Archive for April, 2009
Angles on Empire: Book Week at Brown
Click to listen to Chris’s conversation with James Der Derian and Catherine Lutz (46 minutes, 21 mb mp3)
We’re taking two fresh measures here of the United States as military colossus — in two new books from the Watson Institute this spring. Two common points here: you won’t forget these perspectives once you’ve taken in …
David Kennedy: Requiem for Human Rights?
Will "human rights" be a cause or a career for American idealists -- after Guantanamo? David Kennedy of Brown reflects on the passing of a movement in his memoir of "The Rights of Spring."
Amitav Ghosh & Robert Coover: Speaking of Burma
Amitav Ghosh, Indian novelist of empire, and the American satirist Robert Coover draw hard lessons from the wreckage of Burma.
Carlos Fuentes: FDR to BHO: the New Deal Revisited
Carlos Fuentes, the Mexican novelist once barred from the US, celebrates "a stroke of genius" in the choice of President Obama.
"Waltz with Bashir": the Art Director’s Cut at War
David Polonsky, Israeli art director of "Waltz with Bashir," recounts a breakthrough in animation, a breakdown in peace psychology.
James Carroll: Practicing "Americanist" Catholic
James Carroll's "Americanist" Catholicism is a vision of a church to match the dream of a country: pluralist, individualist, inclusive.
The Obama Effect: a Rebirth of Global Politics
As Others See Us: Ex-chieftains Romano Prodi of Italy and Ricardo Lagos of Chile talk candidly about the world's new captain in a sea of troubles, President Barack Obama.
Mahmood Mamdani: You (and I) got Darfur Wrong
Mahmood Mamdani, the Africa scholar at Columbia, says almost everything we were told to think, feel and do about the brutal slaughter in Darfur was wrong: wrong facts, wrong judgment, wrong advice.
After Gaza: The road back from shame and silence
Breaking the shamed silence after Gaza: Henry Siegman's argument that only President Obama can tell Israel: "Enough!"
