Description

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The first decade of the twenty-first century was noteworthy for war, terror, religious revival, economic collapse, and a technological revolution that prompted countless critical responses and gave rise to a paradox: writing flourished, but reading declined. Reading the 21st Century investigates the urgent themes, major works, and crisis of reading in an era of instant communication. In wide-ranging and innovative criticism, Stan Persky examines international non-fiction and fiction to engage with both the triumphs and tensions of reading and writing today. Evaluating works by established authors Philip Roth, Orhan Pamuk, J.M. Coetzee, and José Saramago, as well as emerging writers like Naomi Klein, Javier Cercas, and Chimamanda Adichie, Persky also showcases a remarkable group of reporters - Steve Coll, Dexter Filkins, and Rajiv Chandrasekaran - who have written essential books about global issues. An illuminating and accessible work about the present age, Reading the 21st Century introduces new ways of thinking about the world's most significant cultural, political, and moral problems.

About the Author

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Stan Persky is the author of numerous books, including the Hubert Evans Prize-winning The Short Version: An ABC Book. He teaches philosophy at Capilano University in North Vancouver.

Praise For…

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"Reading the 21st Century is thought provoking, entertaining and, most of all, it makes you want to go out and find all these seemingly wonderful books and read them. The most inspiring thing about Persky's literary criticism is it inspires you to want to read, which is, more than likely his exit strategy." The Telegraph Journal

"Stan Persky is a subtle and tricky thinker. His work merits close attention, but at the same time, its tone is so relaxed and inviting, you can let things pass that will strike you as odd only after you've put the book down... Persky's tone is the most r

"Persky's lively discussion of twenty-first century novels and non-fiction makes a compelling case for books readers may have missed. He also effortlessly illustrates the cultural merit of books themselves and the role reading them plays in creating an in