Book promotion wisdom for the Twitter era? Victorian novelist George Gissing on social standing and literary success

"Men won’t succeed in literature that they may get into society, but will get into society that they may succeed in literature." – Jasper Milvain, the social-climbing journalist in George Gissing‘s New Grub Street, his classic about the London literary world more than a century ago. Question: Substitute “Web,” “Facebook” or “Twitter” for “society,” and […]

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‘Conversations with Papa Charlie’ book review: Thumbs up—and toes, relax

The Schmidoffs’ windmill burned down in 1908 in Lipnick, Russia. An upshot was a real estate empire half a planet away, including Crystal City, the huge office and residential complex across the highway from Reagan National Airport. How did it happen? A rabbi saw the fire and other events as signs for the Schmidoffs to […]

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