The Business of Memory

In the current information age, "memory" is as likely to be an attribute of a computer as a human being. Critically acclaimed writer Charles Baxter asked other creative writers to reflect on memoir, memory, and forgetfulness, and to contemplate the externalization of what was once so deeply personal. The resulting essays address a provocative range of topics: the explosion of interest in the memoir, the recovered-memory movement, America in the grip of an “amnesia plague,” and the need for coherent stories of our past to help us organize our present. Throughout, these fascinating essays illuminate the art of remembering in a time when memory has become a highly measurable commodity.