Sep 19th, 2008 · Fear and loathing returned to New York with a vengeance this week. Markets plunged, an investment bank collapsed and a huge insurer could only be saved with a big hand from the federal government.
Aug 19th, 2008 · NPR's Dick Meyer contends that, despite living in a time of relative peace and prosperity, Americans are "morally and existentially tired." In his new book, Why We Hate Us, Meyer diagnoses the problem.
Apr 7th, 2008 · Nearly 40 years ago, funny, smart, neurotic Alexander Portnoy burst onto the public stage. Philip Roth's fictional hero was racked by guilt -- promoted by an over-protective, self-sacrificing mother and by an obsession with, er, loving himself too much.
Mar 27th, 2008 · Illinois is facing a huge budget deficit this year, and with officials loath to raise taxes, options are severely limited. Compounding the problem, at budget hearings across the state, legislators are hearing requests for increased spending on education and human services programs.
Nov 27th, 2007 · No book goes out of date faster than a nonfiction account of a presidential campaign, right? Not really, says journalist Matt Bai, who argues that the best political campaign books, like Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, have plenty to say about the '08 White House race.
Feb 19th, 2007 · In the 1950s, Uncle Tom's Cabin went from being a literary phenomenon to an object of scorn, with its title character symbolizing black self-loathing. Henry Louis Gates has re-examined the book in a new annotated edition.
Feb 2nd, 2006 · For 100 years, sufferers of leprosy were banished to Molokai, an untamed Hawaiian island. A new book chronicles how paranoia forced thousands of people to live in exile.
Feb 21st, 2005 · The counter-culture author Hunter Thompson, who popularized a new form of personalized journalism, has died. He was 67. Thompson wrote the 1972 classic, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the tale of a drug-abusing journalist and his lawyer visiting a motocross race.