Includes bibliographical references and index. - Originally published: London: Cape, 2002
1. Essays. Out of Kansas -- The best of young British novelists -- Angela Carter -- Beirut blues -- Arthur Miller at eighty -- In defense of the novel, yet again -- Notes on writing and the nation -- Influence -- Adapting Midnight's children -- Reservoir frogs -- Heavy threads -- In the voodoo lounge -- Rock music, a sleeve note -- U2 -- An alternative career -- On leavened bread -- On being photographed -- Crash -- The people's game -- Farming ostriches -- A commencement address -- "Imagine there's no heaven" -- "Damme, this is the Oriental scene for you!" -- India's fiftieth anniversary -- Gandhi, now -- The Taj Mahal -- The Baburnama -- A dream of glorious return -- 2. Messages from the plague years. 3. Columns. December 1998: Three leaders -- January 1999: The millennium -- February 1999: Ten years of the Fatwa -- March 1999: Globalization -- April 1999: Rock music -- May 1999: Moron of the year -- June 1999: Kashmir -- July 1999: Northern Ireland -- August 1999: Kosovo -- September 1999: Darwin in Kansas -- October 1999: Edward Said -- November 1999: Pakistan -- December 1999: Islam and the west -- January 2000: Terror versus security -- February 2000: J(c)œrg Haider -- March 2000: Amadou Diallo -- April 2000: Elian Gonzalez -- May 2000: J.M. Coetzee -- June 2000: Fiji -- July 2000: Sport -- August 2000: Two crashes -- September 2000: Senator Lieberman -- October 2000: The Human Rights Act -- November 2000: Going to electoral college -- December 2000: A grand coalition? -- January 2001: How the Grinch stole America -- February 2001: Sleaze is back -- March 2001: Crouching striker, hidden danger -- April 2001: It wasn't me -- May 2001: Abortion in India -- June 2001: Reality TV -- July 2001: The Release of the Bulger killers -- August 2001: Arundhati Roy -- September 2001: Telluride -- October 2001: The attacks on America -- November 2001: Not about Islam? -- February 2002: Anti-Americanism -- March 2002: God in Gujarat -- 4. Step across this line.
1. Essays.Out of Kansas -- The best of young British novelists -- Angela Carter -- Beirut blues -- Arthur Miller at eighty -- In defense of the novel, yet again -- Notes on writing and the nation -- Influence -- Adapting Midnight's children -- Reservoir frogs -- Heavy threads -- In the voodoo lounge -- Rock music, a sleeve note -- U2 -- An alternative career -- On leavened bread -- On being photographed -- Crash -- The people's game -- Farming ostriches -- A commencement address -- "Imagine there's no heaven" -- "Damme, this is the Oriental scene for you!" -- India's fiftieth anniversary -- Gandhi, now -- The Taj Mahal -- The Baburnama -- A dream of glorious return -- 2. Messages from the plague years.3. Columns.December 1998: Three leaders -- January 1999: The millennium -- February 1999: Ten years of the Fatwa -- March 1999: Globalization -- April 1999: Rock music -- May 1999: Moron of the year -- June 1999: Kashmir -- July 1999: Northern Ireland -- August 1999: Kosovo -- September 1999: Darwin in Kansas -- October 1999: Edward Said -- November 1999: Pakistan -- December 1999: Islam and the west -- January 2000: Terror versus security -- February 2000: Jörg Haider -- March 2000: Amadou Diallo -- April 2000: Elian Gonzalez -- May 2000: J.M. Coetzee -- June 2000: Fiji -- July 2000: Sport -- August 2000: Two crashes -- September 2000: Senator Lieberman -- October 2000: The Human Rights Act -- November 2000: Going to electoral college -- December 2000: A grand coalition? -- January 2001: How the Grinch stole America -- February 2001: Sleaze is back -- March 2001: Crouching striker, hidden danger -- April 2001: It wasn't me -- May 2001: Abortion in India -- June 2001: Reality TV -- July 2001: The Release of the Bulger killers -- August 2001: Arundhati Roy -- September 2001: Telluride -- October 2001: The attacks on America -- November 2001: Not about Islam? -- February 2002: Anti-Americanism -- March 2002: God in Gujarat -- 4. Step across this line.
