With riots in London, a nosedive in the stock market, and Michelle Bachmann dominating the airwaves, it’s hard to believe that the world is actually getting better. In fact, declension seems all but assured. Yet continuous improvement is the thesis of Bradley Wright’s relentlessly sunny new book Upside: Surprising Good News About the State of…

In this morning’s Chicago Tribune, guest writer Aaron Gilbreath, a bookseller at the esteemed indy stalwart Powell’s Books in Oregon, tells publishers that we should “fight dirty” to save our industry from the onslaught of ebooks. “Why hasn’t America’s publishing industry launched an ad campaign as seductive and aggressive as the Kindle’s? Not to market…

Yesterday in Alabama, leaders from the Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, and Methodist denominations filed suit to halt enforcement of the state’s harsh new immigration law. (Apparently they’re in good company:  late yesterday, the justice department of the federal government also sued to stop the law from taking effect as planned on September 1.) What’s so bad…

Over at The Jesus Creed blog today, Scot McKnight raises an important question about Americans and vacation. Here are some stats: Germany requires employers to give their workers at least four weeks of vacation. Finland, Brazil and France (no surprise) offer even more, with six weeks of mandatory time off annually. In the United States,…

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