This volume of quite short essays ('Pithy' is in the title) by several authors is a potent little piece of progressive thinking about American political issues. The essays are not newspaper pieces on the political events of the day but rather think about principles and values behind the surface. Because of its fresh ideas and its striking criticism ('Polemics') of different strains of conservative thought, the book is delightful and provocative reading. Did you realize that the tents of Occupy are a kind of speech? What do the Taliban and congressional opponents of NPR have in common? Is Ayn Rand's ethical egoism really a kind of morality? Do those with excess money deserve to be our political leaders? Those are the kind of issues arising in these readable and memorable essays. For those with progressive and populist inclinations, the book provides useful analyses and ideas - for those on the political right, it is a skewering.