The Point of the Review

A couple of years ago, when writing a review of a rather thin offering by a respectable scholar, I found myself struggling to keep from becoming snide and catty. I had learned that writing a professional review is quite different from tossing off cutting remarks on a blog post; I felt I had a responsibility…

Your (Black) Friday follow.

If you’re on Twitter, you probably know about a ritual called “Friday Follow.” It’s a tradition in which people recommend to their followers other people whose Tweets might interest them. While I know this isn’t Twitter, I thought I’d bring the work of one of my tweeps to the attention of readers here because it’s…

The Retirement Crisis Reflects a Crisis in Declining Wages and an Eroding Standard of Living

On Black Friday–the day on which Walmart workers and other underpaid U.S. workers are engaged in actions to bring attention to their exploitation by some of America’s largest corporations–the following speech by Senator Elizabeth Warren seems very apropos. Senator Warren speaks most pointedly about the need to sustain and even to expand Social Security, but…

Feeding the Less Fortunate after Thanksgiving

On this holiday, in almost every community across America, there are service groups and sometimes individual families who have made a tradition out of preparing and serving Thanksgiving dinner to anyone who would not have the means to provide such a dinner for themselves. In some communities, the same service groups have sustained this tradition…