Books and Ideas

The Statue of Liberty

Patriotism’s Secret History Patriotism’s Secret History

Our most cherished national symbols—from the Pledge of Allegiance to "America the Beautiful" to Lady Liberty's poetry—are rooted in liberal ideals.

May 16, 2002 / Peter Dreier and Dick Flacks

Futbol Futbol

As if to move a flexible sphere from here to there with unassisted head and foot were natural and obvious. As if a dance could always bow to resolute constraint and never be dance...

May 16, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Alfred Corn

Renewing Urban Renewal Renewing Urban Renewal

One of the things we do not do well in this country is learn from our mistakes. This is particularly true in the strengthening and rejuvenating of cities.

May 16, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Roberta Brandes Gratz

Only the Dead Know Brooklyn Only the Dead Know Brooklyn

For more than a century, a recognizable pattern existed among those migrating to New York City: They came first either through Ellis Island or up from the American South, and m...

May 16, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Theodore Hamm

Milosevic, Still at War Milosevic, Still at War

It is probably safe to say that the war crimes trial in The Hague of the former Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic is not going well. At least so far. No credible witnesses ha...

May 9, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Dusko Doder

Judging the Tribunals Judging the Tribunals

After years of collecting evidence against Slobodan Milosevic, the prosecutors at The Hague expected a decisive victory. But as the former Yugoslav president, who insisted on d...

May 9, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Daphne Eviatar

What Are They Reading? What Are They Reading?

Love's Labour's Lost by William Shakespeare I have been on something of a Shakespeare comedy jag over the past months; I laughed all the way from Columbus, Ohio, to New York...

May 6, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Arthur C. Danto

In Our Orbit In Our Orbit

The Past Ahead of Us "History," wrote James Baldwin, "does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact...

May 2, 2002 / Books & the Arts / The Editors

Gayness Becomes You Gayness Becomes You

Nearly fifty years ago, in Eros and Civilization, Herbert Marcuse suggested that homosexuals (then the current term) might someday--because of their "rebellion against the subjuga...

May 2, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Martin Duberman

Militants on the Steppes Militants on the Steppes

It was an early November morning when I met Gairam Muminov on the steps of a courthouse on the outskirts of Tashkent, the sprawling capital of Uzbekistan. He was leaning against a...

May 2, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Raffi Khatchadourian

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