From the category archives:

Culture

A selection of my published work since 2001 is available here. Contact me with any specific requests.

Letterman’s Brilliant Crisis Management

Letterman is often best when, dying badly on stage, he turns his parched sarcasm back on himself. This was deadpan candor and ace crisis management.

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The Powers of Dr. Johnson

That is why Johnson is important: he is the patron saint of literary faith. And our love of him can only increase when we see,

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Frank McCourt and the American Memoir

The memoir genre has taken plenty of hits from moralists, fact checkers and freelance scolds in the 13 years since “Angela’s Ashes” sold four million

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Public Displays of Disaffection

Gossip is how we establish cultural norms. Talking about others is our way to test the social boundaries — to learn what raises eyebrows, what

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Spent by Geoffrey Miller

It is particularly ironic that the critics have hurled all the conventional accusations at Miller, since his version of evolutionary psychology is so different from

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On William T. Vollmann

It’s not that Vollmann ultimately fails to get his point across. A reader can’t spend that much time with him without absorbing the bigger picture

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Dave Eggers on children and print culture

The vast majority of students we work with read newspapers and books, more so than I did at their age. And I don’t see that

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Twilight of the Cultural Vanities

Never mind recession-lightened wallets. James Wolcott of Vanity Fair is more concerned about what technology is doing to conspicuous cultural consumption, as literature, music and

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