Newsletter 888

28 Dec 2012 • 2 min read

Best of the Moment

Heirs Of Mao’s Comrades Rise As New Capitalist Nobility

Shai Oster et al | Bloomberg | 26 December 2012

How children of China's Communist old guard got so rich. They were put in charge of state corporations created in 1980s. Used assets and cashflow to build private real estate empires in 1990s. Now their kids crash Ferraris Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/heirs-mao’s-comrades-rise-new-capitalist-nobility-0)

Yours, Mine, But Not Ours

Corey Robin | Jacobin | 27 December 2012

We live in a world, not of Hobbesian states, but of failed Hobbesian states. We accept a tradeoff between freedom and security. But our governments are selective about whose freedom they repress, and whose security they assure. Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/yours-mine-not-ours)

Fiscal Cliff Reality Check: What's Really The Worst Thing That Could Happen?

Heidi Moore | Guardian | 26 December 2012

Going over the fiscal cliff is not good, but neither is it the end of the world for America. Doomsayers have padded their arguments with some suspect assertions. Here are some of those laid to rest Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/fiscal-cliff-reality-check-whats-really-worst-thing-could-happen)

Philanthropy: You're Doing It Wrong

Felix Salmon | Reuters | 26 December 2012

"Philanthropy is one of those areas where the richer you are, the more likely you are to be doing it spectacularly wrong." So let's run down the list of the ways super-rich donors aren't as helpful as they think they are Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/philanthropy-youre-doing-it-wrong)

Posthumous

Jeffrey Eugenides | New Yorker | 24 December 2012

Speech to young writers. "Don’t censor yourself. Don’t go along with the crowd. Don’t be greedy. Don’t be cheap." And take Nadine Gordimer's advice, via Christopher Hitchens: Try to write posthumously. Here's what she meant by that Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/posthumous)

What Turned Jaron Lanier Against The Web?

Ron Rosenbaum | Smithsonian | 24 December 2012

Silicon Valley visionary, pioneer of virtual reality, recants his faith in Web 2.0: "You can draw an analogy to what happened with communism, where at some point you just have to say there’s too much wrong with these experiments” Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/what-turned-jaron-lanier-against-web)
(http://www.amazon.com/Best-of-FiveBooks-2011-ebook/dp/B007GAM6RC?tag=thebro-21)

FiveBooks Interview

(http://thebrowser.com/interviews/catherine-s-manegold-on-narrative-non-fiction)

Catherine S Manegold on Narrative Non-Fiction

The author and former New York Times reporter says that some of the very best writing today is non-fiction — and that seductive narratives can yank readers into the most diverse range of subjects Read on (http://thebrowser.com/interviews/catherine-s-manegold-on-narrative-non-fiction)

Featured Special Report

(http://thebrowser.com/reports/syria-revolts)

Conflict in Syria

The Syrian conflict is causing terrible destruction and loss of life. This report charts how protests against the Assad regime descended into a bitter war Read on (http://thebrowser.com/reports/syria-revolts)

Reader Recommendations

@nuzav Why it's good to walk | Lynsey Hanley t.co/CXys4WiF via @guardian #browsings (https://twitter.com/search?q=#browsings) More like this (http://thebrowser.com/browsings)

Book of the Day

Book of the Day (http://thebrowser.com/recommended/what-money-can’t-buy-by-michael-sandel)

What Money Can’t Buy by By Michael Sandel

Anatole Kaletsky says (http://thebrowser.com/interviews/anatole-kaletsky-on-new-capitalism) : “This book gives a laundry list of examples where markets overreached and led to clearly unacceptable moral outcomes” FiveBooks Archive (http://thebrowser.com/fivebooks/archive)