Page 5 - David Oshinsky News Today

Readers respond to recent issues of the Sunday Book Review.

11 New Books We Recommend This Week May 20, 2021Updated 6:07 p.m. ET “Ideas mattered,” Louis Menand writes in his new book, explaining the rise of American culture in the years after World War II. They still do, which is why big ideas underpin a lot of this week’s recommended titles, from astrophysics and the nature of scientific celebrity (in Charles Seife’s “Hawking Hawking”) to the pandemic and historical reactions to catastrophe (in Niall Ferguson’s “Doom”). There’s a lo...

Author: Louis Menand In his follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Metaphysical Club, Louis Menand offers a new intellectual and cultural history of the postwar years. The Free World “is a sweeping survey that looks at how and why perceptions about the US, both domestically and internationally, changed so completely during these years,” said a review on goodreads.com. “This is a smart, fascinating and serious book of intellectual history. Menand is a sprightly and clear writer,” i...

Senate defeats legislation to ban discrimination against Asian-Americans in higher education Posted on Senate Democrats voted down an amendment from Senate Republicans, including Ted Cruz, John Kennedy, and Bill Haggerty. It would have barred “Federal funding for any institution of higher education that discriminates against Asian Americans in recruitment, applicant review, or admissions.” “This amendment is straightforward, it targets the ongoing discrimination that is being directed ...

Harry, Meghan and the power of their story Among journalists in Queen Victoria’s England, Walter Bagehot was a central figure. Not only did he marry well — to the daughter of the Economist’s founder, whose death installed Bagehot in the editor’s chair — he also wrote a classic study of British government, “The English Constitution.” Of the monarchy’s role, Bagehot famously cautioned, “Above all things our royalty is to be reverenced, and if you begin to poke about it you canno...

Opinion: Harry, Meghan and the power of their story CNN 3/14/2021 By Richard Galant, CNN © Dan Kitwood/Getty Images LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 09: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (L) and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive to attend the annual Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey on March 9, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) Among journalists in Queen Victorias England, Walter Bagehot was a central figure. Not only did he marry well -- to the daug...

Global Covid vaccine plan can take a lesson from polio campaign Global Covid vaccine plan can take a lesson from polio campaign Polio triggered no pandemics, no economic crashes. Yet the large-scale campaign against what was once called infantile paralysis is arguably the closest precedent to today’s effort. Clara Ferreira Marques 1 March, 2021 8:54 am IST Text Size: “The vaccine works. It is safe, effective, and potent.” In 1955, those were the words t...

Middle-East Arab News and Opinion - Asharq Al-Awsat is the world’s premier pan-Arab daily newspaper, printed simultaneously each day on four continents in 14 cities

View: How past vaccine races can help win against Covid SECTIONS Last Updated: Feb 28, 2021, 12:37 PM IST Share Synopsis History tells us that the best vaccination efforts are built on collaboration and coordination. We know that the U.S. and Soviet Union working together at the height of the Cold War was instrumental in testing the oral polio vaccine. I Reuters Rebuilding confidence is tough, whether in politically polarized Western societies or regions like Pakistan and Afghanistan, where mis...

Much of the huge price tag for Biden’s pandemic plan would help people who are financially struggling because of COVID-19, offering $1400 checks, rent and food assistance, and expanded health care and unemployment benefits. But Biden also wants Congress to allocate $400 billion of the money to bolster the pandemic response, with $160 billion of that going toward mounting “a national vaccination program,” expanding diagnostic testing for COVID-19, and hiring 100,000 new community health wo...