What We’re Reading

RONNY HARTMANN/AFP/Getty Images Preeti Aroon “Gebrselassie supplants own marathon mark, going under 2.04:00,” by the Associated Press. While Americans were distracted by the financial bailout plan yesterday, something amazing happened. Ethiopian runner Haile Gebrselassie broke the marathon world record that he himself had set last year. He ran the marathon distance of 26.2 miles (42.2 ...

By , an editor at Foreign Policy from 2013-2018.
592308_080929_gabrselaisse5.jpg
592308_080929_gabrselaisse5.jpg

RONNY HARTMANN/AFP/Getty Images

RONNY HARTMANN/AFP/Getty Images

Preeti Aroon

Gebrselassie supplants own marathon mark, going under 2.04:00,” by the Associated Press. While Americans were distracted by the financial bailout plan yesterday, something amazing happened. Ethiopian runner Haile Gebrselassie broke the marathon world record that he himself had set last year. He ran the marathon distance of 26.2 miles (42.2 km) in 2 hours, 3 minutes, and 59 seconds!

Elizabeth Dickinson

Reading Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is like getting on an amusement park ride designed for travel-thirsty adults. Get ready for an education in Domican Republic history from its politics to its folklore. Emotions ride high in this funky and fashionable novel that offers great cultural insight into the Dominican diaspora and the United States, where so many of its people have landed.

Rebecca Frankel

Benjamin Franklin: City Slicker,” by Jerry Weinberger offers quite a few delicious anecdotes about “the first American” and his love of city life abroad. But there’s far more than cheeky details about his hobnobbing savvy and appetite for socialite dames — indeed, the author calls him “sexy.” In addition to discovering that Franklin preferred the urban scape to America’s rural terrain, there are relevant examples to be absorbed particulary in terms of Franklin’s diplomatic finesse, his penchant for city planning, and his ability to rally the public when it would otherwise be divided.  

Blake Hounshell

The risk of a total systemic meltdown is now as high as ever,” by Nouriel Roubini. Any blog post that leads off with the words, “Let me explain now in more detail why we are now back to the risk of a total systemic financial meltdown” is probably worth reading.

Joshua Keating

“Playing With Gunfire” by Brian Howe in Paste. At the same time war-themed video games are becoming more realistic, actual warfare is becoming more “virtual.” Howe talks to game designers and military personnel to explore the moral gray area where the two meet.

Rebecca Frankel was an editor at Foreign Policy from 2013-2018.

More from Foreign Policy

The USS Nimitz and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and South Korean Navy warships sail in formation during a joint naval exercise off the South Korean coast.
The USS Nimitz and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and South Korean Navy warships sail in formation during a joint naval exercise off the South Korean coast.

America Is a Heartbeat Away From a War It Could Lose

Global war is neither a theoretical contingency nor the fever dream of hawks and militarists.

A protester waves a Palestinian flag in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, during a demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. People sit and walk on the grass lawn in front of the protester and barricades.
A protester waves a Palestinian flag in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, during a demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. People sit and walk on the grass lawn in front of the protester and barricades.

The West’s Incoherent Critique of Israel’s Gaza Strategy

The reality of fighting Hamas in Gaza makes this war terrible one way or another.

Biden dressed in a dark blue suit walks with his head down past a row of alternating U.S. and Israeli flags.
Biden dressed in a dark blue suit walks with his head down past a row of alternating U.S. and Israeli flags.

Biden Owns the Israel-Palestine Conflict Now

In tying Washington to Israel’s war in Gaza, the U.S. president now shares responsibility for the broader conflict’s fate.

U.S. President Joe Biden is seen in profile as he greets Chinese President Xi Jinping with a handshake. Xi, a 70-year-old man in a dark blue suit, smiles as he takes the hand of Biden, an 80-year-old man who also wears a dark blue suit.
U.S. President Joe Biden is seen in profile as he greets Chinese President Xi Jinping with a handshake. Xi, a 70-year-old man in a dark blue suit, smiles as he takes the hand of Biden, an 80-year-old man who also wears a dark blue suit.

Taiwan’s Room to Maneuver Shrinks as Biden and Xi Meet

As the latest crisis in the straits wraps up, Taipei is on the back foot.