William Golding may have had good reasons to write the dystopic Lord of the Flies; John Carey's new biography of the unhappy novelist reveals some of the indignities he had to endure, including this Navy mishap: Golding once "caused an explosion in his pants by placing bomb detonators and a battery in the same pocket."
Emily Gould continues her critique of her former employer, Gawker Media, writing that sites like Jezebel "tap into the market force of . . . 'outrage world,'" turning women against one another for the sake of the almighty Pageview. Meanwhile, the big-picture thinkers at Ad Age describe how its readers must contend with the Gawker-dominated media landscape: "The former playground bullies of the blog world have gone national, even global, and Establishment media players and marketers have no choice but to reckon with them."
Tonight at Manhattan's McNallyJackson Books, comedian, artist, and author Damali Ayo conjures a magical world without racism, Obamistan, offering a tongue-in-cheek guide to the topsy-turvy world of "post-racial" America.
