Harper's Magazine: August 2008

Archive > 2008 > Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep

August 2008

CONTENTS
THUMBNAILS
WEB ONLY

	Illustration [Cover art] By Ray Bartkus SEE ALSO: 1981-1989; Political corruption PDF IMAGES
4-7	Letters/Department Letters On The Revolution Will Not Be Pasteurized, from April 2008: Letter By Mark A. Kastel On The battle of ideas, from May 2008: Letter By John Tredway Letter By Jean-Luc Lavigne On Democracy and deference, from June 2008: Letter By Fred Nollan On Harper's index, from June 2008: Note/correction On Our phony economy, from June 2008: Letter By Jim Loving On They shoot buffalo, don't they, from June 2008: Letter By Jeff Welsch On Suicide by fitness center, from June 2008: Letter By Jim Valentine PDF IMAGES
9-11	Notebook/Article Requiem for the private word By Garret Keizer SEE ALSO: Access control; Confidential communications; Elite (Social sciences); Privacy, Right of PDF IMAGES
13	Harper's index/Department Harper's index PDF IMAGES
15-18	Readings/Fiction On not growing up By Ben Marcus PDF IMAGES
16	Readings/Article Signed, sealed, delivered SEE ALSO: Distribution of decedents' estates; Last letters before death; Rapture (Christian eschatology); Swindlers and swindling PDF IMAGES
17	Readings/Photo Silver Lake Operations #5, Lake Lefroy, Western Australia, 2007 By Edward Burtynsky (Photog.) SEE ALSO: Australia; Nickel mines and mining; Strip mining PDF IMAGES
18-19	Readings/Article Shoot everyone you see SEE ALSO: Aung Zaw; Burma; Children and war; Selective Service System; Htun Myint; Interviews; Maung Zaw Oo; Myin Win; Recruiting, enlistment, etc.; Sai Seng PDF IMAGES
19	Readings/Illustration London Apt Fire, 2007 By Richard Storms SEE ALSO: Apartment houses; Fires; Fires and fire prevention PDF IMAGES Readings/Article Active metaphors By George Saunders SEE ALSO: Criticism; Metaphor; Realism PDF IMAGES
20	Readings/Article Holler back SEE ALSO: Casting; Disfigured persons; Motion pictures; Pittsburgh PDF IMAGES
22-24	Readings/Poem Praise to the Swiss Federation By Gabriel Gudding PDF IMAGES Readings/Illustration Canal building By Huan Zhang SEE ALSO: Canals PDF IMAGES
23	Readings/Article D-Day cup SEE ALSO: Brassieres; Gas masks; Patents PDF IMAGES
24-25	Readings/Article Stupid brave SEE ALSO: Abdullahu, Agron; Albanians; Duka, Dritan; Duka, Eljvir; Kosovo (Serbia); Trials, litigation, etc.; Trials (Terrorism); War on Terrorism, 2001- PDF IMAGES
25	Readings/Article America, I've given you all By Allen Ginsberg SEE ALSO: Appropriations and expenditures; Artists; Correspondence; Federal aid to the arts; Helms, Richard; United States. Central Intelligence Agency PDF IMAGES Readings/Article Everybody who's anybody By J. Edgar (John Edgar) Hoover SEE ALSO: Civil Rights; Correspondence; Emergency management; Government policy; Habeas corpus; Information technology; 1945-1953; Souers, Sidney; United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation PDF IMAGES
26	Readings/Article Discredit report By Adam J. Szubin SEE ALSO: Consumer credit; Correspondence; Credit ratings; Drug traffic; Government policy; Thompson, Mike; Prevention; War on Terrorism, 2001- PDF IMAGES Readings/Article I got a Taliban, bro SEE ALSO: Mohamed, Ahmed; Taylor, Andy; Career as traffic police; Blakely, James; South Carolina; Traffic police; Transportation; Trials, litigation, etc.; War on Terrorism, 2001-; Megahed, Youssef PDF IMAGES
28	Readings/Article Russian arch SEE ALSO: Art, Modern; Art, Russian; Career as museum owner; Catalogs; Markin, Igor; Moscow; Moscow (Russia) PDF IMAGES
29	Readings/Illustration No other conceivable option By Kristine Moran SEE ALSO: Dystopias PDF IMAGES Readings/Fiction In dreams I kiss your hand, madam By William Gaddis PDF IMAGES
30	Readings/Poem Pompeii By Charles Bernstein PDF IMAGES
33	Readings/Photo Icy prospects #7 By Jorma Puranen (Photog.) SEE ALSO: Reflections; Winter PDF IMAGES
35-45	Article The wrecking crew: How a gang of right-wing con men destroyed Washington and made a killing By Thomas Frank SEE ALSO: Angola; Apartheid; Career as Angolan guerrilla leader; Career as superspy; Career as U.S. president; Career in conservative politics; Career in politics; Conservatism; Williamson, Craig; Entrepreneurship; Norquist, Grover Glenn; Guerrilla warfare; Iran-Contra Affair, 1985-1990; Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981; Abramoff, Jack; Kemp, Jack; Savimbi, Jonas Malheiro; 1981-1989; North, Oliver; Pictorial works; Political corruption; Reed, Ralph; Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- ); Reagan, Ronald; South Africa PDF IMAGES
46-49	Article Looks good on paper: With welfare-to-work, presentation is everything By Tracie McMillan SEE ALSO: Career as welfare recipient; Jurado, Carmen; Public welfare administration; Résumés (Employment); Welfare recipients PDF IMAGES
50-55	Article The mandarins: American foreign policy, brought to you by China By Ken Silverstein SEE ALSO: Haig, Alexander Meigs; Scowcroft, Brent; Career as China adviser; Link, E. Perry (Eugene Perry); Foreign economic relations; Kissinger, Henry; Bader, Jeffrey; Berger, Sandy PDF IMAGES
57-61	Collection Brute soul By Walton Ford PDF IMAGES Illustration Loss of the Lisbon rhinoceros By Walton Ford SEE ALSO: Rhinoceroses PDF IMAGES
58-59	Illustration Scipio and the bear By Walton Ford SEE ALSO: Bears PDF IMAGES
60-61	Illustration Hyrcania By Walton Ford SEE ALSO: Tigers PDF IMAGES
62-72	Fiction Jack By Marilynne Robinson PDF IMAGES
73-74	New books/Review New books By John Leonard SEE ALSO: Biography; Carr, David; Lebedoff, David; Waugh, Evelyn; Orwell, George; Bruno, Giordano; Giordano Bruno: philosopher/heretic (Book); Rowland, Ingrid D. (Ingrid Drake); Man in the dark (Book); Auster, Paul; The night of the gun (Book); The same man: George Orwell and Evelyn Waugh in love and war (Book) PDF IMAGES
75-82	Review The master's voice: Henry James's curriculum vitae By William H. Gass SEE ALSO: Biography; James, Henry; Henry James: the mature master (Book); Henry James: the young master (Book); Novelists, American; Pictorial works; Novick, Sheldon M. PDF IMAGES
83	Puzzle/Department Champagne for two By Richard Maltby PDF IMAGES
84	Findings/Article Findings By Rafil Kroll-Zaidi PDF IMAGES

WEEKLY REVIEW
WASHINGTON BABYLON
THE CONVENTION
SENTENCES
NO COMMENT
MR. FISH
PUBLISHER'S NOTE

Weekly Review By Sam Stark	Aug 5
Weekly Review By Chantal Clarke	Aug 12
Weekly Review By Claire Gutierrez	Aug 19
Weekly Review By Paul Ford	Aug 26

By Ken Silverstein

David Broder Tears Up Over Senator Stevens	9:43 AM Aug 3
Will Bush Administration Let Oil Companies Skate on Money Paid to African Dictator?	11:10 AM Aug 4
Hard Times for the G.O.P.: Leaked letter reveals pathetic financial conditions at party’s private club	10:32 AM Aug 5
Silent Armey: Former House majority leader lobbies for defense contractor	11:33 AM Aug 5
Obama’s Money: Will his big donors top Bush’s Pioneers and Rangers?	9:35 PM Aug 5
National Enquirer Publishes John Edwards Pix	3:52 PM Aug 6
How Low Can Jacques Rogge Sink? Beijing and the spirit of ‘36	6:01 AM Aug 8
NBC’s Olympics, Brought to You By Henry Kissinger	7:24 AM Aug 9
John Edwards Ends Fling With Anti-Poverty Center	9:36 AM Aug 11
What Was Putin Thinking?	2:41 PM Aug 11
NBC: Nothing Bad about China	10:33 AM Aug 13
More Hot Air From David Broder on Speaking Fees	5:31 PM Aug 13
Good Georgia vs. Fascist Russia? Maybe it’s not that simple	9:11 PM Aug 13
In New Interview, John Edwards Reveals All	10:04 PM Aug 13
Travel Advisory for Pakistan: Don’t carry your satellite phone	9:53 AM Aug 14
Change We Can Believe In? Democratic keynoter biggest recipient of lobbying money	2:53 PM Aug 14
Alan Greenspan: The maestro has no wand	7:18 AM Aug 15
I’ll Have My Tie, With a Side Order of Fries	8:59 AM Aug 18
The Bipartisan Policy Center’s Two Party System	1:31 PM Aug 18
Olympic Protests: Another Triumph for Jacques Rogge’s “Silent Diplomacy”	3:44 PM Aug 18
Congressman Vern Buchanan: Would you buy a used car from this man?	10:24 AM Aug 19
The Murtha Rules: A simple system to win federal money	12:52 PM Aug 20
Convicted Felon: Congressional ethics bill filled with loopholes	1:14 PM Aug 20
China Nabs Another Gold Medal: Government sets new record for jailing Olympics protesters	2:58 PM Aug 20
Congressman Murtha’s Racket: Pork and influence peddling or jobs and growth?	8:35 AM Aug 21
Six Questions for Chris Lehmann on “Moronic” Campaign Coverage and the “Press Bubble”	12:28 PM Aug 21
Olympics Chief OK on China jailing grannies, but really annoyed by Jamaican sprinter’s celebration	8:46 AM Aug 22
Penetrating Campaign Insights from the Washington Post and CNN	9:32 AM Aug 22
The “Crescendo” Recedes: Public indifferent to Biden’s selection	7:49 AM Aug 24
Biden Blatherfest: Read Glenn Greenwald, skip the rest	8:18 PM Aug 24
Your Essential Guide to the Political Conventions	5:28 AM Aug 25
How Hunt Oil Buys and Sell(s)	8:02 AM Aug 25
Bipartisan Policy Center: We are not boring	8:42 AM Aug 25
Credibility Crunch: Biden’s son worked for credit card company that pushed bankruptcy “reform” bill	9:00 AM Aug 25
Biden, Pork, and the Drug War	12:07 PM Aug 25
Blog Break	7:09 AM Aug 26

By Luke Mitchell

Clowns	11:42 AM Aug 26
Big Party	5:46 PM Aug 26
Undecideds	9:16 PM Aug 27
Free Speech Zone	3:41 PM Aug 28

By Wyatt Mason

Weekend Read: “So the trail leads you here”	2:35 PM Aug 1
Die A Painful Death	11:35 AM Aug 4
All That, For This?	5:07 AM Aug 6
Weekend Read: An unwritten, half written, rewritten difficult book	6:22 PM Aug 7
“Shurshaschie in Buryane”	3:22 PM Aug 11
Prayers Mistakenly Submitted	11:24 AM Aug 13
Weekend Read: “May Christ send you sorrow and a serious illness”	1:32 PM Aug 15
A Strangely Elegant, Convex-shaped Writing Machine	12:36 PM Aug 18
The Books Remain Closed: A discussion with Arthur Krystal	1:44 PM Aug 20
Weekend Read: “Not a bad way of making a living”	5:10 PM Aug 22
On a Very High Shelf	2:17 PM Aug 25
An Abnormal, Morbid, or Disfiguring Outgrowth	4:03 PM Aug 27
Weekend Listen: Hallali!	1:25 PM Aug 29

Burckhardt on the Duty of Citizens	6:45 AM Aug 2
Mörike’s To a Lamp	10:08 AM Aug 3
Verdict on Hamdan	9:03 AM Aug 7
The Justice Department’s Truthiness Problem	9:55 AM Aug 8
Shaftesbury on the Meaning of Life	7:59 AM Aug 9
Milton’s Golden Compass	11:16 AM Aug 10
Georgia on My Mind	10:37 AM Aug 11
The Mukasey Doctrine	3:20 PM Aug 12
The Zero-Calorie Debates	7:10 AM Aug 15
Solzhenitsyn—The Challenge of the Modern Age	9:36 AM Aug 16
Military Judge Finds Political Manipulation in Gitmo, Again	6:25 PM Aug 16
More’s Immortality	6:13 AM Aug 17
In Pursuit of Kafka’s Porn Cache: Six questions for James Hawes	7:28 AM Aug 19
More Prosecutorial Mischief in Mississippi	9:17 PM Aug 20
Bayle on the Chronicler’s Duty	7:23 AM Aug 23
Elder Joseph’s Simple Gifts	7:55 AM Aug 24