IN THE November 23, 2009, ISSUE Neatherworld By Mark Steyn ‘Would it not be easier,” wrote Bertolt Brecht after the East German uprising in 1953, “for the government to dissolve the people and elect another?”
World Dazed and Confused By Elliott Abrams Israelis suspect that the administration’s approach to world politics is simply naïve
National Security & Defense The View From Man Bear Pig By Bing West On the ground in Afghanistan, it’s still a question of power, not politics
World Correan War By Kevin D. Williamson With help from an old friend of President Obama, Ecuador declares war on capitalism
Magazine Unholy Union By Stephen Spruiell Why is the SEIU boss the White House’s most frequent visitor?
History The Road from 1989 By John O'Sullivan Reflections on the greatest peaceful transformation in history
Books A Rising And Not a Setting Sun By Richard Brookhiser Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815, by Gordon S. Wood (Oxford, 778 pp., $35)
Books China Alone? By Gordon G. Chang When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order, by Martin Jacques (Penguin, 576 pp., $29.95)
Books Time Travel In a Melting Pot By Julie Gunlock Appetite City: A Culinary History of New York, by William Grimes (North Point, 384 pp., $30)
Books Be Careful What You Ask For By Terry Teachout Point of No Return portrays middle-class life with a sympathetic honesty that is both unromantic and uncommon
Film & TV Dark and Wild By Ross Douthat This is a film about childhood that can be appreciated by pretentious, nitpicky grown-ups, it will find its fiercest fans among the Maxes of the world
The Straggler Driveway Drama By John Derbyshire When the kids have left home, we’ll rent a nice little apartment somewhere
The Bent Pin Just Because Stories By Florence King Do not ask from whom freedom of opinion has been stolen. It has been stolen from thee.
Magazine Neatherworld By Mark Steyn ‘Would it not be easier,” wrote Bertolt Brecht after the East German uprising in 1953, “for the government to dissolve the people and elect another?”