That is a question that you struggle with every day.
It’s an infernal question—the degree of engagement. (See Table 1)

—E. L. Doctorow, 1982 interview

TABLE 1

AN INDEX OF SOCIOPOLITICAL ENGAGEMENT: UPTON SINCLAIR’S ASTONISHING DEPLOYMENT OF EXCLAMATION POINTS IN OIL! (1927) With attendant thoughts on the viability of satire as a mode of sociopolitically committed writing, given, among other things, The Passion of the Christ jewelry (www.sharethepassionofthechrist.com)[a]
Number of pages in Oil![b]	527[c]
Number of exclamation points (excluding title)	1,539[d]
Percentage of pages with at least one exclamation point	84.6[e]
Average number of exclamation points per page	2.92[f]
Most consecutive pages with at least one exclamation point	97[g]
Most consecutive pages without an exclamation point	4[h]
Number of pages with five or more exclamation points	114[i]
Number of pages with ten or more exclamation points	16[j]
Most exclamation points on any one single page	22[k]
Number of exclamation points in final chapter	162[l]
Number of exclamation points editor William Maxwell advised a writer to use per career	2[m]

1. “The website of official licensed products for Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ. Our mission is to reach the world with the message of hope by creating jewelry and gifts of exceptional quality, which will inspire people to express and share their faith.” I’m partial to The Passion Nail™, a 7/8” sterling silver nail pendant on an 18” sterling silver chain. For fifty bucks, it’s a design that “provides a unique and powerful way to express and share your faith.” If that kind of unique and powerful faith is a little out of your price range, there’s always the lead-free pewter Passion Nail™, still handsome and pious, but much cheaper. If I were making this up, it would be pretty decent satire. But I’m not making it up. We are living in what is widely regarded to be a golden age for satire. People are always saying to me, “You’ve got to love living in America. We’ve got midget dating shows, we’ve got calf muscle augmentation surgery, we’ve got Bob fucking Dylan hawking Wonderbras. There’s so much material! There’s so much to make fun of!” But we...