Ralph Waldo Emerson may not have anticipated our current era of homeland security or the way in which identity politics play out in this you're-either-with-us-or-against-us neoliberal moment. But Eric Keenaghan has gleaned from Emerson's writings important lessons about overcoming social divisions and risk-obsessed security discourses. Even apparently solitary activities like reading have important implications for collective action.

As we become more wired, and our lives ever more penetrated by the internet, are we losing something precious? Writer Nicholas Carr provocatively argues that we are, and that what we are losing is our ability to think deeply. Carr contends that probing, and often solitary, contemplative thought -- which was shaped by our interaction with the book -- cannot be replaced by the superficial breadth of information that the web allows us.