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The left-wing contribution to the shouting match.May 13, 2013, Vol. 18, No. 33 • By JOSEPH KNIPPENBERGThere is a genre of books about politics written by ideologues on both sides of the divide. Their aim is to inform their fellow partisans about the misinformation, misdeeds, and malign intentions of the people on the other side, offering talking points to rally the troops for the next confrontation. The authors are often prominent media figures—Glenn Beck, for example.
 The brief, unhappy transit of Lorenz Hart. May 13, 2013, Vol. 18, No. 33 • By KATE LIGHTAlec Wilder met Lorenz Hart in 1942, while listening to Mabel Mercer at Tony’s on 52nd Street in New York. At the time, Hart was working on All’s Fair, to become By Jupiter, his last show with Richard Rodgers. Years later, Wilder would write:
[Hart] told me that all his lyrics were concerned with character delineation and plot. He considered a lyric that ignored either of these to be unprofessional and untheatrical.
 ‘Special’ children in a less-than-special world. May 13, 2013, Vol. 18, No. 33 • By TEMMA EHRENFELDEvery Christmas I receive a charming letter from a college friend I’ll call Doug. Because we live far from each other, I have never met his three children. Reading his letters carefully, I could see that one child wasn’t flourishing as well as the others. So this past winter, when Doug and I met in person for the first time in years, I wasn’t surprised when he told me that this son was “special.” On certain tests, the boy is as bright as his siblings, who are racing through honors programs—yet he cannot remember the names of his classmates or teachers.
A velvet red carpet in the ‘Iron Curtain’ city. May 27, 2013, Vol. 18, No. 35 • By CITA STELZERFulton, Mo.
You learn a lot about America and its people on a book-signing tour.
Read more... What could possibly go wrong in a co-presidency? May 27, 2013, Vol. 18, No. 35 • By TEVI TROYThere is no doubt that the American presidency is an imperfect institution and that it has been inhabited by imperfect people. Given these incontrovertible facts, political scientists have long sought ways to improve the presidency. Some want to make it more powerful, others less. Some want us to pursue a parliamentary-style system, while others have argued for allowing more to be done by executive fiat. Professor David Orentlicher of Indiana University has come up with an original but almost certainly unworkable approach: He wants to split the presidency in half.
Read more... At ‘white privilege’ conferences, a lengthening list of victims issue an ever-more-detailed indictment of Western civilizationMay 27, 2013, Vol. 18, No. 35 • By CHARLOTTE ALLENRead more... You can’t take it with you, and here’s why. May 27, 2013, Vol. 18, No. 35 • By J.E. LENDON
Demetrius of Phaleron, the eccentric tyrant of Athens in the last years of the fourth century b.c., was the proud owner of a giant mechanical snail. This wonder of artifice led the religious processions for which Athens was famous, spitting up saliva, spritzing (we may guess) the squealing onlookers with cooling water, and leaving a deliciously repellent slimy trail behind to settle the dust.
Read more... It’s here. Don’t get used to it. May 27, 2013, Vol. 18, No. 35 • By WESLEY J. SMITH
Human cloning is finally here, and it is going to spark a political conflagration. First, some background.
Read more... The correspondence of Anthony Hecht. May 27, 2013, Vol. 18, No. 35 • By WILLIAM H. PRITCHARDOf the generation of American poets born in the 1920s, three are preeminent: Richard Wilbur (b. 1921), Anthony Hecht (b. 1923), and James Merrill (b. 1926). This judgment will, of course, be contested by those who are most excited by the high nonsense of a John Ashbery, the manic improvisations of an Allen Ginsberg, or the solemn proclamations of an Adrienne Rich. But for those admiring of “formal” verse—of meter, rhyme, and stanza—the trio named above (one of whom, Wilbur, is still alive and writing) are master practitioners.
Read more... Cracking the code of the Workshop for Potential Literature. May 20, 2013, Vol. 18, No. 34 • By SARA LODGE
Did you hear about the Oulipian stripper? She delivered a lipogram before vanishing, with an invisible wink.
Read more...
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