Meaghan Lanier shares her thoughts on this bit of non-fiction by Chuck Klosterman.
Chuck Klosterman is my favorite author, best known for Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs among many other similar works. I Wear the Black Hat is his latest book published in July of this year. Klosterman's work is a bit hard to explain (the book jacket says, "Klosterman continues to be the only writer doing whatever it is he's doing") but he essentially gives thematic insight to major pop culture events - past subjects have included why Kurt Cobain's death affected so many people and the impact of the events in Waco, Texas, with the Branch Davidians. He also wrote an entire book about classic heavy metal (Fargo Rock City).
I Wear the Black Hat takes a focus on villains and villainous behavior - the subtitle is "Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined)." Klosterman's achievement in all of his works, including this one, is that he is able to pair intellectual ideas and theory with pop culture events and references. He began as a rock writer, so that is of course going to influence what he chooses to write about, but he is also incredibly smart, funny and insightful in how he writes about these topics. In one chapter he manages to tie together Rocky and Bullwinkle, Machiavelli and the Penn State scandal with Jerry Sandusky and Joe Paterno - cartoon, 16th century politics and 21st century sports scandal. I would definitely recommend this book if you enjoy intellectual commentary on contemporary popular culture and/or have an interest in villains.
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