Literacy & Reading

Philadelphia Rising

Robert S. Eshelman : Philadelphia

The mayor's budget plan would close libraries. The people say, Think again.

Seeing Past the Ivy

William Deresiewicz : The Short of It

Why the commentariat's response to hand-wringing about "the decline of reading" condescends to the large mass of nonspecialist readers.

The Light Stuff

Melanie Rehak : The Short of It

The Kindle e-reader lightens your load, but can you curl up with it in bed?

Victim 'Hood

Chris Lehmann : The Short of It

An account of the most recent installment in the nation's sick love affair with literary exhibitionists.

The Book of Questions

William Deresiewicz : Essays

In a book-length essay on the novel, Milan Kundera foresees the curtain of literary history drawing to a close.

Representative Fictions

William Deresiewicz : Fiction

An ambitious two-volume history of the novel explores its evolution across continents and centuries.

Wartime Lies

Timothy Snyder : Cultural Criticism & Analysis

As Nazis dropped bombs in Warsaw, poet Czeslaw Milosz wrote a collection of literary criticism that sought to trace the rise of totalitarianism by deconstructing the mythologies of Western modernity.

The Buzz and the Fury

Richard Lingeman : Books

Faulkner does Oprah.

As I Lay Reading

J.M. Tyree : Television

William Faulkner makes Oprah's Book Club this summer.

'Random' Destruction

André Schiffrin : Publishing Industry

Mr. Feiffer Regrets

Jules Feiffer : Iraq War

Oprah Learns Her Lesson

Kathy Rooney

Why Dubya Can't Read

Christopher Hitchens : George W. Bush

I know from teaching experience that nature very often compensates the dyslexic with a higher IQ or some grant of intuitive intelligence. If this is true for Bush it hasn't yet become obvious.