In Praise of Messy Lives Essays

Katie Roiphe

eBook - 2012

This powerful collection of essays ranges from pop culture to politics, from Hillary Clinton to Susan Sontag, from Facebook to Mad Men, from Joan Didion to David Foster Wallace to—most strikingly—the author’s own life. For fans of the essays of John Jeremiah Sullivan and Jonathan Lethem.NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times • The Wall Street Journal Katie Roiphe’s writing—whether in the form of personal essays, literary criticism, or cultural reporting—is bracing, wickedly entertaining, and deeply engaged with our mores and manners. In these pages, she turns her exacting gaze on the surprisingly narrow-minded conventions governing the way we live now. Is there a preoccupation with “healthiness” abov...e all else? If so, does it lead insidiously to judging anyone who tries to live differently? Examining such subjects as the current fascination with... more