Interesting Times: Writings from a Turbulent Decade

From Strand Bookstore

Spanning a decade that includes the September 11, 2001 attacks and the election of Barack Obama, journalist George Packer brings insight and passion to his accounts of the war on terror, Iraq, political writers, and the 2008 election. Across these varied subjects a few key themes recur: the temptations and dangers of idealism; the moral complexities of war and politics; the American capacity for self-blinding and self-renewal. Whether exploring American policies in the wake of 9/11, tracking a used T-shirt from New York to Uganda, or describing the ambivalent response in Appalachia to Obama, these essays hold a mirror up to our troubled times with a wide-angled perspective. 409p

From the Publisher

A wide-ranging volume of essays on politics and culture evaluates the past decade's worth of events from the September 11 attacks to the rise of Barack Obama and includes both personal narratives and works of investigative journalism. By the award-winning author of The Assassins' Gate. 25,000 first printing.

Review

Franklin Foer - New York Times Book Review
"[E]ven after the monumental missteps of the Bush administration, Packer refuses to jettison his belief in what he calls humanitarianism. That impulse manifests itself most in his continued commitment to Iraq and Iraqis--the subject of the best pieces in INTERESTING TIMES."

Review

Publishers Weekly
"[A]n illuminating time capsule....Packer's vivid scene setting and rich language are punctuated with flashes of mischief and humor....Despite the breadth of his topics, each essay is distinguished by its telling details and depth of its insight."

Review

Kirkus Reviews
"[E]ach essay in this collection [is]...an astute, incisive and provocative examination of a specific issue bearing global parallels. In an era marked by the swift decline of well-researched, long-form journalism, these often heart-wrenching essays bring to life social, political and personal elements of far-flung crises in ways that elude more concise mediums." (starred review)

More about the book

New Yorker magazine writer George Packer has provided regular and incisive commentary on the period that began with 9/11 and ended with the election of Barack Obama. The essays collected here give us Packer's clear-headed slant on those two earth-shaking events and many similarly "interesting" ones in between, including the Iraq war, about which he writes with eloquence and outrage. In all his writings, Packer, who has been called a modern-day George Orwell, makes a stirring plea for Americans to hang on to their idealism and to the "sense of selfless purpose" that he feels we are in danger of losing.