Edward Carr,"The Last Days of the Polymath," Intelligent Life, Autumn, reviews Carl Djerassi's Four Jews on Parnassus -- A Conversation. It is an imagined series of discussions among Theodor Adorno, Arnold Schönberg, Walter Benjamin and Gershom Scholem about art, music, philosophy and Jewish identity.

Edward Rothstein,"When Honest Abe Met This Querulous Metropolis," NYT, 8 October, reviews"Lincoln and New York," an exhibit at the New York Historical Society in Manhattan.

Colman McCarthy,"The Script Doesn't Change," Washington Post, 11 October, reviews Susan A. Brewer's Why America Fights: Patriotism and War Propaganda From the Philippines to Iraq. Professor Brewer was one of my students.

Jeremy Treglown,"Somerset Maugham's bondage," TLS, 7 October, reviews Selina Hastings's The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham.

Jonathan Yardley,"Beyond Omaha Beach," Washington Post, 11 October, reviews Anthony Beevor's D-Day: The Battle for Normandy.

Peter Spiegel and Jonathan Weisman,"Behind Afghan War Debate, a Battle of Two Books Rages," WSJ, 7 October, explores conflicting advice offered by Gordon M. Goldstein's Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam and Lewis Sorley's A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam.

Finally, David Kurtz,"He Had A Dream," Talking Points Memo, 9 October, looks at the NAACP's press release congratulating President Obama on the award of the Nobel Prize. The release takes note of the distinguished company in which the award places Obama. Oddly, however, it doesn't mention Martin Luther King, Jr., to whom he is more closely related than any other Nobel Prize winner. Thanks to Manan Ahmed and Jonathan Dresner for the tip.