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Photo by Chester Simpson



Michael Dirda

Michael Dirda, who won a Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism at the Washington Post Book World, is the author of An Open Book, Bound to Please, and Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Books by Michael Dirda

  1. Book CoverBound to Please: An Extraordinary One-Volume Literary Education


    "Michael Dirda may be as close to the ideal critic as we are likely to get."—Annie ProulxMore

  2. Book CoverAn Open Book: Chapters fom a Reader's Life


    "A love story, full of a passion for literature and marked by intellectual vigor."—Bernadette Murphy, Los Angeles TimesMore

  3. Book CoverReadings: Essays and Literary Entertainments


    "For some time now, the best book critic in America has been Michael Dirda."—Michael M. Thomas, New York ObserverMore

  4. Book CoverRed Cavalry


    "Amazing not only as literature but as biography."—Richard Bernstein, The New York TimesMore