From Nixonland to Obamanation
The most disturbing thing about reading Rick Perlstein's Nixonland is how little has changed. Even the names of the players themselves--some are still around, like Charlie Rangel, Donald Rumsfeld,...
Category: Books
Cleaving, sexism and polyamory: dirty talk on Julie Powell
Julie Powell has lead a charmed life. A former government desk-slave who turned to cooking and writing in a bid for a more exciting life, she took on the task of cooking her way through Julia...
Homa Katouzian: how the West should deal with Iran’s nuclear ambitions
Professor Homa Katouzian is an specialist on Iran, teaching at the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford. Trained as an economist, Dr. Katouzian has a broad range of interests...
We love vampires, because we don’t want to look in the mirror
Despite the advances of modern science, we live in a world that remains captivated by the occult. We have put a man on the moon, cured many diseases that were once deadly, and live in a time of such...
The real appeal of Stephanie Meyer’s restless vampire romance
There's a moment in "New Moon," the new film sequel to "Twilight," the vampire teen romance, that perfectly explains the appeal of this series. It's between human Bella Swan, played by a thin and...
“A Heartbeat and a Guitar”: Antonino D’Ambrosio on Johnny Cash
Like many people, I came to politics—and writing about politics--through music. I discovered punk rock, and it led me to different ways of thinking about the world. Music has always been a way to...
“Genocide Before the Holocaust” doesn’t deliver
Since the Holocaust, we have paid increasing attention to genocide worldwide. Yet it is wrong to suggest that this form of violence has only constituted a meaningful part of human life following the...
From Tolkienites to Warcraft warriors: an interview with Ethan Gilsdorf
Gamers and fantasy fans are often maligned as freaks and geeks, but they also foster close-knit communities that support each other and are wary of outsiders. Writer Ethan Gilsdorf left the gaming...
Spies: The KGB in the United States
In Spies: The Rise and Fall of The KGB in America, historians John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr teamed up with former KGB member and journalist Alexander Vassiliev to illustrate the phenomenon of...
The Damned, Last Rites
"The Damned, Blood on the Snow" is the previous installment of Chloe Bradshaw's saga. "I'm not dead," my brother says. "Though you did injure me on Vinson Massif.” He shows me a scar on his...