Friday A/V Club: Who Better Than a Frail Old Junkie to Sell Athletic Footwear?
William Burroughs, Thomas Frank, and some shoes
Literature
What Do Ayn Rand, Dr. Seuss, and Buddy Holly Have in Common?
Locked out of the public domain.
Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Public Domain
Some mostly-good news on the copyright front.
Doris Lessing's Impatience With Political Correctness
As we bid Lessing farewell, the blight she spoke of-"political correctness" and, in particular, its toxic feminist strain-is on the move again.
Grand Theft Auto is Today's Great Expectations
Why video games are the defining cultural medium of the 21st century.
The Future, Darkly
Science fiction author Barry Malzberg's failed but brilliant attempts to win literary glory.
Summer Reading, Modern and Classic
Murder at the Fed, capitalism in Balzac's France, Thomas Mann's family saga, and what it takes to beat the market.
Why Superman and Wyatt Earp Left Kansas But Still Loved the Place
Q&A with Robert Rebein, author of Dragging Wyatt Earp: A Personal History of Dodge City.
The Last Days of Ernest Hemingway
He thought the FBI was spying on him—and he was right.
Hacking for Freedom
Cory Doctorow's sequel to Little Brother explores the struggle for civil liberties on the Internet.
Study: British Lit Getting Less Emotional, American Moreso
Fear more common in books from both sides of the pond
MLK's Contested Yet Universal Blueprint for Freedom
The fight over King's legacy is testament to the rare power of his words
Read All About John Steinbeck's Literary Fraud in New E-Book, NY Post Col
Reason contributor Bill Steigerwald has published a couple of ground-breaking exposes with Reason about John Steinbeck's literary fakery.
Living in Lovecraft's World
An illuminating book explores "the literary prehistory of virtual reality."
Goodbye to Gore Vidal, America's Biographer and Champion
Remembering one of my favorite writers
