Critical Mass: Four Decades of Essays, Reviews, Hand Grenades, and Hurrahs - Softcover

"Epically rewarding... Mr. Wolcott is among the last of the great, garrulous, generalist critics, equally at home writing about TV, movies, literature, music, comedy clubs, you name it... "Critical Mass" scoops up the best of his material from "Vanity Fair," for which he has written since 1983, as well as pieces from outlets that range from "The Village Voice," where he got his start in the 1970s, to "The New Yorker, Texas Monthly" and "The London Review of Books," among others. It's a vacuum-packed anthology of tight arguments and shrewd observations... Few writers can nail a performance, or an artist's body of work, with more ecstatic economy."
--"The New York Times
""Mr. Wolcott's cultural criticism is ecstatic and alive, and this big box of his best stuff is absurdly entertaining -- a rolling series of intellectual lightning strikes. Pound for pound, sentence for sentence, for a certain kind of reader, this is the book of the year."
- Dwight Garner's 10 Favorite Books of 2013, "The New York Times"
"For the past forty years critic James Wolcott has been a cerebral antidote to the dullness contaminating our cultural pages... There's also tremendous value in [his] sharp-eyed seeing...in doing what critics have been doing from Aristotle to Walter Pater to Mary McCarthy to John Updike: enhancing, augmenting art and culture by helping to explain the complexity and dynamism in their DNA. Some of Wolcott's analysis forever tweaks how you see, hear, and read."
"--The Daily Beast
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"Forthright and fair-minded, but ferocious in disdain, with the sly, smart voice of someone in the know but never caught up in the moment, this collection...preserves an unforgettable of 'that New York speciality--the well-informed wise guy.'"
--"Publishers Weekly
""An eclectic collection that reasserts the author's reputation as one of America's most perceptive, candid and human critics."
--"Kirkus Reviews
""Wolcott is a wickedly cunning, agile writer with a special talent for quick-sketch characterizations... "Critical Mass" is the perfect bedside-table book because its short entries promise pleasure from even the briefest dips into its pages."
--"Richmond Times-Dispatch"

"From the Hardcover edition."

"Epic, and epically rewarding. . . . A vacuum-packed anthology of tight arguments and shrewd observations." --"The New York Times Book Review"
"[Wolcott] is the preeminent critic of contemporary spectacle, matching his own supercharged style to the highlights of forty years of TV, pop music, books, and movies." --"The New York Review of Books"
"If any book could stir up my moldering competitive instincts, "Critical Mass" is the one. . . . Back in those long-gone "Voice" days, not a few of us cockily fancied that we were--or were going to be--pretty good. Jim was better." --Tom Carson, "Bookforum"
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"One of America's finest cultural critics." --"Flavorwire
""In an age of inane Twitter commentary, 'likes, ' and instant publication, one of the few critics standing athwart our culture and writing serious criticism is James Wolcott. . . . "Critical Mass" collects some of his most winning assassinations." --"The Daily Beast
"
"Wolcott is a wickedly cunning, agile writer with a special talent for quick-sketch characterizations. . . . "Critical Mass" is the perfect bedside-table book because its short entries promise pleasure from even the briefest dips into its pages." --"Richmond Times-Dispatch
"
"The thought hits every now and then when I read another critic: I wish I had written that sentence. Reading James Wolcott, though, 'every now and then' turns into every paragraph. . . . Sacred cows and conventional wisdom don't stand a chance against his pen." --Chris Vognar, "The Dallas Morning News"
"This book offers a sublime buzz." --"Prospect Magazine
"
"Forthright and fair-minded, but ferocious in disdain, with the sly, smart voice of someone in the know but never caught up in the moment, this collection." --"Publishers Weekly
"
"An eclectic collection that reasserts the author's reputation as one of America's most perceptive, candid and human critics." --"Kirkus Reviews"

Epic, and epically rewarding. . . . A vacuum-packed anthology of tight arguments and shrewd observations. The New York Times Book Review
[Wolcott] is the preeminent critic of contemporary spectacle, matching his own supercharged style to the highlights of forty years of TV, pop music, books, and movies. The New York Review of Books
If any book could stir up my moldering competitive instincts, Critical Mass is the one. . . . Back in those long-gone Voice days, not a few of us cockily fancied that we were or were going to be pretty good. Jim was better. Tom Carson, Bookforum

One of America s finest cultural critics. Flavorwire
In an age of inane Twitter commentary, likes, and instant publication, one of the few critics standing athwart our culture and writing serious criticism is James Wolcott. . . . Critical Mass collects some of his most winning assassinations. The Daily Beast

Wolcott is a wickedly cunning, agile writer with a special talent for quick-sketch characterizations. . . . Critical Mass is the perfect bedside-table book because its short entries promise pleasure from even the briefest dips into its pages. Richmond Times-Dispatch

The thought hits every now and then when I read another critic: I wish I had written that sentence. Reading James Wolcott, though, every now and then turns into every paragraph. . . . Sacred cows and conventional wisdom don t stand a chance against his pen. Chris Vognar, The Dallas Morning News
This book offers a sublime buzz. Prospect Magazine

Forthright and fair-minded, but ferocious in disdain, with the sly, smart voice of someone in the know but never caught up in the moment, this collection. Publishers Weekly

An eclectic collection that reasserts the author s reputation as one of America s most perceptive, candid and human critics. Kirkus Reviews"

James Wolcott is the long-time culture critic and blogger for Vanity Fair. He is most recently the author of the critically acclaimed memoir Lucking Out, and his essays, features, and reviews have appeared in The New Republic, The New York Times Book Review, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, and numerous other publications. He is also the author of a novel, The Catsitters, and a work of political commentary, Attack Poodles and Other Media Mutants. He lives in New York with his wife, the writer Laura Jacobs.