San Antonio College Library

National Review has been the leading conservative national magazine since it was founded in 1955, and in that capacity it has played a decisive role in shaping the conservative movement in the United States. Here, senior editor Hart provides an authoritative history of how the magazine has come to define and defend conservatism for the past fifty years. He also gives a firsthand account of the thought and sometimes colorful personalities--including...

These eight essays confirm Miss Sontag's role as a leading critic. In "The Aesthetics of Silence," Miss Sontag discusses the hermetic, esoteric quality of mdoern art. "The Pornographic Imagination" depicts pornography as an art form, as literature with a single-minded end whose very selectiveness tells something about the nature of the imagination. Is cinema derivative from theatre? Is theatre influenced by cinmea? Miss Sontag discusses the transactions...

"Most of us regard the Constitution as the foundation of American democracy. How, then, are we to understand the restrictions that it imposes on legislatures and voters? Why, for example, does the Constitution allow unelected judges to exercise so much power? And why is this centuries-old document so difficult to amend? In short, how can we call ourselves a democracy when we are bound by an entrenched, and sometimes counter-majoritarian, constitution?" "In...

"In a few thousand words the Constitution sets up the government of the United States and proclaims the basic human and political rights of its people. From the interpretation and elaboration of those words in over 500 volumes of Supreme Court cases comes the constitutional law that structures our government and defines our individual relationship to that government. This book fills the need for an account of that law free from legal jargon and clear...

Until now legal experts have proposed two basic approaches to the Constitution. The first, "interpretivism," maintains that we should stick as closely as possible to what is explicit in the document itself. The second, predominant in recent academic theorizing, argues that the courts should be guided by what they see as the fundamental values of American society. Mr. Ely demonstrates that both of these approaches are inherently incomplete and inadequate....

"This study examines how conflicts of interest have become pervasive, and explores the troubling state of research funding and flaws of the peer-review process. It looks in depth at the dominance of several specific theories, including the Big Bang cosmology, human-caused global warming, HIV as a cause of AIDS, and the efficacy of anti-depressant drugs"--

The 2009 Durban Review Conference, or Durban II, was a follow-up to the UN Human Rights Council's disastrous 2001 World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa, where Palestinian sympathizers denounced Israel as racist, and supporters of Israel charged the UN with "demonization" of Israel. But Durban II proved to be even more divisive than its predecessor, marked by a controversial speech by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and boycotted...

As the Supreme Court continues to rule on important issues, it is essential to understand how it operates. Based on exclusive interviews with the justices themselves and other insiders, this is a timely "state of the union" about America's most elite legal institution. From Anthony Kennedy's self-importance, to Antonin Scalia's combativeness, to David Souter's eccentricity, and even Sandra Day O'Connor's fateful breach with President George W. Bush,...