September 13, 2010

Andy Smith on Breakfast Cereal

On Friday, Andy Smith, author of Eating History: Thirty Turning Points in the Making of American Cuisine, was on The Leonard Lopate Show to discuss the history of breakfast cereal. Joined by none other than Edwin Chavey (aka Mr. Breakfast),...

September 10, 2010

Jonathan Soffer at the Brooklyn Book Festival

Jonathan Soffer, author of the forthcoming Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City will be on what promises to be an excellent panel at this year’s Brooklyn Book Festival on Sunday, September 12. Soffer’s panel, “Change Gonna Come:...

September 9, 2010

Counter-Archive and Photos from the Albert Kahn Collection

In Counter-Archive: Film, the Everyday, and Albert Kahn’s Archives de la Planète Paula Amad examines one of the most extraordinary collections of film and photography. Tucked away in a garden on the edge of Paris is a multimedia archive like...

September 8, 2010

The Number One Cause of College Happiness — David Leibow

On his blog The College Shrink, David Leibow, author of What to Do When College Is Not the Best Time of Your Life, uncovers the reason why college students are so unhappy. How unhappy are they? According to a 2009...

September 7, 2010

Bruce Hoffman and Faisal Devji and Their New Venues

For those seeking smart, original commentary or commentary events and the “war on terrorism,” Bruce Hoffman and Faisal Devji, two prominent Columbia University Press authors recently started new writing ventures that should be of great interest. Earlier this summer, Bruce...

September 3, 2010

Rashid Khalidi and Menachem Klein on the Middle East Peace Process

“Moreover, as an Israeli I do not see my government building public trust in the peace talks or in the Palestinian partner, nor expressing serious desire to achieve peace and building public enthusiasm for it.”—Menachem Klein Room for Debate, an...

September 2, 2010

Summer Reading from The Immanent Frame

The Immanent Frame, a blog on secularism, religion, and the public sphere hosted on the Social Science Research Council’s site, recently asked some of its contributors what they had read and liked over the summer. It is a great list...

September 1, 2010

Interview with Ami Pedahzur — The Israeli Secret Services & The Struggle Against Terrorism

The following is a reprint of an interview with Ami Pedahzur, author of The Israeli Secret Services and the Struggle Against Terrorism. The book is now available in paperback: Q: Have you ever worked for the Mossad or any other...

August 31, 2010

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!

While its hard to imagine otherwise, Italians have not always embraced the tomato as part of their national cuisine. In a late summer love letter to the tomato the New York Post describes the history of the tomato in Italy...

August 30, 2010

The Velvet Lounge – Great Chicago Jazz Reads

The Chicago Tribune book blog Printers Row recently posted a round-up of the greatest books about the Chicago jazz scene. Printers Row called out for its jazz-like prose Gerald Majer’s The Velvet Lounge: On Late Chicago Jazz. The book is...

August 27, 2010

India's Forced Labor — Siddharth Kara

Siddharth Kara, author of Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery, continues his extraordinary series on CNN.com with a look at forced labor in India. Kara has been traveling in South Asia researching bonded labor and in his latest...

August 26, 2010

Avner Cohen — Bringing Israel's Bomb Out of the Basement

In an op-ed from yesterday’s New York Times Avner Cohen, author of the forthcoming book The Worst-Kept Secret: Israel’s Bargain with the Bomb, and Marvin Miller argue for Israel to end its policy of opacity regarding its possession of nuclear...