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Now in paperback: an exhilarating journey through the world of books, ideas, and activism; a finalist for the Foreword Reviews INDIES Editor's Choice Prize for Nonfiction. "Steve Wasserman is a treasure of American letters and his book is a testament, above all, to a literary life lived to the fullest." —
Héctor TobarBorn on the West Coast, the son of Bronx-born parents, Steve Wasserman is a generalist and public intellectual but is perhaps less well known as a cultural essayist and social critic of the first rank. In thirty splendid essays, originally published in such diverse publications as the
New Republic and
The Nation,
The American Conservative and
The Progressive,
The Village Voice and the
Los Angeles Times, Wasserman delivers a riveting account of the awakening of an empathetic sensibility and a lively mind. Taken together, they reveal the depth and breadth of his enthusiasms and range over politics, literature, and the tumults of a world in upheaval. They include the remarkable tale of a bookstore owner who wouldn't let him buy the books he wanted, to his brave against-the-grain take on the Black Panthers, to his shrewd assessment of the fast-changing world of publishing. Here is, as Joyce Carol Oates notes, "arguably the best concise history of Cuba and the legendary Fidel Castro; beautifully composed eulogies for two close friends, Susan Sontag and Christopher Hitchens; sharply perceptive commentary on Daniel Ellsberg; a thrillingly candid interview with W. G. Sebald."
List of contents
IntroductionMachine-Age Muse
Future Shock
Avenging Angel
Rage and Ruin
Exit Stage Left
American Berserk
Commie Camp
Tom Hayden, R.I.P.
A Nervous Nellie for Scheer
The Heresy of Daniel Ellsberg
Barbra Bows Out
Tell Me Something, Tell Me Anything, Even If It’s a Lie
Susan Sontag: Critic and Crusader
Orson Welles Meets a Deadline
The Russian Avant-Garde: Promise and Betrayal
Sebald’s Last Talk
Letter from Graz
Dear Hitch
Sister Souljah Throws It Down
Jason Epstein v. Benzion Netanyahu
High Noon with Gore Vidal
Scallops with Jackie
Reading L.A.
Chicago Agonistes
Goodbye to All That
The Fate of Books
Size Matters
In Defense of Difficulty
A Writer’s Space
Credo
IndexAbout the Author
About the author
Steve Wasserman is publisher of Heyday, an independent, nonprofit press founded in 1974 and author of
Tell Me Something, Tell Me Anything, Even If It's a Lie. A graduate of UC Berkeley, he holds a degree in criminology. His past positions include serving as deputy editor of the op-ed page and opinion section of the
Los Angeles Times; editor of the
Los Angeles Times Book Review; editorial director of New Republic Books; publisher and editorial director of Hill and Wang at Farrar, Straus and Giroux and of the Noonday Press; editorial director of Times Books at Random House; and editor at large for Yale University Press. A former partner of the literary agency Kneerim & Williams, he represented many authors, including Christopher Hitchens, Linda Ronstadt, Robert Scheer, and David Thomson. He lives in Berkeley, California.
