About Michael Weiss

The most eager adherent of a cause is not just a convert to it but a late heretic of its opposite. Joe Lieberman's unblinking Bush support might appear to be a self-parodying nyah-nyah against all his ex-buddies in the Senate. … Read More

About a decade ago there was a row over the legacy of Philip Larkin. Was he a scabrous old reactionary whose artistic merit had, like Ezra Pound's, been vastly overrated, or was he the real deal? The elided headline during … Read More

We all have our favorites, and mine is only hindered by specificity of subject: You cannot when dealing with Toynbee, Just pay him back in his own coin be- Cause talking such piss Would seem rather a miss; So how … Read More

This week, the Shvitz will be guest edited by Stefan Beck. Stefan's a fellow Dartmouth grad and one of the few people I'd call a literary critic as opposed to book reviewer. Sadly, he recently gave up his perma-perch at … Read More

That's what Tim Garton Ash says Hirsi Ali suffers from, and Ian Buruma is only slightly less hyperbolic in his rhetoric about the Somali dissident. But French philosopher Pascal Bruckner begs to differ with both: Those who revolt against barbarism … Read More

Talking of querulous conservatives against the surge, here's a bucket of cold water on hot promise in Shiaville: "There's absolutely no reason to believe that these groups have changed their tune in any significant way" since the 2004 battles, said … Read More

George Casey is saying that 21,500 troops (more, actually, if one factors in the support soldiers that accompany Brigade Combat Teams and Marine Combat Teams) are about 10,750 too many. Asked by Sen. John Warner, R-Va., why he had not … Read More

At the News Corp. Christmas party, which I was, I might say that nobody within earshot really seemed to give a shit about the sacking of Judy: At the Sixth Avenue Hilton, 8,000 News Corp. employees gathered in three floors … Read More