Vice of Reading, The / Edith Wharton

A great American novelist offers a scathing attack on the worst kinds of reading. Edith Wharton argues that the growing cultural influence of 'mechanical' readers is having a disastrous impact on the world of letters. A subtly devastating work of social criticism, 'The Vice of Reading' is also a celebration of the voracious and amoral consumption that marks out the very best readers.