An exhilarating journey through the world of books, featuring personal reflections on Susan Sontag, Huey Newton, Barbra Streisand, W. G. Sebald, and Christopher Hitchens. "A troublemaker of the good kind since his youth, Wasserman continues to inspire with his vigorous dedication to the life of the mind, exhibited with clarity and grace in this book." — Viet Thanh Nguyen Born on the West Coast, the son of Bronx-born parents, Steve Wasserman is a generalist and public intellectual but is perhaps less well known as a cultural essayist and social critic of the first rank. In thirty splendid essays, originally published in such diverse publications as The New Republic and The Nation , The American Conservative and The Progressive , The Village Voice and The Economist , Wasserman delivers a riveting account of the awakening of an empathetic sensibility and a lively mind. Taken together, they reveal the depth and breadth of his enthusiasms and range over politics, literature, and the tumults of a world in upheaval. These essays include the remarkable tale of a bookstore owner who wouldn't let him buy the books he wanted, to his brave against-the-grain take on the Black Panthers, to his shrewd assessment of the fast-changing world of publishing. Here is, as Joyce Carol Oates notes, "arguably the very best concise history of Cuba and the legendary Fidel Castro; beautifully composed eulogies for two close friends, Susan Sontag and Christopher Hitchens; sharply perceptive commentary on Daniel Ellsberg; a thrillingly candid interview with W. G. Sebald." Finalist - Foreword Reviews INDIES Editor's Choice Prize for Nonfiction Praise for Tell Me Something, Tell Me Anything, Even If It's a Lie : "Wasserman's love of reasoned debate and good writing shines through, and he often displays an impish wit. [. . .] The book is a remarkable record of a well-lived life. Written with care, passion, a keen eye for fakery, and a willingness to puncture it." — Kirkus Reviews "In this boisterous debut essay collection, Wasserman, the publisher of Heyday Books, discusses his literary friendships, lefty politics, and opinions on publishing's technological shifts. [...] Wasserman comes off as the quintessential book world insider, reflecting on his friendships with Susan Sontag and Christopher Hitchens, whose rightward turn in the early aughts Wasserman laments in an elegiac remembrance. [...] Erudite yet chatty, this gossipy grab bag of reminiscences will be catnip for book lovers." — Publishers Weekly "'Orson Welles Meets a Deadline' is surely the most hilarious piece in Wasserman's collection and seals his skill as a storyteller on the page. [...] Meetings with Barbra Streisand, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Gore Vidal are similarly thrilling [...] I could've read another book's worth of his takes on the demise of American print media, the decline of independent booksellers and their subsequent rebirth, and his hatred of Amazon." — Denise Sullivan, San Francisco Chronicle "Throughout this wide-ranging book, Wasserman reflects on Barbra Streisand, interviews W.G. Sebald, offers shrewd commentary on Daniel Ellsberg, and summarizes the history of Cuba. Although his topics are diverse, Wasserman's wit and intelligence are consistently on display." — Alta Journal "[Wasserman] is a fine writer, offering a wealth of context to every subject, and a vocabulary to die for. Yet he is not sorry to have made his name as a publisher of other people's work." — The Jewish News of Northern California "Steve Wasserman has crafted a name and a career for himself over the past several decades as a polemical writer, brilliant editor, savvy publisher and as an (aging) enfant terrible who has declared cultural war on Berkeley, on California and on the American left. He has also carried on the good work that Malcolm Margolin began at Heyday. As a native of the Golden State, and a child of the Sixties, no one is better suited than Wasserman for the work of demolition that he has laid out for himself." — Jonah Raskin, CounterPunch "If ever a man was in love with The Movement—that is, the peace and liberationist movements of the 1960s, '70s, and '80s—that man is Steve Wasserman. This collection of essays, in all its intelligent exuberance, pays full respect to that honorable devotion." — Vivan Gornick , author of Taking a Long Look "It's such a pleasure to see the cream of Steve Wasserman's writings now collected, from the remarkable tale of a bookstore owner who wouldn't let him buy the books he wanted to his brave against-the-grain take on the Black Panthers to his shrewd assessment of the fast-changing world of publishing. He is, as he says of his late friend Susan Sontag, an 'omnivore'—about politics, about literature, and about the way the rebellious currents he first encountered in 1960s Berkeley have continued to ripple through American life. The resulting volume is a feast." — Adam Hochschild , author of American Midnight "Steve Wasserm