A review by jamesnotjim
I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling With Villains by Chuck Klosterman

4.0

This is the second of Klosterman's books I've read (the other being Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas). I'm a fairly slow, methodical reader, but I blaze through his books. They're truly entertaining--pretty much the the perfect airline read--and you don't have to agree with all of Klosterman's many opinions to enjoy his work. He's nerdy, erudite, and able to draw comparisons from a wide variety of sources, high and low. He weaves his themes through music, film, TV, sports, celebrity culture, and personal memoir. Like any good essayist, he's able to make you care, at least for the duration of an essay, about things that you never previously considered worth your time. His work is light, witty, and a bit overly confessional. But he keeps me turning the pages. And I can't really think of another writer who creates the same vibe.