books

ABC News White House Correspondent Jake Tapper Is Here to Talk About His New Afghan War Book, The Outpost

John Cook · 11/20/12 01:45PM

This web site, myself included, has been frequently unkind and occasionally unfair to ABC News White House correspondent Jake Tapper over the years. So allow me to recant, sort of: Over the course of the last election campaign, Tapper has been among the least obnoxious mainstream-media voices in the Washington bubble. His brief stint filling in as host of This Week was the best thing to happen to that show in years (and I nominated him as its permanent host). But more important, he has written an excellent, unsparing new book about the tragic mindlessness of the war in Afghanistan and the lives of the men and women tasked with waging it.

What Would You Buy for People Who Read Books?: A Gift Guide

Adrian Chen · 11/19/12 12:35PM

Do you remember "books?" A book is basically thousands of tweets printed out and stapled together between pieces of cardboard. It may sound ridiculous, but back in colonial times (and for a number of years after) books were a major source of information and entertainment. These days, the majority of books are read by people who don't know how to use the internet. A book is a great gift for these people; it's important to replenish book-lovers' collections so they don't just stare at the wall all day.

You're Only a Hero Until You Tell the Truth

Hamilton Nolan · 09/18/12 12:02PM

When news broke that Osama bin Laden had been killed by a team of Navy SEALS, the first thought of everyone in the media business, and of many curious Americans was: when can we get one of these heroes to tell his story? Well, now we have. And a lot of people want the government to crush him for it.

Complaining About the Sex Lives of Yale Kids Considered Good Topic for Book

Hamilton Nolan · 08/23/12 04:49PM

If you don't have a book contract right this minute, you should very ashamed. Consider: Nathan Harden (pictured), a 2009 graduate of Yale, not only got a book contract, but has already written and published his book, and that book is about how bad it is that kids are into sex things at Yale—a topic that a professional book publishing house presumably considered sufficiently interesting to pay Nathan Harden U.S. currency, to write it.

Leah Beckmann · 08/20/12 04:33PM

Teen death rattle trumps adolescent wizardry: The Hunger Games surpasses Harry Potter as best-selling books of all time.

The Dead Do Not Improve: An Author Cannibalizes His Own Novel

Jay Caspian Kang · 08/16/12 12:30PM

"How much of this book is about your own life?" All novelists, even those who write about horny Centaurs or plasma cannons, have to come up with a standard response to that prickly, earnest question. As someone who has been accused of navel-gazing on the Internet, who has written a few personal essays and now has published a novel in which the protagonist shares many of the same biographical details as the author, I have certainly come to expect it.

Ask Author Robert Anasi About 'The Last Bohemia:' Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Hamilton Nolan · 08/14/12 12:45PM

Robert Anasi moved to Williamsburg in 1994 and spent more than a decade watching the neighborhood transform from an isolated and novel bohemia into the fully gentrified cultural monster that it is today. His new book, The Last Bohemia: Scenes from the Life of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is a first person chronicle of the neighborhood's character (and characters), and of its changes.

Ask Former TARP Official Neil Barofsky How the Government Sold Out Citizens to Bail Out Wall Street

Hamilton Nolan · 08/07/12 12:45PM

Neil Barofsky was at the very center of the U.S. government's response to the 2008 economic collapse. He spent more than two years, until March of 2011, as Special Inspector General for the TARP program, overseeing and monitoring government bailout funds. Now, Barofsky has written a ferocious book detailing how, he says, "Washington abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street." And he's here to take questions from you, the Main Streeters.