Black and white and read all over

David Brooks certainly sounded reasonable in trying to contextualize Ronald Reagan's infamous "states' rights" speech in 1980. The speech wasn't about race relations, post-convention Republicans had actually been trying to court black votes, no one interpreted the short speech at the time in the way demonizing liberals have since cast it except for a couple of newspapers. Calling Reagan personally racist or a panderer to bigots is a slur, Mr. Books' contends.

But now a pissed-off Phil Nugent has taken Mr. Brooks' argument apart.

November 11, 2007 3:58 PM | Permalink

Categories:

THE REVIEWS:

Pat Barker, Frankenstein, Cass Sunstein on the internet, Samuel Johnson, Thrillers, Denis Johnson, Alan Furst, Caryl Phillips, Richard Flanagan, George Saunders, Michael Harvey, Larry McMurtry, Harry Potter and more ...

ESSAY:

Big D between the sheets -- Dallas in fiction

ESSAY:

Reviewing the state of reviewing

ESSAY:

9/11 as a novel: Why?

ESSAY:

How can critics say the things they do? And why does anyone pay attention? It's the issue of authority.

The disappearing book pages:

Papers are cutting book coverage for little reason

Thrillers and Lists:

Noir favorites, who makes the cut and why