Authority: Essays on Being Right
A bold, provocative collection of essays by a Pulitzer winner on one of the most urgent questions of our time- what is authority when everyone has an opinion on everything?
'A rigorous thinker armed with a killer turn of phrase' Observer
'Her writing is razor-sharp, personal, and vociferous in its proclamations, but it's also fun - it's got bite' New Statesman
'One of the most charismatic and original thinkers at work today' Brandon Taylor
'Thrilling... Authority reminds us we haven't yet felt all there is to feel' Kaveh Akbar
Since her canonical 2017 essay 'On Liking Women', the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Andrea Long Chu has established herself as one of the most provocative, funny, brilliant and stylish critics at work today. With devastating wit and polemical clarity, she defies the imperative to leave politics out of art, instead modeling how the left might brave the culture wars without throwing in with the cynics and doomsayers.
Authority brings together Chu's critical work across a wide range of media-novels, television, theater, video games-as well as an acclaimed tetralogy of literary essays first published in n+1. As a critic, Chu places The Phantom of the Opera within a centuries-old conflict between music and drama; questions the enduring habit of reading Octavia Butler's science fiction as a parable of slavery; teases out the ideology behind Hillary Clinton's (fictional) sex life; and charges fellow critics like Maggie Nelson and Zadie Smith with a complacent humanism.
The unifying theme of the book is authority and taste in literature, art, culture and politics- how do we decide what's good, and how do we convince others that our judgement is correct?
'Fun reading' Guardian
'A galaxy-brain-level thinker' Torrey Peters
'A pure joy to read' Claire Dederer
-
Free Shipping for orders $150+
Book Categories:
Book Publication Date:
Book Publication Year:
Book Binding:
Book Language:
Book Authors:
Book Pages:
Book Dimensions: 11.15 cm, 0.99 cm, 17.78 cm
Book Publisher:
Publishing has a diversity problem. There are less 'diverse' books being published which limits the discoverability and reach of those authors.
Representation is important. Read more about why we exist here.
An anti-racist social enterprise bookstore specialising in BIPOC books.
Only about 11% of books published are by BIPOC authors — so unless you specifically seek out books by BIPOC authors, you aren't likely to find very many of them organically. At Amplify, BIPOC authors are highlighted and celebrated. Here, they don't have to fight to be seen, and you don't have to fight to find them.
We hope that in our shop, you can discover a new favourite read, find stories that speak uniquely to you, learn about a culture outside your own (or more about your own histories), and gain a better understanding of the systems that connect us all.
Looking for something super specific?
Have a scroll through our tag directory to help direct your search and bring you to curated collections, as grouped by subgenres, identity markers, and more!
