“I would venture to assume that all Muslim Americans felt the weight of this paradox in the years after September 11th, and never more so than when at the airport.” On the post-9/11 world, over at The Rumpus.
Airport Casualties
Why Read Moby Dick?
Nathaniel Philbrick answers the question Why Read Moby-Dick: "the level of the language is like no other," but also "it's as close to being our American Bible as we have."
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Fame: A P&L
$500,000 annual home improvements? $125,000 allotted for annual "domestic salaries and expenses?" A $95,000 tutor for Gwyneth Paltrow's 5-year old? New York Magazine's "Celebrity Economy" package is as thorough and informative as it is revolting.
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The Verdict
Max's verdict in the opening round of The Morning News Tournament of Books has been posted. Which book did he pick, Gate at the Stairs or The Book of Night Women? Hop over to TMN to find out. And don't miss the match commentary, which has some great additional discussion of both books.
Reading is a Kafkaesque Experience
In the latest entry in By Heart, the Atlantic series we’ve written about a few times, Ben Marcus (who recently came out with a new book) reflects on the true meaning of the word “Kafkaesque.” Marcus interprets Kafka’s “A Message from the Emperor” as a parable about the difficulty of real human connection. (Related: there’s now a Kafka video game.)
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