Books and Ideas

Geithner’s Stressless Stress Tests Geithner’s Stressless Stress Tests

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner reveals the results of the banks' written exams. All nineteen banks passed...the pass/pass test

May 11, 2009 / Saturday Night Live

Reagan Wins: The Hollow Man Reagan Wins: The Hollow Man

Like a veteran door-to-door salesman, Ronald Reagan is a huckster, only instead of vacuum cleaners, he peddles fear--so successfully that he is now president of the United States.

May 6, 2009 / Richard Lingeman

Grace Under Pressure in Harrisburg Grace Under Pressure in Harrisburg

Residents near the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor meet the fallout threat with uncommon grace and even humor.

May 6, 2009 / Feature / Ira D. Rosen

Into the Wardrobe: C.S. Lewis’s Narnia Into the Wardrobe: C.S. Lewis’s Narnia

Laura Miller's study of C.S. Lewis falls short of providing a coherent theory of Narnia's magic.

May 6, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Jordan Davis

Red Harvest: The KGB in America Red Harvest: The KGB in America

A new book on cold war espionage falsely accuses I.F. Stone of being a paid Soviet agent.

May 6, 2009 / Books & the Arts / D.D. Guttenplan

WWII: The United States and the War WWII: The United States and the War

World War II breaks out in Europe, but The Nation (getting it wrong) says it presents no threat to the US, and we will not join the fighting.

May 5, 2009 / Feature / Oswald Garrison Villard

Lessons From the Titanic Lessons From the Titanic

The terrible tragedy of the Titanic was entirely preventable.

May 5, 2009 / The Editors

The End of Herbert Hoover The End of Herbert Hoover

Franklin Roosevelt is elected on the promise of a new deal, something the country needs desperately.

May 5, 2009 / The Editors

A Vigorous, Quiet Revolt: Things Fall Apart At Fifty A Vigorous, Quiet Revolt: Things Fall Apart At Fifty

Published fifty years ago, Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart mounted a literary rebellion against the everyday amalgamations and condescension that treat Africa as an undiffere...

May 4, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Howard W. French

Misadventure in Vietnam: The Mix of Fact and Myth Misadventure in Vietnam: The Mix of Fact and Myth

With the Gulf of Tonkin resolution authorizing war in Vietnam, its clear that America hasn't learned its lesson from previous foreign policy mistakes in the region.

May 4, 2009 / Feature / John Gange

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