An eloquent look at the first few years of the twenty-first century from acute social critic Mark Kingwell

In this collection of his columns published in the National Post from 2000 to 2003, philosopher and critic Mark Kingwell turns his attention to world issues from September 11 to soccer violence, from God to the Gulf War, and from private space to public protest. He also looks at the small, the quirky, and the Canadian in columns such as “Canucks-the gays of North America,” “Cricket-a pursuit unruled by money,” and “The cart ruling: one golfer gets a free ride.” He pre-empts Lynn Truss's global bestseller, Eats Shoots & Leaves, with his 2000 rant “Bad grammar drives me to drink” and laments the demise of civility in “On being civil: it's not enough to say you are.”

Mark Kingwell is a professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto and a contributing editor of Harper’s Magazine. He is the author of eleven books of political and cultural theory, including most recently, Concrete Reveries: Consciousness and the City (2008) and Opening Gambits: Essays on Art and Philosophy (2008). He is the recipient of the Spitz Prize in political theory, National Magazine Awards for both essays and columns, and in 2000 was awarded an honorary DFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design for contributions to theory and criticism.

Patrick Turmel is an assistant professor of philosophy at Université Laval. His main research interests are in moral and political philosophy. He has published articles in ethics and on issues pertaining to cities and justice. He is also co-editor of Penser les institutions (Presses de l’Université Laval).

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