Pick of the Day: Inside the Tea Party

The "Tea Party" movement is all the rage these days, providing endless fodder for journalists.

An interesting take on the phenomenon is offered up by Jonathan Raban in this week's New York Review of Books. Raban's account is rooted in his attendance at the Tea Party's convention in Nashville in February, where, as he notes, the television audience "saw and heard an angry crowd, unanimous in its acclaim for every speaker."

But Raban was in the crowd, and said the experience was quite different:: "What struck me was how many remained seated through the ovations, how many failed to clap, how many muttered quietly into the ears of their neighbors while others around them rose to their feet and hollered."

These observations appear in Raban's first paragraph and establish a theme that evolves throughout his fascinating piece. Check it out here.