O’Connor, Updike, and the Literature of Self-Recrimination Michial Farmer The recent intra-literati arguments about Flannery O’Connor’s racism are, if nothing else, hard proof that ideas have consequences. Not long after the police killing of George Floyd ignited...
The Breakdown of Higher Education: How It Happened, the Damage It Does, and What Can Be Done by John M. Ellis. Encounter Books, 2020. Hardcover, $224 pages, $26. Reviewed by Lee Oser The irony of the year 2020 is that our culture is blind. By forsaking the light of...
Why We’re Polarized by Ezra Klein. Simon & Schuster, 2020. Hardcover, 336 pages, $28. Reviewed by Austin Coffey Ezra Klein—the political journalist, blogger, former cable news host, co-founder of Vox, and current editor-at-large thereof—has published his first...
Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain by James Bloodworth. Atlantic Books, 2019. paperback, 288 pages, $16. By Gerard T. Mundy Communal institutions keep the classical liberal–free market state from implosion. As the strength of what this essay identifies...
These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore. W. W. Norton, 2018. Hardcover, 960 pages, $40. Part Four, The Machine (1946–2016) Reviewed by Lauren F. Turek Historian Jill Lepore opens her sweeping, synthetic overview of United States history with an...
October is the perfect time to get involved and support @ubookman. We're seeking to raise $20k this month to help support our stable of writers reviewing the books that shape culture. Learn more and get involved here: https://buff.ly/hOr9DE2.