At the Same Time Essays and Speeches

One of the most important thinkers and writers of the twentieth century, Susan Sontag's path-breaking first collection of essays, Against Interpretation, introduced her as a major figure of our culture in l966. At the Same Time was written during the last years of Sontag's life. These sixteen essays discuss the freedom of literature, courage and resistance, and fearlessly address the dilemmas of post-9/11 America, from the degradation of our political rhetoric to the appalling torture of prisoners in Abu Ghraib.

SUSAN SONTAG wrote novels, stories, plays, and eight works of nonfiction, among them On Photography and Regarding the Pain of Others. She died in New York City on December 28, 2004.

"What ultimately matters about Sontag . . . is what she has defended: the life of the mind, and the necessity for reading and writing as 'a way of being fully human.'"--Hilary Mantel, Los Angeles Times Book Review