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Tom Chatfield
$18.45
By Garry Wills
$16.27
$22
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By Nick Turse — The anti-war publications of the Vietnam era have given way to how-to manuals by former military men who seldom deal with moral aspects of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Posted on Jan 14, 2011
20 COMMENTS 
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You wouldn’t really expect Mark Twain to go about the business of composing his autobiography in a conventional manner, now would you? The iconic American author’s personal history, released in full this fall after a century, is quite an extraordinary tale—as is the story behind its creation.
Posted on Dec 23, 2010
10 COMMENTS
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By Michael Dirda — There can’t be many newspapermen whose work bears rereading after more than 80 years, but Mencken is one. The six volumes of his collected “Prejudices” are cocksure about everything, but whether they are right or boneheaded, one hardly cares.
Posted on Dec 10, 2010
6 COMMENTS
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By Allen Barra — Garry Wills, the greatest political commentator of our time, belongs to no trendy circles unless the circle could extend backward in time to one of his most profound influences, G.K. Chesterton.
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By Nomi Prins — Berman pulls no punches in laying bare the truths about who we are, not just as a nation, but also as individuals wrapped up in the destructive pursuit of material excess. In the unswerving style of his other writings, he rips apart the national illusion of greatness.
Posted on Nov 25, 2010
86 COMMENTS
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By Cherilyn Parsons — As Virginia Woolf said in describing the library of her elusive character Jacob, “anyone who’s worth anything reads just what he likes, as the mood takes him, and with extravagant enthusiasm.” I offer you the following three novels with extravagant enthusiasm.
Posted on Nov 12, 2010
34 COMMENTS
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We here at Truthdig know that our own Robert Scheer really wishes that he didn’t have to write his latest book “The Great American Stickup: How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats Enriched Wall Street While Mugging Main Street,” but ... (continued)
Posted on Oct 20, 2010
2 COMMENTS
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By Katherine Wharton — Have you heard about Vakkali, the Buddhist sage who attained Nirvana while slicing his own throat? Of all the major faith traditions, Buddhism is often seen as the most peaceful, but “Buddhist Warfare” exposes its darker side.
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By Cherilyn Parsons — “Freedom” is about something important, but the hubbub about how the critical establishment favors male literary writers like Franzen is also significant. Why has everyone cared so much? Because fiction matters.
Posted on Sep 30, 2010
16 COMMENTS
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When a high-profile politician is in office, self-disclosure comes at too high a price, however carefully orchestrated it might be. But now that Blair has left 10 Downing Street, the former British prime minister is telling his story—and trying to protect his legacy—in a new memoir.
Posted on Sep 16, 2010
48 COMMENTS
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By Allen Barra — You have every right to pick up “Bob Dylan in America” with skepticism—or at least you would if you didn’t know how deep Sean Wilentz’s background in traditional American music goes.
Posted on Sep 10, 2010
47 COMMENTS
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Developing an appreciation for jazz is partly a matter of understanding how it is influenced by other forces of life, as this review of a new book by Gary Giddins and Scott DeVeaux notes, and how the music plays—and breaks—with form.
Posted on Sep 3, 2010
4 COMMENTS
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Norman Birnbaum, the noted sociologist and thinker, analyzes two worthy new books, by Thomas L. Jeffers and Benjamin Balint, on the longtime editor of Commentary and the magazine he shaped.
Posted on Aug 20, 2010
15 COMMENTS
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Flickr / Nahuel31 (CC-BY)
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In Tom Chatfield’s “Fun Inc.,” the case is made that far from corrupting popular culture and turning its addicted users into “blinking lizards,” video games can help us be happier and live better.
Posted on Aug 13, 2010
47 COMMENTS
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A new collection of writings by one of America’s greatest self-described Jewish atheists distills the essence of his half-century defense of civil liberties and jazz—the nation’s most original and influential art.
Posted on Aug 5, 2010
3 COMMENTS
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