Bigger is not necessarily better. Here are four principles for enlarging the U.S. Army and Marine Corps.

Despite reforms, the U.S. foreign aid regime is still flawed.

The grand, strange and illuminating story of Washington, DC, and the eccentric genius of its designer. Also included, a photo tour of the city by the author.

Douglas Hofstadter’s 1979 book, Gödel, Escher, Bach, is now joined by I Am a Strange Loop.

Klaus Schwab’s most recent extravaganza was “lite” on America. What a difference a year can make.

Notes on the pratfalls of democracy promotion.

Amy Tan and Dana Gioia plumb the power of storytelling within the American immigrant experience.

Unprecedented intellectual ferment in the Muslim world is likely to have a happier ending than many Westerners suppose.