Eagleton manages to take an interesting topic and through postmodern academic masturbatory prose render it lifeless. ( )

http://nhw.livejournal.com/188286.html

I admit I only bought this lit crit book on intellectual life in nineteenth century Ireland because the author footnoted an article I wrote back in 1995. An interesting enough (and mercifully short) book, but he jumps around a bit chronologically, which is confusing, and on the science stuff I think he should have read my 1999 book as well. The first chapter was too densely written, and the economics chapter too boring, but the rest was good. ( )