Day of Reckoning
by Patrick J. Buchanan
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Liberal Fascism
by Jonah Goldberg (Doubleday, $28)
You have to hope that National Review’s Jonah Goldberg is kidding when he draws a parallel between Whole Foods and Hitler, said Fred Siegel in The Wall Street Journal. Goldberg’s new book reflects his mixed motives, though. He wants to mount a serious study of the historical links between European-style fascism and New Deal liberalism, but he also wants to thumb his nose at FDR’s Democratic heirs. His second purpose “undermines his first.”
Sellout
by Randall Kennedy (Pantheon, $22)
Randall Kennedy’s “brisk and enjoyable” new book works to define when—if ever—a member of the African-American community can be branded a “sellout,” said Erin Aubry Kaplan in the Los Angeles Times. But it makes little sense to ask people to be more logical about the use of an emotionally charged insult. Sellout is most compelling when Kennedy is musing about related dilemmas “that remain unresolved in his mind.”
Freedom for the Thought That We Hate
by Anthony Lewis (Basic, $25)
It can be inspiring to read Anthony Lewis’ “passionate if discursive” account of how Americans came to enjoy a nearly unassailable right to criticize their government, said Jeffrey Rosen in The New York Times. But while Lewis’ enthusiasm for this 20th-century development is justified, the former New York Times columnist assumes too readily that judges were the heroes.
Wrong on Race
by Bruce Bartlett (Palgrave, $27)
Bruce Bartlett’s new book offers plenty of evidence that a longer, stronger history of racism exists in the Democratic Party than in the Republican, said Robert A. George in the New York Post. The ex–Reagan and Bush I aide undermines his case, though, by failing to deal honestly with the reasons the parties’ positions flipped after 1964. Worse, his suggestion that today’s GOP would benefit strategically from backing slavery reparations is “woefully naïve.”
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Mermaiding: the underwater subculture on the riseUnder the Radar Cosplay meets fitness in an escapist fin-omenon that's making waves around the world
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Delhi's dogs earn Supreme Court reprieveIN THE SPOTLIGHT After an outcry from the public and animal rights activists, India's Supreme Court walks back a controversial plan to round the city's stray dog population into shelters
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8 hotels with ace tennis courtsThe Week Recommends Bring your A game
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Also of interest...in picture books for grown-upsfeature How About Never—Is Never Good for You?; The Undertaking of Lily Chen; Meanwhile, in San Francisco; The Portlandia Activity Book
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Author of the week: Karen Russell
feature Karen Russell could use a rest.
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The Double Life of Paul de Man by Evelyn Barish
feature Evelyn Barish “has an amazing tale to tell” about the Belgian-born intellectual who enthralled a generation of students and academic colleagues.
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Book of the week: Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis
feature Michael Lewis's description of how high-frequency traders use lightning-fast computers to their advantage is “guaranteed to make blood boil.”
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Also of interest...in creative rebellion
feature A Man Called Destruction; Rebel Music; American Fun; The Scarlet Sisters
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Author of the week: Susanna Kaysen
feature For a famous memoirist, Susanna Kaysen is highly ambivalent about sharing details about her life.
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You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood’s Golden Age by Robert Wagner
feature Robert Wagner “seems to have known anybody who was anybody in Hollywood.”
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Book of the week: Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire by Peter Stark
feature The tale of Astoria’s rise and fall turns out to be “as exciting as anything in American history.”