April 18, 2011

Interview with Sera Young on "Good Food"

Recently Sera Young was on KCRW’s Good Food to discuss her new book Craving Earth: Understanding Pica—the Urge to Eat Clay, Starch, Ice, and Chalk. In the interview she discusses among other the definition of pica (eating non-food items), the...

April 18, 2011

New York Times and Times Literary Supplement on David Foster Wallace

Yesterday’s front page of the New York Times Book Review included a review of his final novel The Pale King and his legendary undergraduate thesis now published as Fate, Time, and Language: An Essay on Free Will. The Times Literary...

April 15, 2011

Christopher Davidson on Political Repression in the United Arab Emirates

In the current issue of Foreign Policy, Christopher Davidson, author of Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success: The Vulnerability of Success and Abu Dhabi: Oil and Beyond, discusses the increasingly repressive tactics in the United Arab Emirates. In the face of...

April 14, 2011

David Foster Wallace on Free Will

“Had [David Foster] Wallace stuck with philosophy, and had he lived, he would have been a major figure in our field.” In his review of David Foster Wallace’s Fate Time and Language: An Essay in Free Will in the Notre...

April 14, 2011

Interview with Deepak Sarma, author of Classical Indian Philosophy

The following is an interview with Deepak Sarma, author of Classical Indian Philosophy: A Reader. Question: What was the inspiration behind this book? Deepak Sarma: I’ve taught classes in Indian philosophy since 1998 and I was not happy with the...

April 13, 2011

Guobin Yang on Ai Weiwei

Guobin Yang, author of The Power of the Internet in China: Citizen Activism Online, was part of a discussion on the New York Times website about the recent imprisonment of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei (his sculpture is pictured above). In...

April 12, 2011

The Coen Brothers as Indie Auteurs

In his chapter “Pastiche as Play,” Michael Z. Newman, author of Indie: An American Film Culture focuses on the Coen brothers and how their work represents a certain strain of indie filmmaking. In particular, their use of pastiche, drawing on...

April 12, 2011

New Book Tuesday: A Convergence of Civilizations

The following books are now available: A Convergence of Civilizations: The Transformation of Muslim Societies Around the World Youssef Courbage and Emmanuel Todd Fitzgerald and Hemingway: Works and Days (Now available in paper) Scott Donaldson States Without Nations: Citizenship for...

April 11, 2011

Michael Z. Newman on Lost in Translation

In Indie: An American Film Culture, Michael Newman examines why certain films exhibit the qualities and aesthetics of independent film. In his discussion of Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation, Newman argues shows how the film moves away from more conventional...

April 8, 2011

Richard Kahlenberg on Cathie Black

“The qualities needed to run the New York City public school system — not only a knowledge of education, but also some understanding of the circumstances of regular New York City students and their families — are not easily learned...

April 8, 2011

Interview with Loren Ghiglione, author of CBS's Don Hollenbeck

The following is an interview with Loren Ghiglione, author of CBS’s Don Hollenbeck: An Honest Reporter in the Age of McCarthyism. The book is now available in paper. For more on the book you can also an excerpt from the...

April 7, 2011

Interview with Michael Z. Newman, author of Indie: An American Film Culture

The following is an interview with Michael Newman, author of Indie: An American Film Culture. For more on the book you can read read the Introduction or visit Newman’s blog Zigzigger. Question: Why “indie” rather than “independent”? Michael Newman: At...