
Tell Me Something, Tell Me Anything, Even If It's a Lie
A Memoir in Essays
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
An exhilarating journey through the world of books, featuring personal reflections on Susan Sontag, Huey Newton, Barbra Streisand, W. G. Sebald, and Christopher Hitchens.
"A troublemaker of the good kind since his youth, Wasserman continues to inspire with his vigorous dedication to the life of the mind, exhibited with clarity and grace in this book." —Viet Thanh Nguyen
Born 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 Economist, 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.
These essays 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 very 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."
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- Introduction
- Machine-Age Muse
- Future Shock
- Avenging Angel
- Rage and Ruin
- Exit Stage Left
- American Berserk
- Commie Camp
- Tom Hayden: Troublemaker
- 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
- Syberberg’s Hitler
- 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
- Good-bye to All That
- The Fate of Books
- Size Matters
- In Defense of Difficulty
- A Writer’s Space
- Credo
- Index
- About the Author
- A Note on Type