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Old Enemies: A Satire
Lee Oser's Old Enemies is a joy to read, clever and astute, sharp and funny, satiric but humane. We have the issues of our time in dramatic light. . . .Through it all courses Moses Shea, an advertising whiz who is brilliant with languages, a reader of the classics, not very attractive or heroic, but with a moral center that brings the sad and galling truths of life in the 2020s to piercing light. His verbal joustings with the personalities around him are gems of wit worthy of a Restoration comedy. Read this book and you will think deeply--and also laugh out loud. - Mark Bauerlein, Senior Editor, First Things
In an America running on algorithms, outrage, and half-truths, ex-journalist Moses Shea is down on his luck. Blacklisted in New York, dumped by the only woman he ever loved, he has one skill that might save him--he's a wizard at languages. His last chance comes through his old Harvard pal Nick Carty, whose business empire could use a man of Moses' talents. But when his new job lands him on the campus of a defunct Catholic college, the disgraced newspaperman gets pulled back into the news.
This novel, nearly impossible to put down, will make you laugh out loud--repeatedly. It will also give you hope for the continuation of Western culture. - Richard Rankin Russell, Professor of English, Baylor University
Old Enemies is a contemporary version of The Praise of Folly, taking aim at the deceptions, self-deceptions, and irrationalities that so often underpin people's quests for power. - Ernest Suarez, David M. O'Connell Professor of English, The Catholic University of America
In an America running on algorithms, outrage, and half-truths, ex-journalist Moses Shea is down on his luck. Blacklisted in New York, dumped by the only woman he ever loved, he has one skill that might save him--he's a wizard at languages. His last chance comes through his old Harvard pal Nick Carty, whose business empire could use a man of Moses' talents. But when his new job lands him on the campus of a defunct Catholic college, the disgraced newspaperman gets pulled back into the news.
This novel, nearly impossible to put down, will make you laugh out loud--repeatedly. It will also give you hope for the continuation of Western culture. - Richard Rankin Russell, Professor of English, Baylor University
Old Enemies is a contemporary version of The Praise of Folly, taking aim at the deceptions, self-deceptions, and irrationalities that so often underpin people's quests for power. - Ernest Suarez, David M. O'Connell Professor of English, The Catholic University of America
Kindle Edition
Published September 17, 2022
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About the author
Lee Oser
17 books14 followersLee Oser (born in 1958 in New York City) is a Roman Catholic novelist and literary critic. He was educated at Reed College and Yale University, where he received his PhD in English in 1995. He teaches Religion and Literature at the College of the Holy Cross, in Worcester, Massachusetts.
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September 20, 2025
I respect my former grad school classmate Mark Bauerlein, whose eloquent blurb heads both the back cover and Goodreads' summary of Lee Oser's 2022 novel. It critiques an obvious target, the current "Catholic in name only" college desperately trying to "diversify" while lowering standards for those it admits with little scrutiny and advances with increasing laxity. Oser's protagonist, however, Moses Shea, isn't as compelling as the antihero of his 2018 romp Oregon Confetti, and he never rises off the page into recognizable rounded shape. Oser feels tamped down here, unable to rail against the DEI-directed corporate Carthage machine leveling learning into algorithms, perhaps a post-2020 casualty beaten by the system (no wonder an octopus looms large) dominating media, academia, and business.
Trouble is, Oser fails to make us care. For instance, the half-Jewish, half-Irish Catholic parentage of Moses isn't relevant when it could have been worthy of insight. It's a niche I occupy from an adjacent perch, so my attention is admittedly magnified on this passing mention, but it's indicative of the way Oser raises potentially intriguing content only to wander away from its incorporation into character a few paragraphs later. His stock cast of hires by Carthage, the deleterious enterprise, or the campus milieu Shea's recruited to assist don't gain verisimilitude. As in Oregon Confetti, a laborious attempt at elaborating a cabal lurking behind the scenes takes far too many desultory chapters to unfold. And its big reveal doesn't culminate in anything I can remember mere minutes after finishing this book.
A pity, as deserving literary investigation in entertaining form we need. But this will (see my review of Oregon C) linger on a small-press backlist, for without strong editorial control, concise crafting of style, and dynamic momentum directed towards involving the reader rather than rewarding the self-absorbed teller, this scattershot narrative likely won't find the wider audience--beyond a few liberal arts grads of conservative leanings--which Oser needs to beckon, for his deeper message to convince.
Trouble is, Oser fails to make us care. For instance, the half-Jewish, half-Irish Catholic parentage of Moses isn't relevant when it could have been worthy of insight. It's a niche I occupy from an adjacent perch, so my attention is admittedly magnified on this passing mention, but it's indicative of the way Oser raises potentially intriguing content only to wander away from its incorporation into character a few paragraphs later. His stock cast of hires by Carthage, the deleterious enterprise, or the campus milieu Shea's recruited to assist don't gain verisimilitude. As in Oregon Confetti, a laborious attempt at elaborating a cabal lurking behind the scenes takes far too many desultory chapters to unfold. And its big reveal doesn't culminate in anything I can remember mere minutes after finishing this book.
A pity, as deserving literary investigation in entertaining form we need. But this will (see my review of Oregon C) linger on a small-press backlist, for without strong editorial control, concise crafting of style, and dynamic momentum directed towards involving the reader rather than rewarding the self-absorbed teller, this scattershot narrative likely won't find the wider audience--beyond a few liberal arts grads of conservative leanings--which Oser needs to beckon, for his deeper message to convince.
Displaying 1 of 1 review