Anthologies of music criticism seldom sing. The subject matter is too arcane or the writing too elliptical, saturated, or otherwise uneven, but "Listen Again" largely avoids... Read More

In the world of pop music, imitation is not simply a sincere form of flattery; when singers or bands record the song, or songs, of other artists, they are performing a tribute... Read More

“Irina, 30, I am kind, good mixer, cheerful, romantic, honest, humorous, and loyal. I can only speak a little English,” reads one ad. “Svetlana, 20, cheerful, soft,... Read More

The sexual revolution, triggered by the development of the pill in 1960, led to many changes in sexual openness by the 1970s. This openness was particularly noticeable in the... Read More

“All things being equal, Ritalin is nothing less than synthetic cocaine,” writes the author. Yet, this drug has been prescribed in record numbers to America’s youth, and... Read More

In this absorbing historical account of the intertwining of business influences on the American research universities during the last hundred years, the author draws on research... Read More

This book is a remarkable piece of literary historical recovery. The author traces the rise and development of African American literary societies from the pre-Civil War era to... Read More

Publishing data show that Americans willingly buy books about how to get, have, and do sex, particularly when the text is engagingly illustrated. In addition, video rental and... Read More

With the brute authenticity of a voice that has been there and done that, this Chilean poet opens his first bilingual edition of poems with a section titled “Desaparecer,”... Read More

Black folk died in mournful collectives and in disconcerting circumstances. We died in riots and rebellions, as victims of lynching, from executions, murders, police violence,... Read More

In his forceful long poem in eight parts, “Quatrains for a Shrinking World,“ the author writes: “but I am merely Cuban, dark and small / as any from a hundred nations... Read More

In Welcome to the Dreamhouse, University of Southern California professor Spigel changes the terms of television criticism in a collection of essays that range from the... Read More