What is the name that will give me the dignity and respect that is my right? The key that will unlock the world.

One piece that stands out is the conversation between Ben Marcus and George Saunders. The two touch on such nuts-and-bolts aesthetics as realism, to which Saunders says: “I think it’s interesting, though, that some writers of our approximate generation have a sort of queasiness around the issue of realism. I know I do. There’s something about the normal approach (‘Bob, age forty-three, pale blond hair—a senior-level accountant—felt good about his marriage. He got into his tan Lexus, thinking of Meribeth.’) that makes me scared and sick. I am always trying to avoid it.”

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Meghan Daum’s “If I Had a Stammer” is equally magnificent, calling to task the Stammering Class, a group of down-talkers whose standard-bearer William F. Buckley gave way to such personalities as Ira Glass and Terry Gross.

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Moskowitz peppers the book with little hints called “Punk Points,” and the occasional commentary, whether it’s on pizza dough, veganism on the Internet, or bake sales, which she blames for the results of the 2004 election: “I thought back to what the lefties did ‘wrong’ and the only thing that I could really put my finger on was this one ‘Baking against Bush” bake sale I went to. There were actually store-bought items, wrapped in plastic. Good people, that is not a bake sale.”

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