Lit Hub Daily: November 27, 2019

• The car culture that’s helping destroy the planet was by no means inevitable: on the relentless campaign to force Americans to accept the automobile. | Lit Hub History
• Six novels that capture the gripping story of Detroit, past and present. | Lit Hub
• Breaking bread with the dead: Thomas Lynch on “sin-eaters” and other bygone Catholic traditions. | Lit Hub History
• Remember, remember… where the word “guy” comes from: Allan Metcalf on the evolving legacy of Guy Fawkes. | Lit Hub History
• For 50 years, Mauro Altamura has struggled with the legacy of the Hoffa killing. His stint as an extra on The Irishman brought it all to the fore. | CrimeReads
• Hilton Als on Joan Didion’s early novels, Daniel Wodrell on the stories of Larry Brown, disgruntled writers versus woke culture, and more of the Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week. | Book Marks
• “These proposals… connect us to the land and to the traditions that have sustained us since the beginning of civilization. And they are pleasurable.” Alice Waters introduces Wendell Berry’s 1989 essay “The Pleasures of Eating.” | Emergence Magazine
• In praise of “the perfect New York bookstore,” Three Lives & Company. | The New York Times
• Edna O’Brien has been awarded the David Cohen prize, a £40,000 award for lifetime achievement, which is seen as “a precursor to the Nobel.” | The Guardian
• E-books at libraries have taken off, and publishers are not thrilled about it. | The Washington Post
• “Sometimes, Friendsgiving is a choice to do better; and, sometimes, it’s a choice to simply do something else.” Bryan Washington on the joys of this month’s other holiday. | The New Yorker
• Amazon is reducing its holiday orders from publishers, so why not buy your books directly from small presses? Here’s how to do it. | Chicago Tribune
• “If all you have is a wake-up call, that’s it, the moment passes, the media loses interest, moves on.” Margaret Atwood reflects on the past decade. | Vulture

Also on Lit Hub: How to throw a shower for an important new arrival: your novel • The outsize impact of textiles on world history • Read from Benjamin Markovits’ new novel, Christmas in Austin.