More Credit Deserved
Walter Isaacson is president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan educational and policy studies institute based in Washington, D.C., and was previously chairman and CEO of CNN and editor of Time magazine. He is the author of Einstein: His Life and Universe (April 2007), Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003), and Kissinger: A Biography (1992), and co-author of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made (1986).
Obama hasn't put an end to the partisan vitriol, but he should get more recognition for preventing our financial system from going off a cliff.
You Can't Ask for More
Ted Widmer directs the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University. He was a speechwriter and senior adviser to President Clinton.
For the vast middle of this country, and the even vaster populations that lie beyond it, it has been a relatively good year.
This Week's Hot Reads
The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
This week: A hipster recounts his wild misadventures, a deep look at how and why we shop, a rollicking tale of spies and dilettantes in the American Revolution, an indictment of our economic theories, and a bold new novel of artistic corruption and redemption.
Speed Read: Too Big to Fail
The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
The Daily Beast presents the five most revealing and cinema-ready scenes from New York Times wunderkind Andrew Ross Sorkin's new book on the financial crisis.
The Real Bailout Hero
Allan Dodds Frank is a business investigative correspondent who specializes in white collar crime. He also is President of the Overseas Press Club of America, one of the many journalism organizations that protests the arrests of journalists abroad and repression of freedom of speech.
The battle to prevent a full-blown economic meltdown produced an unlikely savior, Tim Geithner, according to a new account. Andrew Ross Sorkin talks about his new book, and the behind-the-scenes scramble to save Wall Street.
Time to Thank Obama…and Bush
As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, corporations and causes, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono. McKinnon is co-chair of Arts & Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities that have embraced today's rich Internet environment to deliver innovative and creative digital products to consumers.
Critics are taking aim at the president, but Mark McKinnon says with job losses slowing and recovery appearing imminent, it's time to give Obama-and, yes, his predecessor-credit for saving us from oblivion.
America Hits the Reset Button
Kurt Andersen is the author of two novels, the critically acclaimed bestsellers Heyday and Turn of the Century. His new book is called Reset: How This Crisis Can Restore Our Values and Renew America. He is also host and co-creator of the Peabody Award-winning public radio program Studio 360, editor-at-large for Random House, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, and writes for film, television and the stage.
The nation's economic future is not as dire as it seems, Kurt Andersen argues in Reset. The country has been here before-and will survive again.
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
Peter Beinart, senior political writer for The Daily Beast, is a professor of journalism and political science at City University of New York and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation.
Gerald Posner is The Daily Beast's Chief Investigative Reporter. He's the award-winning author of 10 investigative nonfiction bestsellers, ranging from political assassinations, to Nazi war criminals, to 9/11, to terrorism. His latest book, Miami Babylon: Crime, Wealth and Power—A Dispatch from the Beach, was published in October. He lives in Miami Beach with his wife, the author Trisha Posner.
Martin Jacques is the cofounder of the UK think tank Demos, writes a regular column for The Guardian, and is a visiting research fellow at the London School of Economics Asia Research Centre. His new book, When China Rules the World, is available now.
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