In this interview, ecologist, philosopher and sleight-of-hand magician David Abram reflects on language, perception and what he sees as a deepening divide between human beings and the natural world. Also available in an unauthorized Italian translation by Carlo Martini from the October 2006 issue ofcomeDonChisciotte.

A selection of my images from Burning Man 2004-2006 has been featured in File Magazine, a well-edited and tastefully designed collection of fine art photography. “Love it or hate it,” the editors write, “there is one thing that is certain about the annual Burning Man festival: it offers many opportunities for unexpected photography.” You’ll find the [...]

The Politics of Education, an interview I conducted with philosopher Benjamin Barber some years ago, is included in the second edition of Mapping the Political Landscape, edited by Reeta Chowdhari Tremblay, just published by Thomson Nelson. The interview explores the problems of education, diversity, political correctness, and the narrowing of public discourse in the United States.

I’ve added 100 new photos from the 2006 Burning Man festival, along with some commentary and links to other photographers’ galleries. Some of my images from the event also appear in the October issue of 944 Magazine and the German ADAC Reisemagazin.

An interview I conducted with writer and naturalist Terry Tempest Williams is included in a new book entitled A Voice in the Wilderness. The book brings together a set of 16 interviews edited and introduced by Michael Austin. They explore a wide range of topics, including wilderness and wildlife, place and eroticism, art and literature, [...]

The 2006 Burning Man festival kicked off last night in Nevada’s Black Rock desert. In a story today, ABC News described the event variously as “the Woodstock of Generation X,” a “weeklong party for iPod nerds and punk-rock pixies,” and “a massive drug-fueled orgy of the senses.” (Click here for story.) For the record, Burning Man is [...]

Cultural critic Todd Gitlin’s latest essay collection, Intellectuals and the Flag, takes the attacks of September 11 as a point of departure for raising difficult questions about political authority, patriotism, civic engagement, and the role of intellectuals in American public life. My review of the book appears in the new issue of the Journal of Politics. An excerpt: Todd [...]

My short review of E.L. Doctorow’s essay collection Jack London, Hemingway, and the Constitutionappears in Contemporary Literary Criticism, to be published by Thomson Gale later this year. Lest anyone think that reviewing books can make you rich, my reprint check came to $17.75 — just barely covering the cost of the book itself.

Better Together brings together a dozen case studies of successful community-building efforts in the United States. The book is an outgrowth of the Saguaro Seminar on Civic Engagement in America, a three-year dialogue among leading thinkers and activists about how to build and strengthen the American community (though it bears little resemblance to the Seminar’s final [...]

My article Philanthropy and Public Life: A Question of Civil Investing appears in the Winter 2006 issue of Connections magazine. It looks at one of the most important new developments in American philanthropy which, in the span of just a decade, has evolved from a conversation among a handful of foundation executives to an innovative and increasingly widespread approach [...]