In Praise of Messy Lives: Katie Roiphe

In her new essay collection, In Praise of Messy Lives, Katie Roiphe turns her exacting gaze on some of the narrow-minded social conventions governing the way we live in America today. Is there a preoccupation with “healthiness” above all else? If so, does it lead insidiously to judging anyone who tries to live differently? She examines such subjects as the current fascination with Mad Men, the oppressiveness of Facebook (“the novel we are all writing”), and the quiet malice our society displays toward single mothers. Reprinted for the first time and expanded is her much-debated New York Times Book Review cover piece, “The Naked and the Conflicted”—an unabashed argument on sex and the contemporary American male writer that is in itself an exciting and refreshing reminder that criticism matters.