“Brain drain” was once good for America. The great minds — Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann — that fled fascism during the 1930s reaffirmed the idea of the U.S. as a land of opportunity, and a haven for scientific progress and intellectual advancement.
But today, a brain drain is hurting America’s heartland. The alarming picture that...
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Tags: american crisis, book review, brain drain, carr and kefalas, hollowing out the middle, maria j kefalas, nonfiction, patrick j carr, rural america, sociology, the heartland, zocalo public square
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High-profile divorces are usually thrilling tabloid fodder. But in Nujood Ali’s case, the act of asking for a divorce — not to mention getting it — shook the Muslim world, caused the Yemeni parliament to raise the age of consent to 17 for boys and girls, and earned the then-10-year-old international press attention, including...
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Tags: book review, child bride, Feminism, islam, nujood ali, yemen, zocalo public square
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In the movies, all it takes to crack the in-crowd is one savvy make-over. If only it were so easy. In a consumer landscape where every crowd is the in-crowd — and the mass market made of many in-crowds — marketers need to shape-shift constantly, and hock their wares one niche at a time.
In...
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Tags: book review, facebook, hayes, malone, marketing, niche, no size fits all, nonfiction, zocalo public square
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Sisters in War reads like a serial drama, kicking off with the fall of Saddam Hussein in a time of naïve hope. Christina Asquith’s breezy style still captures the complexities of the 2003 invasion and its aftermath, particularly how one can be anti-Republican, think that war always has an especially negative impact on women,...
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Tags: book review, christina asquith, Feminism, iraq, sisters in war
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Does Jerry Buss know just how fitting the purple and gold of his Los Angeles Lakers are? These elite athletes are draped in symbols of immortality and beauty sent from God.
Or so you would think if you were a scientist or painter in the Middle Ages. Spike Bucklow’s articulate yet academic The Alchemy of...
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Tags: alchemy of paint, early modern art, painting, spike bucklow, Zocalo
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Does Sexism in America really show the truth about women’s lives in the new millennium? The reader sympathetic to the idea of gender equality hopes the answer is no.
But it’s hard to brush off Barbara J. Berg’s clear language and arguments about how sexism is ruining the future of America. Even those reluctant to...
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Tags: barbara j berg, book review, sexism, sexism in america, Zocalo
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