Also of interest ... manifestoes for moderation
Dirty, Sexy Politics by Meghan McCain; Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat by Hal Herzog; On Balance by Adam Phillips; The Glamour of Grammar by Roy Peter Clark
Dirty, Sexy Politics
by Meghan McCain
(Hyperion, $24)
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
John McCain’s 25-year-old daughter is a rising star in the world of media and politics, said Liesl Schillinger in The New York Times. She has a blunt style that works well in her new memoir—which provides both an insider account of the 2008 presidential campaign and a “strongly worded” attack on “today’s moribund, inflexible Republican Party.” McCain wants to prod the GOP into becoming more moderate and inclusive, and she’s steadily building the audience that might help her do so.
Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat
by Hal Herzog
(HarperCollins, $26)
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
In his cleverly titled new book, psychology professor Hal Herzog teases out inconsistencies in our attitudes toward animals, said Phillip Manning in the Raleigh, N.C., News & Observer. After all, it makes little moral sense that 2 million chickens are slaughtered every day to feed America’s pet cats. Herzog’s point isn’t to expose us as hypocrites, though: Humans can’t arrive at a perfect ethic for animal treatment, he writes; contradictions are inevitable.
On Balance
by Adam Phillips
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $26)
There’s no such thing as “excessive behavior” in Adam Phillips’ world, said Adam Kirsch in The Boston Globe. Phillips, a “highly regarded” psychotherapist, wants us to read all addictions, phobias, and fanatical beliefs as expressions of hidden but potentially knowable personal needs. The essays in this book “can best be understood as Freudian sermons.” Their purpose isn’t to promulgate cures, but to help us root out hidden desires and recognize that fulfilling them isn’t always possible.
The Glamour of Grammar
by Roy Peter Clark
(Little, Brown, $20)
Be warned, all self-appointed police of “useless and unenforceable” grammar rules, said Ammon Shea in The New York Times. Book editor Roy Peter Clark has a usage manual for our time that “reserves its scolding” not for writers who start sentences with “And,” but for the “crotchety crowd” who’d forbid the practice. His guide won’t replace Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, but “it is a welcome addition to the bookshelf for anyone who cares about language.”
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Today's political cartoons - September 7, 2024
Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - football widows, meddling kids, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Smoking ban: the return of the nanny state?
Talking Point Starmer's plan to revive Sunak-era war on tobacco has struck an unsettling chord even with some non-smokers
By The Week UK Published
-
Crossword: September 7, 2024
The Week's daily crossword puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Also of interest...in picture books for grown-ups
feature How About Never—Is Never Good for You?; The Undertaking of Lily Chen; Meanwhile, in San Francisco; The Portlandia Activity Book
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Author of the week: Karen Russell
feature Karen Russell could use a rest.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
The Double Life of Paul de Man by Evelyn Barish
feature Evelyn Barish “has an amazing tale to tell” about the Belgian-born intellectual who enthralled a generation of students and academic colleagues.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Book of the week: Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis
feature Michael Lewis's description of how high-frequency traders use lightning-fast computers to their advantage is “guaranteed to make blood boil.”
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Also of interest...in creative rebellion
feature A Man Called Destruction; Rebel Music; American Fun; The Scarlet Sisters
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Author of the week: Susanna Kaysen
feature For a famous memoirist, Susanna Kaysen is highly ambivalent about sharing details about her life.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood’s Golden Age by Robert Wagner
feature Robert Wagner “seems to have known anybody who was anybody in Hollywood.”
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Book of the week: Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire by Peter Stark
feature The tale of Astoria’s rise and fall turns out to be “as exciting as anything in American history.”
By The Week Staff Last updated