FIELD NOTES
Jane Austen vs. the badgers/The petroleum pariah/Can I get a witness?, and more
BREAKTHROUGH BOOKS
Fundamentalism
INSIDE PUBLISHING
Was Confucius Chinese?/Shorting the system/Diagramming Descartes, and more
The Free Trade Faith
For the vast majority of economists, the virtues of free trade are nearly as axiomatic as the law of supply and demand. But politicians, policy makers, and the public remain wary. Have the academics blinded themselves to the human costs of globalization? Or have their critics substituted mere sloganeering for serious thought?
BY EYAL PRESS
Sins of the Poet
When Seattle Methodist University offered a job to a prominent Christian poet, it seemed like a perfect match of literature and learning. But once the school's president got wind of the poet's dabbling in erotic verse, all hell broke loose.
BY KATHRYN ROBINSON
The Women Warriors
The recent discovery of the graves of female fighters on the Eurasian steppes has renewed the often-dubious quest for a matriarchal civilization in ancient times. Was there life before patriarchy? And if so, what happened to it?
BY LAWRENCE OSBORNE
Looking Backward
Does nostalgia deserve its bad name? Several recent books are
suffused with misty longings for the past‹and with clear-eyed
questions about the way we live now. Together, they suggest that
the sentimental backwards glance can spur fine historical writing.
BY JACKSON LEARS
CLASSIFIED
CONFERENCES
HYPOTHESES
Does the stock market explain quantum physics?
Jim Holt says yes.
