Reading the 21st Century: Books of the Decade, 2000-2009

by Stan Persky

Overview

In wide-ranging and innovative criticism, Stan Persky examines international non-fiction and fiction to engage with both the triumphs and tensions of reading and writing today. Evaluating works by established authors Philip Roth, Orhan Pamuk, J.M. Coetzee, and José Saramago, as well as emerging writers like Naomi Klein, Javier Cercas, and Chimamanda Adichie, Persky also showcases a remarkable group of reporters - Steve Coll, Dexter Filkins, and Rajiv Chandrasekaran - who have written essential books about global issues. An illuminating and accessible work about the present age, Reading the 21st Century introduces new ways of thinking about the world's most significant cultural, political, and moral problems.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780773586413
Publisher:	McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date:	09/01/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	296
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Stan Persky is the author of numerous books, including the Hubert Evans Prize-winning The Short Version: An ABC Book. He teaches philosophy at Capilano University in North Vancouver.

Table of Contents

Introduction: In the Twilight of Literary Criticism ix

1 The Storyteller: Larry McMurtry 3

2 Indelible: Philip Roth's Human Stain 9

3 Heroes: Javier Cercas's Soldiers of Salamis 22

4 Ignorance in the Desert 39

5 The Snowflake from the Snow: Orhan Pamuk 67

6 In the Land of Amos Oz: A Tale of Love and Darkness 83

7 Homeland Alone: 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq 105

8 Lost and Found: Daniel Mendelsohn 137

9 Walking, Seeing, Shelving 144

10 The Gods That Failed: Richard Dawkins 160

11 Exit Strategies: Said, Coetzee, Saramago, Roth 180

12 Other Voices, Other Realms 201

13 Haunted by a Spectre: Krugman, Klein, Stiglitz 224

Conclusion: Code Red 253

Appendix: Some Prize Lists 261

Index 267

Editorial Reviews

"Reading the 21st Century is thought provoking, entertaining and, most of all, it makes you want to go out and find all these seemingly wonderful books and read them. The most inspiring thing about Persky's literary criticism is it inspires you to want to read, which is, more than likely his exit strategy." The Telegraph Journal


"Stan Persky is a subtle and tricky thinker. His work merits close attention, but at the same time, its tone is so relaxed and inviting, you can let things pass that will strike you as odd only after you've put the book down... Persky's tone is the most r


"Persky's lively discussion of twenty-first century novels and non-fiction makes a compelling case for books readers may have missed. He also effortlessly illustrates the cultural merit of books themselves and the role reading them plays in creating an in

From the Publisher