Tim Kreider spent the past fifteen years of his life as a political cartoonist with an avid cult following, toiling away at the drawing board to expose the hypocrisies of our country’s various administrations, lampooning the double standards of those with power, and serving, in his own words, as “society’s liver—refining the toxin of outrage into laughter.”  In 2009, Kreider began writing for The New York Times, penning popular essays about love, death, and existential dread. And now, WE LEARN NOTHING: Essays and Cartoons takes readers even deeper into Kreider’s unique worldview.

Combining the keen insight of David Foster Wallace with the absurd humor of David Sedaris, Kreider confronts some of the knottiest and most intimate problems in life. In these essays, he aims to do what he has always done in his cartoons: to say the unspeakable, express the thoughts we’re not supposed to talk about and the feelings we don’t have names for.

From the etiquette of de-friending (and not just on Facebook) to the wisdom of crowds (at Tea Party rallies no less), from the ugly truths about unrequited love to our responsibility towards our relatives, WE LEARN NOTHING eloquently channels Kreider’s darkest fears about the human condition while at the same time surprising readers with his self-deprecating humor and wonder at the simple hilarity of it all.

Irreverent yet honest, these comically illustrated essays reveal Kreider’s deeply personal experiences—like a neck stabbing that almost killed him—and vices—such as missing the fine line between grand romantic gestures and straight-up stalking. And readers will in turn be prodded to reflect on their own, even though the lesson to be learned from doing so is simply that: WE LEARN NOTHING.
 
“Earnest, well-turned personal essays about screw-ups without an ounce of sanctimony—a tough trick.”–Kirkus Reviews
 
“Political cartoonist Kreider’s humorous collection of personal essays begins with his near-fatal neck stabbing; his failure to learn enduring life lessons from this traumatic event provides the book’s title, tone, and argument. Throughout, Kreider locates the right simile and the pith of situations as he carefully catalogues humanity’s inventive and manifold ways of failing.”–Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
 
Praise for Tim Kreider’s Previous Works:
 
“Kreider rules.”—David Foster Wallace
 
Tim Kreider is a writer for the New York Times.His popular political cartoon “The Pain—When Will It End?” ran in the Baltimore City Paper for twelve years, and has been collected in three books published by Fantagraphics. His writing has also appeared inFilm Quarterly, the Comics Journal, and on nerve.com.  Kreider divides his time between New York City and the Chesapeake Bay. See more of his work at: www.thepaincomics.com.