The federal stimulus often neglected the areas hit hardest by the recession.
ON THE MAP:
A Mind-Expanding Exploration of the Way the World Looks.
By Simon Garfield. Gotham. 464 pp. $27.50
HOPE AGAINST HOPE:
Three Schools, One City, and the Struggle to Educate America’s Children.
By Sarah Carr. Bloomsbury. 316 pp. $27.00
ADRENALINE
By Brian B. Hoffman. Harvard Univ. Press. 298 pp. $24.95
SHADOW WARRIOR:
William Egan Colby and the CIA.
By Randall B. Woods. Basic Books. 546 pp. $29.99
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The Folly of Technological Solutionism.
By Evgeny Morozov. PublicAffairs. 415 pp. $28.99
There is a booming market for self-improvement guides among Americans eager to redeem themselves from the sins of sloth, gluttony, or general discontent. But what qualifies one person to tell another how best to live?
The mass warehousing of convicts is a sign of America’s faltering belief in second chances. Considering how individuals atone for their crimes can help us restore rehabilitation as an ideal.
The ceaseless quest for redemption in politics and culture is one of the chronic infirmities of American national life. But God forbid we should ever give it up.