Here’s a little secret regarding opinion pieces: It’s all about “angle.” You look at something in the news, and you find an interesting angle for your readers. Case in point: the recent L.A. freeway fire that crippled the I-10 Downtown. As there’d been a homeless encampment under that stretch, the angle for conservatives was obvious: “Haw-haw-haw, L.A. homeless burned down the freeway! Blue city gets what it deserves.” It was an irresistible angle. The problem is, it wasn’t true. The fire started in a gated lumber and vehicle storage yard next to the freeway. We don’t know ...
When I was growing up, my great passion was comedy. Monty Python, National Lampoon, George Carlin, etc. As a kid, I was obsessed with deconstructing humor. I’m not a laugh-out-loud kind of guy ...
Of all the bans I’ve drawn on Facebook (yes, I’ve been on a bit of a bender about this in recent weeks, so I promise this’ll be the last mention), the oddest one I ever received was last year, ...
If I could eradicate one sin from the world, I would free writers and journalists from our desire to make a heartfelt splash, and damn the facts. Exaggerated reporting in the ...
It's not often that a Salon writer produces a lit piece that doesn"t make me grunt with rage. Aside from their hysterical loathing for male writers who won"t check their ...
Here's a brilliant idea for an anthology: collect essays about the changing face of war and war technology, then alternate them with short stories and novel excerpts from the ...
I can"t resist a writing style guide, especially one that promises to be lively. Steven Pinker made his name as a linguistic and cognitive scientist; his 2002 book The Blank ...
The rigged game of publishing is no less rotten today than on any other, but it's unnatural to be contentious on Christmas. I"d rather talk truces. Most readers will have ...
I love those sweet, fleeting moments of near-lucidity when the janitors at the mainstream pop-culture echo chamber almost manage to notice how annoying the echo is. Full ...
Making fun of millennials is all kinds of fish-in-a-barrel fun. Their creepy, dehumanized fixation on their smartphones reminds me of lab rats, pushing the Tweet button to light ...
It's taken me a few weeks to work up the gall to write about the pseudonymous Quintus Curtius" first book. Thirty Seven: Essays on Life, Wisdom, and Masculinity, released this ...
Have you heard that big, bad Amazon is destroying the book industry? To be more accurate, they"re plowing the major publishers under: ah, nobility in tears. I"m not a fan ...
The old "men don"t read fiction" saw is making the rounds of the publishing industry again. It's more a self-fulfilling prophecy than a valid judgment against the ...
Being neither rocket-scientist material nor chipper by temperament, I have never been able to pile up the tower of steaming hubris it would take to convince myself that the world ...
Lately I"ve been hearing more and more dribs and drabs of the depressing controversy over whether literature has any empire left over pop culture. Well, that depends on what ...
Young Lena Dunham, the most talked-about writer of her generation, is finally about to publish something like a book. Oh, goody. Prior to Not That Kind of Girl, an ...
Subscribe to Taki's Magazine for an ad-free experience and help us stand against political correctness.
Join NowSign up to receive posts
