Search

Appropriately, Perlstein devotes much of Reaganland to a figure who belongs to the territory as much as Reagan himself: Jimmy Carter. Reagan's aides had deleted such a phrase from a Reagan op-ed earlier in the year out of fear of a backlash. BOOKS & the ARTS EVER SINCE RONALD REAGAN BECAME GOVERNOR OF CALifornia in 1967, we have relied on two native informants about his time in power: Joan Didion, of Sacramento, and Mike Davis, of the San Bernardino Valley. As Reagan strategist Paul Weyrich pointed out, "sex" was the "Achilles' heel of the liberal Democrats", and Reagan and his Republican allies were prepared to bet that the electorate was still much more traditional than liberals were willing to allow. [Extracted from the article]

An essay is presented which discusses several books including "Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy" by Francis Fukuyama, "Breaking Democracy's Spell" by John Dunn, and "The Royalist Revolution: Monarchy and the American Founding" by Eric Nelson. Political corruption in China and bureaucracies in America are examined, along with the history of democracy and bureaucracies in countries such as China and the U.S.

The article discusses politics in Indonesia, focusing on the leadership and policies of the Indonesian President-elect Joko Widodo. Other topics include the power over religious life in Indonesia held by the Majelis Ulama Indonesia, and Islamic religious group, a comparison between India and Indonesia concerning postcolonial nationalization, and how the Indonesian government has changed since the fall of its former leader Suharto.

The article reflects on democracy. Commentary is presented on democracy as it existed in ancient Athens, Greece, objections to direct democracy on the part of the U.S. founders including John Adams that led them to create a country based on representative institutions, technological advances that have rendered those objections null, and what the authors term a crisis of legitimate democracy. Reference is made to several books including "Ill Fares the Land" by Tony Judt.

An essay is presented which discusses various books such as "The Burden of Responsibility: Blum, Camus, Aron, and the French Twentieth Century" by Tony Judt, "The Invention of Decolonization: The Algerian War and the Remaking of France" by Todd Shepard, and "Algerian Chronicles" by Albert Camus, translated by Arthur Goldhammer, and edited by Alice Kaplan. The reported double-edge quality of French author Albert Camus' early writings on Algeria is examined, along with pied-noir communities.

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to articles in the June 3, 2013 issue including "The IRS Mess" about a 2013 scandal with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), "Why I'm Voting for Her" by Jessica Valenti about a women U.S. presidential candidate, and "Empire States," a book review by Thomas Meaney.

Two letters to the editor are presented relating to articles in the December 10, 2012 issue, including "Israel's War on Gaza" by Phillis Bennis and the book review "Chicken Wire and Telephone Calls" by Thomas Meaney, along with the authors' response to the letters.