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A History of LiberalismThe New Republic celebrates its 90th anniversary.

By Bidisha Banerjee
Updated Friday, Feb. 18, 2005, at 6:31 PM ET

New Republic, Feb. 28
For its 90th anniversary edition, the magazine that helped make "liberalism" part of the political lexicon, looks at, well, liberalism. Peter Beinart argues that liberals should "seek a language that fuses idealism with humility." E.J. Dionne waxes nostalgic for Reinhold Niebuhr, the midcentury minister who "imbued liberalism with realism" and an "awareness of sin." Suggesting that liberals have moved away from their core issues ("economic deprivation and the concentration of power"), Dionne thinks liberals and religious groups should get cozy again. Martin Peretz also mopes about the fact that no one is trying to fill Niebuhr's shoes; he commends Bush for not being racist or sexist, and rants against the United Nations: "It performs the magic of the wicked. It is corrupt, it is pompous, it is shackled to tyrants and cynics." Additionally, John Judis provides a history of New Deal liberalism and recommends that liberals should be "encouraging, subsidizing, and defending unions" and other community and Internet-based groups.

Economist, Feb. 17
Looking ahead to President Bush's upcoming European tour, an article suggests that it is time for the United States to mend its alliance with Europe. While parts of this week's TNR package encourage alliances between religious groups and liberals, and deplore the United Nations, this editorial, a piece about anti-Americanism suggests that, thanks to Bush's re-election, progressives around the world may be looking away from America: "Democrats in Europe and elsewhere who once thought religiosity, a belief in capital punishment and rank hostility to the United Nations were intermittent or diminishing features of the United States now see them as rising and perhaps permanent." ... It's not just Bjork, Sigur Ros, and Mum who are taking over the world: A piece looks at the onslaught of Icelandic businesses making huge acquisitions abroad. Icelanders are "feeling richer," and they've been privatizing their economy and deregulating their government for almost 14 years.

Atlantic Monthly, March 2005
When the United States cited human-rights abuses to justify the Iraq invasion, it relied mostly on the work of Hania Mufti, a Jordanian who has documented these crimes for Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for more than 20 years. William Langewiesche's profile is a study in moral complexity: It covers the fine points of Iraqi history (like the 1991 Shiite uprising against Saddam that the United States encouraged, but failed to support) and ends with Mufti's commitment to the Iraqi war crimes tribunal, despite her opposition to it. … A recent Harvard graduate gripes that the undergrad curriculum offers little of value: Professors have an "inferiority complex regarding modern capitalism," postmodernism has made the humanities "irrelevant," grade inflation is rampant, and undergrads get no guidance about how to choose a curriculum. … Also, in a review of the third volume of a Graham Greene biography, Slate contributor Christopher Hitchens reveals, that after reading all of Greene's work, he was shocked by Greene's "sheer conservatism."

New York Times Magazine, Feb. 20
When historian Ian Buruma started teaching modern Japanese history at a maximum security prison in upstate New York, he "somewhat patronizingly … expected to talk about sword-fight movies and Oriental wisdom." But the inmates, who were "clearly grateful" to be "treated as intelligent adults," soon charmed him by asking about the Opium wars, de Tocqueville, and crimes among out-of-work samurai. Buruma's account underscores the lack of college-degree programs available to prisoners. … A profile of Cuban baseball player Kendry Morales, who recently signed with the Angels of Anaheim, also focuses on Morales' agent, a Toronto accountant who dreams of a big-league client list. Morales may turn out to be a remarkable player, but some call him average; a historian compares Cuban players to Cuban cigars: "[T]hey're still overvalued because they're exotic." … A cover story reporting on Kirkuk during the days before the Iraqi election suggests that the Kurds may soon attempt to establish an independent state.

Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News & World Report

Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News & World Report, Feb. 21
Mamafestos. In Newsweek, a frustrated mom asks why women of her generation, "the most liberated and privileged group of women America has ever seen," allow "the quest for perfect mommy-dom" to drive them crazy. The piece, which barely touches on dads, argues that moms don't realize that they should try to make society change to accommodate their needs and urges the government to mandate more family-friendly policies. ... Time's cover focuses on overbearing parents whose anxieties about having perfect children lead them to push teachers around. The story features the same lessons as Newsweek (parents should relax, and "sometimes kids have to fail in order to learn"), but is more critical of parents. … And U.S. News highlights an upcoming research project that aims to be the most comprehensive study of children ever attempted. It will track 100,000 children and their parents from birth to age 21, exploring how "air, water, dust, dirt, body fluids, genes, food, [and] television" affect health.

North Korea. The United States has "little choice but to develop a new nuclear warhead," the deputy head of the National Nuclear Security Administration told Newsweek in response to North Korea's announcement that it has nuclear weapons. The warhead is necessary, the article says, because "Experts say scientists can't be properly trained without new weapons to design and produce." Time suggests that both the United States and its allies, especially China, should follow former U.S. Ambassador James Lilley's advice and get tough on North Korea right away: Japan should cut off shipping, South Korea should halt tourism, the United States should urge sanctions, and China should cut aid and oil imports. Both magazines point to the subject of Time's cover story last week—Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan—and his role in helping North Korea get the nukes.

Odds and ends. In a profile of 50 Cent, Newsweek points to the rapper's "sheepishly innocent, even kidlike" qualities, pointing to the lyric "I love you like a fat kid loves cake/ To make you happy I'll do whatever it takes" in the song "21 Questions." His producer didn't want the song on the record and asked him, " 'How you goin' to be gangsta this and that and then put this sappy love song on?' " … U.S. News' Michael Barone looks at recent developments among bloggers and concludes, "The left blogosphere has moved the Democrats off to the left, and the right blogosphere has undermined the credibility of the Republicans' adversaries in Old Media. Both changes help Bush and the Republicans." … And U.S. News' cover story on Abraham Lincoln mentions a collection of first person recollections compiled by the president's one-time law partner but ignored as "gossip" by historians for a long time. Juicy tidbit: Lincoln fought "a local bully in a wrestling match" (no word about who won).

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Bidisha Banerjee is a former Slate editorial assistant.
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