James Wood,"Desert Storm: Understanding the Capricious God of the Psalms," New Yorker, 1 October, reviews Robert Alter's translation of The Book of Psalms.

University of Wisconsin Digital Collections now has the Casselman Archive of Islamic and Mudejar Architecture in Spain online. You can search and browse over 4000 20th century color and black & white pictures of Spanish architecture from 700 CE to 1700 CE.

Blake Gopnik,"Turner, in Full Light," Washington Post, 1 October, reviews"J.M.W. Turner," an exhibit at Washington's National Gallery of Art.

Louis Menand,"Drive, He Wrote: What the Beats were about," New Yorker, 1 October, looks at Jack Keruac's On the Road fifty years later.

Ed Vulliamy,"You had to be there ...," Guardian, 30 September, reviews Peter Doggett's There's a Riot Going On: Revolutionaries, Rock Stars, and the Rise and Fall of ‘60s Counterculture. Thanks to Manan Ahmed for the tip.

Paul Finkelman, Robert Kaplan, and Josh Marshall debate the United States' use of private contractors in Iraq.

Finally, in solidarity with those who bravely resist the regime that rules Burma, you can join more than 250,000 other people and me in signing this petition.