What We're Reading

Preeti Aroon

• Is the Sarkozy Marriage On the Rocks?, by Stefan Simons in Der Spiegel. Cecilia Sarkozy has raised eyebrows for not appearing in public very often with her husband, French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Are the two about to call it splits?

Christine Chen

• The New York Times profiles a 21-year-old American admirer of al Qaeda who is using the Internet to spread messages of jihad. To learn more about how jihadists in Iraq and other insurgents are using the media, check out this report from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Travis Daub

• "Legalise all drugs: chief constable demands end to 'immoral laws'," by Jonathan Brown and David Langton in the Independent. Folks across the pond must be reading their FP.

Blake Hounshell

• Harvard economist Dani Rodrik mimicked Radiohead's brilliant publicity stunt and offered his book online for a minimum bid of $0.00. Average price of books purchased: $21.

Joshua Keating

• Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson. The author of Jesus' Son takes on the Vietnam war in his most ambitious novel yet. It's great to hear from Johnson, who hasn't written a full novel since 1998, and it's a good read so far even if the setting is familiar.

Jeffrey Marn

• "China, beware" in The Economist. Think China is destined to take over the world? Read this.

Kate Palmer

• “The Victor?” by Peter W. Galbraith. New York Review of Books, Oct. 11, 2007. Like Vali Nasr in FP's look at the winners of the Iraq war, Galbraith names Iran as the unintentional victor of the U.S. war.