Susan Sontag’s second collection of groundbreaking essays contains some of the most important pieces of criticism of the twentieth century, including the classics ‘The Aesthetics of Silence’, a brilliant account of language, thought and consciousness, and ‘Trip to Hanoi’, written during the Vietnam War. Here too is an excoriating account of America’s identity and future, a robust and surprising discussion of pornography and other richly rewarding writings on art, film, literature and politics.

‘She has come to symbolize the writer and think in many variations- as analyst, rhapsodist, and roving eye, as public scold and portable conscience’ – Time