Critical Praise

"A book guaranteed to provoke spitting and fist fights... "

———Vanity Fair

"...a worthy pendant to Robert Hughes' The Culture of Complaint...In Defense of Elitism not only doesn't suffer fools gladly, it twists their tiny fluttering wings off. I loved it! "

———The New York Observer

"Bill Henry was one of the toughest, smartest, and most original men of letters in our generation. In Defense of Elitism shows him at his most provocative and controversial. Even when I disagree with his arguments, I admire the rigor of his thinking, the style with which he sets these ideas forth. A fitting memorial to one of our most original minds. "

———Henry Louis Gates Jr.

"A passionate yet reasoned argument for the proposition that some people simply contribute more to society than others. It challenges head-on the presumptions and platitudes of government, academia, and even private industry. "

——The Atlanta Journal Constitution.

"A wide-ranging, free-swinging commentary that will raise the hackles of nearly everyone. "

——New York Times.

"Bracing... eloquent testimony that what killed liberalism in this country is a deeply misguided egalitarianism. "

——The New York Times Book Review.