A Note To Readerland()
May 13, 2009 Writing hundreds of columns yields a lesson that resonates for journalists and newspeople at a time when their business is crumbling. That lesson is similar to that most basic bromide of American commerce: The customer is always right.
100 Years, 100 Novels, One List()
May 7, 2009 Some years ago, at dinner with my wife and a friend, we started composing a list of best 100 novels of the 20th century. We soon gave up. But I squirreled the list away and tinkered with it occasionally. Now, it's time to share and see what you think.
New Lows In TV Advertising()
April 30, 2009 These days, TV is filled with raunchy ads and shows targeting teens. When nothing is off-limits, when nothing is sacred, when nothing offends, then nothing is, well, sacred. Who wants a world where nothing is sacred?
Tax Me, Tax Me!()
April 16, 2009 In the middle of a whopper recession, a new poll finds a big increase in the perceived fairness of how Americans are taxed. That suggests that perhaps President Obama's popularity is contagious, and the whole of government has greater legitimacy and support because of it.
The AIG Tea Party()
March 18, 2009 The public furor over bonuses paid to AIG executives may be a tipping point that helps inhibit future executive behavior in a small number of cases. Then maybe the scapegoating and vitriol will have a purpose.
Does The God Gap Matter?()
March 12, 2009 A new study about believers and nonbelievers in America could enflame the already overheated fretting about the culture war we are allegedly waging.
Wall Street Blame Game: Tag, You're It()
March 5, 2009 President Obama's tenure can be measured in weeks, but that hasn't stopped The Wall Street Journal and others from faulting him for the Dow's plummet. The idea of blaming one person for the downfall of a giant, complex economy is nuts.
Obama As Ideological Rorschach()
February 26, 2009 Professional partisans and intellectuals are projecting political theories onto Barack Obama. But trying to pin an ideological mission on the new president seems wrongheaded; it fundamentally misunderstands his aspirations.
Literary Death Spiral? The Fading Book Section()
February 19, 2009 One of the sad, little sidebars to the sad, big saga of the waning of American newspapers is the disappearance of professional, edited book sections. This comes at a time when the nature of reading is changing — and not necessarily for the better.
A Puritan View Of The Crash()
February 12, 2009 If the Puritan superego were alive and kicking in the American psyche, which it isn't, we'd be racked by shame and guilt today. That's because we would believe our economic misfortune was caused by a binge of covetousness, hubris and moral sloth.
About Against The Grain
Dick Meyer is the editorial director of Digital Media at NPR.org and the author of Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium. His "Against The Grain" column is a mix of sarcastic sociology and comic moral philosophy that occasionally descends into political commentary.
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