Preeti Aroon

"Risking Armageddon for Cold, Hard Cash," by Mira Kamdar in the Washington Post. While Americans were distracted with Sarah Palin last week, India and the United States were pushing along a controversial nuclear agreement -- one that places the interests of money-hungry corporations ahead of people's safety from a nuclear Armageddon, argues Kamdar.

Elizabeth Dickinson

"The Battle Within," by Erin Emery and David Olinger in the Denver Post. We've all heard about the very serious personal toll of the Iraq war -- one that affects soldiers and their families long after returning from the field. But in this special report, the Denver Post follows the stories of countless soldiers forced to redeploy to the front lines while sick, injured, traumatized, and at risk of suicide. Talk about an uphill battle.

Rebecca Frankel

"On Stupidity," in the Chronicle of Higher Education. William Pannapacker, writing under a pen name, examines a selection of books that seek to explain the "stupidity crisis" supposedly plaguing the United States and then reviews how those problems are infiltrating the classroom. The author, an English professor, argues that since 9/11, "American anti-intellectualism has grown more powerful, pervasive, and dangerous than at any time in our history." See also "On Stupidity, Part 2."

Blake Hounshell

Brendan Smialowski

"Lt. Gen. William Odom (1932-2008)." David Donadio of Doublethink Online pays tribute to Bill Odom, the outspoken FP contributor and former National Security Agency chief who died in May after a long and storied career. As former Carter administration advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski described him, "He was one of those very lucky people who stood for something and he rose nonetheless."

Joshua Keating

The Gulag Archipelago. When I first read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in high school, the methods used by Soviet goons to extract false confessions from political prisoners that he described -- sleep deprivation, extreme temperatures, "stress positions," forced standing, sexual humiliation -- were called torture. Rereading him today, I know that they're just "alternative interrogation techniques."