The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism
By Andrew J. Bacevich
Metropolitan Books, 224 pages, $24
Although John McCain wants U.S. forces to stay in Iraq until the mission really has been accomplished, an army of conservatives remains implacably opposed to the war and the occupation. Andrew Bacevich is among the most outspoken Read More
SOULED OUT: RECLAIMING FAITH & POLITICS AFTER THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Princeton University Press, 251 pages, $24.95
“I hope we can answer the alarm clock and take this nation back for Christ,” Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, proclaimed in 1998. Ten years later, Mr. Huckabee remains committed to a Read More
TRYING LEVIATHAN: THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY NEW YORK COURT CASE THAT PUT THE WHALE ON TRIAL AND CHALLENGED THE ORDER OF NATURE
By D. Graham Burnett
Princeton University Press, 266 pages, $29.95
In the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, published in 1758, Carl Linnaeus, the king of the classifying sciences, declared that “by good Read More
KING OF THE CLUB: RICHARD GRASSO AND THE SURVIVAL OF THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE
By Charles Gasparino
Collins, 400 pages, $27.95
In the fall of 2002, Kenneth Langone, co-founder of Home Depot and head of the compensation committee of the New York Stock Exchange, proposed extending the contract of N.Y.S.E. chairman Read More
In July 2004, Zogby International Surveys interviewed 3,300 Arabs in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Asked to identify “the best thing that comes to mind about America,” almost all of the respondents replied: “Nothing at all.”
Since then, according to Chalmers Johnson, president of the Japan Policy Research Institute, Read More
More than 150 years ago, Alexis de Tocqueville detected in democracy a tendency toward despotism. Although it would degrade its citizens without tormenting them, democratic despotism might well be all-encompassing. Backed by the will of the majority, the government could become “the sole agent and the only arbiter” of status, success and happiness.
In the Read More
More than 150 years ago, Alexis de Tocqueville detected in democracy a tendency toward despotism. Although it would degrade its citizens without tormenting them, democratic despotism might well be all-encompassing. Backed by the will of the majority, the government could become “the sole agent and the only arbiter” of status, success and happiness.
In Read More
On July 4, 1821, John Quincy Adams declared that the United States “goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.” Wishing freedom for all, America knew that by intervening to support independence for other nations “she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication” in wars of interest and intrigue. “She might become the Read More
On July 4, 1821, John Quincy Adams declared that the United States “goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.” Wishing freedom for all, America knew that by intervening to support independence for other nations “she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication” in wars of interest and intrigue. “She might become the Read More
Does American Democracy Still Work? by Alan Wolfe. Yale University Press, 216 pages, $22.
Is Democracy Possible Here? Principles For a New Political Debate, by Ronald Dworkin. Princeton University Press, 192 pages, $19.95.
In his second inaugural address, President George W. Bush declared that supporting democracy—“the imperative of self-government”—is “the calling of Read More
