AND THE GOOD-TIMING AWARD IN PUBLISHING GOES TO. . . The New Iraq: Rebuilding the Country for its People, the Middle East, and the World, by Joseph Braude. It just showed up in my mailbox today, and it’s supposed to be out this week.

I haven’t read it yet, but it’s got blurbs from James Woolsey, Nat Hentoff, and David Landes, among others.