A few days ago, my wife asked me what united my favorite writers; articulate as ever, the only description that came to mind was a grunt and fist-thrust. Her point was most of my favorite writers are men—with the notable exceptions of Sontag, Solnit, and a few others—and the brute grunting an attempt at self-criticism. But there is a certain forcefulness of prose in writers I admire, a clarity and concision that isn't any simple minimalism but instead a sign of writing that's unapologetically daring and unwilling to hide behind caveats or technical vocabulary. These are writers who edit down to to the bone, and most of my favorite modern examples come from N+1, of whom Mark Greif is a founding editor and prominent writer.

Against Everything is the first collection of Greif's essays published in English, and it's a treat. I'd read about half the essays before, and they proved to still be as insightful and enjoyable on a re-read. "Afternoon of the Sex Children" is an unflinching, damning look at the way we treat sexuality and youth, and "Seeing Through Police" the most insightful big-picture look at the unsettled bond between citizens and police. And other essays I encountered for the first time and adored, like the dyad of "The Concept of Experience" and "Aesthetic Ideology".

What characterizes the best Greif essays, in my opinion, is a combination of searing honesty and willingness to deploy theory and Big Ideas. He feels like he's plumbing contemporary American ideologies that are so pervasive that we can't even articulate them, outside of seeing their symptoms everywhere. And rather than scornful or condescending, his default stance is deeply humane. This is healthy and helpful writing, much like the recent book by Kristen Dombek I loved.

Highly recommended!