People respond to surveys all the time, even on subjects about which they know absolutely nothing.

We've made the Founding Fathers into mythical figures, and that may not be a good thing.

Many Americans were surprised to discover, during the 2000 election, that voting is not a guaranteed right. Is a constitutional amendment in order?

As the United States is rediscovering in Iraq, building a nation isn't so easy.

Protecting America's coasts and allowing free trade has become a difficult balancing act for the U.S. Coast Guard.

Should the U.S. military lift its ban on known homosexuals?

A new study finds that pouring more money into Africa will not fix its problems.

Free trade is not responsible for inequality of wealth among countries, says The Economist

American school reformers clamor for smaller classes, but a study finds they only make a difference when "teacher quality is low."

More women than men graduate from college, which makes it "harder for educated women to find equally educated mates."

Liberal and conservative papers treat the "other side" fairly on their editorial pages, but vary widely in how they treat their own parties.

Philosophy has its uses, but it can't determine everything.

Renaissance chronologers faced a tough conundrum: order events according to biblical notions, or rely on historical records?

Hydrogen-fueled cars may not be all they're cracked up to be.

Scientists have made great progress in the theoretical understanding of human illness, but not nearly enough in developing effective treatments. The reason? Not enough physician-scientists.

Laboratory results may be tainted by the effects of ill treatment of lab mice.

Poetry books may be a hard sell, but poetry is everywhere, thanks to "poetry slams" and the growth of hip-hop culture.

Literature is tantalizingly close to universal availability, but what stands in the way is translation.

A series of crises has brought much-needed reform to Japan's political structure.

India has lagged behind China in GDP, but may be a more fertile land for home-grown entrepreneurs.

Colonial America had a higher proportion of non-English speakers than it does today.

The traditional view is that Islam is antithetical to democracy, but a study suggests that Arab culture may be the stumbling block.

Is there too much "science" in the social sciences...or not enough?

The World Wide Web ought to be the ideal medium for newspapers. So why do so many online papers stink?

Beneath the sentiment of Longfellow's poetic lines were invocations to maintain republican virtue through honest hard labor.

Gouverneur Morris--the colorful, peg-legged lawyer who wrote the U.S. Constitution--deserves to be better known. Max Byrd reviews two new biographies.

Can one find aesthetic quality in low and middle "consumer culture"? Paul Fussell is skeptical.

By Frank D. Bean and Gillian Stevens.Russell Sage Foundation. 309 pp. $32.50

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INTERTWINED LIVES: Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, and Their Circle. By Lois W. Banner. Knopf. 540 pp. $30

BROADWAY BOOGIE WOOGIE: Damon Runyon and the Making of New York City Culture. By Daniel R. Schwarz. Palgrave Macmillan. 346 pp. $35

THE ART OF BURNING BRIDGES: A Life of John O’Hara. By Geoffrey Wolff. Knopf. 373 pp. $30

GOOD MORNING, MR. ZIP ZIP ZIP: Movies, Memory, and World War II. By Richard Schickel. Ivan R. Dee. 329 pp. $27.50

THE IRISH WAY: A Walk through Ireland’s Past and Present. By Robert Emmett Ginna. Random House. 298 pp. $24.95

THE LAST REVOLUTIONARIES: German Communists and Their Century. By Catherine Epstein. Harvard Univ. Press. 322 pp. $29.95

GRAND OLD PARTY: A History of the Republicans. By Lewis L. Gould. Random House. 602 pp. $35

EVIL IN MODERN THOUGHT: An Alternative History of Philosophy. By Susan Neiman. Princeton Univ. Press. 358 pp. $29.95

THE SERENITY PRAYER: Faith and Politics in Times of Peace and War. By Elisabeth Sifton. Norton. 353 pp. $24.95