Month: June 2010

Review of Sam Munson’s The November Criminals

by Craig Fehrman, posted in Books, Politics

[Wall Street Journal]

In tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal—online tonight!—I’ve got a review of Sam Munson’s first novel, The November Criminals. About the only bad thing I can say is that its page numbers are basically unreadable. (See for yourself on Google Books.)

One point I try to raise in the review is how and why we might think of The November Criminals as a “conservative novel.” The best broad take on this topic remains Benjamin Nugent’s, which appeared a couple of years back in n+1. Munson fans might also listen to this interview with him on The Forward‘s website. He sounds like another Jewish stoner funny man, Seth Rogen, to an uncanny degree.

Review of Tom Bissell’s Extra Lives

by Craig Fehrman, posted in Books

[Christian Science Monitor]

In the Christian Science Monitor, I’ve got a review of Tom Bissell’s Extra Lives: Why Videogames Matter. This book has attracted a lot of reviews—most of them, like mine, very positive—but I haven’t seen anyone point out that, in the book itself, Bissell actually writes about “why video games matter—and why they don’t matter more.” That subtlety might not make for a marketing-friendly subtitle, but it does make for an intelligent analysis of videogames. If the subject interests you, I’d also recommend Jason Fagone’s Esquire profile of an indie gamer. It’s one of my favorite pieces of magazine writing.

Another thing most reviews have overlooked is Extra Lives‘ appendix, which includes a long aside on Metal Gear Solid 4 and a longer interview with Peter Molyneux. Bissell asks Molyneux, who’s something of an eminence grise in the game design world, if he agrees that videogames have gone from “petroglyphic rock art to the Sistine Chapel in twenty years.” Molyneux responds, beautifully and affirmatively:

Pretty much everything we’ve done, we’ve invented. There wasn’t this technology pool that we pulled it out of. Ten, fifteen years ago, you couldn’t walk into a bookshop and learn how to do it. There weren’t any books on this stuff. They did not exist. Painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? No. We had to invent architecture first. We had to quarry the stones. We had to invent the paint.

Welcome to the Wide World of . . . Urban Squash?

by Craig Fehrman, posted in All History is Local History, Features, Sports

[New Haven Advocate]

In this week’s New Haven Advocate, I’ve got a long story on Squash Haven, a local nonprofit that follows the after-school orthodoxy except for one thing: its kids play squash. This focus raises some obvious questions (namely: Why turn to such an expensive and elitist sport?), and I try to touch on them in the story. Still, the people at Squash Haven are doing great work and getting great results. It’s tough to question that.

I should add that the story might seem a little fractured or jumpy since, for a lot of reasons (most of them my fault), the reporting dates back to 2008. I did go back this month to check on my group of middle schoolers, and several of them are heading to a national squash tournament. I’m sure they—and Squash Haven as a whole—will do New Haven proud.