vi, 339 pages ; 25 cm

Includes index

"The essays in this book originally appeared, sometimes in slightly different form, in the following publications: The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, The New York Review of Books, Slate, Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, The Wilson Quarterly"--Title page verso

Che Guevara : goodbye to all that -- Orwell's list -- Orhan Pamuk : mind the gap -- Bring on the mud -- Ohio's odd numbers -- On becoming American -- Mikhail Lermontov : a doomed young man -- Salman Rushdie : Hobbes in the Himalayas -- My red-state odyssey -- The turkey has landed -- Bah, humbug -- A.N. Wilson : downhill all the way -- Ian Fleming : bottoms up -- Power suits -- Blood for no oil! -- How uninviting -- Look who's cutting and running now -- Oriana Fallaci and the art of the interview -- Imperial follies -- Clive James : the omnivore -- Gertrude Bell : the woman who made Iraq -- Physician, heal thyself -- Edmund Wilson : literary companion -- On the limits of self-improvement, part I : of vice and men -- On the limits of self-improvement, part II : vice and versa -- On the limits of self-improvement, part III : mission accomplished -- Ayaan Hirsi Ali : the price of freedom -- Arthur Schlesinger : the courtier -- Paul Scott : Victoria's secret -- The case against Hillary Clinton -- The tall tale of Tuzla -- V.S. Naipaul : cruel and unusual -- No regrets -- Barack Obama : cool cat -- The lovely stones -- Edward M. Kennedy : redemption song -- Engaging with Iran is life having sex with someone who hates you -- Colin Powell : Powell valediction -- Shut up about Armenians or we'll hurt them again -- Hezbollah's progress -- The politicians we deserve -- Rosa Luxemburg : red Rosa -- Joan Didion : blue nights -- The true spirit of Christmas -- Charles Dickens's inner child -- G.K. Chesterton : the reactionary -- The importance of being Orwell -- What is patriotism?

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