Margaret Atwood again

See post on 6 October for the FT's review of Atwood's new book. She also had an opinion piece in the NYT on 21 October, and a great discussion in Salon by Louis Bayard of the timeliness of her work and the liveliness of her mind. I especially appreciated Bayard's note of how timely The Handmaid's Tale was to the threat of emerging theocracies. People should reread that book in light of the continued descent into deeper fundamentalism of Christians, Muslims, and Jews; Hindus are not exempt either. This type of fundamentalism borders on and encourages fascist and totalitarian behaviour. Beware of lack of tolerance, proscribed behaviour and dress, and retreat into knee-jerk rather than thoughtful, rational responses.