John Darnielle has always had a facility with words. As singer and songwriter behind the Mountain Goats, Darnielle has made pop poetry about lonely outsiders and cultural marginalia. Now, in his second novel, Universal Harvester, he explores the lives of desperate people in a small Iowa town. He also talks about a song title so good that no singer could ever do it justice. In the Spiel, how competent people are quietly undoing Trump.
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Go To Show PageThe U.S. has observed a long period of low stock-market volatility and economic stagnation. The Wall Street Journal's Greg Ip believes the economy and markets could benefit from more risk-taking companies - creative disrupters like Amazon.com.
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From Slate Magazine, Stephen Yenser reads his poem "Variations (for Three Old Saws)."
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