Articles by Darryl Campbell
April 18, 2013
Eat, Drink, and Read Mary: The Millions Interviews Mary Roach 0
I think digestion is another lurid, taboo subject — particularly from the navel down. But even what goes on in the mouth is an unthinkable, revolting thing that no one wants to think about. There was a sense that this was right up my stinky little alley.
September 11, 2012
Is This Book Bad, or Is It Just Me? The Anatomy of Book Reviews 35
You can critique the critics. You can be a meta-Michiko. Use this knowledge wisely.
November 4, 2010
American Rust and Other Recession Fictions 2
Besides getting the economic indicators right, Philipp Meyer understands that socioeconomic malaise and personal malaise are two sides of the same coin. He shows, through the eyes of each of the main characters, the human consequences of a sick economy.
October 12, 2010
Our Meals, Ourselves: A Short History of Food Writing 5
“Tell me what you eat,” wrote Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, “and I will tell you what you are.”
September 21, 2010
Remembering Ken Burns’s The Civil War: A Documentary of Difficult Ideas 1
By the standards of most “historical” documentaries, The Civil War lacks a certain testicular fortitude. It is, well, rather bookish.
August 26, 2010
Oral History at the End of the World: World War Z and its Cousins 3
World War Z is not a shallow book by any means. But World War Z never quite manages the same level of moral pique as The Good War and the now obscure former bestseller Warday, a bleak speculative oral history of America after a nuclear attack.