I have had many dreams in my life. I’ve always wanted to be an author. When I published my first book, my author dream shifted to writing three books. AfterWords is the second of the three books I hope to publish, the second book in my Words collection.

Reading both philosophical and theological texts, this book presents an argument against nostalgia: against the myth of a Golden Age, against the posture that sees "modernity" as a problem to be solved.

A riveting compilation of pieces which perfectly capture the cultural shift in America after September 11th, 2001. Featured writers include Rick Moody, Janet Fitch, and Caroline Knapp, as well as other non-professional writers. After September 11, 2001, emotions couldn't be clearly defined. There were no words strong enough to justify, avenge, explain, or express the sheer magnitude of this horrifyingly unique moment in history. In this remarkable anthology, compiled by Salon's award-winning editorial team, Rick Moody, Janet Fitch, Caroline Knapp, and Jeffrey Eugenides join many contemporary literary talents and reporters in giving a voice to the day that left a stunning roar of silence across America. Dread, fear, heroism, and dignity color these pages from eyewitness accounts of ordinary citizens turned rescue workers, to an escape from the World Trade Center, a report on everyday New Yorkers finding comfort in "terror sex," and stories of miracles in the madness—like that of a blind man led by his seeing-eye dog down eighty-seven flights of stairs to safety. Afterwords also probes the aftermath of the attacks on the nation and the world's cultural, political, and social fabric through writing ranging from an in-depth interview with controversial social critic Noam Chomsky, to a female Pakistani-American journalist's meeting with a Taliban leader and his wives, and essays on how sheer horror gave way to heartening solidarity, macabre spectacle, and kitschy sentimentality. Immediate, raw, emotional, and empowering, this outstanding collection speaks brilliantly to the simple need to remember and comprehend what happened against that perfect blue sky on September 11, 2001. A portion of the royalties will be donated to the Twin Towers Fund and the Red Cross's Fund for Afghan Children.

A startling, not to say exciting, collection of excerpts from the uncensored diaries of gay men's sexual explorations over the past four decades. Secrets, confessions, the unadulterated truth, it's all here and more, giving the reader unlimited access to the shivering sensations of one-night stands, rebound romances, and infidelity. Unabashedly explicit and surging with the immediacy of the moment, it's an entree into a life and experiences beyond your own. So pick it up. No one's watching.

Why is it that so many efforts by liberals to lift the black underclass not only fail, but often harm the intended beneficiaries? In Please Stop Helping Us, Jason L. Riley examines how well-intentioned welfare programs are in fact holding black Americans back. Minimum-wage laws may lift earnings for people who are already employed, but they price a disproportionate number of blacks out of the labor force. Affirmative action in higher education is intended to address past discrimination, but the result is fewer black college graduates than would otherwise exist. And so it goes with everything from soft-on-crime laws, which make black neighborhoods more dangerous, to policies that limit school choice out of a mistaken belief that charter schools and voucher programs harm the traditional public schools that most low-income students attend. In theory these efforts are intended to help the poor—and poor minorities in particular. In practice they become massive barriers to moving forward. Please Stop Helping Us lays bare these counterproductive results. People of goodwill want to see more black socioeconomic advancement, but in too many instances the current methods and approaches aren’t working. Acknowledging this is an important first step.