Need a break from the monotony of grading? Read Jennifer Szalai’s provocative review of the new collection of Dwight Macdonald’s essays, edited by John Summers, Masscult and Midcult: Essays Against the American Grain. The essay raises a number of important questions, such as the following few: Is it a worthwhile endeavor to create hierarchies of cultural taste? Now or ever? Can high culture be democratized without losing its Avant-Garde critical edge? This last question is particularly important in the work of our very own Tim Lacy, who is writing a book on the history of the Great Books project championed Read more