Happy 25th birthday to the “For Dummies” brand, a book series that launched in 1991 with DOS for Dummies, earned its writer an “absolute trashload of money,” and, despite a lot of ego and “petty bullshit” that followed, is still going strong to the tune of 300 million copies in print. If you’re only going to read one article about the Dummies books, make it Ruth Graham’s, and if you’re only going to read one summary of one article about the Dummies books, you’ve come to the right place! Our Kondo-fied culture notwithstanding, Graham explored why these books really do stand apart from the rest of the self-help shelf.
Also in the Slate Book Review, some books for nondummies: Laura Miller writes about two memoirs of friendship, one set in a scientific lab and the other in a biker gang; Glen Weldon examines the long history of Batman and Robin’s gay subtext; a friend of Harper Lee’s on how the author was a mystery, even to her; a moving, trope-destroying novel about terrorism; a defense of pretentiousness; Jack Hamilton on basketball’s labor revolution; poems about Iranian immigrants in Sweden; and more. And psst: Slate Plus members are still reading Jane Eyre, and this week Katy Waldman wrote about what appearances mean in the novel.
Dummies and smarties alike enjoy TV these days; here’s a dummies’ guide to what to catch up on this weekend: The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story ended its powerful run—TV critic Willa Paskin praised the way the show went out of its way to make its ending about more than the verdict, and Aisha Harris thought Sterling K. Brown’s performance in particular will be remembered as trailblazing. Also not to be missed: Our favorite spies on The Americans pulled off a shocking twist. A sadder than usual episode had Broad City in top form. And Catastrophe came back for a second season that’s just as acerbic and big-hearted as ever.
A few more links from the week in culture:
- The world’s first Hamilton skeptic tells all
- A personal history of dreadlocks and the white people who love them
- The complexities of the late Merle Haggard, country legend
- The Simpsons’ disappointing coming-out episode
- Samuel Beckett and Buster Keaton’s forgotten film
- The self-conscious feminism of the Powerpuff Girls reboot
- St. Vincent lashes out at ClickHole, before quickly learning what ClickHole is
- Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Black Panther comic leans hard on superhero history
- The true story of the culty pop psychology organization from The Americans
- Why the Associated Press decided internet no longer warrants a capital I
