News, reviews, latest trends, breakthroughs, disputes, and gossip in arts and culture http://aldaily.com/ en-us Copyright 2012 The Chronicle of Higher Education Wed, 16 May 2012 07:00:01 EDT rss@chronicle.com rss@chronicle.com http://aldaily.com/ald01.gif http://aldaily.com 128 70 Today's News http://aldaily.com Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT <p> Mexican food has become a better metaphor for America than the melting pot. Want Tater Tots in that burrito?.. <a href="http://reason.com/archives/2012/05/14/taco-usa">more</a> </p> <p> The Anatomy of Harpo Marx is to be taken literally as well as figuratively, which says far more about the author than about the subject... <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-anatomy-of-harpo-marx-by-wayne-koestenbaum/article2429818/">more</a> </p> <p> If death is bad for you, when is that so? Not now - you're not dead. And when you are dead, you're beyond all that. Consider Shelly Kagan's analysis, while you can... <a href="http://chronicle.com/article/Is-Death-Bad-for-You-/131818/">more</a> </p> http://aldaily.com Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT <p> Young "knowledge economy" workers moving to Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit. It's not just the cheap housing. It's a demand for decay... <a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/05/12/rust_belt_chic_declining_midwest_cities_make_a_comeback/singleton/">more</a> </p> <p> Bernard Lewis has long been determined to learn "the history of the other side,&#148 and to bring it swarming to life... <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304743704577380390207004120.html">more</a> </p> <p> James Q. Wilson: Witty, generous with his time, fair-minded, decent, and enormously damaging to the quality of American democracy... <a href="http://www.bostonreview.net/BR37.3/glenn_loury_james_q_wilson_culture_poverty_crime_race.php">more</a> </p> http://aldaily.com Mon, 14 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT <p> Willy Loman couldn&#146t afford a ticket to today's Death of a Salesman, where audiences gaze upon the middle class at a smug distance... <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/opinion/death-of-a-salesmans-dreams.html">more</a> </p> <p> Jean Jaur&egrave;s, left-wing hero in France, was killed by a madman. Now his latter-day confreres fight for ownership of his memory... <a href="http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1029552.ece">more</a> </p> <p> Accomplished as they are, the natural sciences are regarded as the gold standard of knowledge. But good science depends on the humanities - even philosophy... <a href="http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/magazine/103086/scientism-humanities-knowledge-theory-everything-arts-science">more</a> </p> http://aldaily.com Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT <p> We shape thoughts with our hands as well as our words. But don't give the thumbs up in Iran unless you mean "up yours"... <a href="http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/essays/body-language.php?page=all">more</a> </p> <p> In a bottom-line world, what's the problem with, say, a market in licenses to hunt down convicted murderers in the woods?... <a href="http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/The-Thinking-Read/What-Money-Can-t-Buy-The-Moral-Limits-of-Markets/ba-p/7759">more</a> </p> <p> On a patrol in Afghanistan, house searches become demolition parties. &#147Cows: Taliban food. Sheep: Taliban food. Donkeys: Taliban transportation. Kill everything"... <a href="http://theamericanscholar.org/a-gathering-menace/">more</a> </p> http://aldaily.com Sat, 12 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT <p> We shape thoughts with our hands as well as our words. But don't give the thumbs up in Iran unless you mean "up yours"... <a href="http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/essays/body-language.php?page=all">more</a> </p> <p> In a bottom-line world, what's the problem with, say, a market in licenses to hunt down convicted murderers in the woods?... <a href="http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/The-Thinking-Read/What-Money-Can-t-Buy-The-Moral-Limits-of-Markets/ba-p/7759">more</a> </p> <p> On a patrol in Afghanistan, house searches become demolition parties. &#147Cows: Taliban food. Sheep: Taliban food. Donkeys: Taliban transportation. Kill everything"... <a href="http://theamericanscholar.org/a-gathering-menace/">more</a> </p> http://aldaily.com New material is added to Arts & Letters Daily six days a week. We continually test links for reliability. Despite our best efforts, links may fail (often only temporarily) without warning. We apologize for any inconvenience. Our motto, "Veritas odit moras," is from line 850 of Seneca's version of Oedipus. It means "Truth hates delay." Arts & Letters Daily is a service of The Chronicle of Higher Education.