• New material at Law and Liberty:
  • Steven Grosby in Politics, Law, and the Hebrew Bible reviews Michael Walzer’s In God’s Shadow: The Politics of the Hebrew Bible.
  • Ryan Anderson, editor of Public Discourse, appraises Michael Sandel’s What Money Can’t Buy and observes

Sadly, while What Money Can’t Buy is heavy on examples, it is relatively light on moral reasoning. It is more the work of glorified journalism than moral and political philosophy. Sandel exerts so much time and energy documenting the various new and often disconcerting forms of market activity that his actual discussion of the moral merits is anemic by comparison. Most all of his moral argumentation could be contained in an article, and at times it felt that Sandel was padding his copy to stretch it into a (relatively short) book.

• We at Law and Liberty took note of the manufactured controversy over Mitt Romney’s remarks that the rule of law, limited government, respect for individual dignity, and a culture of entrepreneurship (link no longer available) had vaulted the Israeli economy over its regional neighbors. One might be forgiven for thinking that we know how to create prosperity? When pressed for the sources of his speech, Romney cited Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel, but he also cited David Landes’ The Wealth and Poverty of Nations. Herewith, David Landes’ son, Richard Landes offers his thoughts on culture and the wealth of nations.

• Econlib’s David Henderson on Alan Greenspan’s regime uncertainty argument.

• Learning about the Godfather of Liberalism. But can America rescind the offer it accepted?

• Charles Murray corrects David Brooks on individual success, gratitude, and being a codger.

• No Child Left Behind could mean No Child Gets Ahead.

• Radiation, what radiation?

• The University of Texas filed this week its brief with the Supreme Court defending through a glass, poorly its policy of racial preferences in admissions.