Harper's Magazine: March 2009

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March 2009

CONTENTS
THUMBNAILS
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	Art/illustration [Cover art] By Michael C. Witte SEE ALSO: Book industries and trade; Exhibitions; Frankfurt am Main; Frankfurter Buchmesse; Publishers and publishing PDF IMAGES
4-6	Letters/Department Letters On Standoff in Columbus, from October 2008: Letter By Rachel Henne On Unknown bards, from November 2008: Letter By John Cushing Letter By Joh Jeremiah Sullivan On Always another word, from January 2009: Letter By Duncam Merrell On Man of no nation, from January 2009: Letter By Paul Reitter PDF TEXT IMAGES
9-11	Notebook/Article Achievetrons By Lewis H. Lapham SEE ALSO: Academic achievement; Obama, Barack; Career as U.S. president; Elite (Social sciences); 2009-; Selection and appointment; Staff PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
13	Harper's index/Department Harper’s Index PDF TEXT IMAGES
15-20	Readings/Article Obamandela By Breyten Breytenbach SEE ALSO: Obama, Barack; Career as South African president; Career as U.S. president; 2009-; Mandela, Nelson; Political leadership; South Africa PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
16	Readings/Article That empty sleeve SEE ALSO: Career as U.S. president; Career in politics; Inouye, Daniel K.; Humphrey, Hubert H. (Hubert Horatio); Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines); 1963-1969; 1968; Nominations for office; Vice-Presidential candidates PDF TEXT IMAGES
17	Readings/Art/illustration Merkwürden By Thoralf Knobloch SEE ALSO: Camping; Recreation areas PDF IMAGES
18	Readings/Article Shirts and skins SEE ALSO: Basketball; Casting; Television advertising; Television programs PDF TEXT IMAGES
19	Readings/Art/illustration Condemned #2 By Simon Gunning SEE ALSO: Docks; Harbors; New Orleans; New Orleans (La.) PDF IMAGES
20-22	Readings/Article Helter skelter SEE ALSO: Bombay; Hostages; Pakistan; Terrorism; Terrorists; Victims of terrorism PDF TEXT IMAGES
22	Readings/Art/illustration Landschaft (Landscape) By Stefan Thiel SEE ALSO: Landscape PDF IMAGES
23-24	Readings/Article Evil has ruined my life By Linda Coverdale (Trans.) SEE ALSO: Crimes against; Ethnic relations; Forgiveness; Genocide; Hutu (African people); Pardon; Rwanda; Tutsi (African people) PDF TEXT IMAGES
25	Readings/Article Om land security SEE ALSO: Ginsberg, Allen; Career as national security adviser; Kissinger, Henry; Peace movements; Protest movements; Views on Vietnamese Conflict PDF IMAGES Readings/Article The taste of concrete SEE ALSO: Biological warfare; Chemical warfare; Human experimentation in medicine; Veterans PDF TEXT IMAGES
26	Readings/Article Welcome to parasite SEE ALSO: Alternative treatment PDF TEXT IMAGES
27	Readings/Art/illustration Praça do Comércio (A Terra e a Gente) By Vik Muniz SEE ALSO: Lisbon; Plazas; Portugal PDF IMAGES Readings/Article Flash Gordon By Vernon Chatman and John Lee SEE ALSO: Lish, Gordon; Interviews PDF TEXT IMAGES
29	Readings/Collection Readings By Phyllis Galembo (Photog.) PDF IMAGES Readings/Photography Akata dance masquerade, Cross River, Nigeria By Phyllis Galembo (Photog.) SEE ALSO: Masquerades; Nigeria PDF IMAGES Readings/Photography Gwarama masquerade, Yegueresso Village, Burkina Faso By Phyllis Galembo (Photog.) SEE ALSO: Burkina Faso; Masquerades PDF IMAGES Readings/Photography Akata dance masqueraders, Ogoja, Nigeria By Phyllis Galembo (Photog.) SEE ALSO: Masquerades; Nigeria PDF IMAGES Readings/Photography Okpo masquerade, Calabar South, Nigeria By Phyllis Galembo (Photog.) SEE ALSO: Masquerades; Nigeria PDF IMAGES
31-40	Article Curtain calls: The fever called “living” is conquered at last By Edward Hoagland SEE ALSO: Aged men; Aging; Dreams; Family relationships; Global warming PDF TEXT IMAGES
41-51	Article The last book party: Publishing drinks to a life after death By Gideon Lewis-Kraus SEE ALSO: Wylie, Andrew; Book industries and trade; Booker Prize; Booksellers and bookselling; Career in publishing; Colportage, subscription trade, etc.; Horowitz, Eli; Exhibitions; Frankfurt am Main; Frankfurt am Main (Germany); Frankfurter Buchmesse; Lewis-Kraus, Gideon; Byng, Jamie; Journeys—Germany—Frankfurt am Main; Entrekin, Morgan; Janson-Smith, Patrick; Publishers and publishing PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
52-61	Article Invisible hands: The secret world of the oil fixer By Ken Silverstein SEE ALSO: Gulbenkian, Calouste Sarkis; Career as oil fixer; Calil, Ely; Foreign trade promotion; Eronat, Friedhelm; Giffen, Jim; Petroleum industry and trade PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
62-69	Article Raiders of the lost R2: Excavating a galaxy far, far away By Jon Mooallem SEE ALSO: Collectibles; Collectors and collecting; Mooallem, Jon; Journeys—California—Imperial Sand Dunes; Motion picture locations PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
71-72	Collection Seven Stories By Diane Williams PDF TEXT IMAGES Fiction Woman in rose dress By Diane Williams PDF IMAGES Fiction If you ever get three or four laughing you weren't soon to forget it By Diane Williams PDF IMAGES Fiction As the world turned out By Diane Williams PDF IMAGES Fiction Protection, prevention, gazing, gratified desire By Diane Williams PDF IMAGES
72	Fiction One of the great drawbacks By Diane Williams PDF IMAGES Fiction Stand By Diane Williams PDF IMAGES Fiction Glee By Diane Williams PDF IMAGES
73-76	Review School for scandal: The larger meaning of the sordid little tale By Laura Kipnis SEE ALSO: Adut, Ari; On scandal: moral disturbances in society, politics, and art (Book); Scandals; Bauer, Susan Wise; The art of the public grovel: sexual sin and public confession in America (Book) PDF TEXT IMAGES
77-82	Review Unhappy together: The Wittgenstein family feud By Evelyn Toynton SEE ALSO: Waugh, Alexander; Biography; Wittgenstein, Paul; Pictorial works; The house of Wittgenstein: a family at war (Book) PDF TEXT IMAGES
83	Puzzle/Department Diametricode By Richard Maltby PDF IMAGES
84	Findings/Article Findings By Rafil Kroll-Zaidi PDF TEXT IMAGES

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

Weekly Review By Theodore Ross	Mar 31
Weekly Review By Claire Gutierrez	Mar 10
Weekly Review By Moira Weigel	Mar 24
Weekly Review By Paul Ford	Mar 3
Weekly Review By Christopher R. Beha	Mar 17

By Ken Silverstein

Doddering in the Polls	1:21 PM Mar 21
Bush as Dark Knight: National Review’s list of top conservative movies	3:40 PM Mar 3
Report: Israeli Appointee Barred from U.S. as “Intelligence Risk”	6:52 AM Mar 17
A Personal Bailout	12:25 PM Mar 12
Eric Cantor: Still on UBS’s dole	10:06 AM Mar 19
Rahm Emmanuel: Sleeping at wheel pays well	10:36 AM Mar 26
Reply on Iraq Video	9:48 AM Mar 6
Dick Gephardt, Labor and Lobbying	8:44 AM Mar 10
Lobby Firm’s Libya Strategy Leaks	9:46 AM Mar 27
Stiglitz: “This amounts to robbery of the American people”	6:35 PM Mar 24
YouTube from Iraq	11:55 AM Mar 1
International Bankers and Corruption: How Citigroup does business abroad	7:29 AM Mar 11
Obama’s War	11:57 AM Mar 12
Freeman Withdraws	3:36 PM Mar 10
News from Absurdistan	7:36 AM Mar 19
Jeffrey Goldberg and Israeli War Crimes	11:31 AM Mar 20
Chas Freeman and Saudi Money	6:02 PM Mar 12
The (Gated) Fourth Estate	8:29 AM Mar 29
Senator Sanders Blocking Key Obama Nomination	8:15 AM Mar 23
Senator Vitter Turns Tail	8:25 AM Mar 11
Senator Dodd and the AIG Bonuses (Updated)	10:30 AM Mar 18
AIG and Congress: Washington on $53,000 a Day	5:59 PM Mar 17
Congressman Murtha’s Friends Team Up on Big Biodefense project	12:16 PM Mar 19
Pharmaceutical Lobby Pays Back Senator Hatch for Years of Service	10:38 PM Mar 1
He Said, She Said	10:57 AM Mar 12
Romney 2012: Not an auspicious start in wooing conservatives	7:19 AM Mar 9
New Depo from Case Linked to Norm Coleman: Senators “don’t make shit”	9:05 AM Mar 27
Citibank Does Baghdad: Iraqis beware, you might just want to put your cash under the bed	8:57 PM Mar 10
Senator Schumer and AIG: A short timeline	7:02 PM Mar 17
It’s Deja Vu All Over Again: Wall Street and Bill Clinton	9:16 AM Mar 24
The Post and Charles Freeman	7:33 AM Mar 12
More on Countrywide’s VIPs	7:11 AM Mar 19
Citigroup: Penny stock firm still spends millions on lobbying	11:48 AM Mar 5
Coming Soon: Colonel Qaddafi, Libya’s George Washington	8:31 AM Mar 16
Can Those AIG Contracts Be Broken?	7:28 AM Mar 18
Citigroup: Sell Wal-Mart for fear of union	12:02 PM Mar 10
Hedge Fund Socialism	8:00 AM Mar 23
Obama vs. Bush on National Security Cases	12:59 PM Mar 4
McMeltdown: Cops respond to emergency McNuggets call	10:14 AM Mar 3
Democrats Vote Against Cutting Earmarks for Clients of PMA Group	8:42 PM Mar 4
Pearls of Wisdom from Geithner’s New Adviser	7:49 PM Mar 17
Pork Gallery	8:39 AM Mar 16
The Freeman “Purge Trial”	12:03 PM Mar 12
The Incredible Santelli: Watch and learn with CNBC	8:26 AM Mar 5
Wall Street Math	9:46 AM Mar 23
A Dissent on that Porn Study	1:12 PM Mar 1
Media Fuels Tale of Obama-Limbaugh “Feud”	9:24 AM Mar 6
Dick Gephardt: From NAFTA foe to the U.S. Chamber	1:09 PM Mar 5
Tortured Confession: Waterboarding and Abu Zubaida	7:31 AM Mar 29
Senator Grassley to AIG Execs: Consider suicide	7:55 AM Mar 17
This Sounds Vaguely Familiar: Where was Larry Summers in 1999?	8:45 AM Mar 26
Geithner in the Polls: Darling of the “Political Class”	3:08 PM Mar 23
David Frum on Rush: “A walking stereotype of self-indulgence”	9:34 PM Mar 4
Who is Blocking Amendment to Ban Earmarks From Raided Lobby Shop?	8:27 AM Mar 3
Guess Who’s Profiting from Housing Meltdown?	6:19 PM Mar 3

By Wyatt Mason

Hinged Mostly on Dedications	2:50 PM Mar 11
Weekend Read: Three Kings	1:06 PM Mar 6
Odd Bits of Wire That Came to Hand	3:26 PM Mar 9
Remote in Time, or Alien in Language	4:33 PM Mar 18
Similar Incapacities	3:16 PM Mar 25
Weekend Read: “Frenzy finds its weapons”	1:54 PM Mar 20
The Forces of Conservatism and Obstruction	2:29 PM Mar 16
See also: SIAMESE TWINS	4:44 PM Mar 2
The Voice of Days of Old and Days to Be	11:03 AM Mar 4
Weekend Read: “Whatever hole contains forever”	12:08 PM Mar 13
Weekend Read: “What went wrong in Germany”	3:41 PM Mar 27
“Grammar and Style!”	4:09 PM Mar 23
Another Sensibility	5:16 PM Mar 30

Replies

2:44 PM

Mar 10

Dryden/Purcell–”Music for a While”	8:40 AM Mar 8
Giving Cheney Just a Bit More Rope	8:56 AM Mar 30
Enemy Combatant, Rest in Peace?	12:31 PM Mar 14
Cheney’s Snuff Squad	7:21 AM Mar 31
When Torture is “Torture”	12:54 PM Mar 18
More Prosecutorial Misconduct in the Al-Arian Case	9:33 AM Mar 11
The Parallel Regime	8:07 AM Mar 5
Sor Juana’s Rose	12:41 PM Mar 15
Lie About How We Treated You and You Can Go Free	10:44 AM Mar 23
Economic Illiteracy	8:38 AM Mar 26
John Yoo Hearts Orange County	7:52 AM Mar 4
The Rovian Judiciary	9:25 PM Mar 8
Propping Up a House of Cards?	8:29 AM Mar 2
Siegelman Convictions Upheld	3:50 PM Mar 6
Information Secured Through Torture Proved Unreliable, CIA Concluded	10:23 AM Mar 29
Döblin’s Urban Awakening	7:40 AM Mar 7
Yoo’s Boundless Powers of War… and Imagination	11:45 PM Mar 7
The Single-Payer Solution	3:51 PM Mar 6
Gitmo: Colonel Wilkerson Tells It All	12:56 PM Mar 18
Will the Dollar’s Days of Glory End?	12:08 PM Mar 22
Donne’s Flea	6:18 AM Mar 22
Did Cheney Run a Murder-on-demand Program?	9:42 AM Mar 12
Cervantes—on Wealth	4:04 AM Mar 14
CIA in Mass Destruction of Torture Evidence	1:24 PM Mar 2
The Blogosphere Thriller: Six Questions for Barry Eisler, Author of Fault Line	7:12 AM Mar 31
Behind the Curve	1:18 PM Mar 9
Bush Torture Lawyers Targeted in Criminal Probe	1:07 AM Mar 28
The Steele-Colbert Rap Battle	1:49 PM Mar 20
Machaut—Douce dame jolie	7:46 AM Mar 1
Dead-Eye Dick Cheney (Mis)fires Again	7:46 AM Mar 24
The Prisoner	11:30 AM Mar 22
Another Political Prosecution Fails	8:20 AM Mar 23
Keeping Bush’s Secrets	11:19 AM Mar 9
George W. Bush’s Disposable Constitution	7:16 AM Mar 3
The Heirs of Father Coughlin	7:30 AM Mar 17
Who Is the Real Charles Krauthammer?	10:39 AM Mar 4
Five Steps to Fix the U.S. Department of Justice	11:39 AM Mar 30
The Indelible Stain of the Black Sites	9:51 AM Mar 16
Standing Firm for Injustice	9:32 AM Mar 13
The Hip-hop G.O.P.	7:45 PM Mar 1
All the President’s Lawyers	11:26 AM Mar 9
Accountability Debate: Less Amnesty, More Prosecution	8:19 AM Mar 5
Six Questions for Ian Bremmer, Author of Fat Tail	10:12 AM Mar 25
Fair and Balanced, Fox Style	8:32 AM Mar 2
Presentation at Stanford on April 1	10:01 AM Mar 29
The Woes of a Torture Lawyer	9:50 AM Mar 21
Browning’s Paracelsus	6:41 AM Mar 29
Six Questions for Juan Cole, Author of Engaging the Muslim World	2:48 PM Mar 10
South of the Border	6:30 AM Mar 26
Bring in the Feds	12:59 PM Mar 18
Augustine on the Illusion and Reality of Time	7:45 AM Mar 21
Does Fred Hiatt Read His Own Paper?	9:12 AM Mar 12
Justice After Bush: Forum at Princeton	9:25 PM Mar 8
AIG’s Bonuses	9:52 AM Mar 16
RIP, GWOT	7:59 AM Mar 25
Krugman’s AIG Verdict	9:44 AM Mar 20
Among Experts, Consensus Builds for a Commission	10:39 AM Mar 4
A Freeman Post Mortem: This round to AIPAC?	8:43 AM Mar 11
The Fallout from Gaza	9:43 AM Mar 20
The Accountability Imperative	10:21 AM Mar 29
Bush’s Authoritarian Presidency	10:40 AM Mar 19
Dereliction of Duty	9:42 AM Mar 20
The Parallel Regime II	7:25 AM Mar 6
Global Collapse in Manufacturing	9:40 AM Mar 20
Nietzsche on Curiosity	12:36 AM Mar 28

By Mr. Fish

A Cartoon	12:58 PM Mar 6
A Cartoon	8:17 AM Mar 27
A Cartoon	11:52 AM Mar 20
A Cartoon	11:56 AM Mar 13

Obama is Far From a Radical Reformer

By John R. MacArthur

4:39 PM

Mar 18

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