Is the World Really Safer Without the Soviet Union? Is the World Really Safer Without the Soviet Union?
Instead of a new era of democracy, disarmament and interdependence, we have had unchecked militarism and economic crisis.
Dec 22, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Mikhail S. Gorbachev
The Soviet Union’s Afterlife The Soviet Union’s Afterlife
Twenty years later, questions endure about how and why the nation abruptly dissolved.
Dec 22, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Stephen F. Cohen
Back in the USSR Back in the USSR
Ever since 1991, Russians have been looking to the Soviet past for comfort and pride.
Dec 22, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Vadim Nikitin
Shelf Life Shelf Life
Andrew Tabler’s In the Lion's Den: An Eyewitness Account of Washington's Battle With Syria; Steven Cook’s The Struggle for Egypt: From Nasser to Tahrir Square.
Dec 21, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Frederick Deknatel
You Can’t Always Get What You Want: On Stephen King You Can’t Always Get What You Want: On Stephen King
In 11/22/63, Stephen King conveys the horrors of American exceptionalism.
Dec 21, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Charles Taylor
L’Élan Vital L’Élan Vital
It happened when a doctorate honoris causa was awarded to a certain Lamerdière of Freiburg— Switzerland or Breisgau, who cares? Garbed in rainbow gown, he mounted the dais and barfed his Objurgation. I revile the larva, he said, the grub from which, in due course, issues the angelic butterfly only to die in the flaring of a match. I despise the silent, the tenuous, the fading. The only god is Rhombus, not the mullet, but the everlasting anti- teleological, universal thunderclap. Not that susurrus which sophists call l’élan vital. If god is word, and word is sound, this almighty bombination, for which no beginning is, no end will ever be, is unique in being both itself and everything else. Jove dies, your Excellencies, the poet’s hymn does NOT last. At this point a Jumbo jet blasted my ears and I woke. Reprinted from The Collected Poems of Eugenio Montale, 1925–1977, translated by William Arrowsmith and edited by Rosanna Warren. Copyright © 2012 by Beth Arrowsmith, Nancy Arrowsmith and Rosanna Warren.
Dec 21, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Eugenio Montale
Rick Perry Compares Himself to Denver Broncos Quarterback Tim Tebow Rick Perry Compares Himself to Denver Broncos Quarterback Tim Tebow
So Perry is fond of debates now, He’s calling himself in these rumbles An Iowa caucuses Tebow— Except for how often he fumbles.
Dec 21, 2011 / Column / Calvin Trillin
Five Worst Political Books of 2011 Five Worst Political Books of 2011
Bill Clinton on jobs, Chris Matthews on JFK and Dick Cheney on himself.
Dec 21, 2011 / Jon Wiener
Regarding Christopher Regarding Christopher
Hitchens could be a moral bully and a black-and-white thinker, but as a vivid presence he will long be remembered.
Dec 19, 2011 / Katha Pollitt
The Perils of the Front-Runner in a Horse Race The Perils of the Front-Runner in a Horse Race
Though Romney was leading right out of the gate, He’s also a guy some conservatives hate. But all other entries they managed to find Were scratched from the start or have fallen behind. So now they’ve decided that Newt is a whiz— The horse that they’re backing, corrupt as he is. Thus Gingrich, now galloping (though he’s quite husky), May make Romney look like the late Edmund Muskie.
Dec 14, 2011 / Column / Calvin Trillin