A Spectre Is Haunting Europe

"The revolutionaries, he argues, were overmatched by near-impossible challenges that sound remarkably familiar today. They had to wrestle with the demons of nationalism, which threatened to drag liberal revolutions down into the muck of ethnic conflict. They had to forge new constitutional orders that could temper violent radicalism. And they had to confront the grinding poverty and social misery of the freshly empowered masses, who had unattainable expectations for economic growth and social equality. The book’s descriptions of impoverished serfs and alienated city dwellers could equally well be about peasants in the Chinese countryside and migrant workers in Beijing and Chongqing today."

Gary J. Bass in The New York Times reviews Mike Rapport's 1848: Year of Revolution.

All the World Is Football Shaped

Jody Rosen in Slate recommends websites and books for those following the Euro 2008 soccer tournament.

Anatomy of a Director

"Preminger, who so often deployed his power against individuals, did so against the institution of Hollywood as well; the resulting legacy is profound. In 1953, he defied the Production Code Administration, premiering 'The Moon Is Blue' despite its having been condemned by the Legion of Decency and denied a Code seal. He was the first independent producer-director to emerge from the collapsing studio system and the first to break the blacklist, crediting writer Dalton Trumbo on 'Exodus' (1960)."

Liz Brown in the Los Angeles Times reviews Foster Hirsch's Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King.