In response to alleged mistreatment of an Indian diplomat by American law enforcement officials, Indian authorities have taken a series of unprecedented steps to show their displeasure, including the removal of security barriers around the American embassy in New Delhi. Indian outrage over alleged mistreatment abroad is not new, but during election season, opportunistic politicians are especially eager to stoke anti-American sentiment.

Detroit’s charter schools have the second-highest market share of any city in America, but the abundance of schools is also creating a somewhat chaotic marketplace as a large number of schools compete for a declining student base. The confusion is hard on students and parents, but it may be necessary to fix one of the worst school systems in the country.

Arriving in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, on Thursday morning, Samantha Powers offered “a blunt and simple” message: “the US is watching.” Her presence there probably doesn’t mean much to the citizens of a country reeling from violent revolution, counter-revolution, and brutal attacks by machete-wielding militias; CAR leaders have been calling for increased international attention to the conflict for weeks now, with little effect. Powers’ trip, the New York Times reports, raises the question: “What, exactly, is the United States willing to do to stop Christians and Muslims here from killing one another, and how much is it willing to spend?” The answer, it seems, is “not much.”

The life of Thomas More, as cast in literary amber in both Britain and America, has remarkable appeal to diverse audiences with incommensurate passions.

The first full-length biography of Jim Henson is not all that it could be, but fosters new appreciation for an American creative genius.

Professor William E. Dodd, FDR’s envoy to Germany from 1933 to 1937, got curiously lost in the postwar historical shuffle, despite his early warnings about rising evil in Hitler’s Berlin. His story is newly relevant, and three very different books, read together, explain why.

An untenable assertion sets the stage for a trend-spotter’s insights.

Setting up an American-style university in Vietnam has got to be easier than winning a war, doesn’t it?

The U.S. government’s Plan Colombia worked almost despite itself.

Somalia’s informal banking system is one of the only coherent institutions in the country—so why is U.S. policy undermining it?