Have American essayists lost their moxie, misplaced their chutzpah, or otherwise drifted off course? Cristina Nehring thinks so. What about you? Can you think of a bold contemporary essayist or columnist who downright sets the page on fire? Share a link to his or her work here, in the Great Writing salon.

My first thought was the inimitable Molly Ivins! Anything but boring. We sure miss her. If you haven't read her books of essays and columns "Who Let the Dogs In" and "Bushwhacked: Life in George W Bush's America" are hilarious, poignant and oh so true.

One of my earliest mentors was I.F. Stone's Weekly started in 1953. He was a radical, a muckraker and independent to the core. He also came out with some pretty alarming quotes for the button-down, grey-suited fifties like this gem: "All governments lie, but disaster lies in wait for countries whose officials smoke the same hashish they give out."

Another one of my favorites is Studs Terkel, who last I heard was still with us - in his nineties and still commenting on the passing scene. His most recent book is, "Touch and Go." I recommend all his books. He can teach you to write - he can teach you to SEE.

So, I try to carry on in my own little grassroots way over at WildflowerStew. I think essays are alive and well - and we need more of them these days!

Oh, hey, Rebecca--I.F. Stone is a good call (!). We published an excerpt of The Best of I.F. Stone back in our  November-December 2006 issue. Your post just reminded me to go back and reread it. (Here's a link if anyone else is interested.)

To be frank, I found the essay, "Are Essays Too Damned Boring?" pretty boring, although I do agree that essays appear to be boring. I say appear to be because of three reasons (I'm sure there's more than three but three's company).

With the age of blogging and the age of the computer--the two go digit in digit and byte by byte--1) our brains seem to have lost the ability to discern what is good prose, 2) we have become inured to strong, well-informed opinion because no one seems to care and the problems seem overwhelming; and 3) many people who should know better have decided that there is a technological solution to the spiritual problem endemic in our culture today, and therefore what may have previously been perceived as impassioned is treated as hot air while what is engineering, for example a 'killer app' is responded to with passion.