Author Louis Bayard

	NEW! Review "The Litigators" by John Grisham Read... NEW! Review "Harold: The Boy Who Become Mark Twain" Hal Holbrook's memoir by Hal Holbrook Read... NEW! Review "Writing Movies for Fun and Profit" by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon Read... Book Review "Sinatra: The Voice" by James Kaplan Read... Book Review Review of "Maf the Dog" by Andrew O'Hagan Read... Book Review Review of Keith Richards' "Life" Read... Book Review Review of "At Home" by Bill Bryson Read... Book Review Review of Carl Hiaasen's "Star Island" Read... Book Review Kitty Kelley's biography of "OPRAH A Biography" (April 2010) Read... I also appear (7 minutes in) in a CBS Sunday Morning profile of Kitty K: Watch... Book Review "The Imperfectionists" by Tom Rachman (May 2010) Read... Book Review "Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone," by Nadine Cohodas (February 2010) Read... Book Review "The Room and the Chair" by Lorraine Adams (February 2010) Read... Book Review "Bowie" by Marc Spitz (Dec. 2009) Read... Book Review 'Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong' by Terry Teachout (Dec. 2009) Read... Webcast for a local PBS affiliate Roundup of the best books of 2009 Listen... Doh! The joke's on us Review of "The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History" by John Ortved Read... The 'Symbol' of an Unstoppable Force Review of "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown Read... Bedeviled in Barcelona Review of "The Angel's Game" by Carlos Ruiz Zafón Read... Love—the Scientific Way Review of "Masters of Sex" by Thomas Maier Read... The Bard's Beautiful Mind Review of "Soul of the Age" by Jonathan Bate Read... A Lust for Beauty Review of "Vincente Minnelli" by Emanuel Levy Read... The Ego that Fed Fitness Fever Review of "Mr. America" by Mark Adams Read... A Long-Winded Rival to Dickens Review of "Drood" by Dan Simmons Read... Sociable Darwinists The Americans who believed in "survival of the fittest" Read... Malcolm Gladwell's secrets of success Bill Gates and the Beatles owe their genius to nurture not nature, argues the acclaimed "Tipping Point" author. It's a nice theory. Read... Why "Scarface" is f---ing great De Palma's '80s cult classic is trash, many scoff. But the lowdown, seedy movie with Al Pacino as a Cuban thug influenced pop culture from gangsta rap to "Miami Vice." Read... Black presidents we have known What does it look like to have an African-American in the White House? Pop culture has offered versions awful and great, from Sammy Davis Jr. to Chris Rock. Read... Payback's a bitch Margaret Atwood talks about the perils of debt—and imagines a utopian future without greed. Read... If McCain wins, should we all move to Scandinavia? Imagine a land where presidents don't sprinkle holy water on wars, citizens have good healthcare and governments care about the environment. Read... Must read: New fiction we love Bootlegging brothers, get-rich-quick schemes and a sensational murder trial make "The Wettest County in the World" a riveting read. Read... A nation of conspiracy theorists can't be wrong From miracle diets to creationism to rumors about the origins of 9/11, a new book traces our irrational love of misinformation. Read... Philip Roth's Jewish question In his affecting new book, Roth's young hero abandons his Jewish upbringing for life in small town Ohio. Read... So much misery, so little time Peter Trachtenberg took a tour around the world in his quest to understand why some people are crushed by suffering and others are transformed by it. Read... The 1960s' gayest show As a kid, "The Wild Wild West" taught me about sexiness and desire—and how two men could live together and love each other. Read... How Kafka-esque is Kafka? The Czech writer has become the prophet of our absurd era, but a new book intends to strip the author of his saintly reputation. Read... "Brideshead Revisited" No expense has been spared in this lavish, streamlined adaptation, but is there such a thing as too much good taste? Read... How to read the James Wood way The fiercely talented critic takes us on an illuminating tour of fiction—but there's a hole in his plot. Read... Answering terror with terror In "The Dark Side," Jane Mayer chronicles the terrible, destructive decisions the Bush administration made in the name of fighting terrorism. Read... Jesus loves you—and your orgasm The religious right is celebrating sex to stroke its conservative message. Liberals better rise to a secular defense soon. Read... Gore Vidal's inconvenient truths "The Selected Essays of Gore Vidal" reminds us that this combative political provocateur is also one of our finest literary critics. Read... Scott McLellan comes clean Of course the White House couldn't see the revealing "What Happened" coming. It was McClellan's job as press secretary to conceal himself. Read... Kiss my ass For years America has desperately tried to outlaw sodomy and other sex acts like fellatio and cunnilingus. What are we so scared of? Read... Are you too dumb to vote? Sure, ignorance is rampant among the American electorate, as Rick Shenkman argues. But without The People, there would be no Democracy as we know it. Read... Finale wrap-up: "American Idol" America finally gets it right, and the best man wins! Read... Who killed the literary critic? In the age of blogging, great critics appear to be on life support. Salon's book reviewers discuss snobbery, how to make criticism fun and the need for cultural gatekeepers. Read... Why Ronald Reagan didn't completely suck In "The Age of Reagan," liberal historian Sean Wilentz reckons with the enormous, ongoing influence of the teflon president. Read... Is everything we know about American history wrong? Forget the Pilgrims. America's roots are older and more twisted, what Tony Horwitz calls a "primordial slime of false starts and mutations." Read... Legal appeal Long before there was "Law and Order," a TV criminal defense attorney named Perry Mason brought high courtroom drama to the masses. Read... Flagging America's racial divide An infamous 1976 photo captured a violent encounter between white Bostonians and a black lawyer during an anti-busing rally. A new book explains why this image continues to haunt and define us. Read... The witty detective Karen Joy Fowler's follow-up to bestseller "The Jane Austen Book Club" is a detective novel about a mystery writer whose tales come back to haunt her. Read... Can Stephen Colbert save America? A new book argues that Colbert, Jon Stewart and Bill Maher are good for democracy. But is it taking late-night comedy too seriously? Read... Seduced by the Dalai Lama He may be a global icon of goodness, as Pico Iyer's biography reminds us. But is the Dalai Lama the political leader Tibet needs? Read... Die, Daddy, Die! After a lifetime of competing with his father, writer David Shields has had enough. But the aged patriarch remains "cussedly, maddeningly alive." Read... The Down Side Sadness may be good philosophy—and better for you. Read... Are You Going to Hell? Former born-again Christian John Marks journeyed back into the evangelical America he'd left behind and discovered the promise—and limitations—of faith. Read... Dissecting "Gray's Anatomy" Review of "The Anatomist" by Bill Hayes Read... The Inner Bard Review of "Shakespeare Unbound" by Rene Weis Read... Once Upon a Wild and Crazy Time Review of "Born Standing Up" by Steve Martin Read... It's Alive! Review of "Frankenstein: A Cultural History" by Susan Tyler Hitchcock Read... Ripe for the Picking Review of "Strawberry Fields" by Marina Lewycka Read... The Unauthorized Katie Couric: Smiling Ambition Review of Edward Klein's "Katie: The Real Story" Read... A Tang to the Warm Spit Review of "The Coup" by Jamie Malanowski Read... Jack Valenti's Memoir Rated "L" for Loyal Review of "This Time, This Place" by Jack Valenti Read... Dr. Polidori's Pilgrimage Review of "Imposture" by Benjamin Markovits Read... A Dashing Actor, Dashing off a Disappointment Review of "Include Me Out" by Farley Granger Read... History Meets Fiction and Smashes It Flat Review of "Heyday" by Kurt Andersen Read... A fraud's life Can great art spring from a lie? Two new books about forgers raise provocative questions about the links between authenticity and genius. Read... YouTube, j'accuse! Controversial critic and disgraced blogger Lee Siegel rages against Internet culture and blogofascism. Read... "Being told we can't is making a lot of homos wanna" In "The Commitment", sex columnist Dan Savage explores what gay marriage actually feels, sounds and smells like—but should he tie the knot? Read... Who needs a spanky? The exploitative "Who's Your Daddy?" is too stupid to get worked up over. But Americans might want to question the Fox idea of family. Read... Bad "Boy" As the serialized gay bashing of "Boy Meets Boy" winds to a close, will the gay hero be duped by the straight guy? Or will viewers get duped into thinking this is really edgy new cultural ground? Read... A dying breed In the new world of body-slamming right-wing politics, what's a snooty, fake-patrician über-WASP conservative like George Will to do? Read... Culture war is hell Sept. 11 may have brought the country together as never before—but that hasn't fooled William Bennett. He is going cave by cave until every humanist and moral relativist has been smoked out. Read... Just So-So Stories Review of "True Enough" by Stephen McCauley Read... Getting Even Review of "The Abomination" by Paul Golding Read... Holy madness? A novel about a nun tormented to find that her epiphanic visions have a biological cause. Read... Get Me Rewrite A first novel that deals with life and death at a newspaper. Read... He/She's So Fine Review of "Trans-sister Radio" by Chris Bohjalian Read... A Terrible Splendor Review of "A Match Made in Heaven" by Marshall Jon Fisher Read...