Shelf Life: On Socrates Shelf Life: On Socrates
Bettany Hughes's biography of Socrates is a book that Socrates himself, on a mean day, would have torn to shreds.
Sep 6, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Emily Wilson
Teaching Peace Teaching Peace
If peacemaking is teachable, why are school so reluctant to offer classes in peace studies?
Aug 30, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Colman McCarthy
Sentimentality or Honesty? On Charles Taylor Sentimentality or Honesty? On Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor is a sadly endangered type: the philosopher-statesman.
Aug 10, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Mark Oppenheimer
The Dumbest Story Ever Told: On David Brooks The Dumbest Story Ever Told: On David Brooks
The Social Animal is a deep and public embarrassment, a lumpy hybrid of fable, neuroscience and social engineering.
May 18, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Gary Greenberg
Reclaiming the Politics of Freedom Reclaiming the Politics of Freedom
Since the ’70s, liberals and leftists have misidentified the source of conservatism’s appeal.
Apr 6, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Corey Robin
Being in the World: On James Miller Being in the World: On James Miller
With Examined Lives, James Miller offers a serious and readable study of the relationship between philosophy and life conduct.
Feb 17, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Richard Wolin
Library Man: On Claude Lévi-Strauss Library Man: On Claude Lévi-Strauss
With a sharp eye for cultural patterns and a keen feel for the shape of a story, Claude Lévi-Strauss was a poet in the laboratory of anthropology.
Jan 19, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Thomas Meaney
Risk the Game: On William James Risk the Game: On William James
For William James, all our certitudes depend on the pretense that there are no radical mysteries underlying them.
Nov 23, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Marilynne Robinson
The Group: On George Price The Group: On George Price
The enigma of George Price: He derived an equation for the evolution of altruism, yet he died believing himself a failed good Samaritan.
Sep 22, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Miriam Markowitz
The Renunciation Artist: On Leo Tolstoy The Renunciation Artist: On Leo Tolstoy
The axis of moral struggle, a stroke of salvation--these are the spiritual dimensions of Tolstoy's late fiction.
Feb 11, 2010 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz