Essay Essays

Life and Art—these are the twin subjects considered in Richard Russo’s twelve masterful new essays—how they inform each other and how the stories we tell ourselves about both shape our understanding of the world around us. In “The Lives of Others,” he reflects on the implacable fact that writers use people, insisting that what matters, in the end, is how and for what purpose. How do you bridge the gap between what you know and what you don’t, and sometimes can’t, know?

In On the Firmness of the Wise Man Seneca argues that Stoicism is not as harsh as it first appears. Recalling the figure of Cato the Younger, Seneca argues that Cato as a wise person suffered neither injury nor insult. Although Serenus objects to this paradox, Seneca provides further analogies to emphasize the impervious nature of the wise person. In chapter 5 Seneca distinguishes between contumelia (insults) and iniuria (injuries).

The first new collection of essays by Christopher Hitchens since 2004, Arguably offers an indispensable key to understanding the passionate and skeptical spirit of one of our most dazzling writers, widely admired for the clarity of his style, a result of his disciplined and candid thinking. Topics range from ruminations on why Charles Dickens was among the best of writers and the worst of men to the enduring legacies of Thomas Jefferson and George Orwell.

A collection of insightful and uproariously funny non-fiction by the bestselling author of INFINITE JEST—one of the most acclaimed and adventurous writers of our time. A SUPPOSEDLY FUN THING... brings together Wallace's musings on a wide range of topics, from his early days as a nationally ranked tennis player to his trip on a commercial cruiseliner. In each of these essays, Wallace's observations are as keen as they are funny.

In a gauntlet-throwing essay at the start of this brilliant assemblage, Cynthia Ozick stakes the claim that, just as surely as critics require a steady supply of new fiction, novelists need great critics to build a vibrant community on the foundation of literary history. For decades Ozick herself has been one of our great critics, as these essays so clearly display. She offers models of critical analysis of writers from the mid-20th century to today, from Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud, and Kafka to William Gass and Martin Amis, all assembled in provocatively named groups.

A burnt-out media executive. A chance to leave it all behind. Can she take that leap into the unknown, or is she doomed to fail? Alison was stuck going nowhere. Her shiny career had well and truly lost its lustre, despite the money her TV bosses were offering. Nothing would make up for the sacrifices she’d made these past fifteen years. When she spotted an opportunity for her other half Down Under, could she leave behind a well-paid job and all that was familiar to up sticks? When the restoration on the couple's dream home became unaffordable, they were off once again, crisscrossing the ...

“Charles Farrell’s many personal encounters, questions, insights, and experiences as an observer of the sport… add a multifaceted richness to [this] essay collection…. Readers will find its vibrant psychological, social, political, and personal revelations are just the ticket for a read that is solid in its facts, unexpected in its focus and connections, and thoroughly delightful in its novel approach to boxing.”—Midwest Book Review Mitch "Blood" Green had more things going for him to make big money in boxing than nearly any fighter in history. A six-foot-six, 225-pound ...

Award-winning reporters Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf bring us the definitive and explosive account of how Trump and his advisers overcame a dozen primary challengers, four indictments, two assassination attempts, and his own past mistakes to defeat the Democrats, and pave the way for a second term that would be far more aggressive and ruthless than the first.

“Any story that starts will also end.” As a writer, Ann Patchett knows what the outcome of her fiction will be. Life, however, often takes turns we do not see coming. Patchett ponders this truth in these wise essays that afford a fresh and intimate look into her mind and heart.

Not one to shy away from controversy, Brother William Kuhn offers some bold statements about the history and future of Capitular Degrees in general and Royal Arch Masonry in particular; however, mostly he is challenge his reader, and Masons in general, to think for themselves.

This collection of essays and poems, by Barbara Whittington, dates from the author’s first essay published in The Cleveland Plain Dealer in the late 70’s. Her more recent essays include “In My Mind I’m Always Going Home” and “The Good Life.” A few unpublished essays join this group, among them, “Dr. Oz is in My Purse.” In an essay about the presidential election between Barack Obama and John McCain, she talks about growing up during the civil rights era. Her essays are humorous, thought-provoking, and reflective. An award-winning author, her stories have appeared in The ...

Everyone seems to have one part of the bar exam that they dislike more than the others. For some, it is the MBE; for others, the performance test. But, based on surveys of my Bar Exam Mind blog readers, the majority of bar exam students have the most trouble writing bar exam essays/

Stuart Parker is a fresh and unclassifiable voice on the Canadian scene, who brings great learning, a distinctive perspective, and a vigorous prose style to every topic he touches. He is always worth reading, even when you disagree. - Jack Cunningham, Trinity College, University of Toronto British Columbians are notorious for electing the politicians we deserve rather than those we need. Fittingly, Parker's unblemished record of life-long political defeat should endear him to us all as one of the bravest, most principled and insightful political representatives we never had. His insights ...

Like so many women, Sophia spent her formative years struggling to do the “right” thing - to make others comfortable, to take minimal and calculated risks, to live up to society’s expectations - only to realize that there was so little payoff to this tiresome balancing act. Tired of trying so hard, Sophia finally let go of the crushing pressure to be perfect.

For the first time ever, painstaking investigation by the highly-respected French author and researcher Michel Zirger, has uncovered the truth about what really happened in the California Desert on November 20, 1952 when George Adamski and six witnesses encountered a man from a spacecraft in broad daylight. His name came to be known as “Orthon.” The photographs taken that day have been enhanced using new, standard, digital techniques that now reveal the craft, the large mothership floating above and — most intriguingly — Orthon himself. The significance of this photographic ...

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the show's debut, Sepinwall and Seitz have reunited to produce The Sopranos Sessions, a collection of recaps, conversations, and critical essays covering every episode. Featuring a series of new long-form interviews with series creator David Chase, as well as selections from the authors' archival writing on the series, The Sopranos Sessions explores the show's artistry, themes, and legacy, examining its portrayal of Italian Americans, its graphic depictions of violence, and its deep connections to cinematic and television classics.

Through studious research into past civilizations, Burnham diagnoses the 20th century and finds it afflicted with destructive, even "suicidal" tendencies - all of which arise from the “Liberal syndrome” and its inherent applications. The book explores several important questions, including why Liberalism clashes with Christianity and how Liberalism is a root cause of race riots and the rapid growth in crime.

Our Second Amendment, stating that the People have an inherent right to bear arms, is the practical bulwark against a tyrannical government. Thus, it is arguably the most important part of the Bill of Rights, for without it Americans have no way to ensure that the government respects any of our other rights. The last several years have seen the federal government and certain states mount increasingly aggressive attacks against the Second Amendment. And with Justice Antonin Scalia's seat on the Supreme Court waiting to be filled, the upcoming presidential election promises to be a referendum...

This short book has six stories and one essay. The essay "Boychik Lit" is the think piece, offering Gerald Everett Jones's thoughts on the genre which he named. "Chemistry" expands on the self-evident premise that you can't tell teenagers anything. The narrator of "Not Quite After Lisette is a forty-something high-tech executive whose wife is divorcing him. "Johnny Halo and Rock, the Tyro Shock Jock" is the first of three episodes from the Rollo Hemphill series of comic novels. In this installment, he falls upward into a job as a shock-jock deejay. "In the Valley of the Happy People" is ...

The final and most personal work from Pulitzer Prize - winning author and historian Will Durant - discovered 32 years after his death - is a message of insight for everyone who has sought meaning in life or the council of a wise friend in navigating life's journey. From 1968 to 1978, Will Durant made four public allusions to the existence of Fallen Leaves. One, in 1975, hinted at its contents: "a not very serious book that answers the questions of what I think about government, life, death, and God."