Sometimes it takes an outsider’s point of view to see society as it truly is. Such keen insights are abundant in Bite the Hand That Feeds You, a collection of the work of British-born journalist Henry Fairlie compiled by Newsweek contributor Jeremy McCarter. Fairlie, who passed away in 1990, is known for his controversial, at times even caustic, political essays and for his popularization of the term “the Establishment”. Fairlie clearly had a knack for describing complex ideas in the simplest and most elegant of terms. In his essay, “My America,” for example, he argues that one may understand the concept of democracy through a single two-letter word: “Hi”. He writes:

“As I often say – for Americans do not realize it – the word is a democracy. (I come from a country where one can tell someone’s class by how they say ‘Hallo!’ or ‘Hello!’ or ‘Hullo,’ or whether they say it at all.) But anyone can say ‘Hi!’ Anyone does.”

Click here to watch an interview with Jeremy McCarter at a recent book party for Bite the Hand That Feeds You.