Autobiography & Memoir

2010

Zinn's Critical History

Eric Foner : Progressives, Liberals, & The American Left

Howard Zinn's writings remain essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the upheavals of the '60s
Back Talk: Terry Castle

Christine Smallwood : Literary Criticism

A conversation with the author of The Professor about her affair with an older woman and the journals of Susan Sontag.
Under Siege

Charles Glass : Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

A poignant memoir about life in the occupied territories during the second intifada.
Telling It Slant

Joanna Scott : Fiction

J.M. Coetzee's Summertime and the fictions of self-deception.

La Despedida

Dan Kaufman : History

A long-lost memoir of the Spanish Civil War moves jaggedly between boredom, fleeting triumphs and terror.
Chop Shops

Charles Taylor : The Short of It

Over a decade ago, in his novel The Ax, Donald E. Westlake captured the ruthlessness and anomie of economic Darwinism.
Into the Wardrobe

Jordan Davis : Literary Criticism

Laura Miller's study of C.S. Lewis falls short of providing a coherent theory of Narnia's magic.
A Nameless Vocation

Ange Mlinko : Books

In The Winter Sun, Fanny Howe proves to be a reluctant and rebellious memoirist.
The Half-Forgotten Prophet

Norman Birnbaum

A half-century later, re-evaluating the works of C. Wright Mills, in The Politics of Truth.
Further Adventures in Editing

Ted Solotaroff : Publishing Industry

Cynthia Ozick, Norman Podhoretz and Alfred Chester contribute to the education of an editor. Second of a two-part memoir.
Adventures in Editing

Ted Solotaroff : Publishing Industry

An unfinished memoir by the late literary editor and critic. The first part of a two-part article.

The Horror of Dirt

Elaine Blair : Non-Fiction

Upstairs and downstairs with Virginia, Vanessa and the Bloomsbury set.
Truth and Consequences

Amy Alexander : Non-Fiction

Who's more to blame in the Love and Consequences hoax: the faux ghetto girl or the credulous book editors and reviewers who so eagerly snapped up her story?
Chafee Chastened

Eyal Press : George W. Bush

In his recent memoir, former GOP insider Lincoln Chafee boldly decries the Bush era.
Lives on the Ground

Adina Hoffman : Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

New memoirs from Israel and Palestine offer the chance not to escape the political conflict but to grasp the way it impacts daily life.
The Dot Matrix

Laila Lalami : Iraq

In I'jaam: An Iraqi Rhapsody, novelist Sinan Antoon explores themes of love, loss, identity and resistance in the face of political oppression.

The Nijinsky of Ambivalence

Morris Dickstein : Peace Activism

During a Vietnam War protest, Norman Mailer blustered and banged a generation's experience through his prodigious ego.