A couple of titles caught my eye in the weekend reviews.

Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas by Kevin Merida and Michael A. Fletcher.

According to a few blurbs this is more a personal story than a legal analysis, so of minor interest to me. The fact that Thomas grew up poor and in a broken family might have some explanatory power as to his legal decisions but I don’t think it will make any of us more accepting of them. Lots of folks grow up in serious circumstances and go on to be forces for good in the world.

Freedom’s Power: The True Forces of Liberalism by Paul Starr looks genuinely interesting to those after the big picture of the contest between the main streams of American political debate.

Michael Lind’s review in the Times will give you a good sense of it.

Bill Bradley, who looked like he had a perfect resume for being a steady, thoughtful president but couldn’t get others very interested when he took on Al Gore in 2000, has a new book out: The New American Story. Could be of interest to some of you with wonkish bents though the reviewer in the Times, Timothy Noah, isn’t sending copies to all his friends.

I also looked with some longing at The Day of the Barbarians: The Battle That Led to the Fall of the Roman Empire by Alessandro Barbero (translated by John Cullen). Even at only 180 pages I don’t think I’ll get to what looks like an interesting history with perhaps some lessons for the empire builders and preservers of today.