again US Special Forces Deployed in Iraq, Again
The return of US Special Forces is not likely to restore Iraqi stability, and they may become trapped in crossfire as sectarian tensions deepen.
Sep 25, 2012 / Tom Hayden