Harper's Magazine: December 2007

Archive > 2007 > Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec

December 2007

CONTENTS
THUMBNAILS
WEB ONLY

	Art/illustration Oil painting (detail) By Karen Mauch (Photog.) and Bo Bartlett SEE ALSO: Fires and fire prevention; Oil fields; Petroleum workers PDF IMAGES
8-12	Letters/Department Letters On The big enchilada, from August 2007: Letter By Aimee Loiselle On The summer of our discontent, from September 2007: Letter By Matt Buffett On Specific suggestion, from October 2007: Letter By Jeffrey S. Denning Letter By Tyler Jenich On Disaster capitalism, from October 2007: Letter By Nelson Smith Letter By Naomi Klein PDF IMAGES
13-15	Notebook/Article Hot air gods By Curtis White SEE ALSO: Belief and doubt; Capitalism; Political culture; Social values; Spirituality PDF IMAGES
17	Harper's index/Department Harper's index PDF IMAGES
19-22	Readings/Article The mental kitchen By W.H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden and Richard Howard (Trans.) SEE ALSO: Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.); Criticism; Evaluation; Motion pictures PDF IMAGES
20	Readings/Article The heart of the matter By Nigel Lewis SEE ALSO: Good and evil; Greene, Graham; Interviews; Novelists, English; Wishes PDF IMAGES
21	Readings/Art/illustration Cowboys in the clearing By Michael Harrington SEE ALSO: Aged men; Cowboys; Overweight men PDF IMAGES
22	Readings/Collection Readings By Geoffrey Hill PDF IMAGES Readings/Poetry An emblem By Geoffrey Hill PDF IMAGES Readings/Poetry Lyric fragment By Geoffrey Hill PDF IMAGES Readings/Poetry Nachwort By Geoffrey Hill PDF IMAGES
24	Readings/Art/illustration Blast furnace By Alessandro Papetti SEE ALSO: Blast furnaces PDF IMAGES Readings/Article A tsar is born SEE ALSO: Zhdanov, Andrei; Career as actor; Career as film director; Censorship; Ivan IV, Czar of Russia; Drama; Historical films; Stalin, Joseph; Motion pictures; Cherkasov, Nikolai Konstantinovich; Eisenstein, Sergei; Views on historical films; Molotov, Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich PDF IMAGES
25-26	Readings/Article Guantanamo baywatch By Edward M. Bush and Clive A. Stafford Smith SEE ALSO: Cuba; Guantánamo Bay; Guantánamo Bay Naval Base (Cuba); Legal assistance to prisoners; Legal status, laws, etc.; Military law; Prisoners; Underwear; War on Terrorism, 2001- PDF IMAGES
26	Readings/Art/illustration Tanker sans titre By Stéphane Joannes SEE ALSO: Tankers PDF IMAGES
27-28	Readings/Article My Orc problem—and ours By James P. Pinkerton SEE ALSO: East and West; Islam and world politics; Tolkien, J.R.R. (John Ronald Reuel); Middle East; 2001-; Parodies, imitations, etc. PDF IMAGES Readings/Article No fun allowed SEE ALSO: Afghan War, 2001-; Afghanistan; Aircraft accidents; Blackwater USA; Casualties; Death and burial; Miller, Harley; Human factors; Hammer, Loren; Rowe, Melvin; English, Noel PDF IMAGES
28-30	Readings/Article And lead us not By David K. Lewis and Philip Kitcher SEE ALSO: Christianity; Good and evil; Hell; Misanthropy; Salvation PDF IMAGES
30	Readings/Article Tort reformation By Ernie Chambers SEE ALSO: Disasters; Chambers, Ernie; God; Injunctions; Natural disasters; Nebraska; Omniscience; Trials, litigation, etc. PDF IMAGES
31	Readings/Photography Sky lift By Anthony Goicolea (Photog.) PDF IMAGES Readings/Article Lonesome doves SEE ALSO: Career as president of Iraq; Iraq; Iraq-Kuwait Crisis, 1990-1991; Connally, John Bowden; Wyatt, Oscar S., Jr.; 1989-1993; Petroleum industry and trade; Hussein, Saddam; Trials, litigation, etc.; Views on Iraq-Kuwait Crisis, 1990-1991 PDF IMAGES
32-34	Readings/Article The omnivore's dilemma By John Mackey SEE ALSO: Blogs; Chief executive officers; Mackey, John; Natural foods industry; Philosophy PDF IMAGES
34-35	Readings/Fiction Tape measure By Nadine Gordimer PDF IMAGES Readings/Article Whoppers SEE ALSO: McDonald's Corporation; Meat hygiene; Public relations; Questions and answers; Restaurants PDF IMAGES
36	Readings/Collection Readings By Sandow Birk PDF IMAGES Readings/Art/illustration Obsession By Sandow Birk SEE ALSO: Compulsive behavior; Military policy; Recruiting, enlistment, etc.; War PDF IMAGES Readings/Art/illustration Investigation By Sandow Birk SEE ALSO: Legislative hearings; Military policy; Politics and war; United States. Congress. Senate PDF IMAGES Readings/Art/illustration Invasion By Sandow Birk SEE ALSO: Military policy; Tank warfare; War PDF IMAGES
37-50	Article The black box: Inside Iraq's oil machine By Luke Mitchell SEE ALSO: Iraq; Iraq War, 2003-; Oil fields; Petroleum industry and trade PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
52-64	Article The atrocity files: Deciphering the archives of Guatemala's dirty war By Kate Doyle SEE ALSO: Archival resources; Atrocities; Career as archivist; Villagrán García, Carla; Criminal investigation; Disappeared persons; Guatemala; Meoño, Gustavo; Pictorial works; Political atrocities; State-sponsored terrorism; Peterson, Trudy Huskamp PDF IMAGES
65-76	Article Of men and mice: How a twenty-gram rodent conquered the world of science By Greg Critser SEE ALSO: Animal welfare; Career in laboratory mice; Little, Clarence C. (Clarence Cook); Genetic engineering; Genetics; Gile, Joe; Mice; Mice as laboratory animals PDF IMAGES
77-93	Fiction Enter the Ford: Lost chapters from A Death in the Family By James Agee PDF IMAGES
95-96	New books/Review New books By John Leonard SEE ALSO: A life of Picasso: the triumphant years, 1917-1932 (Book); Bamboo: essays and criticism (Book); Biography; Criticism; Criticism and interpretation; Vendler, Helen Hennessy; Richardson, John; Our secret discipline: Yeats and lyric form (Book); Picasso, Pablo; Greeman, Richard; The unforgiving years (Book); Turning back the clock: hot wars and media populism (Book); Eco, Umberto; Serge, Victor; Yeats, W.B. (William Butler); Boyd, William PDF IMAGES
97-101	Review Among the reviewers: John Updike and the book-review bugaboo By Wyatt Mason SEE ALSO: Criticism; Due considerations (Book); Updike, John PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
101-106	Review Hungarian reflections: A tragic history of a divided people By John Lukacs SEE ALSO: Hungary; Cartledge, Bryan, Sir; The will to survive: a history of Hungary (Book) PDF IMAGES
107	Puzzle/Department Body parts By Richard Maltby PDF IMAGES
108	Findings/Article Findings By Rafil Kroll-Zaidi PDF IMAGES

WEEKLY REVIEW
WASHINGTON BABYLON
NO COMMENT
MR. FISH
COMMENTARY
ARCHIVE

Weekly Review By Claire Gutierrez	Dec 18
Weekly Review By Gemma Sieff	Dec 4
Weekly Review By Sam Stark	Dec 11
Yearly Review	Dec 31

By Ken Silverstein

Washington Post: Four Government Probes of Iraq Special Inspector Whistleblower allegations prompt investigations; Stuart Bowen Jr., U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, placed under a microsocope	10:06 AM Dec 14
Who Killed Bhutto: Alternative theories	2:34 PM Dec 28
More From Allbritton	12:45 PM Dec 4
Alert to Charities and Political Campaigns: Watch Out for CDG	10:25 PM Dec 12
Troubles Mount for Former Congressman Weldon: Are feds examining Weldon’s ties to shady Russians?	12:14 PM Dec 5
What’s driving the movement for Ron Paul? A conversation with Republican consultant Tom Edmonds	11:26 AM Dec 7
Fascist Dictator Chavez Wins Sham Vote Extending Powers!	9:11 AM Dec 3
NRO and TNR’s Bogus Bloggers	9:40 AM Dec 3
On the Hunt: Bush backer seeks $1 billion for Peru project	2:34 PM Dec 18
Commerce Department: Creationism book display a decorating error, not an endorsement	11:58 AM Dec 7
Bush Investigations Overload	2:36 PM Dec 18
New Theory Uncovered in Commerce Secretary Gutierrez’s waiting room: Darwin, not Saddam, behind 9/11 Administration Mulling Air Strikes on HMS Beagle; CIA still trying to pin down craft’s location	10:35 AM Dec 6
“He’s a Liar”: October email to National Review Exposed Smith’s fictional writing from Lebanon	8:47 PM Dec 2
More on SEIU’s Stern Gang	10:37 AM Dec 3
How Much American Support for Turkish Air Strike?	11:48 AM Dec 17
Pakistan: First Reaction from Wayne White	12:19 PM Dec 27
Questions for Pollster John Zogby About the 2008 Campaign	12:30 PM Dec 1
Christmas Special on GOP Influence	8:36 AM Dec 24
Bhutto: A short break from the hagiography	11:23 AM Dec 28
Support for Taliban Missing from Bhutto Obits	10:22 AM Dec 29
Who Killed Bhutto? Conspiracy Theories Already Thriving	4:31 PM Dec 27
The Apocalypse PAC: Congressman McCotter leads crusade against Islam, Commies, and Democrats	2:28 PM Dec 19
Where is Jose Rodriguez? [CORRECTION]	2:31 PM Dec 8

By Scott Horton

Just Another Day for the Department of Justice	8:23 AM Dec 20
Dickinson, ‘Liquor Never Brewed’	12:30 AM Dec 7
Adams on Government by Fear	Dec 29
Cicero on the Meaning of Friendship	Dec 31
Hazlitt on Byron, the Slaves of Power and the Forces of Liberty	Dec 13
Eckehart and the Naked Babe	Dec 24
Vico’s New Science	Dec 6
Frost’s ‘Into My Own’	7:33 AM Dec 23
‘Is Barack a Vegetarian,’ ‘Rumsfeld on Chávez’ and Other Stories from a Newspaper in Decline	4:44 PM Dec 1
Opitz’s Poem of Consolation in Time of War	1:18 AM Dec 31
The Forgotten Bicentennial	9:26 AM Dec 31
Klopstock’s No Wars of Aggression!	7:00 AM Dec 21
Livy on the Rise of the Republic and of Civic Liberty	Dec 8
What Difference Would It Make?	8:26 PM Dec 10
The Modern Sorcerer	10:34 PM Dec 1
Six Questions for Fritz Stern, Author of ‘Five Germanys I Have Known’	12:12 AM Dec 5
More on the Lawyerless Utopia	12:01 AM Dec 28
It Happened in New Hampshire	7:43 PM Dec 22
The Ten Most Preposterous Bushie Legal Arguments of 2007	10:28 AM Dec 31
Roosevelt on Human Rights in the Small Places	Dec 22
Blake’s ‘Tyger’	7:34 AM Dec 27
Obligations Ignored	8:32 AM Dec 18
A Strong President Says No to Torture	8:45 AM Dec 13
de Tocqueville on the War in Algeria	Dec 10
General Clark Excoriates Justice Department Over Siegelman Case	8:45 AM Dec 2
Sakharov on Humanity’s Challenge	Dec 11
Jefferson on the Tyrannical President	Dec 9
Lermontov’s ‘Dream’	12:06 AM Dec 29
Paz—‘Motion/Movimiento’	7:32 AM Dec 15
Remember Those in Need	11:26 AM Dec 25
Austen on the Novel	Dec 3
Forget Shag-Gate	12:29 AM Dec 4
The Nature of the Jungian Archetype	Dec 26
The Justice Department’s On-Going ‘State Secrets’ Charade	10:02 AM Dec 2
Jonas on the Duty to Subsequent Generations	7:28 AM Dec 18
Merton on the Morning Star’s Promise	Dec 25
The Terrible Fourth Day of Christmas	12:02 AM Dec 28
Voltaire on the Modern Sorcery	8:52 AM Dec 1
Who Killed Alisher Saipov?	10:17 AM Dec 3
Punishing the Victims	12:30 AM Dec 4
Madison on Containing the War Power and War Spending	Dec 4
Blake’s ‘Proverbs of Hell’	6:57 AM Dec 19
Siegelman Accuser Released	5:12 PM Dec 21
In the Holiday News. . .	9:11 AM Dec 27
Secret Torture Memos Disclosed on Floor of Senate	1:39 PM Dec 7
Heine’s ‘Silesian Weavers’	12:10 AM Dec 5
Bush League Justice	10:35 PM Dec 10
The Neocons Meet Their Match	11:33 AM Dec 24
Blok’s ‘Night. City Calmed Down’	7:11 AM Dec 11
Kidnapping Not a Crime, Claims Bush Justice Department	11:01 AM Dec 2
Undermining Military Justice	8:07 AM Dec 11
From Canto IV of Lord Byron’s ‘Childe Harold’	7:40 AM Dec 13
Kérenyi on Words and Thought	12:15 AM Dec 12
Günther’s Christmas Ode	7:30 AM Dec 25
Blake on Knowledge Through Experience	Dec 19
Swift on the Mighty Evading the Law	Dec 7
Vladimir Putin: Person of the Year	7:56 AM Dec 21
Paz: A Poet Lost in Time	Dec 15
Hamilton on the Art of Political Prosecution	Dec 27
Eckehart’s Just Man	Dec 2
Xenophon on the Use of Force	Dec 14
The Roll-Out Goes Flat	2:35 PM Dec 3
Watch Out for Left Hook: Six Questions for Oregon Senatorial Candidate Steve Novick	2:13 PM Dec 12
Department of Poorly Coordinated and Unbelievable Cover Stories	12:08 AM Dec 5
The President-Tyrant	10:44 AM Dec 9
The President’s Coming-Out Party	10:10 AM Dec 15
Voltaire on the Danger of Being Right When Those in Authority Are Wrong	Dec 21
The Scapegoat	10:57 AM Dec 8
Six Questions for Barney Rubin on the Current Crisis in Pakistan	12:08 AM Dec 29
Another Milestone on the Road to Serfdom	12:31 PM Dec 17
An Update on the Trial of Bilal Hussein	9:30 AM Dec 23
Siegelman Update	7:29 AM Dec 14
Austen: When a Woman Must Conceal Her Knowledge	Dec 20
Judgment and Torture	11:59 AM Dec 30
Report from the Recording Angel	7:55 AM Dec 12
When Does an FBI Investigation Look Like Omertà?	11:33 AM Dec 21
Karl Rove, William Canary, and the Siegelman Case	5:26 PM Dec 17
Imperial Hubris	11:34 AM Dec 5
Goethe’s ‘Zauberlehrling’	12:05 AM Dec 3
The Best Justice Money Can Buy	1:24 PM Dec 13
Kant on the Origins of Right and Wrong	Dec 30
James and the World of Creation	Dec 17
Obstruction of Justice at the CIA	5:46 PM Dec 6
Dickens on the Common Business of Humankind	Dec 23
A Question of Impeachment	1:51 AM Dec 16
Watch the Ad that Fox Won’t Let You See	7:30 PM Dec 3
Collateral Damage: Is Mississippi Judge Wes Teel the Victim of a Political Prosecution?	12:01 PM Dec 26
Tashkent Paging… Curt Weldon	11:22 PM Dec 4
Krauthammer’s Pseudo-Science	8:24 AM Dec 4
Media Alert	11:32 AM Dec 12
Media Alert	10:12 AM Dec 10
What the Jamie Leigh Jones Case Teaches Us	12:52 PM Dec 19
Politics in a Pennsylvania Courtroom	1:41 AM Dec 31
Einstein on the Need for Commitment to Justice	Dec 5
A Nation That Tortures	11:22 AM Dec 1
All the King’s Men, Reloaded	11:14 AM Dec 29
Bush Assails the JAG Corps	10:33 AM Dec 16
Rumi on the Purpose-Laden Life	Dec 16
Washington Irving’s Legend of the Arabian Astrologer	1:02 PM Dec 14
Stevens’s ‘Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird’	7:46 AM Dec 17
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice	9:29 PM Dec 3
Rumi’s ‘The Snake-Catcher’s Tale’	8:27 AM Dec 9
Remembering December 7	1:03 AM Dec 7
Lott’s Lament	1:08 PM Dec 11
Justice in Mississippi: The Judge’s Dilemma	12:02 AM Dec 28