The Plank

Weekend Reading, November 6-8

--Jill Lepore on murders and American history

--Mark Bowden on the line between internet dirty-talk and internet sexual predation

--Jenny Diski on Roman Polanski and rape

--If all this is too grim, check out James Poniewozik's short essay on the media's centrist bias

--And, finally, one Yankee fan who is not very happy

Reinhold Niebuhr at TNR

The Alternatives to Communism

Is exporting democracy the way to stop totalitarian dictators?

Liberalism: Illusions and Realities

Does Kirk's "Conservative Mind" make any sense?

The Puritan Conscience

The flawed origins of U.S. exceptionalism.

Our Stake in the State of Israel

Will we abandon our one secure bastion in the Middle East?

Liberals and the Marxist Heresy

Grappling with the fellow travelers--and McCarthy.

Vietnam: Study in Ironies

Why America is losing its way in Southeast Asia.

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