AKENFIELD: Portrait of an English Village by Ronald Blythe, with an Introduction by Matt Weiland (New York Review Books, 2015)
Woven from the words of the inhabitants of a small Suffolk village in the 1960s, Akenfield is a masterpiece of twentieth-century English literature, a scrupulously observed and deeply affecting portrait of a place and people and a now vanished way of life.
“You will never be the same after reading this exquisite and revelatory book.”—Studs Terkel
“This is a brilliant and extraordinary book.”—Jan Morris
STATE BY STATE: A Panoramic Portrait of America, edited by Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey (Ecco, 2008)
National Bestseller
Original essays on all 50 states by 50 American writers, including Alison Bechdel, Anthony Bourdain, Dave Eggers, Louise Erdrich, Jonathan Franzen, S.E. Hinton, Edward P. Jones, Tony Horwitz, Jhumpa Lahiri, Susan Orlean, George Packer, Ann Patchett and more.
“The full plumage of American life, in all its riotous glory.”—The New Yorker
“Funny, moving, rousing… Greater than the sum of its excellent parts.”—New York Times Book Review
“Odds are, reading State by State, you’ll fall for every state a little.”—Los Angeles Times
NAMES ON THE LAND: A Historical Account of Place-Names in the United States by George R. Stewart, with an Introduction by Matt Weiland (New York Review Books, 2008)
Written during World War II as a tribute to the varied heritage of the nation’s peoples, Names on the Land remains the authoritative source on place-names in America and a delightful window on American history and social life.
“Important, useful, interesting…. Names on the Land is a wonderful work of original research and a fine book to dip into.”—New York Times
“A learned and rollicking act of patriotic toponymy…. Few authors or books are more American—in every good sense of that word—than George R. Stewart and Names on the Land.”—Wall Street Journal
THE THINKING FAN’S GUIDE TO THE WORLD CUP, edited by Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey (HarperPerennial, 2006)
National Bestseller
Original essays on all 32 participating nations by 32 writers, including Geoff Dyer, Dave Eggers, Aleksandar Hemon, Nick Hornby, John Lanchester, Henning Mankell, Tim Parks, Eric Schlosser, Tom Vanderbilt, and more.
“An impressive mix of engaging pieces from some of the English language’s best-known contemporary literary figures.”—Wall Street Journal
“A hugely satisfying grab-bag of unexpected perspectives on sport’s biggest event.”—The Independent (UK)
COMMODIFY YOUR DISSENT: The Business of Culture in the New Gilded Age, edited by Thomas Frank and Matt Weiland (Norton, 1997)
National Bestseller
In the grand tradition of H.L. Mencken’s American Mercury, a collection of sharp, satirical broadsides from the original incarnation of The Baffler.
“You’d have to look back at the fights between New York intellectuals in the ‘50s to find the sort of verbal firepower unleashed here full plumage of American life, in all its riotous glory.”—The Nation