Authority

by Andrea Long Chu
Authority cover
Good Books rating 4.23
Essays / Essay Collections
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  • ID: 2234
  • Added: 2025-10-13
  • Updated: 2025-10-13
  • ISBN: 9780374600341
  • Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
  • Published: 2025-04-08
  • Formats: 5
  • Reviews: 3

In 'Authority,' Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Andrea Long Chu delves into the urgent question of what authority means in an era where everyone has an opinion. With sharp wit and polemical clarity, she explores the intersection of politics and art, defying the notion that the two should be separate. Chu's essays span a wide range of media, from novels and television to theater and video games, offering fresh perspectives on classic works and contemporary criticism. /n/n Chu also revisits the perennial crisis of authority in criticism, tracing its intellectual history from the Enlightenment to the present day. She argues for a more engaged and politically aware approach to criticism, one that acknowledges the genuine crises of our time, from authoritarianism to genocide, and responds to them with rigor and insight.

Reviews
The New York Times · 2025-08-26
bold 4.20

The book is praised for its bold and provocative essays that tackle the politics of criticism and various forms of media.

The New York Times reviewer highlights Andrea Long Chu's 'Authority' as a collection that fearlessly explores the politics of criticism across fiction, TV, video games, and more. The essays are described as bold and provocative, offering a fresh perspective on authority in contemporary culture. The reviewer appreciates the depth and breadth of Chu's analysis, noting that her writing is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally resonant.

Quick quotes

    'Authority' gathers together three kinds of writing: reviews, personal essays and reflections on the art of criticism, most of them previously published.

    In 'Authority,' celebrated and provocative critic Andrea Long Chu writes about fiction, TV, video games and the politics of criticism.

    The destructive thrust of Andrea Long Chu's reviews has left her ill-equipped to make a positive case for her own work.

The Guardian · Guardian Staff · 2025-08-01
provocative 4.00

The essays are described as knotty and meandering, with moments of pithy, clarifying insight. They hold the reader's interest through their complex and thought-provoking nature.

The reviewer from The Guardian finds Andrea Long Chu's essays in 'Authority' to be deeply engaging, though they acknowledge the complexity and meandering nature of the writing. The essays are seen as journeys that offer moments of profound insight, making them worthwhile despite their challenging structure. The reviewer appreciates the boldness and the provocative nature of the essays, which tackle urgent questions about authority in a way that feels both timely and necessary.

Quick quotes

    These essays are essentially journeys – knotty and meandering, with moments of pithy, clarifying insight.

    If you can hold someone's interest while they're trying to figure out what you're saying, you've done something right.

    Chu's writing is a bold, provocative collection that tackles one of the most urgent questions of our time: What is authority when everyone has an opinion on everything?

Los Angeles Review of Books · Grace Byron · 2025-04-07
assertive 4.50

The book is seen as a collection of reviews, personal essays, and reflections on criticism, offering a mix of assertive prose and intellectual depth.

Grace Byron, in her interview and review for the Los Angeles Review of Books, delves into Andrea Long Chu's 'Authority' as a work that blends reviews, personal essays, and reflections on the art of criticism. Byron highlights Chu's assertive and uncompromising stance, noting that the book is a testament to the power of critical thinking. She appreciates the intellectual rigor and the way Chu's writing challenges conventional notions of authority and criticism.

Quick quotes

    Like all truly great works of criticism, Authority makes remaining alive feel not just possible but worthwhile.

    Chu sees criticism 'as a genre of assertive prose,' and certainly her stance is nothing less than assertive, uncompromising, and sometimes snarky.

    A hate read runs on hate: Beneath whatever veneer of intellectual objectivity, any book as incandescently furious as this one is ultimately a long cry of pain.

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