Books, Articles, and Items of Academic Interest

I had already decided to let my subscription to The Weekly Standard run out when news came in December that the conservative news analysis and cultural commentary magazine was folding. The magazine had become sour and cantankerous in the last few years, but despite my disenchantment with it, I regret its passing. The Standard was, among other things, one of few mainstream publications that gave serious space to critiquing the follies of higher education. It also offered lively coverage of culture and the arts, focusing on matters that were seldom covered in The New York Times, and only intermittently addressed by The Wall Street Journal.

We orphaned subscribers received an issue of the Washington Examiner with a note explaining that it would take the place of The Weekly Standard. Judging by its first issue, however, the Washington