Ben Varkentine takes a peek inside The Prime Time Closet, author Stephen Tropiano’s look at the depiction of gays and lesbians on television.

Rock stars say the darndest things, and John D. Luerssen has collected a sampling of the darndest of them all in his new book, Mouthing Off. Julio Diaz has some comments of his own.

James Mann takes a stab at learning from one of America’s greatest guitarists, via two books from John Fahey, American Primitive Guitar and Fingerstyle & Slide Guitar.

Is Life Of Pi just about a shipwrecked boy and tiger, or does Yann Martel’s novel have deeper meaning? Stein Haukland ponders the book’s many levels.

One of the most watched and most critically acclaimed shows on television goes under the microscope in three new books. Ben Varkentine takes an in-depth look.

The iconoclastic punk rocker and former leader of Screeching Weasel, Ben Weasel offers up his first non-fiction collection. Troy Jewell takes a look.

The blues had a baby, and Art Tipaldi wrote a book about it. James Mann looks at the Children of the Blues.

…but James Mann offers a review of two books on the subject that should be: Steven Blush’s American Hardcore: A Tribal History and Mark Spitz and Brendan Mullen’s We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk.

Sex, political intrigue, and… ancient Greece? Carl F. Gauze explains why Daniel Chavarria’s The Eye of Cybele is perfect summer reading.

Ever wondered where MP3’s come from, or how to get your music online? Mitch Gallagher reveals all in Make Music Now! James Mann plugs in.

Terry Eagan takes a hard look at U.S. foreign policy with an in-depth review of two new books: Samantha Power’s A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide and Robert D. Kaplan’s Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands a Pagan Ethos.

With 11 short tales of comic and macabre fantasy, Kelly Link’s new anthology, Stranger Things Happen, is aptly titled. Terry Eagan gets into the weirdness.

Now in paperback, Dan Chaon’s short story collection Among The Missing explores the themes of absence and identity. Terry Eagan gets lost in the pages.

With Uncivil Wars, David Horowitz takes a hard look at the controversial issue of reparations for slavery – and why talking about it can be a challenge to free speech. James Mann offers his thoughts.

Editor Norman Kelly takes a hard look at this business of black music in Rhythm And Business, a series of essays on the economic place of blacks in the music industry. Carl F. Gauze does the math.

Stupid, white and proud of it, Michael Moore looks at the state of our nation, and it ain’t pretty. James Mann takes the IQ test.

Thought The Mothman Prophecies was just Hollywood tripe? Think again, oh doubting one. James Mann takes a deeper look with the new book Mothman by Loren Coleman.

After tackling cocaine in his novel Snowblind, Robert Sabbag turns toward a more “herbal” remedy with Loaded: A Misadventure on the Marijuana Trail. Stein Haukland wonders whether the book should have been printed on rolling papers.

With the Academy Awards upon us, Ben Varkentine checks out the new edition of Emanuel Levy’s Oscar Fever, and lets you know whether it’s worthy of the red carpet or the golden raspberry.

In Bias, former CBS News insider Bernard Goldberg alleges that the “liberal” media is brainwashing viewers. James Mann takes a critical look.