Latest
Reflections on the Death of Fidel
Nov 26, 2016 All previous socialist revolutionaries had seemed grimly puritanical; by contrast, Castro’s barbudos appeared almost to be bohemians with guns. Democracy and radical reform were poised to replace dictatorship and social misery.
‘Let’s Be Old-Fashioned’: Remembering Gore Vidal
Aug 2, 2013 When, exactly, to give him the bad news? Before our interview? That would spoil the conversation. Lunch would be best. But when, exactly? Before the first course, during the meal, or ought I to delay until dessert?
The Amazon Effect
Jun 3, 2012 From the start, Jeff Bezos wanted to “get big fast.” He was never a “small is beautiful” kind of guy.
Steve Wasserman on the Scourge of Czarist Russia
May 21, 2010 Lesley Blanch’s “The Sabres of Paradise” tells the illuminating story of Shamyl, the Imam of Daghestan, whose 25-year fight against the Russian empire left a half-million dead, and lessons still to be learned in wars from Chechnya to Afghanistan.Lesley Blanch’s “The Sabres of Paradise” tells the illuminating story of Shamyl, whose fight against the Russian empire left a half-million dead, and lessons still to be learned in wars from Chechnya to Afghanistan.
Steve Wasserman on the Fate of Books After the Age of Print
Mar 5, 2010 Will publishers and booksellers, writers and readers be able to survive and thrive in the Digital Era now engulfing us all?
Steve Wasserman on Fidel Castro
Apr 11, 2008 What will history say about the implacable anti-imperialist and unrepentant revolutionary who has held power in Cuba for nearly 50 years? The publication of Fidel Castro's and Ignacio Ramonet's "My Life: A Spoken Autobiography" helps us understand the man and his myth.
Truth or Consequences
Mar 4, 2008 We got snookered. Motoko Rich of The New York Times reports in her article posted March 4 that the just-published "memoir" by Margaret B. Jones, called "Love and Consequences," about Jones' "life as a half-white, half-Native American girl growing up in South-Central Los Angeles as a foster child among gang-bangers, running drugs for the Bloods," is a fabrication.Goodbye to All That
Sep 8, 2007 Although coverage of books in major newspapers may seem to have taken a precipitous downturn in recent months, this decline has been in the works for a while, says longtime writer, literary editor and book aficionado Steve Wasserman, who opines in this CJR article about the high costs of this lamentable cultural sea change.