#11/1998

is another kick-ass issue of this 128-page must-read literary/critical journal. This issue features editor Thomas Frank’s “Triangulation Nation: Affirming Mediocrity in a Jaded Age” (with its excellent exposure of the insidious success of the Gannett newspaper chain—publisher of USA Today and a slew of mediocre monopoly rags), Paul Maliszewski’s hilarious (although almost unreadable due to too-small type) “I Am a Fugitive from Business Journalism,” Marc Cooper’s personal account of his escape from the CIA/ITT coup against Allende’s Chile, and Kim Phillips-Fein’s succinct summary of “The Wages of Credit” (on the significance of Chapter Eleven bankruptcy in the modern domestic economy). Past numbers have already sold out, so send these folks $6 immediately for a sample copy, or better yet [JM]