Harper's Magazine: December 2008

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December 2008

CONTENTS
THUMBNAILS
WEB ONLY

	Illustration [Cover art] By Steve Brodner SEE ALSO: Caricatures and cartoons; Rumsfeld, Donald; Bush, George W.; Political crimes and offenses; Cheney, Richard B.; War criminals PDF IMAGES
4-7	Letters/Department Letters On Radiant poison, from September 2008: Letter By Rob Lee Letter By Sheila Hathaway On Bleak houses, from October 2008: Letter By Heidi Goebel On News from nowhere, from October 2008: Letter By Kevin Keating On Bollywood shuffle, from October 2008: Letter By Asha Sheshadri On Creative destruction, from November 2008: Letter By J.S. Maloy PDF TEXT IMAGES
9-11	Notebook/Article Of mohawks and mavericks By Garret Keizer SEE ALSO: Campaign for U.S. president, 2008; Campaign for U.S. vice-president, 2008; McCain, John; Populism; Palin, Sarah PDF TEXT IMAGES
13	Harper's index/Department Harper’s Index PDF TEXT IMAGES
15-18	Readings/Article Utopia falls By John Gray SEE ALSO: Capitalism; Deregulation; Financial crises; Free enterprise; Globalization; International economic relations; Iraq War, 2003-; Utopias; War PDF TEXT IMAGES
16	Readings/Article The men he didn't like By Will Rogers SEE ALSO: Banks and banking; Fraud PDF IMAGES
17	Readings/Photo Wind River Canyon, Thermopolis, Wyoming By Kevin Cooley (Photog.) SEE ALSO: Distress signals; Flares; Wind River (Wyo.); Wyoming PDF IMAGES
18	Readings/Article The omnivore's dilemma By Joshua Yaffa (Trans.) and Z. Ignatovich SEE ALSO: Saint Petersburg (Russia); Starvation PDF IMAGES
20	Readings/Illustration To Caspar David Friedrich By Enrique Romero Santana SEE ALSO: Chicago (Ill.) PDF IMAGES Readings/Poem Bismarck's dream By Wyatt Mason (Trans.) and Arthur Rimbaud PDF TEXT IMAGES
21-24	Readings/Article Nausea By Michel Houellebecq and Bernard-Henri Lévy SEE ALSO: Confession; Nihilism (Philosophy); Philosophy, French PDF TEXT IMAGES
22	Readings/Poem “Sii romantico, Seidel, tanto per cambiare” By Frederick Seidel PDF IMAGES
23	Readings/Illustration Campsite, Flumsberg, Switzerland, 2004 By Matthias Zielfeld SEE ALSO: Mobile home parks; Switzerland PDF IMAGES
24-27	Readings/Article Rabbi is rich By Levi Brackman and Sam Jaffe SEE ALSO: Bible. O.T. Pentateuch; Criticism, interpretation, etc.; Economics; Entrepreneurship; Jewish capitalists and financiers; Judaism; Success in business PDF TEXT IMAGES
26	Readings/Article You better not pout SEE ALSO: Friendly societies; Santa Claus PDF IMAGES
27-28	Readings/Article The good life SEE ALSO: Alaska ; Allen, Bill; Career as CEO of Veco Corporation; Misconduct in office; Political corruption; Stevens, Ted; Trials, litigation, etc.; Trials (Misconduct in office) PDF TEXT IMAGES
28	Readings/Illustration Two elders seated By Jayne Holsinger SEE ALSO: Aged; Societies and clubs PDF IMAGES
29	Readings/Article For the prevention of speed By Robert Frost SEE ALSO: American poetry; Utopias PDF TEXT IMAGES
30	Readings/Photo [Untitled Photo] By David Maisel (Photog.) SEE ALSO: Cremation; Oregon; Psychotherapy patients; Urns PDF IMAGES
31-38	Advertising Supplement The geopolitics of energy sustainability: A thought-leadership panel discussion PDF IMAGES
39-48	Article Mandela's smile: Notes on South Africa's failed revolution By Breyten Breytenbach SEE ALSO: Anniversaries; Arts and revolutions; Authors, South African; Biography; Breytenbach, Breyten; Mandela, Nelson; South Africa PDF IMAGES
49-60	Article Justice after Bush: Prosecuting an outlaw administration By Scott Horton SEE ALSO: Abuse of administrative power; Career as U.S. president; Bush, George W.; Governmental investigations; International Criminal Court; Pardon; Political crimes and offenses; Torture (International law); Trials (Torture); War crime trials PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
61-70	Article A really big show: The New York Philharmonic's fantasia in North Korea By Suki Kim SEE ALSO: Concert tours; Journeys—Korea (North); Korea (North); 2001-; New York Philharmonic; Kim, Suki PDF TEXT IMAGES
71-78	Article The golden touch: Rolling with lords of the craps table By Mattathias Schwartz SEE ALSO: Craps (Game); Gambling; Gambling systems; Parapsychology PDF TEXT IMAGES
79-88	Fiction White-bread Jesus By Robert Coover PDF TEXT IMAGES
89-90	New books/Review New Books By John Leonard SEE ALSO: Everett, Daniel Leonard; Shulman, David Dean; Don't sleep, there are snakes: life and language in the Amazonian jungle (Book); Kapuscinski, Ryszard; Khemir, Sabiha; Spring, heat, rains: a South Indian diary (Book); The blue manuscript (Book); The other (Book) PDF TEXT IMAGES
91-96	Review More is more: Roberto Bolaño's magnum opus By Francine Prose SEE ALSO: 2666 (Book); Bolaño, Roberto PDF TEXT IMAGES
96-102	Review What Edith knew: Freeing Wharton from the master's shadow By Elizabeth Lowry SEE ALSO: Criticism and interpretation; Wharton, Edith; Edith Wharton (Book); Ethan Frome, Summer, Bunner sisters (Book); James, Henry; Lee, Hermione; Pictorial works; Relations with women; The age of innocence (Book); The house of mirth (Book); Women authors, American PDF TEXT IMAGES
103	Puzzle/Department Foursomes By Richard Maltby PDF IMAGES
104	Findings/Article Findings By Rafil Kroll-Zaidi PDF TEXT IMAGES

WEEKLY REVIEW
WASHINGTON BABYLON
SENTENCES
REPLIES
NO COMMENT
MR. FISH
PUBLISHER'S NOTE
COMMENTARY

Weekly Review By Claire Gutierrez	Dec 2
Weekly Review By Paul Ford	Dec 9
Weekly Review By Sam Stark	Dec 16
Weekly Review By Claire Gutierrez	9:20 AM Dec 23
Weekly Review By Christopher R. Beha	Dec 30

By Ken Silverstein

Mitch Wade Talked To Feds About Which Five Members of Congress?	9:26 AM Dec 1
About Obama’s Team: Cabinet picks do matter	10:41 AM Dec 1
Tracking Obama Transition Donors: A family united	5:46 PM Dec 1
The Auto Industry: What went wrong?	7:16 PM Dec 1
The Wade Five	7:34 PM Dec 1
Press Commentators and Financial Ties	3:17 PM Dec 2
Farewell to the Windfall Profits Tax	1:53 PM Dec 3
Harper’s Scott Horton At NYU Event Thursday	2:30 PM Dec 3
Congressman Rangel’s Family Finances	8:31 AM Dec 5
A Campaign Slogan For Chris Matthews: Blowhard for Senate	8:36 AM Dec 5
Dumb and Dumber: More UBS campaign contributions	8:56 AM Dec 5
Illinois Governor Arrested For Seeking To Sell Obama’s Senate Seat	10:14 AM Dec 9
Parental Warning: Uncensored Highlights From Blagojevich Complaint	2:52 PM Dec 9
Who’s Who In The Blagojevich Complaint	3:13 PM Dec 9
Mission Accomplished: Blagojevich Promised To “Rock The System”	4:44 PM Dec 9
FBI Looking Into Ties Between Norm Coleman and Longtime Supporter	9:17 AM Dec 10
Next Up for A Bail Out: Writers	9:27 AM Dec 10
Be On The Lookout: Illinois Governors have high propensity for crime	10:38 AM Dec 10
Like Father, Like Son?	4:38 PM Dec 10
Obama Tied To Blagojevich Scandal!!! (Not Really)	6:52 PM Dec 10
Depressing Headline Of The Day	8:57 AM Dec 11
Key Questions from Blagojevich-Jesse Jackson Story: Who was the emissary?	9:13 AM Dec 11
Eric Cantor: Friend of the little people	9:48 AM Dec 11
Gaze Into Your Crystal Ball	10:02 AM Dec 11
Dumb.com	1:40 PM Dec 11
The Entitled Kennedys: Handing down the family senate seat	3:31 PM Dec 11
Senator Norm Coleman’s Growing List of Friends	9:26 AM Dec 12
More on Norm Coleman’s Friend and Renovator	4:30 PM Dec 12
Mexico’s Kidnap Inc.	9:21 PM Dec 15
Joe Biden’s (Tony) Snow Job	9:13 AM Dec 16
More On Mexico’s Crime Spree	9:20 AM Dec 16
The Three Stooges in Baghdad	3:23 PM Dec 16
Political Reporters Without Politics	4:05 PM Dec 16
Caroline Kennedy’s Inspiring Qualities	10:00 AM Dec 17
Who’s Getting Bailed Out?	10:02 AM Dec 18
New SEC Chair Caps Week Of Uninspired Obama Picks	10:33 AM Dec 18
The Clinton Foundation’s Many Donors	12:40 PM Dec 18
Vilsack’s Subsidies	2:10 PM Dec 18
Correction on Larry Summers/Managed Funds Association	9:43 AM Dec 19
Chemical Weapons and Self-Defense	12:37 PM Dec 19
Fundraising Hot Spots, From Washington to Vail	12:51 PM Dec 19
Caroline Palin On The Campaign Trail	1:09 PM Dec 19
William Jefferson Scandal Link to Siemens Bribery Investigation?	1:21 PM Dec 24
The Internet War: Israel Spins The War Online	3:16 PM Dec 30

By Wyatt Mason

Powers of Empathy	5:11 PM Dec 1
The Bigger Mustache	1:25 PM Dec 3
Flailing at Williams	12:48 PM Dec 5
Effort Into Function	4:18 PM Dec 8
OurSpace	5:59 PM Dec 10
Weekend Read: “The Banquet Years all over again”	12:36 PM Dec 12
Disastrous Fictions	4:53 PM Dec 15
And the Rivers and the Lonely Roads	4:01 PM Dec 17
Weekend Read: “Quinsy, croup, and the irresistible temptation of diving from the piers”	5:04 PM Dec 19
Holiday Treats: Distant machine-gun rattle	4:40 PM Dec 22
Animated Treacle	11:44 AM Dec 29
A False Story: Six Questions for Ken Waltzer	8:37 AM Dec 31

Replies

8:36 AM

Dec 31

By Scott Horton

Create a Torture Commission	11:51 PM Dec 1
Obama’s First Challenge: A Legacy of War Crimes	11:52 PM Dec 1
How Many Americans Died Because of Bush’s Torture Program?	10:50 AM Dec 2
Making Sense of Mumbai	5:26 PM Dec 2
The Gray Lady’s Torture Problem	7:46 AM Dec 4
Generals Demand End to Torture, Calls for Prosecution of Torture Team Mount, AG Clueless	11:59 AM Dec 4
Where’s Stiglitz?	12:46 PM Dec 5
Departure of the Ship of Fools	8:22 AM Dec 6
Six Questions for Mary Ellen O’Connell on the Power of International Law	9:40 AM Dec 6
Siegelman Appeal Argued this Week	1:56 PM Dec 6
Benn’s Icarus	8:53 AM Dec 7
Brennan’s Press Friends	9:17 AM Dec 8
Milton Turns 400	10:09 AM Dec 9
Sabotage at Gitmo	12:14 PM Dec 9
The Good-Faith Torturers	11:04 AM Dec 11
Politics and the Federal Prosecutor	11:15 AM Dec 11
Schumpeter on Political Parties	3:04 AM Dec 13
Corrupt Prosecutors: Texas, Alabama Take Top Honors	10:23 AM Dec 13
Tsvetaeva’s Sleepless Night	10:51 PM Dec 13
The Torture Presidency	11:49 PM Dec 13
Sakharov—The Challenge for Scientists	3:52 PM Dec 14
An Advent Concert	4:43 PM Dec 14
Securing the Crime Scene	10:31 AM Dec 15
Tamm: Punished for Defending the Constitution?	11:58 PM Dec 15
War Crimes	11:59 AM Dec 16
Shoeless in Baghdad	12:04 PM Dec 16
Did Cheney Confess to a Felony?	8:46 AM Dec 17
Ludwig Van for a Wednesday Evening	4:22 PM Dec 17
Levin Discusses Need for Torture Prosecutions	11:56 PM Dec 17
NYT: Prosecute the Torture Team	11:34 AM Dec 18
“The American Public has a Right to Know That They Do Not Have to Choose Between Torture and Terror”: Six questions for Matthew Alexander, author of How to Break a Terrorist	4:19 PM Dec 18
FBI Director Calls Cheney on Torture Lies	10:37 AM Dec 19
John Dean: Prosecute Cheney	10:38 AM Dec 19
Rousseau on Government and the People	8:48 AM Dec 20
What Motivates the Torture Enablers?	5:26 PM Dec 20
Shakespeare’s Enduring Brass	9:07 AM Dec 21
Advent Concert	9:01 PM Dec 21
A Troubling Black Box Death	10:54 AM Dec 22
Bush and the Meltdown on Wall Street	11:10 AM Dec 22
The Irony of Public Integrity	9:15 AM Dec 23
Pardon Time for Cheney?	5:45 PM Dec 23
Góngora’s Nativity	8:41 AM Dec 24
John Donne’s Nativity	8:39 AM Dec 25
Holiday Readings	10:02 AM Dec 26
Is $40,000 the New Going Rate for Presidential Pardons?	11:12 AM Dec 26
Pelikan on Tradition and Traditionalism	10:49 AM Dec 27
Schubart’s Defiant Trout	8:41 AM Dec 28
Moscow Murder Mystery	10:55 AM Dec 29
What Lurks Behind Cheney’s Passion for Secrets?	11:39 AM Dec 29
Eyeless in Gaza II	9:34 AM Dec 30
The Argus-eyed University	12:22 PM Dec 31
Fredo for the Defense	1:51 PM Dec 31
Rumi’s Parable of the Three Fish	5:22 PM Dec 31

By Mr. Fish

A Cartoon	12:52 PM Dec 5
A Cartoon	11:08 AM Dec 12
A Cartoon	12:29 PM Dec 19
A Cartoon	7:45 PM Dec 25
A Cartoon	10:00 AM Dec 30

A Hypocrite as Our Diplomat in Chief

By John R. MacArthur

6:48 PM

Dec 17

Talking with Suki Kim By Jennifer Szalai	7:21 PM Dec 3
Yearly Review	11:59 PM Dec 31

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