July 25, 2012

Poetry of the Taliban — "How long?"

The works in Poetry of the Taliban give voice to the Afghans’ view of their country in the wake of the U.S. occupation and the U.S.-backed Karzai government. In this 2007 poem M.A. expresses frustration with Afghanistan’s current state and...

July 24, 2012

Stephen Starr on the complicated situation in Syria

Stephen Starr explains how the public understanding of the conflict in Syria is incredibly (and harmfully) simplistic.

July 24, 2012

Faisal Devji and Alex Strick van Linschoten on Poetry of the Taliban

In the past few days Alex Strick van Linschoten, the co-editor of Poetry of the Taliban was interviewed in the Christian Science Monitor, and Faisal Devji, who wrote the book’s preface, spoke with NPR (you can listen to his interview...

July 24, 2012

Poetry of the Taliban — An Excerpt from Quatrains

As part of our week-long feature on Poetry of the Taliban, each day we will post a poem in its entirety or an excerpt. For more on Poetry of the Taliban, you can browse the book in Google Preview or...

July 24, 2012

New Book Tuesday: Terrorism and Counterintelligence

Terrorism and Counterintelligence: How Terrorist Groups Elude Detection Blake W. Mobley Craving Earth: Understanding Pica–the Urge to Eat Clay, Starch, Ice, and Chalk (Now available in paper) Sera Young Ourselves and Others: Scotland 1832-1914 (2nd Edition) Graeme Morton Hungary Through...

July 23, 2012

Frederick Douglass Opie on Sylvia Woods and Sylvia's in a Changing Harlem

On the occasion of Sylvia Woods’s death last week, Frederick Douglass Opie, author of Hog and Hominy: Soul Food from Africa to America, looked back on her life and the important role her restaurant Sylvia’s played in the life of...

July 20, 2012

University Press Roundup

Our weekly roundup of the best articles from the blogs of academic publishers.

July 20, 2012

The Evolution of a Cover — Julia Kushnirsky on "Atlas: The Archaeology of an Imaginary City"

Earlier this week we featured the cover for Atlas: The Archaeology of an Imaginary City. In the following post, Julia Kushnirsky, the book’s designer, describes the thinking behind this beautifully evocative cover: Atlas: The Archaeology of an Imaginary City is...

July 20, 2012

Aaron Belkin — Gay Marines, but No Gay Scouts

“Gay troops can fight for the country and be maimed or killed, but they can’t be scouts?”—Aaron Belkin In a recent contribution to the New York Times‘s Room for Debate, Aaron Belkin, author of Bring Me Men: Military Masculinity and...

July 19, 2012

New inquiry into the 1961 death of Dag Hammarskjöld

A new inquiry into the death of Swedish UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld has been commissioned.

July 19, 2012

VIDEO: Herve This on Science and the Future of Cuisine

As part of the Euroscience Open Forum 2012, held recently in Dublin, Herve This, whose book The Science of the Oven is now out in paperback, was on a panel to discuss Science and the Future of Cuisine. Herve This...

July 19, 2012

Aaron Belkin on Sexual Violence in the U.S. Military

“Respect for the troops is important. But when respect turns into uncritical idealization, that can easily slip into a mode of thinking in which people assume that what’s good for the military is good for America.”—Aaron Belkin In a recent...