Departments

Letters
Current Thinking:
A Conversation with Jimmy Carter

The Contrarian
The Road to 2008: Unity08 BY GEORGE VRADENBURG

Mash Down Babylon
Word to the Mothership BY JOEL SCHALIT

Voice For Peace
Time to Harness the Jewish Peace Vote BY MITCHELL PLITNICK

Spirit Matters
Fire in the Bones BY ALASTAIR MCINTOSH
Working for Tikkun BY MARISA HANDLER

Editorials

Hope is Back! How to keep the Democrats from blowing it once again, version 2006-2008 (Don't forget the antiwar uprising of 2006)

By MICHAEL LERNER

The Democratic victory in 2006 midterm elections has opened up enormous possibilities for political change. It's time to clarify exactly what's at stake in order not to repeat past Demoocratic failures.

Politics & Society

The Missing Katrina Story BY PETER DREIER AND JOHN ATLAS
Grassroots activists are reviving large parts of New Orleans that America had left for
dead. Dreier and Atlas tell us of a city slowly being resurrected.

The Iranian Nuclear Threat BY STEPHEN ZUNES
What might happen if Washington goes to war with Tehran? One of the world’s
premier Mideast analysts presents the possibilities.

Privilege BY MADELINE LEVINE
The best-selling author and psychologist takes a devastating look at how
a culture of selfishness is destroying the lives of privileged teens.

Spiritual Activism

Monogamy, Polyamory, and Beyond BY JORGE N. FERRER
Every world tradition teaches the necessity of embracing joy. How intimate
relationships allow us the opportunity to truly experience it.

Dear Swami BY SWAMI BEYONDANANDA
America’s favorite interfaith wisecrack provides counseling to the
politically distressed.

Israel/Palestine

Covering Israel A CONVERSATION WITH ARTHUR NESLEN
Is the press doing its job? Joel Schalit talks to the veteran correspondent about
the politics of contemporary Israel reportage.

Remembering Najib Mahfouz BY BEN LYNFIELD
Egypt’s Nobel Prize-winning novelist died in August 2006. An Israeli journalist
recounts his conversations with the increasingly embittered peace advocate.

Judaism

Heschel for a New Generation EDITED BY OR N. ROSE
Theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel continues to inspire. On the eve of his
centenary, three tributes by a new generation of Jewish scholar/activists.

Congregation-Based Organizing BY BENJAMIN ROSS
The organizing director of Jewish FundS for Justice gives us a look at a new
community-based form of activism.

Our Stories, Ourselves BY RAMI SHAPIRO
What could be more revolutionary than Judaism without rabbis or synagogues?

Culture

BOOKS

Tanya Reinhart’s The Road Map To Nowhere, reviewed by Jerome Slater

Michael Bérubé’s What’s Liberal About the Liberal Arts, reviewed by Daniel Morris

Yehouda Shenhav’s The Arab Jews, reviewed by David Shasha

Annalee Newitz’s Pretend We’re Dead, reviewed by Charlie Bertsch

Capsule Reviews: Irwin Kula’s Yearnings, Elizabeth Arnold’s Civilization
and Brian Whitaker’s Unspeakable Love

POEM

Children, by Eytan Eytan

TELEVISION/FILM

Between Documentary and Agit-Prop:
Jean-Luc Godard’s Ici et Ailleurs, by Shai Ginsburg

MUSIC

Minding the Store: The Niche Marketing
of the Melvins, by Charlie Bertsch

Capsule Reviews: Kode9 + the Spaceape’s
Memories of the Future, Dead Moon’s
Echoes of the Past