Why American Book Critics Rarely Do Hatchet Jobs Anymore

Lee Siegel: “[The] dissolution of literary ghettos, where the slaughtering review once reigned, … [has meant] that serious negative criticism – there had always been the brisk negative newspaper review – could, for the first time, have real-life consequences. Now that authors could make a living from their advances, a withering takedown could be a blow to someone’s livelihood.”