Archive: Steven Levingston
Barnes and Noble's Nook, best airport books, Sarkozy and Camus, James Patterson's new series
Barnes and Noble says it has sold out of its e-reader, the Nook. New shipments won't go out until January. ... Hudson Booksellers, the bookstore travelers turn to while waiting it out at the airport, has released their list of the best books of the year. ... Conservative French president...
By Steven E. Levingston | November 24, 2009; 11:40 AM ET | Comments (0)
The euphoria of silence
Sara Maitland fell in love with silence while living alone in the countryside. She was in her late 40s and had been at the center of a noisy world most of her life: as one of six children and then as a vocal feminist and mother. In "A Book of...
By Steven E. Levingston | November 23, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
Macbeth and other guilty souls in literature
In his book "Guilt: The Bite of Conscience," published by Stanford University Press in October, Herant Katchadourian explores the many manifestations of guilt across disciplines, religions and philosophies. Here, Katchadourian, emeritus professor of psychiatry and human biology at Stanford University, assesses the role of guilt in literature. GUEST BLOGGER: Herant...
By Steven E. Levingston | November 20, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (1)
A chance encounter -- and a literary delight
By Dennis Drabelle Here's why bookstores will always be important to me. Last week, on a visit to Philadelphia, I stopped in at the Book Trader, a roomy secondhand store on Second Street, looking for something to read, wanting to be surprised. While browsing the fiction shelves, I noticed "Chad...
By Steven E. Levingston | November 19, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (2)
Wrath of Capt. Sully, manly titles, Supreme Court's Cuba book decision, an attorney's tale of DC sniper
Capt. Sullenberger vs. William Langewiesche on landing in the Hudson. ... Best books for boys and young men. ... Supreme Court declines to enter fray over Cuba book. ... Attorney plans book on D.C. sniper. ... Must-read social media books. ...Google, Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers submit new...
By Steven E. Levingston | November 18, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
Sin, Redemption and the State
So you've sinned. Now what? Gary A. Anderson, a professor in the Department of Theology at Notre Dame, may have an answer for you. In his book "Sin: A History," published by Yale University Press in September, Anderson explores the roots of sin and atonement. Hint: help the poor. But...
By Steven E. Levingston | November 17, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
Fort Hood and the invisibility of Arab Americans
A memorial to the victims of the Fort Hood shooting stands on the grounds of Casa Del Norte, the apartment complex where the gunman Maj. Nadil Malik Hasan lived in Killeen, Texas. (Eli Meir Kaplan/Getty Images) The Fort Hood shootings have re-ignited conversation about the place of Arab and...
By Steven E. Levingston | November 16, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (14)
Top 10 most destructive government actions
Martin L. Gross has a beef with the way Washington works, or rather, the way Washington has of mucking things up. In "National Suicide: How Washington Is Destroying the American Dream from A to Z," Gross lays out how tax dollars are wasted, government programs fail and scams are perpetrated....
By Steven E. Levingston | November 13, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (16)
The new Cold War: the War on Terror
An Afghan mobile vender pushes his cart through war damaged buildings in Kabul, Afghanistan, last week. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP) Some policies die hard. In "America's Cold War: the Politics of Insecurity," published by Harvard University Press in October, authors Campbell Craig and Fredrik Logevall argue that American policy formed during...
By Steven E. Levingston | November 12, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (2)
Racial reconciliation: Mississippi leading the way?
In "The Past Is Never Dead: The Trial of James Ford Seale and Mississippi's Struggle for Redemption," Harry N. MacLean explores the issue of racial reconciliation. The book wonders whether the conviction of former Klansman Seale can atone for an era of racially motivated sins. We asked MacLean to reflect...
By Steven E. Levingston | November 11, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
Animal empathy and its political implications
Primatologist Frans de Waal has some surprising news about human empathy: among the beasts of the animal kingdom, we are not alone in this emotion. De Waal says research shows that both lab rats and elephants, among other creatures, have an instinctual tendency toward empathetic behavior. We asked de Waal,...
By Steven E. Levingston | November 10, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (2)
Evangelicals' political clout: real or imagined?
Every election cycle the political power of evangelicals and the Christian Right seems to come under fresh scrutiny. But what is the actual impact of the group's excellent mobilization efforts. Steven Brint, professor of sociology and associate dean of the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the University...
By Steven E. Levingston | November 9, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (1)
'Going Rouge': The Sarah Palin coloring book
By Stephen Lowman Love her or hate her, people are drawn to Sarah Palin. Now, a new book wants you to color her. (Images courtesy of Michael Stinson; Click to Enlarge) One year after the race for the White House, publishers have released several books about the GOP vice presidential...
By Steven E. Levingston | November 6, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (15)
Racism without racists
Rich Benjamin spent two years traveling through white America and discovered a country filled with kind and endearing white individuals. In his book "Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America," published by Hyperion in October, Benjamin reveals that he also found something else: a legacy...
By Steven E. Levingston | November 5, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (47)
Iran, the bomb, and religious devotion
A security guard hides his face from a photographer outside the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Bushehr, Iran, last February. (Sajad Safari/Bloomberg News) In his book "Dying for Heaven: Holy Pleasure and Suicide Bombers -- Why the Best Qualities of Religion Are Also Its Most Dangerous" author Ariel Glucklich...
By Steven E. Levingston | November 4, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (6)
Analyzing 9/11 literature from afar
In "Out of the Blue: September 11 and the Novel," Kristiaan Versluys explores fictional portrayals of 9/11. Among the works he probes are Don DeLillo's "Falling Man," Art Spiegelman's "In the Shadow of No Towers," Jonathan Safran Foer's "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," Frederic Beigbeder's "Windows on the World," and...
By Steven E. Levingston | November 3, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (4)
A prescription for mental health care reform
As Congress struggles to bring about health care reform, those suffering from mental illness can only hope some improvement comes to the nation's mental health services. Author Timothy A. Kelly has a prescription for reform in his book "Healing the Broken Mind: Transforming America's Failed Mental Health System" published in...
By Steven E. Levingston | November 2, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (3)
Are you looking for a little vampire love?
By Stephen Lowman This Halloween, are you yearning for more mystery than a gigantic variety bag of fun-sized candy bars can offer? Does your well meaning, but dull, boyfriend or husband leave you hankering for someone with stamina, strength and a passionate hunger? When you come upon Count Chocula in...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 30, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (2)
Satan TV journalist does the evening news
The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Robert Olen Butler recently released a comic novel called "Hell" that's got us warmed up. It's about a TV journalist who works for Satan and interviews the famous and infamous for a show called "The Evening News From Hell." In the spirit of Halloween, we asked...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 29, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
Liberals under Nazism: lessons for today?
It's a common belief that German liberal democrats fled their homeland at the rise of Nazism, or at least resisted Nazi policies. Not so, says historian Eric Kurlander in "Living With Hitler: Liberal Democrats in the Third Reich," published in August by Yale University Press. Many liberals stuck it out,...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 28, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (5)
How to mash up Jane Austen and the Zombies
If you want to create a literary mash up, you can't just dig up parts of other people's books and sew them together like Dr. Frankenstein in his lab. You've got to worry about copyright law. Watching "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" claw its bloody way up the bestseller list...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 27, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (1)
Strength of "Wimpy Kid," Barnes & Noble's e-reader challenge, waiting for Stephen King's latest e-book
Jeff Kinney's fourth "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" book lands atop USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists this week, replacing Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol." The book also overtook Stephanie Meyers' "Twilight" series on the New York Time Children's bestseller list. And although President Obama said his daughters...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 26, 2009; 02:12 PM ET | Comments (0)
Novel comparison: Ayn Rand and Ralph Nader
By Justin Moyer Ralph Nader -- capital-L Liberal, safety-fetishist, and presidential-election spoiler -- might not want to share a bookshelf with Ayn Rand -- small-l liberal, objectivist, and all-around mean girl. Yet, both authors felt it necessary to produce lengthy works of fiction to present their fuming ideologies: Rand's published...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 23, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (3)
In Praise of Human Organ Sales
Nobel Prize-winning economist Gary S. Becker has long used economic principles to challenge social preconceptions. In 2004, he teamed up with the jurist and legal scholar Richard A. Posner to jointly write a blog. Together, they have spoken out on a wide range of issues including sex and marriage, jobs...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 22, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (6)
Unlocking the Secrets of French Women
American journalist Debra Ollivier lived in France for more than 10 years, married a Frenchman and had two children. Now she divides her time between Los Angeles and Paris and spends a lot of time thinking about the differences between French and American culture -- or more precisely, the differences...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 21, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (13)
Cleland on recovery from emotional wounds of war
By Stephen Lowman In his memoir "Heart of a Patriot: How I Found the Courage to Survive Vietnam, Walter Reed and Karl Rove," former Georgia Democratic Senator Max Cleland writes about painful moments from his past with candor and frankness -- qualities seldom associated with politicians. How did he think...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 20, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (5)
Starbucks -- Hiding in Plain View
In his book, "Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks," Bryant Simon explores how Starbucks conquered the nation and the world. He spent five years stopping in at hundreds of Starbucks around the globe to decipher the company's pull on us. But in the past year the Starbucks'...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 19, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (2)
Easing the Pain of War
Michael Anthony comes from a military family - his grandfather, father, four brothers and a sister were all service members. It was nothing extraordinary for him to enlist, and he went off to Iraq as an operating room medic. But what he discovered about war and the men and women...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 16, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
Disney Venture Aims for Young Online Readers
By Stephen Lowman Is Winnie the Pooh still honey-sweet when read on a laptop? If a mouse click instead of hand turns the pages of Cinderella's story, is her transformation still magical? Disney is betting on it. Disney has launched an online book subscription website -- Disney Digital Books --...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 15, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (1)
Good Media Moguls vs. Bad Media Moguls
What do good media moguls understand that bad media moguls don't? Jonathan A. Knee, who runs the media program at Columbia Business School, says the answer lies in how the moguls address the question of size. Knee is co-author of "The Curse of the Mogul: What's Wrong With the World's...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 14, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
A Plea for Politics of Moderation
Is it possible to have to strong opinions without shouting others down? Perhaps -- if we can develop a healthy appreciation of doubt, says Peter L. Berger, university professor emeritus at Boston University. In his book, "In Praise of Doubt: How to Have Convictions Without Becoming a Fanatic," co-written with...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 13, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (1)
Klosterman on the Transcendent Interview
It's easy to compare the rock critic-turned-essayist Chuck Klosterman to Lester Bangs or even Hunter S. Thompson, but doesn't any vaguely gonzo rock critic-turned-essayist get compared to Lester Bangs or Hunter S. Thompson? Instead, let's just say that this North Dakota native is the author of four books, one...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 12, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
How Cinema Influences the Memoir "Stitches"
David Small, an illustrator of rare talent, has created a visual memoir about his dark upbringing. "Stitches" tells the tale of Small's transformation into a virtual mute following an operation for throat cancer when he was 14. Before his illness, Small had been subjected to repeated x-rays by his radiologist...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 9, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
Muslim Middle Class at Odds With Extremism
A Palestinian man sells sweets as Palestinians prepare for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr at a market in Gaza City last September. (Reuters/Mohammed Salem) The Muslim future lies in the rising middle class not in extremist fundamentalism. So argues Vali Nasr, professor of international politics at the Fletcher...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 8, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (8)
Era of Washington Harrumphing
President Bush meets with his speechwriting staff. Matt Latimer is seated on the couch, to the left of the President. (The White House) Matt Latimer, former speechwriter for President Bush, is getting the back of the hand from his one-time colleagues in the administration because of his memoir, "Speech-less:...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 7, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
Guns and Democracy
The intent of the second amendment right to bear arms has come under debate since health reform protesters showed up with guns at town hall meetings last month. We asked Joshua Horwitz, a visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and executive director of the Coalition...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 6, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (58)
Protecting Free Speech in the Digital Age
Who should control the Internet? Author Dawn Nunziato says regulators are at a crossroads in determining the future of online communications. Nunziato, a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School, is author of "Virtual Freedom: Net Neutrality and Free Speech in the Internet Age," published by Stanford...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 5, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (2)
Path to a Pashtun Rebellion in Afghanistan
Pashtun children make their way from an armored personnel carrier toward Marines on patrol in the Helmand province of Afghanistan last August. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson/file) In the debate over U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, author Seth G. Jones believes the path to success lies in facilitating a Pashtun revolt against...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 2, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (8)
A Summer of "Infinite Jest" Comes to an End
By Stephen Lowman At 11:30 p.m. on a recent Sunday, Matthew Baldwin finished "Infinite Jest." This is no small feat. David Foster Wallace's postmodern novel is notoriously complex and -- at over a 1,000 pages -- lengthy. Thankfully, Baldwin had some help. A writer for The Morning News, he...
By Steven E. Levingston | October 1, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
ACORN Author Wades Into Public
By Stephen Lowman "Some of you may have heard of ACORN recently," said Busboys and Poets' Don Allen last night as he introduced ACORN founder Wade Rathke. It was a safe bet on Allen's part. After all, half of the two dozen people in attendance at the beginning of...
By Steven E. Levingston | September 30, 2009; 12:09 PM ET | Comments (2)
Reagan Lessons for Obama?
President Obama has the charm of a predecessor from the other side of the political spectrum: Ronald Reagan. What lessons might Obama take from the Gipper? We asked Steven F. Hayward, author of "The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counter-Revolution, 1980-1989," to weigh in. Hayward is a resident scholar at...
By Steven E. Levingston | September 30, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (9)
Baby Steps on the Environment
Earth's inhabitants got a welcome surprise in the past year: Greenhouse gas emissions shrank thanks in large measure to the sluggish economy. David Owen, author of "Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less Are the Keys to Sustainability," published this month by Riverhead, urges Americans to keep...
By Steven E. Levingston | September 29, 2009; 05:31 AM ET | Comments (0)
Lamenting a Lack of Common Ground
Discord is the political language of the moment. Democrats turn a deaf ear to Republicans, and Republicans aren't listening to Democrats. In his new book "I Can't Believe I'm Sitting Next to a Republican: A Survival Guide for Conservatives Marooned Among the Angry, Smug and Terminally Self-Righteous," Harry Stein wonders...
By Steven E. Levingston | September 25, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (2)
Health Care Lessons From Israel
In the debate over health care reform, what can the United States learn from Israel? Dr. Dani Filc, author of "Circles of Exclusion: The Politics of Health Care in Israel," has some ideas. Filc is a senior lecturer in the Department of Politics and Government at Ben Gurion University and...
By Steven E. Levingston | September 24, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (10)
Michelle and Hillary, Dan Brown's Swift Sales, MacArthur Authors, Grisham and Literature
Michelle Obama nixed the idea of Hillary Clinton becoming vice president, according to a new book by Christopher Andersen titled "Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage"...Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" has become the fastest selling adult book of all time ... The MacArthur Foundation announced its 2009 "Genius...
By Steven E. Levingston | September 23, 2009; 02:02 PM ET | Comments (0)
Missile Defense and the Geopolitics of Proliferation
A demonstrator carries a banner during a protest march in May 2007 in downtown Prague against a possible location of a U.S. missile defense radar system in the Czech Republic. (Petr David Josek/AP) President Obama's decision to scrap a missile defense system has prompted questions about the motives and...
By Steven E. Levingston | September 22, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (3)
Health Care, Race and Political Polarization
Race has leapt back into the political conversation following former president Jimmy Carter's assertion that many of the attacks against the White House were motivated by the color of President Obama's skin. The debate underscores not only the country's racial sensitivities but also the American political divide. Authors Marc J....
By Steven E. Levingston | September 21, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (18)
Oprah's Book Pick, FT's Biz Book Award, Google's Custom Printing, Dan Brown's Blockbuster Sales
Oprah's latest pick for her book club is Uwem Akpan's short story collection "Say You're One of Them." ... The Financial Times is also choosing a book. It announced the shortlist for its business book of the year award. ... Google teams up with Espresso Book Machine to allow individuals...
By Steven E. Levingston | September 18, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
Rabbi Shmuley Goes Direct to Digital
By Stephen Lowman About six months ago Rabbi Shmuley Boteach was on an airplane when a woman sitting next to him shot him a curious look. "Son," she said, "You're covered in gadgets." "I was reading a book on my [Sony] Reader. I was dictating messages to my office on...
By Steven E. Levingston | September 17, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
Book Wars: Michelle Malkin vs. Michael Huttner
In a recent posting on her blog, Michelle Malkin declared that liberals have launched a campaign to dislodge conservative authors like herself from the top of the best-seller lists. She said the left is pushing a particular book, "50 Ways You Can Help Obama Change America" by Michael Huttner and...
By Steven E. Levingston | September 16, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (21)
How Dan Brown Stirs Catholics' Buried Emotions
Writer Dan Brown gestures as he poses during a photocall for the movie "Angels & Demons" at Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome last May. (Tony Gentile/Reuters) GUEST BLOGGER: Eric Plumer With release of Dan Brown's new thriller, "The Lost Symbol," we asked author Eric Plumer for a religious perspective. Plumer,...
By Steven E. Levingston | September 14, 2009; 04:00 PM ET | Comments (5)
"Eat, Pray, Love" and Women on the Road
GUEST BLOGGERS: Susan Pohlman and Margaret Feinberg Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling memoir, "Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia," has inspired other women to hit the road on a quest for self-discovery. Two women who followed Gilbert's lead are Susan Pohlman, author of "Halfway...
By Steven E. Levingston | September 14, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
The War on Terror: After 8 Years, What Now?
A U.S. Marine patrols near the town of Khan Neshin in southern Afghanistan earlier this month. (Goran Tomasevic/Reuters) GUEST BLOGGER: Richard English With Friday's anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, we asked author Richard English for his perspective on the war on terror. What have we learned...
By Steven E. Levingston | September 11, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (5)
Google Books' Promise, Patterson's Tsunami, Booker Prize's Contenders, Brown's D-Day
Google tells House Judiciary Committee it will allow rivals like Amazon.com and local retailers to access its digital books. ... James Patterson signs a deal with Hachette for 17 more books, six of which will be for young adults. ... A.S. Byatt and J.M. Coetzee are among the familiar names...
By Steven E. Levingston | September 10, 2009; 01:46 PM ET | Comments (1)
Shoddy Forensic Science: Fact and Fiction
By Stephen Lowman While most of Washington was preparing yesterday for President Obama's speech to Congress on health care, a handful of Senators and a crowd of thriller enthusiasts were pondering a more ghoulish subject. At the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art, author Kathy Reichs -- whose books inspired television's...
By Steven E. Levingston | September 10, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (1)
Jaycee Dugard and Sex Offender Registry Laws
Marchers wear buttons as they parade through South Lake Tahoe to celebrate the reappearance of Jaycee Dugard. (Max Whittaker/Reuters) GUEST BLOGGER: Wayne A. Logan When Phillip Garrido was arrested in connection with the kidnapping 18 years ago of Jaycee Dugard, questions immediately arose how Garrido, a man with a...
By Steven E. Levingston | September 9, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (46)
President Obama: Don't Forget About Doctors
(istock photo) GUEST BLOGGER: Richard M. Scheffler With President Obama heading to Capitol Hill this week to lay out his prescription for health care reform before a joint session of Congress, we asked guest blogger Richard M. Scheffler for his perspective. Scheffler is author of "Is There A Doctor...
By Steven E. Levingston | September 4, 2009; 11:48 AM ET | Comments (4)
'An Underachiever's Diary' -- A Story for Our Times
By Stephen Lowman "In this economy we are all underachievers," author Benjamin Anastas told me last week. "Maybe donning a big blue U and advertising your faults to the world is a good way to get through it." This summer Anastas's novel "An Underachiever's Diary" was reissued by Dial...
By Steven E. Levingston | September 4, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
Blagojevich's Profits, Glenn Beck vs. O'Reilly et al., Tom Ridge's Surprise at 'Hyperventilating' Public
Rod Blagojevich, the impeached former Illinois governor, may have profits from his new book stripped from him if he is convicted of charges against him; a new state law would allow it ... "Glenn Beck's Common Sense" lacks the personality of Bill O'Reilly's political books, the heft of Pat Buchanan's,...
By Steven E. Levingston | September 3, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
Whole Foods Boycott: The Long View
Rick Watts, 49, protests outside a Whole Foods store in West Hollywood, Calif. last month. The protest took place after John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods Market, wrote an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal about health care reform. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) GUEST BLOGGER: Lawrence Glickman...
By Steven E. Levingston | September 2, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (32)
Ollie North Visits National Firearm's Museum
Retired Lt. Col. Oliver North signs a copy of his new book. (Photo by Stephen Lowman) By Stephen Lowman The newly renovated gift shop at the NRA's National Firearm's Museum in Fairfax, Va., probably has the largest collection of firearm literature on the East Coast. While the store features...
By Steven E. Levingston | August 28, 2009; 04:32 PM ET | Comments (1)
Ted Kennedy Biographies
Two biographies released this year and an autobiography coming next month capture the life of Sen. Edward Kennedy. "True Compass: A Memoir" by Edward M. Kennedy will be released Sept. 14 by Twelve, a Hachette Book Group imprint. The publisher said today: "We are deeply saddened by today's news. In...
By Steven E. Levingston | August 26, 2009; 12:57 PM ET | Comments (0)
Why the Health Care Debate Is So Explosive
An opponent of Democratic health-care reform proposals debates Rep. Adam Schiff (D - Calif.) during a town hall meeting on Aug. 11 in Alhambra, Calif. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images) Guest blogger James A. Morone is author with David Blumenthal of "The Heart of Power: Health and Politics in...
By Steven E. Levingston | August 26, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (56)
Novak's Books Praised for Their Lasting Value
Few will deny that Robert Novak was a cranky pessimist. But the conservative columnist, who died Tuesday, was also a journalist who got his story - often the one no one else had. But he was more than a newspaper scribbler. Novak was an author of books that both his...
By Steven E. Levingston | August 20, 2009; 12:33 PM ET | Comments (1)
Why Another Barbara Boxer Novel?
Barbara Boxer's debut 2005 novel, "A Time to Run," did not please the political right. The National Review called it "stupendously awful," full of "liberal pablum," a book that "sounds like a talking-points memo distributed by the DNC, a form of literature that is arguably a sub-genre of fiction." Some...
By Steven E. Levingston | July 20, 2009; 05:30 AM ET | Comments (1)
'Liberty' Author Responds to Readers
The Post's review Sunday of James Scott's "The Attack on the Liberty -- The Untold Story of Israel's Deadly 1967 Assault on a U.S. Spy Ship" has generated a flood of reader response. It is striking that an event more than 40 years old can still inspire a range of...
By Steven E. Levingston | July 15, 2009; 11:58 AM ET | Comments (5)
