February 18, 2010

My Life with the Taliban on Leonard Lopate and the New Republic

Yesterday, the editors of My Life with the Taliban, Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn, appeared on The Leonard Lopate Show to discuss the book, its origins, the history of the Taliban and Afghanistan, present-day condition, and the extraordinary...

February 17, 2010

Best Translated Book Award 2010

Last night the shortlist for The Best Translated Book Award was announced at Idlewild Books. Unfortunately (for us), There’s Nothing I Can Do When I Think of You Late at Night, by Cao Naiqian, which was on the longlist did...

February 16, 2010

Interview with Sophie Richardson, author of China, Cambodia, and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence

The following is an interview with Sophie Richardson, author of China, Cambodia, and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence Question: What are the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence? Are they really still relevant to China’s leaders, especially given that the...

February 12, 2010

Abdul Salam Zaeef on Hamid Karzai

Reuters recently joined the New York Review of Books, the Sunday Times of London, and others in praising Abdul Salam Zaeef’s memoir My Life with the Taliban. (The editors of the book have also been speaking in England about the...

February 11, 2010

Warren I. Cohen interviewed on The China Beat

On The China Beat Jeffrey Wasserstrom recently interviewed Warren I. Cohen about the forthcoming new (fifth) edition of his book America’s Response to China: A History of Sino-American Relations. Here are some excerpts from the interview: Jeffrey Wasserstrom: Looking back...

February 10, 2010

Interview with Daniel Rigney, author of The Matthew Effect

The following is an interview with Daniel Rigney author of the just-published The Matthew Effect: How Advantage Begets Further Advantage. Question: What is the “Matthew effect”? Daniel Rigney: The distinguished sociologist Robert Merton coined the term “Matthew effect” in 1968...

February 9, 2010

The malaise in the Arab World — an interview with Elizabeth Suzanne Kassab

This past weekend, Elizabeth Suzanne Kassab, author of Contemporary Arab Thought: Cultural Critique in Comparative Perspective, talked about the malaise in the post-1967 Arab world on ABC radio. Kassab argues that geopolitical events coupled with the failure of the post-colonial...

February 8, 2010

Do bailouts work?

In The Great Recession of 2008 and the Sordid Historiography of the Great Depression, an article just published on the History News Network, Robert E. Wright, editor of Bailouts: Public Money, Profit, argues that policymakers’ and scholars’ misinterpretations of the...

February 5, 2010

Gary Francione on Animals as Persons

In a recent essay for Rorotoko, Gary Francione writes about his book Animals as Persons: Essays on the Abolition of Animal Exploitation. His essay explains his rejection of conventional animal welfare reform and his belief in the abolitionist theory of...

February 4, 2010

Edward Hess on Toyota and the dangers of growth

Toyota and its massive recall has been very much in the news lately but what can be learned from their experience? This is the question that Edward D. Hess takes up in a recent piece in Forbes, entitled Bigger Is...

February 1, 2010

Interview with the editors of Gyorgy Lukacs's Soul and Form

The following is an interview with Jack Sanders and Katie Terezakis, coeditors of the new edition of György Lukács’s, Soul and Form. Q: Why publish a new edition of Lukács’s early essays now? Jack Sanders and Katie Terezakis: Lukács first...

January 29, 2010

Glenn Hubbard has tea with The Economist

R. Glenn Hubbard continues his discussion of The Aid Trap: Hard Truths About Ending Poverty. He was recently invited by The Economist to discuss ways in which a new Marshall Plan can help revitalize the economy of Africa and poor...