Samuel Goldman

The Awl points out this interview with Tina Brown . At about 19:40, Brown asks: “Are we building this new sort of subculture frankly of impoverished, living in garret writers? Because the fact is writers can hardly make a living right now because they don’t get paid.” Leon . . . . Continue Reading »

As we continue our discussion of popular music and its discontents , I opened up the paper this morning to find a charming tribute to the place and milieu in which I grew up: the New Jersey hardcore scene. Although it’s partly a record review, the piece does a good job capturing the local . . . . Continue Reading »

Ponnuru and Lowry respond to their critics . I’m the sure the sphere will be all over this within hours.  But a few particularly egregious points are worth noting. 1) Ponnuru and Lowry claim that Obama rejects American exceptionalism in favor of the “Wilsonian project of relocating . . . . Continue Reading »

That’s the question Michael Weingrad asks in the inaugural issue of The Jewish Review of Books. The article has taken heat from fans of the many Jewish fantasy authors . But most of them have missed the point. Weingrad isn’t asking whether Jews write fantasy or enjoy reading it. . . . . Continue Reading »

In the current issue of National Review, Rich Lowry and Ramesh Ponnuru try to develop a respectable argument that President Obama is un-American . They dismiss the literal version that defines Birtherism. And they stipulate that the president and his allies want sincerely to improve the lives of . . . . Continue Reading »

Over at the Ordinary Gentleman, David Schaengold has launched an attack Martin Scorsese’s reputation as a grand homme of American cinema . Using the distinction introduced by our own James Poulos, he claims that Scorsese doesn’t traffic in the sublime, but only the “sense of the . . . . Continue Reading »

I don’t like to praise David Brooks because I’m afraid it makes me look middlebrow. But sometimes he nails it. Today’s column is a tentative, perhaps merely arguendo , defense of the old WASP establishment. Sure, Brooks observes, positions of power in America are more open to . . . . Continue Reading »

So the fall semester is finally in sufficient order that I can return to blogging. I don’t imagine that I was particularly missed. But I’ll proceed on the assumption that at least some readers liked to alternate their reflections on the very serious matters we usually discuss with one . . . . Continue Reading »

Matt Crawford’s excellent book Shopclass As Soulcraft has a gotten a lot of attention recently, almost all of it favorable. This week, FPR is joining the party with a symposium featuring posts from Rod Dreher, Mark Shiffman, and, among others,  me . In it, I claim Crawford as chief . . . . Continue Reading »

Now, I really, really, really hadn’t intended to post anything on Palin. I have nothing to add that hasn’t already been said. And most of what has been said would have been better unsaid: the delight in speculation without the slightest basis in evidence is among the worst tendencies of . . . . Continue Reading »