Most people interpret George Orwell’s 1984 as a dystopian novel about authoritarianism. I see it as a satire about excessive politicization, a distinction with increasing relevance in America today. Read more
Jim Jones should have been held to account long before the Jonestown massacre of 1978. Like other notorious con men and abusers, he got away with his frauds and crimes partly because officials were clueless or incompetent. When will documentary filmmakers set the record straight? Read more
In Washingtonian magazine this month, New York Times book critic Carlos Lozada discussed how he turns the straw of reading political memoirs into the gold of an art form. Read more
Today marks what would be the 215th birthday of writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe. He is the rare writer whose Romantic and Gothic stories about death, subjectivity, rationality, and despair were so good I can remember where I was when I read them. Read more
The inaugural column is meant to be short versions of what magazine editors used to call “brights”—upbeat, inspiring, or humorous articles. Read more
Many people think we writers are pretentious know-it-alls. With this in mind, you might think bookshelves are buckling are under the weight of writing-as-a-craft memoirs. But you would be wrong. They aren’t. Which helps explain the appeal of Mr. King’s book. Read more
The AMC series “Better Call Saul” combined sight and sound better than any I can recall. Take, for instance, the scene that commentators and analyzers have been extolling since it aired—the Howard Hamlin beach scene. Read more
The root of writer’s block is organizational rather than romantic. Some writers imagine themselves as uniquely tortured souls, like Prometheus chained to a rock while an eagle devoured his liver every day. The reality is, they are poor administrators. They lack a reliable technique to produce good first drafts. Read more
Author John Carreyrou’s fairness toward Elizabeth Holmes is the defining feature of “Bad Blood.” It raises the stakes. The story is more than that of a corporate crook and fraudster. It’s also the story of a young woman who could have done good but did bad instead. Read more
Has the country learned little about Jonestown except for its mass-murdering cult leader? The public deserves — yes, deserves — stories in which the monster that was Jim Jones is put in the context of other lead players. Read more
