Review of The Empty Family, by Colm Tóibín
In the spring of 2007, I attended a tribute hosted by Colm Tóibín in honor of novelist John McGahern at… Read more »
Reviews
A Review of Arcadia, a Novel by Lauren Goff.
Arcadia, by Lauren Groff. Hyperion, March 13, 2012. 304 pages, $25.99. When I was in graduate school at the University… Read more »
Charles Mann’s “1493”: A Review .
Charles C. Mann, 1493. Uncovering the New World Columbus Created. Alfred A. Knopf, 9 August 2011. $30.50, 544 pages. Apart… Read more »
Review of “Just One Catch,” a Biography of Joseph Heller
![justonecatchjpg-78622718fca9cb94[1]](http://theaposition.com/johnstrawn/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2011/09/justonecatchjpg-78622718fca9cb941-175x130.jpg)
Joseph Heller assembled the manuscript for Catch-22 from a collection of notes on index cards. The novel began to spring… Read more »
Review of “The Swinger”
The Swinger is the kind of novel the French call a roman à clef. A literary strategy designed to pillory… Read more »
Golf and Boxing: Unlikely Cousins in the Arena, Seen Through the Vision of Novelist Katherine Dunn.
Last week, the novelist Katherine Dunn died of lung cancer. I am proud to say that Katherine was a dear… Read more »
“Big in Beijing”–Review of an Accidental Rock Star’s Odyssey
![biginchinacover_1[1]](http://theaposition.com/johnstrawn/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2011/05/biginchinacover_11-175x130.jpg)
When the Wall Street Journal offered Alan Paul’s wife a posting to Beijing as its China bureau chief in 2005,… Read more »
John Updike’s “Golf Dreams”–An Appreciation
John Updike was the literary Sam Snead. Golf Dreams: Writings on Golf, published in 1996, was his 49th book, a… Read more »
“The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates”–A Review
This review first appeared in The Oregonian on May 29, 2010. I was very surprised when I read the Sunday… Read more »
Review of “Crossing the Heart of Africa” by Julian Smith
![9112944-large[1]](http://theaposition.com/johnstrawn/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2010/12/9112944-large1-175x130.jpg)
Travel writing flows in two broad streams, each descending from the headwaters of the Victorian imagination. Nineteenth-century Baedeker-style guides encouraged… Read more »
