Tag Archives: book-excerpt

‘Madvillainy’ is Madlib and MF DOOM’s legendary collaborative LP, released in 2004 via Stones Throw Records. The album has had a long-lasting impact on hip-hop and music in general, with DOOM’s lyrics and Madlib’s production resonating with listeners across generations.In ‘Madvillain’s Madvillainy,’ released this spring via Bloomsbury Publishing as part …

Alex Mar’s new book Seventy Times Seven: A True Story of Murder and Mercy tells the story of one of the youngest people sentenced to death in this country’s history: a 15-year-old girl named Paula Cooper. In the spring of 1985 in Gary, Indiana, she and three other girls skip …

On a Sunday in March of 1992, World Wrestling Federation chairman Vince McMahon marched into a suite of law offices at 500 Fifth Avenue, a soaring prewar skyscraper just up the street from the New York Public Library. He was there for a meeting with a young man about whom …

Journalist Alissa Quart’s new book, “Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves From the American Dream,”seeks to discover the origins of two important American myths: that of the self-made man and that of the “the undeserving poor.” What is behind our country’s relentless demand for lonesome achievement and personal responsibility? Quart calls “bootstrapping” — …

Fleet Foxes have been blazing new paths in the ancient realm of folk-rock for nearly 15 years, from their acclaimed 2008 debut to 2020’s excellent Shore. The new book Wading in Waist-High Water: The Lyrics of Fleet Foxes, out this week through Tin House, collects songwriter Robin Pecknold’s words from …

Day ZERO, U.S. Army basic training: I struggled to hold a 50-pound green army duffel bag over my head, trying not to wince at the drill sergeant’s yells. I wondered to myself: Did I just join another cult? The thought brought me some comfort. I knew how to do this. …

Joe Trohman’s new memoir, None of This Rocks: A Memoir, is a funny, sometimes dark, ultra-honest confessional from Fall Out Boy‘s co-founder and lead guitarist. In this excerpt, he gives a detailed account of the formation of his band. Many people know the story, so I think it’s wise that …

In the new book Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington, author James Kirchick exposes how fears and prejudices around homosexuality shaped presidential politics for decades, from the Cold War-era purge of gays and lesbians from every level of government to the rise of the conservative movement. This exclusive …

Scandal, drugs, assault, outright crime — American voters have learned to forgive all of these. But historically, there’s been one thing that no politician returns from: mental illness. No one knew that better than Jason Kander, a former Army Captain who returned from Afghanistan and immediately began a meteoric political …

On a cold morning in upstate New York, I got arrested while walking down the street with a small Tupperware container filled with heroin. Even though I was at the tail end of my senior year at Cornell University, that outcome should not have been a surprise to anyone who …