Includes index. Cover subtitle: a quarter century of journalistic encounters, cultural fulminations and notes from lost cities.
Bono -- Paul Auster -- Marti Friedlander -- Samir El-Youssef -- From Arkansas to the Oval Office -- Lange was master of shutting down critics -- Kiwiblogger David Farrar -- Temple Grandin -- Eliot -- All hail the Hutt -- Before we lost a city -- There will be surprises -- Little criminals -- Creatures in an exhibition -- For Bible editors, no day of rest -- The afterlife -- Giving Karl Popper his propers -- Nice knowing you, Ma'am -- Te Jewry -- Take that, Tehran -- Kingdom of the curdled milk Sheikh -- Bob on Bob -- Robert Xagu & the school of rock -- Joni Mitchell -- The acne and the ecstasy -- Same old song -- It's alright, Ma (he's only preaching) -- Boss class -- Never mind the Sex Pistols, here's the bollocks -- I have seen rock and roll future, and I quit -- Alex Haley's 41 shots -- David Mussry -- Elvis has left the building -- Kiri -- Dean Dunlop -- From Westminster to Waikato -- Oh, crikey! -- On the conditions and possibilities of Richard Meros taking me as his interviewer -- St Paul's letter to the vulgarians -- Me and Mr Levin -- As outraged as Paul Henry -- Rattle and ho-hum -- Hitchens '94 -- It was different in the times of yore -- Nixon's USA -- Come and see the guru of the Times -- Your presidential slips are showing -- An open letter to Ahmed Zaoui -- Going native -- Shelter porn -- Auster magic -- A writing-class hero is something to be.
Articles previously published in: New Zealand listener, Chronicle of higher education, Jerusalem report, National business review, Guardian, The capital and others.