Recap: The Week in Ideas

America, the lonely superpower: Thanassis Cambanis on the downsides to being the world's most powerful country. During the Cold War, everyone thought that unipolarity would be great. The reality isn't so great, though: "American dominance has destabilized the world in new ways, and the United States is no better off in the wake of the Cold War. In fact... a world with a single superpower and a crowded second tier of distant competitors encourages, rather than discourages, violent conflict--not just among the also-rans, but even involving the single great power itself."

Bureaucrats with torches: Cullen Murphy on the Spanish Inquisition. It seems like ancient history, but in fact it's an early example of modernity. "The Inquisition was driven by a host of innovations. They are innovations that we take for granted, woven into the world we live in now."

The Megaboston that almost was: Chris Marstall on how, a century ago, Boston was on the verge of becoming one of America's largest cities. One proposal would have brought "32 cities and towns — from industrial centers like Malden, Waltham, and Cambridge to leafy burgs like Wellesley, Lexington, and Nahant — within Boston’s borders. At some 327 square miles and with a population of 1.4 million, the huge new megalopolis would have been larger in area than New York City, Chicago, or Philadelphia."

And don't miss: Erin McKean on amazing new neologisms from Twitter -- my favorite is nukepicking, "the combination of nitpicking and blowing things out of proportion"; and Kevin Lewis on the Republican face.