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7 New Books We Recommend This Week

Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.

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Where are all the books about work? That question lands in our inbox from time to time, and no wonder: In terms of hours and paychecks and the sense of identity they impart, jobs are a consuming part of our lives that authors do indeed too often neglect. So this week we recommend three books that put the world of paid labor front and center: Adelle Waldman’s novel “Help Wanted” is set in a suburban box store, Hamilton Nolan’s “The Hammer” assesses the current state of union organizing, and Jane Kamensky’s “Candida Royalle and the Sexual Revolution” takes the measure of a proto-girlboss who went from starring in pornographic movies to launching her own production company with a feminist slant.

Also recommended this week: a look at Saddam Hussein’s state of mind as America and Iraq approached war in 2003, a study of African American literature as a reflection of Black history, a warning about the impacts of climate-fueled migration and, in fiction, Percival Everett’s sparkling riff on the story of Huck Finn, this time centering the character of Huck’s fellow runaway Jim. Happy reading. — Gregory Cowles

JAMES Percival Everett

In this reworking of the “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” Jim, the enslaved man who accompanies Huck down the Mississippi River, is the narrator, and he recounts the classic tale in a language that is his own and with surprising details that reveal a far more resourceful, cunning and powerful character than we knew.

“Luxuriates in language. Everett, like Twain, is a master of American argot. … This is Everett’s most thrilling novel, but also his most soulful.”

From Dwight Garner’s review

Doubleday | $28

CANDIDA ROYALLE AND THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION: A History From Below Jane Kamensky

In 1984, Candida Royalle changed the porn industry when she co-founded the female-targeted Femme Productions. As Kamensky convincingly argues in this scholarly and engaging tribute, the performer, producer and director was more than a feminist pioneer; her life mirrored that of the sexual revolution itself.

“Her rigor and thoroughness demand that the reader take seriously an underdog who made her name in a stigmatized industry. This book is a labor of empathy that refuses to simplify or valorize its subject.”

From Rich Juzwiak’s review

Norton | $35

HELP WANTED Adelle Waldman

Waldman’s long-anticipated follow-up to her 2013 debut, “The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.,” applies her sharp sense of relational drama and dark comedy to the retail work space. The big-box store is Town Square, and the cast of characters who toil there are as surprising and varied as the merchandise they stock.

“Waldman is skilled at building momentum and tension through intricacies of plot. The book shines whenever the group is together, concocting plans … in search of a shared sense of hope.”

From Alexandra Chang’s review

Norton | $28.99

THE HAMMER: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor Hamilton Nolan

The longtime labor reporter and former Gawker journalist’s lively account of the current landscape of the American labor movement paints colorful portraits of union organizers from across the country alongside a pointed critique of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.

“Offers an impressive array of scenes from the front lines of the 21st-century economy. … As ‘The Hammer’ shows, the kind of solidarity that might naturally arise from shared frustrations on the conveyor belt doesn’t necessarily translate to the broader movement all on its own.”

From Willa Glickman’s review

Hachette | $30

THE ACHILLES TRAP: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America’s Invasion of Iraq Steve Coll

Coll’s book stretches from Hussein’s earliest days in power to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003, tracking the dictator’s state of mind with the help of 2,000 hours of rarely accessed audio from high-level meetings that Hussein “recorded as assiduously as Richard Nixon,” Coll says.

“Most of the story is vivid and sometimes even funny. … Unlike his main character, Coll succeeds in part because he has an eye for dramatic irony.”

From Noreen Malone’s review

Penguin Press | $35

ON THE MOVE: The Overheating Earth and the Uprooting of America Abrahm Lustgarten

The climate is changing, says the author, a climate scientist — and drought, fire and heat waves are going to cause massive demographic shifts. To get a sense of the scale of these changes, the author examines studies and models that simulate future migration scenarios, and combines his insights with first-person reportage. The results are often alarming and admittedly speculative, but never less than compelling.

“The author’s eloquent personal insights … are astonishing as well as gripping, presenting an intimate understanding of why poor agricultural workers, beset by droughts and calamitous economic circumstances, risk everything.”

From Jon Gertner’s review

Farrar, Straus & Giroux | $30

THE BLACK BOX: Writing the Race Henry Louis Gates Jr.

In his latest book, the Harvard scholar shows how African American writers have used the written word to shape their reality despite constraints imposed on them from outside, using the metaphor of the box to reflect ordeals withstood and survived since Africans were first brought to this continent.

“The allure of this book, and the reason for its existence, are the narrative links he draws. … This is a literary history of Black America, but it is also an argument that African American history is inextricable from the history of African American literature.”

From Tope Folarin’s review

Penguin Press | $30

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“City in Ruins” is the third novel in Don Winslow’s Danny Ryan trilogy and, he says, his last book. He’s retiring in part to invest more time into political activism .

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Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

Erika Dreifus

Writer and resource maven, main navigation, search site, featured machberet , my machberet, a letter to the new york times book review.

More than two weeks have passed since I sent this letter to the NYTBR. I’ve received no indication that they plan to publish it (and they’ve already published other material responding to work that appeared the same week). I worked hard to craft a message that stayed (nearly) within their stated word-count preference. At this point, I’m simply posting the letter here.

TO THE EDITOR:

Like Eugene Yelchin, I am inspired when publishers find “effective ways to address [the subject of war] without diminishing its gravity.” I wish that Yelchin’s “War Babies” (Nov. 13) had itself displayed similar soundness when addressing what the article calls “Israel’s invasion of Gaza in 2014.”

For me, recalling that conflict between Israel and Hamas-controlled Gaza evokes many anguished memories. As I read Yelchin’s piece, my mind recalled the image of 4-year-old Daniel Tregerman, an Israeli child who died, as  The New York Times  reported at the time , when “deadly shrapnel from the Palestinian mortar rounds” that rained down on so many southern Israelis killed him in his family’s home. No article should reduce that terrible “50-day war in Gaza” (again as,  the  Times  itself described it ) to a one-sided Israeli “invasion.” (Again,  the  Times  itself noted in real time  that “Israel began a ground invasion after 10 days of aerial bombardment failed to stop Palestinian militants from showering Israeli cities with rockets.”)

In fact, what happened that summer was fueled by multiple factors. Central among these: Hamas’s murderous activities, with the Palestinian leadership in Gaza holding significant responsibility for the trauma experienced by so many of its children and adults—and Israel’s.

Erika Dreifus New York City

7 thoughts on “ A Letter to the New York Times Book Review ”

Well said, Erika. Thank you. And why am I not surprised that the Times has not published your letter and shows no signs of doing so?

Thank you for speaking for us, regardless of your letter’s being published. We;;-written and well said.

Thank you for your essay highlighting the nuance of truth. I am sorry the NYT failed to publish.

Well done. Thank you for sending it regardless of the (so-far) silent response. Perhaps posting it online will move the NYTBR to publish it.

Thank you for sharing your letter. We often see funeral processions in Gaza, but not in Israel. There are casualties on both sides, and proportionately they are the same…each life is precious.

Comments are closed.

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How to Write a Letter to the Editor

Ashley Fountain

Writing a letter to the editor is a great way for someone to engage with a publication and a topic that is interesting to them. If you’re reading this guide, then you likely have some inspiration for writing a letter, but even if you don’t have inspiration in mind, this guide can still work to help inspire you to think about a topic. For reference, my guide is based off research I did on 53 letters published about 11 different topics from the New York Times.

So, what is a letter to the editor? A letter to the editor is a letter sent to a publication about issues of concern from its readers. Letters to the editor are often some of the most popular pieces to read in a publication because of their short and emotional nature. They are a quick way for people to begin to understand different sides of a popular topic without having to read through the lengths of opinion pieces. Letters also play a crucial role as a media gatekeeper and a powerful way for publication’s readers to engage with the editors and writers of a certain publication. As an undergraduate who is constantly engaging with a wide range of topics, you may be interested in looking at issues from a wide variety of angles so you may enjoy letters to the editor. You also may find passions for certain subjects that you want to write letters to an editor for or be interested in getting involved with a certain publication or topic and use these letters as a way to open the door to future careers in these areas. It is impressive to be able to show a thoroughly researched piece published in a popular online or in-person magazine or newspaper if you are looking for a career in that area or writing in general.

The key to writing a successful letter to the editor is not just in writing an accurate and interesting letter but writing a letter that will get published. There is not much power to your letter if no one sees it or reads it. As a result, it is important to strike a balance between writing something you’re passionate about and something people are talking about. Because if it’s not an interesting topic that will generate buzz and excitement, then why would the publication publish it? Instead, they’ll choose a letter that will garner more attention and interest.

It also must be a topic in which you have some knowledge. The knowledge doesn’t necessarily have to be first-hand experience, though that does seem to help people’s stories stand out. The knowledge can be a result of careful research and intentional engagement with the topic. But regardless, you must be able to explain it easily as well as convey its relevance and importance to a wide range of people. Especially because of the short nature of letters to the editor, it is so important that you can capture the topic clearly and concisely.

There is a wide range of topics that can be the focus of letters to the editors. Common topics include current events, politics, and lifestyle topics. While a basic template can be used to construct a letter for a wide range of topics, certain conventions are relevant to some specific topics alone. It is always helpful to look at letters to the editor from the specific genres and publications you hope to submit to before beginning your letter. This way, you know what types of elements they commonly use. Some examples can be found in the back of this writing guide.

Choosing a Topic & Audience

There are likely two main reasons why you are choosing to engage with writing a letter to the editor. For the sake of this section, I’m going to provide advice around these two ideas. Though I do understand that there are many more reasons or that your reasoning could be a combination of the two, I think what I share in this section as a whole will be relevant to a wide range of reasons.

Why you are likely choosing to write a letter to the editor:

• You are extremely passionate about a particular topic.
• You have an interest in writing or journalism.

Choosing a topic is easy if you are extremely passionate about a particular topic. But it is important to evaluate that other people are interested in this topic as well as your ability to write about this topic.

• Do some research into what has been recently published about this topic.
• Look for a publication that has recently engaged with this topic in some capacity.
• If you can find recently published works on this topic than it’s probably a fit for you to write a letter to the editor on it.
• If you are not able to find recently published works on the topic you are interested in, then start to look for topics that are more popular and think about how you can relate your passion to the more popular topic.
• Once you find a topic that is being talked about, take note of the publication (or publications) talking about it.
• Look at the level of writing of previous letters to the editor of that publication, and make sure that you can match that level of writing about the topic you want to write about.
• If you cannot meet that level, then look for another publication where your letter may be a better fit.
• Keep searching until you find a topic and publication that meets your interests and writing level.

Example: As a history major, you may be interested in traditions surrounding U.S. holidays; as a result, you may want to write about a particular tradition you found interesting or angering regarding an upcoming holiday. Since the holiday season is coming up, you would want to write about a topic regarding Christmas or Hanukkah.

Choosing a topic may be a bit more difficult, if you have an interest in writing or journalism. Though it will likely be easier to choose a publication you are interested in writing for.

• Look to publications that interest you and think about their recently published pieces.
• Choose some topics that are interesting to you and see if you can relate any of them to experiences that you have or classes you’ve taken.
• Or look to the people around you or your life and experiences and think about something that may be engaging to write about.
• Do some research into the topics that you are looking at to make sure that they are ones you can confidently write about on a deep level.
• Once you narrow down your topic, make sure to take note of the publication (or publications) talking about it.
• Look at the level of writing of previous letters to the editor of that publication, and make sure that you can match that level of writing.
• Make sure you find a publication that matches your level of writing and a topic that you have some interest and confidence in writing about.

Example: As a writing minor, you may be interested in writing and looking to get a piece published. You may love the New York Times and notice they are publishing a lot of political pieces with the upcoming election, so you decide to write a letter applying a concept you learned in your sociology class to the upcoming election.

In conclusion, it is important to choose a topic that interests you and interests other people. As well as to accurately do your research on what types of things are getting published and are getting read. It could also be helpful to gather information on who the editor of the publication is so you can get a sense of you who are technically writing to. Thinking about these things will help you submit your letter to the right publication with the right audience, and that will give it a higher likelihood to get published.

Composing Your Letter

Once you have a topic, you will want to get started composing your letter. Every letter is different, but I’m going to share a basic template for constructing a letter on almost any topic. Most letters use a reverse argument structure; where the letter opens with a concession, then the middle is an anecdote with evidence asserting the author’s credibility, and finally it ends with the claim.

To the Editor: Re “ Poor Schools Can’t Compete With Suburban Rivals. Should They? ” (front page, Sept. 23) I can appreciate the dejection felt by the members of the Hoover High School football team in Des Moines as they lose to better-endowed schools from their district. Fifty years ago, I played high school football at my lower-middle-class school in Los Angeles. We were mediocre at best, competing with wealthier schools whose facilities were better and whose players weren’t concerned about the daily anxieties of family economics. The disappointment is certainly real. At the same time, it is hard for me to muster much passion to take on inequality in sports when high school students in some schools don’t have enough to eat, when the academic facilities in schools are woefully inadequate, when security in neighborhoods is precarious, when many of the families of students still lack health insurance. Let’s solve those problems, and then concern ourselves with athletic inequities. Steven Livesey Norman, Okla.

• Address the Editor: One defining feature is setting up who you are talking to; you should simply and clearly address the editor.
• What the Letter is in Response to: It is then helpful to address what you are writing your letter in response to. Often, letters will be in response to articles written by that publication. I think this is helpful because people reading the letter can go back and read the article to gain more context. But you could also just set up some basic context behind what you are writing about.
• Concession: You then add why you are writing this letter, so how you have a different take or affirm what has been previously said about this topic or issue. This sets up your viewpoint for the rest of the letter and serves as a topic sentence.
• Personal Anecdote as “Evidence”: Next, you add your evidence, often this is in the form of a personal anecdote, but it can also be research and facts. Showing your experience or research allows you to develop a sense of credibility for your letter. Using an anecdote also allows you to make the letter engaging.
• Claim: Letters normally end with their claim and the point they were trying to make with the letter overall. This ties the whole thing together and leaves the reader with a lasting message.
• Signed with Some Distinguishing Factor: Lastly, the letter ends with your name and some distinguishing factor about you. You can use just your location, or you could use your university or anything else you think that could give the reader a sense of the perspective you are writing from.

Keys to Writing a Successful Letter to the Editor

A letter to the editor won’t be truly successful if it doesn’t get published, and a letter to the editor also won’t be successful if no one reads it. So, an effective letter is something that will get published and also convey your message in an engaging and clear way to the correct audience who will actively understand and gain something by reading it. I have developed five keys to making sure that your letter will do all of the above things.

1) Use Personal Anecdote/Story: This is the most common thing I found in all of the letters I looked at. I think it was commonly used because it makes the letter engaging and interesting to the reader. It also builds the reader’s investment in the letter, as they become invested in your story and who you are. It also builds credibility on the topic because it allows you to share how you have directly experienced or interacted with the topic you are writing about.

After I miscarried my first pregnancy, I set out to learn why, given how common miscarriages are, we have come to expect perfect pregnancies, and grieve even early losses so deeply. I discovered that many of the innovations of modern life — from effective birth control, to emotionally intensive parenting, to prenatal care complete with ultrasounds and home pregnancy tests, to aggressive baby gear marketing, to detailed pregnancy websites and apps — have promoted unrealistic expectations about how much we can control pregnancy and encouraged bonding with pregnancies that are not yet secure. Understanding that women once regarded early pregnancy losses as a normal part of reproductive life gave me equanimity and perspective in my subsequent pregnancies with my two children.

This example provides a personal anecdote about this person’s life and shares how it has impacted their personal experience, thus building the reader’s investment in their story and argument.

2) Make it Engaging: There are a lot of ways to make your letter engaging for the reader; this will make them want to start and keep reading your letter. One way is through the use of anecdotes or stories like I just touched on in the last example. But elements like satire, humor, and other rhetorical devices are also used to bring attention to the story the writer is trying to tell in a different yet effective way. It is also important to keep your letter short so that you do not lose the reader’s attention. On average most letters I looked at from the New York Times were only 9.8 lines in length so very short and to the point.

To the Editor: Whatever happened to the advice we all received as children? Look both ways before crossing the street. We weren’t taught to walk diagonally through intersections texting on cellphones. Is it really all about cars? David Sutton West Orange, N.J.

This example uses humor to build the reader’s investment and interest in the letter, as well as playing a little bit on the story and creating this illusion of something from our collective past. All of these elements make it highly engaging for the reader.

3) Assert Your Credibility: Credibility may seem hard to build, especially if you don’t have any research or exact educational background on the subject that you are writing a letter about. Especially in publications like the New York Times, a lot of the time, you assert your credibility with elements like titles, schooling, and research. But more broadly, in writing letters to the editor, you can assert your credibility through your personal experiences and the stories you tell. You must make sure anything you assert throughout your letter is accurate. While you don’t have to be an expert on your given subject, it is important to do your research and be familiar with the topic at hand.

To the Editor: Re “Why Some Young Voters Bolt the Democratic Party for Democratic Socialism” (news article, Oct. 16): As a student at a very liberal college, SUNY New Paltz, I see more and more of my peers identifying with socialist beliefs, especially since Bernie Sanders’s run for president in 2016. Although I agree that people my age (in their 20s) are increasingly seeing the benefits of a socialist candidate and his policies, I see even more of my peers simply not caring at all. In the 2016 presidential election, only a little more than half of the students on my campus voted. A lot of my friends chose not to vote either because of a general lack of interest in politics or because they didn’t support either of the candidates. It is also difficult for young people coming from disadvantaged backgrounds who have never felt represented to believe that socialism will ever work in our society. I do support Senator Sanders and the progressive platforms tied to democratic socialism, but I don’t have too much faith in the United States government and its ability to transform into the progressive state the 99 percent of us need it to be. Emma Misiaszek Syracuse

This example asserts credibility by the author sharing their experience at a very liberal college. They continue to create credibility as they back up their personal story with statistics about the 2016 election; this shows that they have not only experienced this topic firsthand but also done their research on it and therefore are credible.

4) Build a Clear Argument: The key to a successful letter is to be able to make your argument clearly and concisely. While there is no set structure behind how to do this, I talked about the basic structure behind building most arguments in the “Composing Your Letter to the Editor” section. The structure is as follows. First, assert why you do or don’t agree with what has been published previously about the topic. Then, provide your evidence and experience with the topic; this often also asserts why you have the credibility to write on this topic. Finally, provide your claim. Most letters have all of these elements, even if they are not necessarily in this exact order.

To the Editor: Re “ In the Land of Self-Defeat ,” by Monica Potts (Sunday Review, Oct. 6): Ms. Potts’s article about her small town in Arkansas fits into a genre of reporting that has flourished since the 2016 election in which sympathetic writers, often raised in Trump country, attempt to explain why people in rural America vote against their interests. Often these are written by people who themselves left these places  because  they were too small, too conservative and too narrow-minded. In her effort to elicit an empathetic response from readers, Ms. Potts focuses on her subjects’ belief in self-reliance, hostility toward the city and conviction that they have to rely on themselves. Yet she neglects a very important fact. The rural conservative white voters who support Mr. Trump and are so opposed to federal spending often live in states that receive far more than their share of federal funds, especially in relation to those states with larger urban populations. They don’t really oppose federal spending. They oppose federal funding for black people and others in cities. Perhaps if they were serious in their belief in self-reliance, they would vote to reject the federal funds that come to their state, and it could be used better in states that want it. Paul C. Mishler South Bend, Ind. The writer is an associate professor of labor studies at Indiana University South Bend.

This example follows the structure I have outlined that works most commonly for building a clear argument. It begins by asserting why he doesn’t agree with what has been written in the article. He then provides evidence that supports that idea. And finally, he asserts his claim, in the end, in to leave the reader with his main message.

5) Know Your Audience: Where you publish your letter is key to it reaching an audience who will not only receive it well but engage with it. If the letter is not the right fit for the publication, then it likely will not get published in the first place. So, it is crucial to conduct research in the beginning phases of writing your letter to make sure that you are writing for the correct audience. You should continue to write to the audience throughout your letter.

Example: If you are writing a hard-hitting political piece about an inconsistency with the upcoming election, then you probably shouldn’t publish your letter in Cosmopolitan . The audience that reads Cosmopolitan isn’t going to be looking for that kind of piece and will instead be looking for something.

Successful Examples

I think learning from example is a key to building skills in any particular area. As a result, I thought it would be helpful to include three successful examples for reference at the end of this writing guide. These examples all exemplify the five keys to writing a successful letter to the editor and would be great to reference when you hit a block.

To the Editor: Absolutely there is entrenched institutional and societal bias against women, but I have also observed something else. In addition to the very real glass ceiling, there is also what I call the “lip gloss ceiling”: female behaviors and habits that add to our limitations in the workplace. They often include less than confident communication, discomfort with self-promotion and perfectionism. While I agree that everyone would benefit if men were offered professional development to demonstrate a more sensitive and inclusive style, most organizations are male-established, male-led and male-modeled. That platform may have to wait until more women are in leadership roles, and more modern millennials assume the majority of management. I stand ready for active duty when that time comes. Raleigh Mayer New York The writer consults with companies on leadership and diversity issues.

I found this example to be successful because it builds a very clear argument in an engaging way  that shows she has the credibility to be speaking on the topic. Using terminology like “lip gloss ceiling” shows that she has engaged with the topic she is speaking about and that she is, as a result, credible. Also, the way that she mounts to a pithy ending makes the piece engaging and shows personality. It is very clear and easy to understand the point she is making with her letter.

To the Editor: Re “ Race Takes Turn as Warren Faces Barrage Onstage ” (front page, Oct. 16): After watching all the Democratic debates, I am left with the following sentiments that I believe are shared by many Democrats: My heart is with Bernie Sanders because what he says about America and what needs to be done is absolutely true. My head is with Elizabeth Warren because she is Bernie lite, a progressive who is more electable than Bernie since she is less scary to suburban Republicans and independents. And my fear puts me with Uncle Joe, because he may be most likely to beat President Trump in the swing Rust Belt states, and the thought of four more years of Trumpism is unspeakable. But I felt the same way about Hillary Clinton and look how that turned out. The others do nothing for this 65-year-old longtime Democrat. So how do I vote? I don’t know. Shelly B. Kulwin Chicago

I found this example to be successful because it focuses on personal anecdotes and stories to make the letter engaging and also build her argument. It also shows how you can assert credibility through long term engagement with a subject as she does it by saying she’s been a “65-year-old longtime Democrat”. She also asserts a claim that shows she is unknowing, which I want to emphasize is okay with letters to the editor. You don’t have to have everything figured out; you can just share your thoughts and experiences.

To the Editor: To Peggy Wehmeyer, I send my condolences and my gratitude. My gratitude for shining a light on what is an epidemic. As a pastor (and someone who has depression), I work with individuals who live with perpetual suicidal ideation. There is still so much stigma and shame, as Ms. Wehmeyer illuminates, attached to the word “suicide.” In counseling those left behind I say this: Suicide is not a choice, it is not a sin. Death by suicide is one natural outcome of a life-threatening disease. The excruciating effort of hiding one’s mental illness is beyond exhausting. Many people are very good actors, but some cannot continue the effort. I’m sorry that Mark, Ms. Wehmeyer’s husband, had to learn this the hard way, as did his wife and children. (Rev.) Sandra Morris Toronto

I thought this was a good example because it shows the power of building value for your

audience. In this letter, she is able to share her experience and credibility as a pastor and

someone with depression and build that to sharing something helpful for anyone reading

the piece. Her piece is, therefore, engaging because people feel like they can gain

something from it, and it shows that she knows and is comfortable with her audience.

Overall, the key to a successful letter to the editor is a passion for the topic and awareness of the audience you are writing for. If you can meet these two criteria, then you can write a successful letter to the editor. I outlined five useful tips for meeting these criteria as well as provide examples that you can use to help you find your footing as you develop your skills in writing these letters. But the crucial thing is to practice, so think about something you are passionate about start researching and start writing. It may take some time before you get your first letter to the editor published but keep writing and keep submitting and eventually your letter will be selected and published.

Grey, D. L., & Brown, T. R. (1970). Letters to the Editor: Hazy Reflections of Public Opinion. Journalism Quarterly, 47 (3), 450–471. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769907004700302

Letters to the Editor. (2017, June 5). Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/section/opinion/letters

Marisa Torres da Silva (2012) Newsroom practices and letters-to-the-editor.

Journalism Practice, 6 (2), 250-263, DOI: 10.1080/17512786.2011.629124

Raeymaeckers, K. (2005). Letters to the Editor: A Feedback Opportunity Turned into a

Marketing Tool: An Account of Selection and Editing Practices in the Flemish Daily Press. European Journal of Communication, 20(2), 199–221. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323105052298

Rhetorical Patterns – Persuasion and Argument. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.lincoln.edu/departments/languages-and-literature-department/rhetorical-patterns/rhetorical-patterns-persuasion

Writing Guides for (Almost) Every Occasion Copyright © 2020 by Ashley Fountain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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News, Notes, Talk

The week’s best book drama is happening in the Times letters to the editor.

If you, like me, love low-stakes literary gossip but hate Twitter, you should probably be reading the New York Times  books section’s letters to the editor. Case in point: Cynthia Ozick’s recent response-in-verse to Lionel Shriver’s review of her novella,  Antiquities. 

The review itself was mixed , though it did, as Ozick’s poem points out, have an odd fixation on her age. (Shriver posits that the “aging narrator” of the novella, who is “nevertheless well her junior seems a spring chicken to this distinguished author.”)

Ozick’s response-poem begins:

Lionel Shriver, no deep-diver: depth an indictment, longevity an excitement — Oh look, the writer’s so old!

The poem isn’t exactly what I’d call a mic drop, but it was kind of funny and it gave Twitter something to talk about for a few hours. (Drag her, the drama we need, etc., etc.)

But though the Twitter news cycle may have moved on, Ann Beattie, mercifully Twitter-less, has not. She wrote her own letter to the editor , published today, taking issue with Shriver’s review—specifically the review’s conclusion, in which Shriver praises Ozick’s “beautiful sentence[s].”

“So I hope I haven’t sounded unkind,” Shriver writes. “But Cynthia Ozick is a pro. Whatever her age, she can take it.”

In her letter, Beattie focuses on the word “pro”:

What, exactly, does this word mean? That she has had a long, significant life in writing, and that writers roll with the punches? Who doesn’t know that, especially—as the reviewer points out—at age 93?

She concludes with the most withering—and satisfying—line of the whole fracas: “The review concludes with Shriver talking to herself.”

Never change, writers!

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, . "‘To the Editor’: What happens when readers write letters to The New York Times?." Nieman Journalism Lab . Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, 28 Mar. 2017. Web. 9 Apr. 2024.

, . (2017, Mar. 28). ‘To the Editor’: What happens when readers write letters to The New York Times?. Nieman Journalism Lab . Retrieved April 9, 2024, from https://www.niemanlab.org/reading/to-the-editor-what-happens-when-readers-write-letters-to-the-new-york-times/

, . "‘To the Editor’: What happens when readers write letters to The New York Times?." Nieman Journalism Lab . Last modified March 28, 2017. Accessed April 9, 2024. https://www.niemanlab.org/reading/to-the-editor-what-happens-when-readers-write-letters-to-the-new-york-times/.

{{cite web     | url = https://www.niemanlab.org/reading/to-the-editor-what-happens-when-readers-write-letters-to-the-new-york-times/     | title = ‘To the Editor’: What happens when readers write letters to The New York Times?     | last =     | first =     | work = [[Nieman Journalism Lab]]     | date = 28 March 2017     | accessdate = 9 April 2024     | ref = {{harvid||2017}} }}

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THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

125 years of literary history.

edited by Tina Jordan & Noor Qasim ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 2, 2021

An ebullient celebration of literature.

A capacious history of the influential publication.

To commemorate the 125th anniversary of the New York Times Book Review , current deputy editor Jordan, assisted by Qasim, offers a fascinating selection of reviews, letters, interviews, essays, announcements, book lists, bits of gossip (Colette, on a ship, wore sandals without stockings!), and op-ed pieces published in the supplement since its first appearance on Oct. 10, 1896. Organized chronologically into five sections that comprise around three decades each, and profusely illustrated with author photographs, plates, advertisements, and assorted literary artifacts, the volume amply fulfills the editor’s goal of revealing how the Review “has shaped literary taste, informed arguments and driven the world of ideas in the United States and beyond.” Book critic Parul Sehgal prefaces the selections with an astute essay examining how the Review has covered works by women, writers of color, and writers in the LGBTQ+ community. In its early years, White male perspectives dominated, with reviewers worried about the proliferation and popularity of women writers. Overall, however, the collection amply represents reviewers “contemptuous of anxious gatekeeping,” bringing to their task “nerve, wariness and style.” Anxious gatekeeping, however, as well as wafts of condescension, can be found. For example, in 1904, the reviewer of W.E.B. Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk remarked, “Many passages of the book will be very interesting to the student of the negro character who regards the race ethnologically and not politically, not as a dark cloud threatening the future of the United States.” In 1933, assessing two feminist histories, the Review ’s editor saw the success of the women’s movement as “one of the major tragedies in the history of mankind.” Reviews by acclaimed authors include Eudora Welty on Charlotte’s Web ; W.H. Auden on Tolkein’s The Fellowship of the Ring ; Kurt Vonnegut on Tom Wolfe; and Margaret Atwood on Toni Morrison’s Beloved . A long list of other famous reviewers appends the volume.

Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-23461-7

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Clarkson Potter

Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021

HISTORY | UNITED STATES | GENERAL NONFICTION

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Kirkus Reviews' Best Books Of 2017

New York Times Bestseller

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KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

The osage murders and the birth of the fbi.

by David Grann ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 18, 2017

Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.

Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.

During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorker staff writer Grann ( The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession , 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.

Pub Date: April 18, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017

GENERAL HISTORY | TRUE CRIME | UNITED STATES | FIRST/NATIVE NATIONS | HISTORY

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BOOK REVIEW

by David Grann

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BOOK TO SCREEN

A WEALTH OF PIGEONS

A cartoon collection.

by Steve Martin illustrated by Harry Bliss ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 17, 2020

A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.

The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.

Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker . So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny .” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.

Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Celadon Books

Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020

ART & PHOTOGRAPHY | GENERAL NONFICTION | BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | ENTERTAINMENT, SPORTS & CELEBRITY

More by Steve Martin

by Steve Martin ; illustrated by Harry Bliss

by Steve Martin

by Steve Martin & illustrated by C.F. Payne

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The New York Times Book Review: 125 Years of Literary History

Edited by tina jordan with noor qasim. clarkson potter, $50 (368p) isbn 978-0-593-23461-7.

Reviewed on: 09/08/2021

Genre: Nonfiction

Hardcover - 443 pages - 978-0-8129-2858-7

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April 18, 2024

Current Issue

The New York Review of Books announces new editorial lineup and the creation of the Robert B. Silvers Foundation

NEW YORK – Monday, February 25, 2019 — Rea Hederman, the publisher of The New York Review of Books , announced today that Emily Greenhouse and Gabriel Winslow-Yost have been named co-editors of the magazine, the leading English-language journal of literary criticism and ideas with a worldwide circulation of approximately 150,000. The editors will be joined by longtime contributor Daniel Mendelsohn in the newly created position of editor at large.

“Robert Silvers and Barbara Epstein launched the Review in 1963 to create a new outlet for robust ideas, and it became a home for the liveliest minds of their age,” said Hederman. “Gabe and Emily are about the age that Bob and Barbara were when they created the Review , and I fully expect that their partnership will bring its own fresh youth and energy. They both worked closely with Bob, so they know the values of the institution, and will bring to the position the impressive expertise they have developed in the years since: Emily at a number of different publications, most recently The New Yorker , and Gabe here at the Review , where he has thrived as a senior editor, and as co-editor of our New York Review Comics imprint. I’m confident they will bring in perspectives that will help to refresh the paper to meet the needs of our tumultuous moment, all while continuing to publish the outstanding writers and thinkers that have given the Review its clout and editorial vision.”

“I am honored to be returning to the Review , my first professional home in New York,” said Greenhouse, 32, who has spent the past three years working as managing editor of The New Yorker magazine. “Bob and Barbara set an electrifying template; the work upon us now is to reinvigorate their original model and usher it into the current age—by continuing to provide a forum for the Review ’s extraordinary, dynamic contributors, and by identifying and developing diverse and incisive new voices. I’m simply thrilled to be facing this next chapter with Gabe and Daniel.”

Winslow-Yost, 33, is a senior editor at The New York Review . “It’s been a privilege to work at the Review for the past decade,” he said. “The magazine is in a position of strength, with a brilliant, experienced editorial staff, an unparalleled group of contributors, and wonderfully engaged readers. The commitment to passionate, thoughtful debate inculcated by Bob Silvers and Barbara Epstein is needed now more than ever. I couldn’t be more excited to help bring that into a new era and to new audiences, and to do that alongside Emily and Daniel.”

“The appointment of Emily and Gabe, brilliant young editors steeped in contemporary literary culture and sharing a broad vision of what a lively intellectual journal can achieve, actually returns the Review to its founding stance,” said Mendelsohn. “I was privileged to know and work closely with both Bob and Barbara, and now I’m excited to be working with the new editors on ideas about how to bring the Review ’s extraordinary pool of talent—both longtime contributors and new voices—to a wider audience.” Mendelsohn added that the new editorial team has been discussing plans for a festival, regional and international colloquia, podcasts, and greater outreach to colleges and universities.

THE ROBERT B. SILVERS FOUNDATION A bequest by Silvers, who died in March 2017, established a charitable entity, the Robert B. Silvers Foundation, the aim of which is to support writers. Silvers named Mendelsohn as director with Hederman as president.

The Foundation’s goal is to support writers working in the areas that were nurtured by Silvers in the Review : in-depth political, social, economic, and scientific commentary, long-form arts and literary criticism, and the intellectual essay. Such support will take the form of disbursements to enable works in progress, and of the bestowal annually of a series of prizes, to be known as the Silvers-Dudley Prizes, recognizing outstanding achievement in the kinds of writing Silvers and his late partner, Lady Grace Dudley, embraced and encouraged: the Robert B. Silvers Prize for Journalism; the Robert B. Silvers Prize for Criticism; and the Grace Dudley Prize for Writing on European Culture. Prizes awarded will be $30,000 each for writers over 40, and $15,000 each for those under 40. Winners will be named each year on December 31, Silvers’s birthday.

The first prizes will be awarded at the end of 2019.

HISTORY In 1963, a group of friends founded a publication that they determined would be a new kind of magazine, one in which the most interesting and lively minds they could find would discuss current books and issues in depth. The friends—Jason and Barbara Epstein and Elizabeth Hardwick and Robert Lowell—asked Robert Silvers to join with Barbara Epstein to be the co-editors of the new publication.

The result was what The New Yorker called “the best first issue of any magazine ever” with contributions by, among others, W.H. Auden, Elizabeth Hardwick, Gore Vidal, Susan Sontag, Mary McCarthy, Adrienne Rich, and John Berryman.

In recent years contributors have included, among others, Michael Chabon, Zadie Smith, Mary Beard, Hilary Mantel, Marilynne Robinson, J.M. Coetzee, Joan Didion, Darryl Pinckney, and Mark Danner.

PUBLICITY For more information, please contact Nicholas During at (212) 293-1641 / [email protected].

Emily Greenhouse, 32, has worked as managing editor of The New Yorker since March 2016. Previously, she worked as a reporter at Bloomberg, covering gender and politics. From 2012 to 2014, she worked as editorial assistant to David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker . From 2011 to 2012, she served as editorial assistant to Robert Silvers, the editor and cofounder of The New York Review of Books . Prior to that, she worked on the editorial staff of Granta in London and taught English in Paris.

She has written for publications including The New Yorker , Rolling Stone , Dissent , The Nation , and The New Republic , on subjects ranging from anti-Semitism in France to rock and roll criticism to drug experimentation at liberal arts colleges to the television show Gossip Girl . She has appeared on Charlie Rose and Entertainment Tonight .

Greenhouse graduated from Wesleyan University in 2008, with a double major in the College of Letters (an interdisciplinary program of literature, history, and philosophy) and French Studies. She is currently the youngest member of the Wesleyan University Board of Trustees. She lives in Brooklyn and is expecting her first child in March.

Gabriel Winslow-Yost, 33, has been on the editorial staff of The New York Review of Books since 2009, first as an editorial assistant to Robert Silvers, then as an assistant editor, and most recently as a senior editor. He also co-founded the New York Review Comics imprint, which has published fifteen comics and graphic novels since 2016. His writing on film, fiction, comics, and video games has appeared in The New York Review of Books , Harper’s , The New Yorker , n+1 , and New York magazine’s The Cut .

Winslow-Yost graduated from Yale University in 2008 with a degree in English. He was born in New Hampshire, and lives in Brooklyn.

Daniel Mendelsohn was born in New York in 1960 and received a BA in Classics from the University of Virginia and a Ph.D. in Classics from Princeton University. Since 1991 he has been a prolific contributor of essays, reviews, and articles to many publications, particularly The New York Review of Books and The New Yorker . He has also been a columnist for The New York Times Book Review , Harper’s , Travel + Leisure , and New York magazine, where he was the weekly book critic.

His books include An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic (2017); The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million (2006), winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Jewish Book Award in the United States and the Prix Médicis in France; The Elusive Embrace: Desire and the Riddle of Identity (1999), a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year; two collections of essays; a scholarly study of Greek tragedy; and a two-volume translation of the poetry of C. P. Cavafy (2009). His third collection of essays, Ecstasy and Terror: From the Greeks to Game of Thrones , will be published in October 2019. Mendelsohn is the Charles Ranlett Flint Professor of Humanities at Bard College.

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Letters to the editor of the new york times book review.

We scarcely recognize our book, Inventing America , in Sylvia Nasar's ideologically driven review. The book is a comprehensive, synthetic history of the United States, distinguished in part by the attention it gives to science and technology in American history. Nasar, who is not a historian, does not address the ways in which it builds upon and in some measure revises current scholarship. Instead, after essentially skipping the first half of the book (through Reconstruction), she attacks the rest for not explaining how private enterprise and the profit motive account for America's "technological fecundity," explosive growth, and vastly improved standard of living. Her specific allegations are sharply at odds with the book, which makes no claim that inventiveness is exclusively American. It carefully describes the nuts and bolts of business history, the impact of technology on economic growth, and the transformations in ordinary life over previous centuries (not just the past 130 years). More important, a book written from her uncritically pro-business stance would be neither a balanced textbook nor good history. The state has been a more significant player in the American economy than Nasar suggests, and the impact of private enterprise more complex than she seems willing to admit, even in this post-Enron era. Emphasizing the United States' material superiority to the rest of the world, Nasar would have us pay less attention to social and economic inequality, especially among women, minorities, and immigrants. Such a history would be incomplete and disregard the substantial scholarship of the past generation. We trust that our fellow historians and other readers recognize the shortcomings of Nasar's review.

Pauline Maier Merritt Roe Smith Alexander Keyssar Daniel J. Kevles

Sylvia Nasar’s review of Inventing America misrepresents what others view as a pathbreaking book. It is hard to imagine what book she read. Is it the same book that other historians have praised—precisely for “treating ‘science and technology as integral elements of American history’” as well as for the book’s clarity, insightfulness, originality, and coverage? The misrepresentations in the review are too numerous to detail but several are outright distortions. For example, she states that nowhere in the book do the authors discuss “relevant concepts like productivity” or “the story of technology without highlighting its impact on growth.” A more thorough reading of the book would have noted how frequently the authors discuss productivity. Case in point: the authors discuss productivity on page 987, where they state “industrial productivity, measured as output per man-hour,” and go on to explain what the number means in the paragraph. On technology and growth, see the brilliant discussions of the impact technology had on growth in chapter 18 (“The Rise of Big Business and The Triumph of Industry”), chapter 22 (“The Progressive Era: 1900-1916”), chapter 24 (“The Great Depression and the New Deal: 1929-1940”), and so on. Nasar apparently wanted the authors to write her book, that is, a history text that celebrates “markets” or “profits” as the only elements of the American story that are worthy of serious attention. Readers of Inventing America will find plenty examples of the role of markets and profits in the text. They also will find that the authors do present a “compelling explanation of why America has produced so much innovation and growth since 1870.” Unlike Nasar’s review, the authors of Inventing America make and present compelling arguments.

Louis A. Ferleger Professor of History, Boston University

New York Times names its next Books editor

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NEW YORK — The New York Times on Thursday named Gilbert Cruz as its Books editor, tasking him with transforming the newspaper’s book review “for the digital age.”

Cruz has been the Culture editor at the Times since January 2018, in charge of arts and culture coverage, including the Arts & Leisure print section in the Sunday paper.

Cruz replaces Pamela Paul, who was the editor of The New York Times Book Review for nine years before becoming an Opinion columnist in April.

The Times’ book reviews and coverage of the industry are widely influential. The Times publishes the last stand-alone newspaper book review section, which has been in print since 1896.

“A natural leader, he will push for provocative coverage and challenging ideas, and bring fresh perspectives to our books report,” Times editors Sam Sifton, Joe Kahn and Carolyn Ryan wrote about Cruz in a note to the newsroom Thursday.

The editors said Cruz would reimagine The New York Times Book Review, the weekly print section, for a digital audience. They said he would also “increase and embolden our reporting on and criticism of ideas and intellectual life, the publishing world and all that lives within it,” as well as help readers choose books to read.

Cruz started at the Times seven years ago as the television editor. Before that, he was the editorial director at Vulture, New York magazine’s culture site.

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Scott Heller Joins the Book Review

Scott, who steered Times theater coverage for a decade, will have responsibilities spanning the team’s entire report. Read more in this note from Gilbert Cruz and Tina Jordan.

We are thrilled to announce that Scott Heller will formally join the Book Review as an editor with responsibilities spanning our entire report. He will commission reviews, continue to edit our critic Alexandra Jacobs, work on enterprise projects, assign features and profiles alongside Juliana Barbassa, and bolster our coverage of the intersection between books and pop culture.

Scott came to the Book Review in late 2022, initially joining the desk to help out short-term. And clearly we grew selfish as what was supposed to be a monthlong assignment became something more. In the past year, Scott has worked with such writers as Michael Ian Black , Gina Chua and Elamin Abdelmahmoud; curated recollections from the likes of Stephen King, David Sedaris and Carmen Maria Machado for a piece on the 75th anniversary of Shirley Jackson’s story “The Lottery”; and helped write a quite popular “takeaways” piece about Barbara Streisand’s memoir .

Scott joined the Book Review from the Culture desk, where he served as theater editor for a decade, guiding coverage of Broadway and the national scene, overseeing critics such as Ben Brantley, Jesse Green and Maya Phillips, and putting together memorable projects such as “ The 25 Best American Plays Since ‘Angels in America. ’” Scott also served twice as deputy Arts & Leisure editor and ran daily books coverage from 2010 to 2012 when that part of the report was separate from the Book Review.

“I was overjoyed to reunite with Scott — who took me to Patti LuPone’s 70th birthday concert and granted me the dream assignment of writing about Stephen Sondheim’s gender-switched ‘Company’ in London — and to learn that a love of (quality!) musicals is not all we have in common,” Alexandra says. “He makes every review better, whether it’s a memoir about Nazi ancestors, an experimental second novel or a big celebrity biography , and never shames one for filing a draft that, let’s put it tactfully, is still ‘in workshop.’”

Prior to joining The Times in 2010, Scott worked at The Boston Globe, where he had served as arts editor, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. A Brooklyn native, he is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and was a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan, where he also received an M.A. in American studies.

Explore Further

A new hire and promotions in book review, from culture to book review: a new chapter for a.o. scott, gilbert cruz is our next books editor.

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