A review of Being Shelley: The Poet's Search for Himself by Ann Wroe. Leading literary firms failed to recognise the work of Jane Austen when it was sent in by a prankster. The opening chapters of three novels were submitted under an invented name, with titles and character names changed. Think you can do better? Try our opening line quiz. From LRB, The Astor Place Riot: A review of The Shakespeare Riots: Revenge, Drama and Death in 19th-Century America by Nigel Cliff. In some ways, one might regard the literary couples whose intimate relationships inspired Katie Roiphe’s Uncommon Arrangements as performance artists. From American Heritage, a look at how Alaska gold formed Jack London. From TLS, a review of Cahiers de la Guerre et Autres Textes by Marguerite Duras. A review of Nancy Cunard: Heiress, Muse, Political Idealist by Lois Gordon. Invisible book: A new biography provides the context for Ralph Ellison's failure to finish a second novel (and more from Bookforum). From The Nation, I'm not the man I used to be: A review of Peeling the Onion by Gunter Grass.
Face Book: A review of The Post-Katrina Portraits: Written and Narrated by Hundreds. A review of Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World by Joan Druett. A review of F5: Devastation, Survival, and the Most Violent Tornado Outbreak of the Twentieth Century by Mark Levine. A review of The Obsession: Tragedy in the North Atlantic by John Chipman. A review of Dancing With Rose: Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimer's by Lauren Kessler. A review of Insulin Murder: True-Life Cases by Vincent Marks and Caroline Richmond. A review of Six Feet Over: Adventures in the Afterlife by Mary Roach (and more). From New Statesman, stand-up poet Luke Wright tackle ten existential questions. A review of Failure: An Autobiography by Josh Giddings. A review of Mere Anarchy by Woody Allen.
In the Wall Street Journal deal, the question is when, not if, Rupert Murdoch would take control. Will Rupert Murdoch's play to own and operate the Wall Street Journal have a silver lining for liberals? Eric Alterman investigates. Swept Away by the River of Money: The Wall Street Journal, which the heirs of the Bancroft family are in the process of selling to Rupert Murdoch, is the ultimate symbol of the capitulation of the "American century" to the forces of economic change.
Goodbye to Newspapers? Russell Baker reviews When the Press Fails: Political Power and the New Media from Iraq to Katrina by W. Lance Bennett, Regina G. Lawrence, and Steven Livingston and American Carnival: Journalism Under Siege in an Age of New Media by Neil Henry. From AJR, A Fading Taboo: Paper by paper, advertising is making its way onto the nation’s front pages and section fronts. Should newspapers become local blog networks? From TAP, how the press workers at the Los Angeles Times bucked the paper's legacy and organized at the notoriously anti-union employer. Have media drunk enviro-Kool Aid? Jack Shafer says reporters and editors are losing their heads by cozying up to environmental cause. He's wrong. Bruce Bartlett on the changing world of commentary. Shut Your Loophole: Add loophole to the list of words that should be banned from journalism.
