Read more
"A brilliant essayist, [O'Hagan] constructs sentences that pierce like pinpricks." -
Publishers Weekly, starred review
For more than two decades, Andrew O'Hagan has been publishing celebrated essays on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Atlantic Ocean highlights the best of his clear-eyed, brilliant work, including his first published essay, a reminiscence of his working-class Scottish upbringing; an extraordinary piece about the lives of two soldiers, one English, one American, both of whom died in Iraq on May 2, 2005; and a piercing examination of the life of William Styron. O'Hagan's subjects range from the rise of the tabloids to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, from the trajectory of the Beatles to the impossibility of not fancying Marilyn Monroe.
The Atlantic Ocean - an engrossing and important collection.
List of contents
The Killing of James Bulger 1
On Begging 9
The Glasgow Sludge Boat 41
The American Dream of Lee Harvey Oswald 50
Many Andies 63
Good Fibs 73
England’s Flowers 87
Saint Marilyn 106
7/7 117
Introduction to Go Tell It on the Mountain 124
On the End of British Farming 135
England and the Beatles 177
On Lad Magazines 192
Four Funerals and a Wedding 203
After Hurricane Katrina 218
Brothers 255
Racing Against Reality 296
Guilt: A Memoir 311
The Boy Who Mistook His Life for a Crime 321
E. M. Forster: The Story of Affection 328
Styron’s Choice 343
About the author
ANDREW O'HAGAN was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His previous novels have been awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and the E. M. Forster Award.
Summary
"A brilliant essayist, [O'Hagan] constructs sentences that pierce like pinpricks.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review
For more than two decades, Andrew O’Hagan has been publishing celebrated essays on both sides of the Atlantic. The Atlantic Ocean highlights the best of his clear-eyed, brilliant work, including his first published essay, a reminiscence of his working-class Scottish upbringing; an extraordinary piece about the lives of two soldiers, one English, one American, both of whom died in Iraq on May 2, 2005; and a piercing examination of the life of William Styron. O’Hagan’s subjects range from the rise of the tabloids to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, from the trajectory of the Beatles to the impossibility of not fancying Marilyn Monroe.
The Atlantic Ocean — an engrossing and important collection.
Additional text
"A brilliant essayist, [O'Hagan] constructs sentences that pierce like pinpricks."
--Publishers Weekly (starred)
"Stupendously unflinching, bursting with possibility"---Booklist (starred)
