The complicated history of power and persuasion.
Americans so idolize the thin and the beautiful that it’s become something of a national embarrassment. What’s even more embarrassing is how bad most Americans actually look. There are good reasons why they should fret more, rather than less, about appearances.
In the decades since Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency, Americans have come to believe that FDR hid from the public the crippling effects of his polio. That myth about the man in the wheelchair says more about our own time than it does about his.
For the first time in human history, a majority of the earth’s population lives in cities. But though great cities have been among humanity’s supreme achievements down through the ages, they now face an uncertain future, threatened by forces that could undermine the very things that have made them great.
We expect nothing less from music than that it give meaning to our lives. And for centuries, Western classical music did just that. But in the 20th century many composers turned in a new and less satisfying direction, and it’s unclear whether music will ever regain what was lost.
“The Edge Annual Question—2005: What Do You Believe Is True Even Though You Cannot Prove It?” in Edge (Jan. 4, 2005), www.edge.org.
“Hyperownership in a Time of Biotechnological Promise: The International Conflict to Control the Building Blocks of Life” by Sabrina Safrin, in The American Journal of International Law (Oct. 2004), The American Society of International Law, 2223 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008.
“Critical Thinking about Energy: The Case for Decentralized Generation of Electricity” by Thomas R. Casten and Brennan Downes, in Skeptical Inquirer (Jan.–Feb. 2005), 944 Deer Dr., N.E., Albuquerque, N.M. 87122.
“Red-Hot MoMA” by Charles Rosen and Henri Zerner, in The New York Review of Books (Jan. 13, 2005), 1755 Broadway, 5th fl., New York, N.Y. 10019–3780.
“Conrad’s Latin America” by Mark Falcoff, in The New Criterion (Jan. 2005), 900 Broadway, Ste. 602, New York, N.Y. 10003.