In an 1852 letter, Gustave Flaubert announced his ambition to write “a book about nothing, a book with no external attachments.” He added: “The most beautiful books are those with the least matter.”
Flaubert managed to assault bourgeois sensibilities with such scandalous, if exquisitely wrought, works as Madame Bovary. But he never quite succeeded in writing a book about nothing. That achievement had to wait until the 21st century for fulfillment. The judges are still out, but I suspect that the palm for that award might well go to Michael J. Knowles, a recent graduate in history from Yale, for the incisive political analysis in Reasons to Vote for Democrats.
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