Society The Marshall Project

Homer and Harold

Harold Israel and Homer Cummings were from very different backgrounds and met when the latter was the state’s attorney in the former’s 1924 murder trial. Cummings proceeded to deliver a performance that “will live in the annals as a standard by which other prosecutors will be judged.” More remarkable even than that is the enduring involvement they had in each other’s lives. The story of the trial was noteworthy enough to be made into a film, but the story of their lifelong association is just as remarkable.

Politics The London Review of Books

The Impermanence of Importance

A review of a new book by Obama adviser Ben Rhodes (a speechwriter and Deputy National Security Adviser who was one of the few senior officials to remain in office throughout the whole presidency). The piece reflects on Obama’s style of leadership, the nature of power and governing, and the author’s own journey. It is also replete with anecdotes from behind the scenes of elite politics such as Rhodes discussing the TV show Entourage with David Cameron over after-state-dinner drinks at Buckingham Palace.

Science The Verge

The race against heat

The challenge of keeping people cool in an age of increasing temperatures risks making us ever more reliant on resource intensive air conditioning that may also be perversely making places hotter for anyone that doesn’t have them.