Electronic Pen

Frederika Randall Silvio Berlusconi's latest sexual escapade is the talk of Italy, and now the world. Maybe we should be paying closer attention to evidence of far more sinister hookups.

Gary Younge Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s arrest most certainly was a "teachable moment" in the racial conversation--but we've learned nothing.

• Eric Alterman: Class, Not 'Race'

Benjamin Paloff Polish poetry has been captive to our most flattering verdicts about history.

• Steven Epstein: A Gross Unfairness
• Ruth Scurr: The Life of Lucie de la Tour du Pin

Steven Epstein A new book scrutinizes the machinery of the "straight state."

• Benjamin Paloff: Cures for the Common Cold War
• Ruth Scurr: The Life of Lucie de la Tour du Pin

John Nichols America's banks and financial institutions were never 'too big to fail.' Our state and local governments are.

• Georgia Levenson Keohane: Our Tattered Safety Net

Eric Alterman No racial profiling took place with Henry Louis Gates Jr. and it's not the 'teachable moment' many are understandably craving.

• Gary Younge: Beer and Sympathy

Video The Nation's Chris Hayes joins Countdown guest host Gov. Howard Dean for a frank discussion about the political impact of the fringe right-wingers who insist President Obama is not an American citizen.