The best-written book of criticism of the century; and of the year

Picked from the National Book Critics Circle Awards' previous winners, and from this year's shortlist

In today’s post:

— Our pick of the most beautifully written book from the shortlist for this year’s National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism. The winner is announced on the 21st of March.

— An extended extract from this pick, by arrangement with Princeton University Press. We’ll soon be sending out a masterclass on prose style by the book’s author, one of the best we’ve published.

— Our pick of the best-written book among the previous winners of the NBCC’s award for Criticism. This is part of our project to identify the best-written nonfiction of the century to date.

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