The subjects of Salman Rushdie's collection of non-fiction range from The
Wizard of Oz, U2, India and Indian writing, the death of Princess Diana,
and football, to twentieth-century writers including Angela Carter, Arthur
Miller, Edward Said, J. M. Coetzee and Arundhati Roy. In a central section,
'Messages from the Plague Years', Rushdie focuses on the fight against the
Iranian fatwa, presenting texts both personal and political, which show for
the first time how it was to live through those days. Rushdie's columns for
the New York Times confront current issues - Kashmir, Northern Ireland,
Kosovo, Islam and the West - as well as lighter topics such as reality TV,
sport and sleaze. The book ends with the lectures that give it its title -
Rushdie's exploration of the theme of frontiers- crossing them, breaking
taboos, and - in the light of September 11 - the world of permeable
frontiers in which we all live.