How John McPhee turns out so much nonfiction prose that is so delightful to read I do not know. He has authored 28 or 29 books since 1965. This piece describes McPhee’s experiences with editors of the New Yorker and his publisher. Its interesting and amusing. “Robert Gottlieb replaced William Shawn as editor of The […]

Robert Samuelson’s writes: “Back in 2001, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected federal budget surpluses of $5.6 trillion for 2002-11. Instead, we got $6.1 trillion of deficits — a swing of $11.7 trillion. Naturally, political recriminations followed. Who or what caused the change?” “But any intellectually honest answer — perhaps futile in today’s politically charged […]

Tara Parker-Pope’s, “Too Much Medical Care?” has some interesting statements: “A few years ago, my daughter sprained her ankle at dance camp. What happened next offers a glimpse into some of the problems in our nation’s health care system.” “She was the victim of too much medicine. Every new blood test, scan or X-ray raised […]

What to make of the anti-trust case against book publishers? Is Amazon becoming a monopoly? Ken Auletta reports…(read more; subscription required)

“Despite The Washington Post’s history of swashbuckling journalism, its business strategy has been deeply conservative. Can the heirs to Kay Graham and Ben Bradlee’s legacy—Graham’s son Don, the chairman and C.E.O.; her granddaughter Katharine Weymouth, the publisher; and executive editor Marcus Brauchli—save the Post from a lack of vision? Sarah Ellison follows the money, the […]

“Mikhail Khodorkovsky was the richest man in Russia when he dared confront then president Vladimir Putin, criticizing state corruption at a meeting with Putin in February 2003. Arrested that fall, then convicted in two Kafka-esque trials, Khodorkovsky has been imprisoned ever since, the once powerful oligarch now an invisible hero for the growing opposition to […]