Economist, Sept. 6 The Economist focuses on Alaska with one piece on the role played by “windfall taxes” and earmarks in the state’s economy and another on Mark Begich, the Anchorage mayor in a Senate race against scandal-plagued incumbent Ted Stevens. Since Gov. Sarah Palin increased taxes levied against oil companies, Alaskans are receiving $1,200 each this year, “ostensibly to cover the high cost of fuel.” The “suddenly flush” state still puts a premium on securing federal funding for local projects, though, so Mark Begich will need to “bring home the bacon” if he is to beat Stevens. … Another piece discusses the Cold War-era murder of Georgi Markov, “a Bulgarian émigré broadcaster who was poisoned in London in 1978” at the behest of the KGB and the Bulgarian secret service. The murderer was an Italian-born Dane known as “Piccadilly,” whose identity is revealed in a forthcoming book by Hristo Hristov.
Time, Sept. 15 A profile of Sarah Palin calls her “a shrewd political operator who slyly fought her way upstream through her state’s cutthroat politics.”… An article reported from Palin’s hometown of Wasilla talks to those who knew her when she was a self-described “average hockey mom” and wonders whether “local resentments will come back to haunt her” now that her small-town background is under scrutiny on a national stage. … Another article warns that New Orleans “is still extremely vulnerable,” despite surviving a “relatively mild Category 2 storm,” Hurricane Gustav, earlier this week. To withstand another storm like Katrina, Southern Louisiana still needs “better levees for New Orleans and real restoration of the coast.”
Rolling Stone, Sept. 18 The cover package examines “comedy’s current obsession with awkward, natural humor.” Tina Fey, Sarah Silverman, Chris Rock, Larry David, and other masters of “the deadpan style” share where they got their starts and the lowest moments of their careers. … In a related feature, David Letterman, “once late night’s crankiest man,” grants a rare in-depth interview to share how things are looking up for him these days. … A profile of Chucky Taylor chronicles the downward spiral of the son of Liberian dictator Charles Taylor. Chucky went from being “an ordinary suburban teenager” in Orlando, Fla., to “the first civilian in American history to be charged with committing torture abroad” in his father’s native country. The 25-year-old formed and led Liberia’s Anti-Terrorist Unit to protect his father, who was elected president after years as a rogue warlord. Chucky Taylor earned a reputation for his horrifying acts of violence against Liberian rebels, including beheadings and amputations.
New York Times Magazine, Sept. 7 David Frum argues that “[a]s America becomes more unequal, it also becomes less Republican.” Frum pins “the trend to inequality” on the increase in two-income households, immigration, “a great shift from a national to a planetary division of labor,” and other factors. As long as conservatives are “denying [this] reality,” the Republican Party will remain unable to “respond effectively to the genuine difficulties of voters in the middle.”… Another feature looks at “the growing popularity of online awareness” reflected by users of social media such as Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter. The tools bring “back the dynamics of small-town life, where everybody knows your business.” Despite the drawbacks of this lack of privacy, users exhibit “an unexpected side-effect of constant self-disclosure.” While it once seemed absurd that anyone would want to follow the mundane details of their friends, family, and passing acquaintances, for many today “participation isn’t optional.”
Vanity Fair, October 2008 The annual “New Establishment” list ranks the top 100 “Leaders of the Information Age.” This year a newcomer to its pages takes the No. 1 spot: former Russian President and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, “still at the height of his power.” Other newcomers to the list include Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum of Dubai, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Meanwhile, a few mainstays like Oprah Winfrey and financier Jacob Rothschild have taken a plunge this year. … The cover story delves into the contents of two filing cabinets of “the letters, invoices, financial records, favorite snapshots, and mementos that meant the most to” Marilyn Monroe. Photographer Mark Anderson’s two-year process cataloging their contents has revealed previously unknown secrets about Monroe (T.S. Eliot may have written her love letters) and could confirm long-lasting rumors about the movie star’s troubled life and sudden death.
Must Read
In addition to giving Vladimir Putin the top spot on the “VF 100” list, Vanity Fair also has a timely piece chronicling the prime minister’s life and “the secret police apparatus that actually formed this man” and quietly launched him into power.
Must Skip
If you haven’t seen it by this point, you can skip William Kristol’s column about Sarah Palin in the Weekly Standard. While Kristol predicted that the press would pounce on Palin, the media circus surrounding the nominee has already gone through multiple cycles since his piece went to print.
Best Politics Piece
In The New Yorker, Ryan Lizza goes inside the McCain campaign’s “war room” at the Democratic National Convention to share how the candidate’s “media operatives” responded to the Dems’ speech-making—and how they could spin the remarks in the Republicans’ favor.
Best Culture Piece
A feature in Time profiles British artist Damien Hirst, who is “worshipped for being golden, and burdened by it too.” Instead of dwelling on the skepticism that often surrounds Hirst’s work—is a pickled shark really art?—the piece draws attention to the paradoxical relationship between its meaning and its marketability.
Most Gruesome Scene
In Rolling Stone,Johnny Dwyer describes the “ghoulish landscape” over which Charles Taylor’s son Chucky Taylor reigned, a world in which “[d]rugged out militias manned checkpoints decorated with human intestines and severed heads,” and “[e]nemies were disemboweled, cooked and cannibalized.”
