We’re happy to announce that our colleagues at Black Dog & Leventhal publishers have created a book drawing on the first three years of our popular annual “Overrated & Underrated” feature. This is the exercise in which the editors ask historians, novelists, journalists, and others to assess a given category
and say what in it might be over- and underappreciated. From the start, the results have been lively, vexing, amusing, and, at bottom, valuable. While some are merely diverting (and, after all, what’s so “mere” about that?), others are elegant, succinct essays of considerable weight and significance. Among those
present are Tom Wicker on “Politician,” Richard Brookhiser on “President,” Camille Paglia on “Feminist,” Thomas Berger on “Indian Leader,” Liz Smith on “Love Affair,” Laura Hillenbrand on “Racehorse,” and many more—103 in all. Since the book costs $15.95, that’s about 16 cents per essay, so don’t hesitate.