Thinking is like loving and dying. Each of us must do it for himself” — Josiah Royce

Is Post-Partisanship Possible?

Rick Perlstein

Author

Obama has revived his pledge to put aside "petty politics" and forge common ground with adversaries on health care. But amid today's hyper-polarized political climate, in which millions of Americans don't see him as a "legitimate" president, is that a promise he can keep?

In Politics & Policy

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The Voice of Big Think

Newyorkercover2
February 9, 2010 — 4:28 PM

The Face Behind The New Yorker's Cover

Big Think Editors

For artists and illustrators, the cover of The New Yorker is the most treasured piece of real estate in American magazine publishing. New Yorker covers have inspired laughter, sorrow (as with the famous "black on black" cover following 9/11), and once in a while, furious public debate (as with the "terrorist Obamas" cover shown at left). This week Big Think talks to Françoise Mouly, the magazine's art editor and the woman responsible for choosing these iconic images. Read more

Trend World

Saints
February 9, 2010 — 4:22 PM

Can Sports Save a City?

Tal Pinchevsky

A big part of the recent Super Bowl becoming the most-viewed telecast in American history was the story of the New Orleans Saints providing the ultimate celebratory rallying cry for a city that was mostly underwater less than five years ago. While there’s no denying the spiritual lift that sports teams provide for American cities in their troubled times, is it possible for that spiritual lift, coupled with a spike in revenue, to actually save a city? Read more

Novel Copy

Media_news_roundup
February 9, 2010 — 3:16 PM

Media News Round-Up

Orion Jones

Jay Leno's primetime show will end quietly tomorrow night. A once-major newspaper editor in England joins the paywall debate. More journalists are being given cameras as the digital age continues to change news. Here is one such video report from Haiti about the medical evacuation crisis. Read more

Picture This

Janet_sobol_untitled_1944
February 9, 2010 — 9:25 AM

Mother of Invention

Bob Duggan

Wouldn’t it be ironic if the origin of big, bad, brawny Jackson Pollock’s drip and splatter paintings were a wifely homemaker, mother, and grandmother from Brooklyn? And wouldn’t it be true? Gary Snyder Fine Art in New York City presents the work of Janet Sobel, whose early 1940s drip paintings inspired Pollock to explore the possibilities of that style and essentially found the Abstract Expressionist school. Rather than rise likewise into fame and fortune, Sobel moved with her husband and family to Plainfield, New Jersey, and enduring obscurity. Gary Snyder brings Sobel back to the big city and the big stage she deserves. Read more

The Voice of Big Think

Picture_291
February 9, 2010 — 12:27 AM

Who're You Calling a Dumb Ape?

Big Think Editors

The capuchin monkeys that Dr. Laurie Santos and her research team work with are "clever—sometimes more clever than we are." Not only do they sometimes get the better of humans, they also yield a font of insights into the evolutionary origins of human psychological phenomena—including, as the Yale psychologist explains in her Big Think interview, the loss aversion and greed that caused the global financial meltdown. Read more

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