Over the past eleven years, Greif has been pub­lishing superb, and in some cas­es already famous, es­says in n+1, the high-pro­file lit­tle mag­a­zine that he co-found­ed. These essays address such key top­ics in the cul­tur­al, polit­i­cal, and intel­lec­tu­al life of our time as the tyran­ny of exer­cise, the tyran­ny of nutri­tion and food snob­bery, the sex­u­al­iza­tion of child­hood (and ev­erything else), the philo­soph­i­cal mean­ing of Radio­head, the rise and fall of the hip­ster, the impact of the Occu­py Wall Street move­ment, and the cri­sis of polic­ing. Four of the selec­tions address, direct­ly and uniron­i­cal­ly, the mean­ing of life — what might be the right philo­soph­i­cal stance to adopt toward one’s self and the world.

Each essay in Against Every­thing is learned, orig­i­nal, high­ly enter­tain­ing, and, from start to fin­ish, dead se­rious. They are the work of a young intel­lec­tu­al who, with his peers, is rein­vent­ing and rein­vig­o­rat­ing what intel­lec­tu­als can be and say and do. Mark Greif man­ages to rein­car­nate and reviv­i­fy the thought and spir­it of the great­est of Amer­i­can dis­senters, Hen­ry David Thore­au, for our time and his­tor­i­cal situation.