Michael Dirda

Michael Dirda is a weekly book columnist for The Washington Post and the author, most recently, of Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books. Its essays originally appeared on the home page of The American Scholar.

Books for the Holidays

Gift ideas for the young and old

by Michael Dirda | Friday, December 21, 2012

Thirteen for Halloween

Or, how one book critic thinks he can out-spook the Scholar

by Michael Dirda | Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Mr. Zinsser, I Presume

by Michael Dirda | Friday, February 10, 2012

Mr. Zinsser, I Presume

by Michael Dirda | Thursday, March 01, 2012

Scribble, Scribble

by Michael Dirda | Friday, March 23, 2012

Books on Books

by Michael Dirda | Friday, March 30, 2012

Text Mess

by Michael Dirda | Friday, April 06, 2012

After the Golden Age

by Michael Dirda | Friday, June 08, 2012

Rocky Mountain Low

by Michael Dirda | Friday, June 22, 2012

Readercon

by Michael Dirda | Friday, July 20, 2012

The Evidence in the (Book) Case

The books that reside on a writer’s nightstand can speak volumes indeed

by Michael Dirda | Friday, August 24, 2012

Then and Now

Going home again

by Michael Dirda | Friday, September 07, 2012

“I’m Done”

A look at artists in their autumnal years

by Michael Dirda | Friday, November 23, 2012

In Praise of Small Presses

The books they publish would enliven any library—but you likely won’t find them at your average big box

by Michael Dirda | Friday, December 07, 2012

Book Projects

The Art of Keeping Busy

by Michael Dirda | Friday, January 18, 2013

The Art of Elegant Simplicity

by Michael Dirda | Monday, April 07, 2014

Musical Chairs

by Michael Dirda | Friday, August 17, 2012

Thrift Stories

by Michael Dirda | Friday, August 10, 2012

Aurora

by Michael Dirda | Friday, July 27, 2012

Out of Print

by Michael Dirda | Friday, August 03, 2012

Wonder Books

by Michael Dirda | Friday, July 13, 2012

Hot Enough for You?

by Michael Dirda | Friday, July 06, 2012

The Fugitive

by Michael Dirda | Friday, June 29, 2012

This Is a Column

by Michael Dirda | Friday, March 16, 2012

Paper

by Michael Dirda | Friday, March 09, 2012

Bookish Pets

by Michael Dirda | Friday, March 02, 2012

Anthologies and Collections

by Michael Dirda | Friday, June 15, 2012

Armchair Adventures

by Michael Dirda | Friday, February 24, 2012

Style Is the Man

by Michael Dirda | Friday, February 17, 2012

Twilight of an Author

by Michael Dirda | Friday, April 13, 2012

Spring Book Sales

by Michael Dirda | Friday, April 20, 2012

Memories of Marseille

by Michael Dirda | Friday, April 27, 2012

Hail to Thee, Blithe Spirit!

by Michael Dirda | Friday, May 04, 2012

Synonym Toast

by Michael Dirda | Friday, May 11, 2012

Cowboys and Clubmen

by Michael Dirda | Friday, May 18, 2012

Grades

by Michael Dirda | Friday, May 25, 2012

Anglophilia

by Michael Dirda | Friday, June 01, 2012

A Positively, Final Appearance

And an exhortation to read, read, read

by Michael Dirda | Friday, February 01, 2013

Ending Up

Man can live on books alone, but he needs more bread to do so

by Michael Dirda | Friday, January 25, 2013

Oberlin

Nostalgia and longing for the middle of nowhere and the flowering of culture one finds there

by Michael Dirda | Friday, October 26, 2012

Money

… And its role in a just society

by Michael Dirda | Friday, January 11, 2013

A Dreamer’s Tale

Resolutions for the new year

by Michael Dirda | Friday, January 04, 2013

Let Us Now Praise Dover Books

The literary legacy of E. F. Bleiler

by Michael Dirda | Friday, December 28, 2012

Christmas Reading

A lot more than Dickens can help invoke the Yuletide spirit

by Michael Dirda | Friday, December 14, 2012

Poe and Baudelaire

Birds of a feather sold together …

by Michael Dirda | Friday, November 30, 2012

Language Matters

Style, substance, and the labor involved in getting it just so

by Michael Dirda | Friday, November 16, 2012

What’s in a Name?

Oh, the joys of being tuckerized …

by Michael Dirda | Friday, November 09, 2012

Jacques Barzun—and Others

The eminent scholar was among the last representatives of a grand literary tradition

by Michael Dirda | Friday, November 02, 2012

Waving Not Drowning

All those books set aside for projects yet to come—but is it madness?

by Michael Dirda | Friday, October 19, 2012

Castles in Space

Much more than mere escape

by Michael Dirda | Friday, October 12, 2012

Going, Going, Gone

Time is money, but art is art

by Michael Dirda | Friday, October 05, 2012

Dirty Pictures

George Bellows, the beauties of an industrial landscape, and a tribute to the quiet men who got things done

by Michael Dirda | Friday, September 28, 2012

New and Old

Building a book collection, one treasured volume at a time

by Michael Dirda | Friday, September 21, 2012

Mencken Day

Solitude sustains only for so long

by Michael Dirda | Friday, September 14, 2012

Charlottesville

Book hunting in the land of Jefferson

by Michael Dirda | Friday, August 31, 2012

The Best Course

A beloved professor’s long shadow

by Michael Dirda | Friday, December 06, 2013

Souls Hungering After Meaning

In Aegypt, John Crowley's just-completed four-book masterwork, ordinary people bear a faint symbolic glow through real and mythological realms

by Michael Dirda | Saturday, December 01, 2007

Full Bloom

A critic offers his final thoughts

by Michael Dirda | Friday, June 03, 2011

I Wanted to Be Robert Phelps

by Michael Dirda | Sunday, March 01, 2009