Tag Archives: Nonfiction

'Parasitism is too mild a term for a relationship predicated on the periodic killing of large numbers of human beings.'

Why do we wonder about questions like this? Why do we buy books that claim to answer questions like this? Why do books like this hit the bestseller lists? We could chalk it all up to innate human curiosity. Or perhaps it is some natural fascination with minutiae and trivia. …

As Hobson points out, the history of exploitative, demeaning use of black bodies, particularly female bodies, is continuous.

Ayres presents his feelings of terror and pain during nine days "embedded" with the marines during the invasion of Iraq.

Reading Kurt Vonnegut's latest work makes one thing clear. Vonnegut believes the title is self-descriptive.

Recently I was listening to Sarah Vowell’s brilliant new non-fiction book, Assassination Vacation, while driving. She said so many things that are funny and insightful, but I particularly perked up when I heard her say this: “I can never decide if Maryland is off-beat or off-putting.” She went on to …

The Quill Literary Foundation has created the first literary awards whose results will be decided by the book buying public.

Did the "good old days" of history education ever exist?

Want to know when The Age of Enlightenment ended and what is responsible? Francis Wheen thinks he has it pinpointed in How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World. According to Wheen, 1979 “marks the moment when the world was jolted by a violent reaction to the complacency of the existing order.” This …

Lately I‘ve been paying a lot of attention to Sen. Rick Santorum. Among politicians, he’s unusually good at articulating the views of the Christian right, and he’s also willing to debate on the record. Flogging his new book, It Takes a Family, on WNYC yesterday, Santorum accused the Left of …