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"Luke Ford reports all of the 'juicy' quotes, and has been doing it for years." (Marc B. Shapiro)
"This guy knows all the gossip, the ins and outs, the lashon hara of the Orthodox world. He’s an [expert] in... all the inner workings of the Orthodox world." (Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff) LATEST POSTS:
- Dennis Prager v Cedars-Sinai Lawsuit
- Dennis Prager Through Randall Collins: Interaction Ritual Chains
- What is a ‘Received Idea’?
- Jordan Bardella: The Manufacture of Normality
- Everyone Became Television: Bourdieu’s Warning and the 2026 Iran War
- Marine Le Pen
- The Coalition-Proximity Rule
- Nigel Farage
- Bernard Haykel: A Life Between the Text and the Gun
- Walker Connor (1926-2017)
- Benedict Anderson and the Nation as Imagination
- Anthony D. Smith: The Student Who Kept the Question and Rejected the Answer
- Ernest Gellner
- Eric Kaufmann: The Man Who Made the Majority Visible
- Dominic Cummings: A Biography
- Steve Lopez: The Last City Columnist
- California Historian Kevin Starr
- Stephen Kotkin: A Life in Power
- William T. Vollmann: An American Life in Excess
- Rod Dreher: A Life in Exile
BEST POSTS:
- * The Enlightenment Wasn’t Enlightened (6-23-26)
* Mr. Burge Draws The Line (6-23-26)
* 'Improving on Democracy' (6-17-26)
* People Leak To People Who Are Fun (6-11-26)
* Why Does Australia Produce So Many Great Journalists? (6-11-26)
* Steve Wynn and the Press: Power, Litigation, and the Contest Over Las Vegas (6-3-26)
* Sheldon Adelson and the Journalists (6-3-26)
* The Vigilant Animal: Thinkers Who Reject the Myth of Human Gullibility (6-2-26)
* The Cost of Refusing the Misunderstanding Myth (6-2-26)
* Show Me How It Travels (6-2-26)
* The Norm Explainers (6-2-26)
* Centering Marginalized Voices (6-1-26)
* What would it look like if the Washington Post put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What would it look like if the Financial Times put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for the Los Angeles Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for The New York Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
* Why Wembanyama Lives on the Perimeter (5-31-26)
* The Emotional Palettes Of San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco & Sacramento (5-27-26)
* The Administrative Capital: Sacramento Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* San Diego - The Quiet Republic (5-27-26)
* The Quiet Bar: San Diego Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* SF v LA Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* Why Talent Travels Poorly Between San Francisco and Los Angeles (5-27-26)
* San Francisco and Los Angeles as Rival Models of Urban Access (5-27-26)
* Social Cliques in New York, 2026 (5-25-26)
* Social Cliques in San Francisco, 2026 (5-25-26)
* The Rival Courts of Washington (5-25-26)
* The City of Private Rooms (5-25-26)
Category Archives: Book Reviews
‘The Shidduch Crisis: Causes and Cures’ by Psychologist Michael J. Salamon
I’m enjoying this book about finding a Jewish spouse. It has some great anecdotes, such as the one about a young man given the phone number for a young woman. When he dials, however, he finds the phone answered by … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Dating
Tagged anecdotes, jewish spouse, psychologist, young man, young woman
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Is It OK To Have Affairs If You Need Them For Your Art?
Are writers accountable to a different moral code? As their art is so necessary, their perceptions so keen, perhaps they have to live up to a different Torah? Fred emails: I can see the dialog now: Dear, I have a … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Literature, Sex
Tagged bend in the river, creative period, guerrillas, moral code, traveling companion, V S Naipaul
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Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California
My favorite part of this biography by Hellman’s great-great-granddaughter Frances Dinkelspiel came on page 181. It describes how affluent German Jews in the San Francisco Bay Area reacted with ambivalent feelings to the arrival of Russian Jewish immigrants. Why were … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, California, Charity, Jews
Tagged ambivalent feelings, german jews, government bureaucracy, government welfare, jewish immigrant, russian jewish immigrants
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War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism
I was really looking forward to this book and then when I tucked into it today, I found it was deadly dull. Feith writes about "terrorist extremists." As opposed to "terrorist moderates"? He also uses the phrase, "I personally." I … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged feith, harold robbins, kama sutra, page turner, war on terrorism
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‘A Fabulous Tale’ Set In North Africa
From Princeton: Midway through rabbinical school, Burton Visotzky fell in love with midrash — rabbinic narrative and interpretation of the Bible. Maybe it is not a surprise that an English major from the University of Illinois would be … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged 1001 arabian nights, academic texts, business texts, interpretation of the bible, interreligious studies, jewish theological seminary
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A self-help guide which tells women to wear sexy clothes while cooking and cleaning as well as follow men’s orders has become a hit in America
From the Daily Telegraph: The Re-education Of The Female, by first-time author Dante Moore, advises women to follow their man’s orders. Despite the chauvinist opinions, copies have been flying off the shelves in the US. One piece of advice reads: … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged baby elephant, computer engineer, daily telegraph, dante moore, sexy clothes, shape women
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My Lost & Found Life
I am very selective when it comes to recommending novels, resisting anything that smacks of the latest must read or is now darling of book clubs everywhere. That stuff – and by "that stuff," I mean the literary detritus that … Continue reading
Posted in Ads, Book Reviews
Tagged blockbuster film, bowsher, family disruption, favorite cities, film adaptation, sudden bout
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Touching History: The Untold Story of the Drama That Unfolded in the Skies Over America on 9/11
It’s causing me great pain to put down this book long enough to do a little blogging. It’s mesmerizing. All the juicy details on 9/11, many of them not in the commission’s report. From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. While most … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged air traffic controllers, chaotic skies, faa operations, publishers weekly starred review, reed business information, reed elsevier inc
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The Triumph Of Deborah
PRAISE FOR THE TRIUMPH OF DEBORAH— "… add[s] sparkle to an ancient story. . . illustrate[s] the pervasiveness of sexual politics. . . in a world bereft of even the semblance of political and sexual equality."–Lilith, Summer 2008 … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged canaanite king, israel war, prophetess deborah, sexual equality, three novels, two princesses
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Gross National Happiness: Why Happiness Matters for America–and How We Can Get More of It (Hardcover)
Christopher Barat writes on Amazon.com: "The author of "Who Really Cares," the tome that turned popular stereotypes about charitable behavior on their heads, is back with more data regarding which groups in the American population report high levels of happiness. … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged american population, companion piece, gross national happiness, population report, shocking conclusion, worthy companion
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