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in Vanity Fair
by
Michael Dobbs, June 2008
This gripping excerpt from Dobbs' new book One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War, reads like a thriller. During the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, U-2 pilot Charles Maultsby began a routine flight in Alaska but accidentally veered off-course and entered Soviet airspace. Dobbs' excerpt is brief, but it clearly captures the tensions surrounding not just American and Russian leaders, but also Maultsby and his commanders as they raced to avoid an escalation of military powers. Well-written, humanizing, and likely to interest the reader in the book itself.
Posted 4:46, 14 May 2008
This abstract was written by
Sarah Erdreich
and edited by Brijit.
in Vanity Fair
by
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., May 2008
Kennedy brilliantly analogizes America's dependence on carbon to the nation's dependence on slavery 200 years ago. Abolition was expected to precipitate the collapse of the American economy, but instead it catalyzed the industrialization and prosperity that followed. As Sweden, Iceland, and California prove, breaking our addiction to carbon, which has "endangered our national security ... and damaged our health" can likewise be a boon. After his abolition comparison, Kennedy recommends the next president employ a carbon cap-and-trade-system and invest in making our energy transmission grid more efficient, a plan he suggests will pay for itself.
Posted 10:12, 10 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Jonathan Pinoli
and edited by Brijit.
in Vanity Fair
by
Michael Shnayerson, May 2008
The polar bear faces a great threat to its survival as sea ice diminishes in the Arctic, but Shnayerson reveals yet another danger. A battle wages over a $2.66 billion oil-and-gas-drilling lease sale advocated by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, much to the dismay of environmentalists and scientists (some of whom work for Kempthorne). Amid scientific studies, denials, and timing concerns (the Bush administration has kept polar bears off the endangered species list so as not to deter drilling), Shnayerson vividly illustrates how politics and money might be trumping wildlife.
Posted 3:24, 10 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Meghan Reid
and edited by Brijit.
in Vanity Fair
by
Matt Tyrnauer, May 2008
Tyrnauer outlines architect William McDonough's ideas about design and environmentalism -- with his "Cradle to Cradle" philosophy he designs structures that eliminate waste rather than just reduce it. McDonough also celebrates development, as long as it gives more to the earth than it takes. Remarkable examples -- such as the Gap headquarters and a Ford auto plant (both with rooftop vegetation) and a Swiss fabric mill that churns out clean drinking water -- instill optimism for environmentalists and offer proof that large corporations are taking notice.
Posted 3:13, 10 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Meghan Reid
and edited by Brijit.
in Vanity Fair
by
Matt Tyrnauer, May 2008
When it opens to the public later this year, San Francisco's new California Academy of Sciences building, designed by architect Renzo Piano, will be the poster child for sustainable public architecture. But Piano's design isn't just environmentally friendly; it's an "unusually visceral design experience," Tyrnauer writes, comparing the museum to other groundbreaking architectural projects such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry's Guggenheim designs. In interviews and photographs, Tyrnauer evokes Piano's juxtaposition of clean lines and repeating natural forms, along with the building's most eye-catching feature, a 2.5-acre "living roof" that forms a rolling natural landscape.
Posted 3:05, 10 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Laura White
and edited by Brijit.
in Vanity Fair
by
Dominick Dunne, May 2008
As the inquest into Princess Diana's death continues, this excerpt from Dunne's forthcoming book Diana: The Last Days reveals an interesting twist in her speculated love affair with Dodi Al Fayed. Dunne calls it a "romantic myth" orchestrated by Mohammed, Dodi's father, so he could use Diana to advance in London society -- Dodi was in fact engaged to model Kelly Fisher, whom he had been dating for a year. While Dodi and Diana frolicked on Al Fayed's yacht, Fisher, unaware of the affair, waited on another Al Fayed yacht where Dodi would visit her in the evenings. It's an interesting read for fans of Princess Di mythology.
Posted 10:28, 10 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Tara Borejka
and edited by Brijit.
Monsanto's reputation has been tarnished by its involvement with some of the most readily identified toxins in the lexicon of environmental disasters -- products such as Agent Orange and dioxin. Barlett and Steele show a company compounding this loveless image with a new vice: aggressive legal attacks on individuals. In a two-pronged move, the company is suing grain farmers to prevent the illegal use of Monsanto's genetically modified seed, and suing dairy farmers to prevent them from advertising milk as being free of Monsanto growth hormones. With some surprising details -- one person who was sued for seed piracy doesn't even grow grain -- the authors paint a comprehensive picture of the company's troubles, and their troubling strategies for dealing with them.
Posted 1:48, 8 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Philip Ryan
and edited by Brijit.
in Vanity Fair
by
Rich Cohen, May 2008
Cohen pulls off the dubious honor of veering his interview with Madonna way off course before he even meets the singer. He compares Madonna's adopted son to Pocahontas, wonders if the artist had somehow "extracted Britney's soul from her body," and describes the experience of watching her new film and listening to her new album before meeting her as being "dropped in a vat of Madonna," it's not surprising that Cohen confesses he can't even remember what the artist was wearing when he finally sat down with her. It's also not surprising that very little of his interview is interesting, insightful, or even recounted in this boring mess of a profile.
Posted 5:28, 7 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Sarah Erdreich
and edited by Brijit.
in Vanity Fair
by
Alex Shoumatoff, May 2008
Donald Trump is used to getting what he wants, but his proposed luxury golf course on the Scottish seacoast is drawing fire from locals and environmentalists alike. Shoumatoff, a friend of Trump's, delivers a thorough story about the ongoing battle, and gives judicious space to all sides. Most captivating, however, are Shoumatoff's descriptions of the land in dispute, which is rendered in painstaking, lush detail. It's a wonderful piece with larger-than-life protagonists, only one of whom is Trump.
Posted 5:25, 4 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Sarah Erdreich
and edited by Brijit.
in Vanity Fair
by
Phillippe Sands, May 2008
Sands, a legal expert, presents a lengthy, focused, and evidentiary brief on the use of extreme methods of interrogation at Guantanamo Bay, including documented directives from top-level lawyers in the Bush administration and clear indications of abusive techniques migrating to other detention centers, like Abu Ghraib. The chief concern here is the application of the Geneva Convention and, in particular, of the convention's Common Article 3, which is described as a universal minimum-rights guarantee. Legal scholars might debate the issue ad nauseam, but the Supreme Court's 2006 ruling that Article 3 applies to Guantanamo detainees is pretty definitive.
Posted 5:18, 4 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Cath Stockbridge
and edited by Brijit.