An Enduring Love: My Life with the Shah Farah Pahlavi 447 pp. Miramax Books. $24.95 For over thirty years, Farah Pahlavi has been forbidden from setting foot in the country she once ruled. Married in 1959 to Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, she reigned alongside him until the 1979 Islamic Revolution made pariahs of Iran’s … Read more
Hitch-22 Christopher Hitchens 424 pp. Twelve of Hatchette Book Group $14.99 Christopher Hitchens was never quiet for a long enough time to allow anyone to ask him any questions about himself. Readers never had a chance to inquire about how his ardent and militant atheism reflected his Jewish heritage. No one was afforded the opportune … Read more
In 2007, the treasure-hunting company Odyssey made a spectacular discovery, locating the wreck of the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a Spanish frigate laced with over $500 million dollars worth of gold coins. This historical and potentially profitable find was quickly overshadowed, however, by a prolonged legal battle over the possession of the treasure, a case … Read more
Known and Unknown: A Memoir By Donald Rumsfeld 832 pp. Sentinel HC. $36 The title of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s memoirs-Known and Unknown-is appropriate of almost any position that requires making decisions based on predictions. In national security matters, especially during war-time as in Afghanistan and Iraq, there will be good intelligence and … Read more
Enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution, provisions ensuring the freedom of religious worship and barring the establishment of a state religion have been held sacred in the United States since its founding. Yet no matter how fundamental these provisions might be, it seems that American leaders still have trouble interpreting them. The recent … Read more
No Apology Mitt Romney 352 pp. St. Martin’s Griffin. $15.99 “No Apology” is Romney’s first attempt at collecting his thoughts, opinions, and views of the world in a coherent text for the public. Considering his past policies, which include legislation favorable for gay rights and pro-choice, many have wondered where the Republican candidate stands … Read more
On February 9, 2012, hundreds of Harvard students gathered in the majestic Sanders Theater at Memorial Hall to partake in one of Harvard’s latest and greatest traditions, Harvard Thinks Big. This was the third annual event, in which eight professors from Harvard were selected by the students to share their big ideas with the community. … Read more
The judicial opinion issued Tuesday by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which struck down Proposition 8 as unconstitutional, has charted a new path forward for advocates of marriage equality. Relying heavily on the Supreme Court’s decision in Romer v. Evans, the Appeals Court ruled that Proposition 8 does not satisfy the Constitution’s guarantee of equal … Read more
When Chinese citizens express their opinions through online outlets, they write in the presence of a state-appointed cyber police force. In a fairly recent development, the Communist Party has begun to employ professional web commentators to monitor online bulletins and blogs in order to ‘cleanse’ the internet of anti-party sentiments and to promote the party … Read more
The Winter 2011 issue of the Harvard Political Review took on a topic often overlooked by the mainstream media: the Constitution. Despite forming the framework for what goes on in Washington, the Constitution incites little discussion as a gateway to some of the solutions. This past Thursday, the HPR invited Professor Lawrence Lessig, Director of … Read more