Dowsed
Ricky Moody has a laugh
BY RICHARD C. WALLS

The gold standard
Guralnick’s life of Sam Cooke shines
BY DAVID KIRBY

Tales of a Quitter
Thumbing through Harvey Pekar’s back pages
BY MIKE MILIARD

Social science
Zadie Smith’s beauty seminar
BY CATHERINE TUMBER

Waves of mutilation
Davy Rothbart’s Lone Surfer
BY SAM PFEIFLE

From Columbus to Portnoy
The education of Philip Roth
BY STEVE VINEBERG

Dante, dude
The Commedia finds a 21st-century vernacular
BY JEFFREY GANTZ

Details in Hell
A National Guardsman reports home
BY CLEA SIMON

Opening minds
Peter D. Kramer knows what makes us tick
BY BILL RODRIGUEZ