Generals Can't Be Trusted
Lee Siegel has written about culture and politics and is the author of three books: Falling Upwards: Essays in Defense of the Imagination; Not Remotely Controlled: Notes on Television; and, most recently, Against the Machine: Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob. In 2002, he received a National Magazine Award for reviews and criticism.
General Stanley McChrystal wants 40,000 more troops for Afghanistan. Lee Siegel on why presidents should be skeptical of such requests from people who are, at heart, warriors.
The Barack Obama Book Club
Samuel P. Jacobs is a staff reporter at The Daily Beast. He has also written for The Boston Globe, The New York Observer, and The New Republic Online.
Want to read like a president? The Daily Beast pulled together every book that the Reader in Chief has been spotted with since the campaign. Find out what's on his night table.
Can LBJ Help Obama Pass Health Care?
Samuel P. Jacobs is a staff reporter at The Daily Beast. He has also written for The Boston Globe, The New York Observer, and The New Republic Online.
The nation's governors have joined the chorus of criticism on Obama's health-care plan, just as the administration has gone from comparing the president to Lincoln to likening him to LBJ. It's an odd move-and one that could backfire for Obama.
Looking for Lincoln. This smart, moving, funny, and brilliantly crafted film is an historic television event, in this the bicentennial year of Lincoln, a year full of hagiography and hero worship. The cult of Lincoln is as strong as eve...
Tina Brown is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast. She is the author of the 2007 New York Times best seller The Diana Chronicles. Brown is the former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and Talk magazines and host of CNBC's Topic A with Tina Brown.
Lincoln's second inauguration speech is one of my favorites because it raised the difficult truth that God's intentions and men's might not be the same. And because it came to terms with slavery as no president had-and none would, really...
Sean Wilentz is a history professor at Princeton University whose books include The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln and The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008. He is a contributing editor at The New Republic, and historian-in residence at Bob Dylan's official website.
Obama's Speech and the Burden of History
Harold Evans, author of two histories of America, is writing his memoir. Editor at large of The Week, he was editor of The Sunday Times from 1967-81 and The Times from 1981-82, founding editor of Condé Nast Traveler, and president of Random House Trade Group from 1990-97.
Expectations for Obama's address today are nothing short of extraordinary, as he prepares for a speech that could be remembered alongside the Gettysburg Address and FDR's Fireside Chats.
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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