The Issue at a Glance

James Kurth and the Fate of Western Civilization(10.1007/s12129-014-9414-7)

Corey Abel

“Verdicts,” this issue’s special section, offers a range of judgments on the work of a selection of notable recent academic and scholarly figures. In the first entry, Corey Abel sees James Kurth as troublesome to both Left and Right on foreign policy and domestic affairs. His emphasis on culture and tradition, Abel explains, leads Kurth to doubt democracy’s viability in the Middle East and deplore the subversions of multiculturalism and feminism within the West.

The Deceptions of Edward Said(10.1007/s12129-014-9416-5)

Paul Bogdanor

In the next “Verdicts” essay, Paul Bogdanor reviews the celebrated career and often murky scholarship of Edward Said, with a focus on his influential Orientalism, which is based—as even Said’s supporters have acknowledged—on biased selection, misquotation, mistranslation, and distorted facts.

Heidegger’s Map(10.1007/s12129-014-9417-4)

Daniel Bonevac, University