Apr 30, 2011

Weak Endnotes

by Cliopatria

Kathryn Schulz, "Life of the Party," LARB, 25 April, reviews Sarah Bakewell's How to Live: or, A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer.

Mark Brown, "Lost archive shows Wittgenstein in a new light," Guardian, 26 April, suggests that a major collection of the philosopher's papers will reshape Wittgenstein scholarship.

Dwight Garner, "Sing It Loud: Changing the World With a Stirring Cri de Coeur," NYT, 28 April, reviews Dorian Lynskey's 33 Revolutions Per Minute: A History of Protest Songs, From Billie Holiday to Green Day. The publication of Lynskey's book prompts The Nation to ask "What's the Best Protest Song?" Nominate your favorite's at the link.

Kanan Makiya, "What Is Totalitarian Art?" Foreign Affairs, May/June, reviews Igor Golomstock's and Robert Chandler's Totalitarian Art: In the Soviet Union, the Third Reich, Fascist Italy and The People's Republic of China.

Stephen Enniss, "Ted Hughes, archives and alligators," TLS, 27 April, uses Emory University's acquisition of the Ted Hughes manuscripts to illustrate the archival task.

Christine Stansell, "Hidden in Plain Sight," The Book, 28 April, reviews Leila Ahmed A Quiet Revolution: The Veil's Resurgence, from the Middle East to America.

Michael Kazin, "The Trouble With Independents," TNR, 26 April, provoked considerable debate. See: John Sides, "Independents are not a confused horde," The Monkey Cage, 26 April; John Chait, "The Irrationality of Independent Voters," TNR, 28 April; Sides, "On the Rationality or Irrationality of Political Independents," Monkey Cage, 28 April; Jon Bernstein, "Economic Voting is Rational," A plain blog about politics, 28 April; and Chait, "Kazin Proxy Fight, Round Three," TNR, 29 April.

Finally, farewell to Duke's Joel Colton. In his department, R. R. Palmer's and Colton's A History of the Modern World introduced me to serious academic history. I never looked back.