The eBay Voldemort Confesses
Will Collier tells the tale behind that $250 pre-publication sale of the final Harry Potter volume.
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Farewell, Comma, He Said
Robert J. Samuelson laments the lapsing of the comma.
Rational Voters?
Louis Menand's <A HREF="http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2007/07/09/070709crbo_books…; of <I>The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Politics</I> is an interesting read—possibly more interesting than the book itself. However, back in 2004, Gene Weingarten covered the same questions, getting up close and personal with Ted Prus, a non-voter who "just doesn't give a rat's ass."
The Worst Of The South
The final article of <I>The Oxford American</I>'s Best of the South issue is Hal Crowther's splenetic rant about the region's less savory characteristics.
Passchendaele In Color
Everybody knows WWI was in black and white.
All the World's a Stage
Invisible airwaves
crackle with life
bright antennae bristle
with the energy
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crackle with life
bright antennae bristle
with the energy
35 Years...And Just Getting Started
Thirty-five years ago this month, the first issue of a <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/features/708">new audio magazine</A>—cover price 50 cents—cautiously made its way out of a Philadelphia suburb. Its black'n'white cover featured a chessboard adorned with tubes and XLR plugs. Its 20 advertising-free pages included a feature on <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/historical/108">how to write an ad</A> for an audio product, which had been penned by one Lucius Wordburger, a footnote helpfully pointing out that this was the <I>nom de plume</I> for one <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/historical/712">J. Gordon Holt</A>, "who wishes to remain anonymous."
Birds Don't Fly Fair
They bend the rules.
An Abridged Dictionary
Don't pick up that dictionary! You're smart enough to figure out what that new word means.
A Beat Memoir Before the Beats
Jack London's forgotten <I>The Road</I>.