Books and Ideas

Bloomsburied in China Bloomsburied in China

A divide exists between Chinese literature and movies written, produced, read or viewed in the West, and those written and produced in mainlaind China.

Apr 3, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Patricia Laurence

Dangerous Liaisons Dangerous Liaisons

He says he is not a fighter--or rather, the narrator says it; he's "an onlooker," someone who steps aside, "frail," "not the savior of the world," not a "prophet," speaking onl...

Apr 3, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Joseph McElroy

To the Unfinished To the Unfinished

Clear eminence without whom I would be
nothing oh great provision never seen
barely acknowledged even wished away

Mar 27, 2003 / Books & the Arts / W.S. Merwin

The Tragedy of William O. Douglas The Tragedy of William O. Douglas

William O. Douglas was a judicial record-setter.

Mar 27, 2003 / Books & the Arts / David J. Garrow

Respectfully Yours Respectfully Yours

Richard Sennett is best known in the United States for his 1972 book (written with Jonathan Cobb), The Hidden Injuries of Class. That study of white working-class men, how they...

Mar 27, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Linda Gordon

A Stone Unturned A Stone Unturned

Someone once described Graham Greene as the novelist of decolonizing Britain.

Mar 27, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Patrick Smith

What Are They Reading? What Are They Reading?

There's no better antidote to orange alerts and duct-tape dictums than good fiction, and if the terrorists occupying the White House have shot your attention span, try a book of ...

Mar 25, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Judith Long

Against the Genetic Grain Against the Genetic Grain

I first heard of Jon Beckwith in the mid-1970s, in a question framed by my genetics professor: Why would anyone willfully disrupt a research program designed to collect useful ...

Mar 20, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Jonathan Marks

Germline Warfare Germline Warfare

A most remarkable event occurred in the weeks preceding the June 2000 announcement of the completion of the first draft of the human genome DNA code: One of the leaders of the ...

Mar 20, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Ralph Brave

Guns in the Courtroom Guns in the Courtroom

In the late summer and fall of 1997, small news leaks began appearing that Mayor Edward Rendell of Philadelphia (who is now governor of Pennsylvania) was thinking about suing t...

Mar 13, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Carl T. Bogus

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