After releasing a breakthrough first novel, it's not uncommon for writers to have a particular reaction to the challenge of producing a follow-up: they choke. Zadie Smith and Mark Haddon both fell victim to Second Novel Syndrome; and in one of the more dramatic casualties -- after decades of work...

Four days before the start of Senate confirmation hearings, the Brennan Center released a report examining the judicial record of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, a judge whose nomination has had the dubious effect of sparking an intense debate over the correlation between ethnicity and legal activism. In the nearly...