Liberal Fascism I

My inscribed copy might take a few weeks, but the Borders at Fox Point had a stack up front on a table marked "new and noteworthy." Got through two chapters last night; not sure why people think the beginning is dry because it seems to me that Goldberg writes like he talks/blogs.

So far, the most fascinating part is in the intro, where he includes a URL and offers to engage anyone who wants to discuss the book "in good faith." I'm fascinated because I've been reading books for over thirty years (admittedly, the first year or two the books had big pictures) and this is the first time I've seen a discussion URL in the actual text. In the additional miscellaneous material included by the publisher, but not the author's text ("Anna Arkedyevna sighed, and logged into oprah.com to read about a new miracle diet while she waited for the samovar to sing...").

It could be an interesting trend, since very little on the Internet lasts for five, ten years. You'll probably always be able to find the text of Shakespeare online--someone will manage to procure tax dollars to fund the server--much like you can find century-old printed copies, but the YouTube video of kittens "acting" out King Lear is very, very fleeting.