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« More about Battlefield Earth | Main | Robots, monsters, and a reality sandwich » Tuesday, May 15, 2007Guarding the gateThere is a new book out from Ivan R. Dee that marks the 25th birthday of The New Criterion by collecting some of the highlights of its coverage of culture and the arts. The New Criterion, co-edited by its founder, Hilton Kramer, and Roger Kimball, is devoted to an unabashed defense of high and unwavering standards that pits itself against cultural relativism. The magazine is a self-described "articulate scourge of artistic mediocrity and intellectual mendacity wherever they are found." The journal's all-out broadsides are probably its best feature, as Thomas Meaney writes in a piece in the New York Sun. The New Criterion's often vicious brand of dissent -- John Simon and James Wolcott are two of the practitioners -- can be wildly funny, sometimes intentionally, other times not. In certain arenas the pieces don't necessarily hew to conservative dogma, and the magazine has been over the years an incubator for young talent. Whether you're looking to get your fix of high-art appreciation or to have your hackles raised, you will probably be entertained by this book. Posted by Evan Hughes at 12:57 PM
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