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Publication History
Dinty Moore published this 140 page memoir in 2008 through University of Nebraska Press.

Summary
The book describes the experience of growing up in postmodern America through narrative form, quizzes and imagined interactions with celebrities and political figures, both dead and otherwise. Moore uses events such as the Kennedy assassination and the 9/11 attacks to explore more personal experiences, like his father's absence and death. The memoir contains twenty chapters that are divided into three sections. The chapters vary quite a bit in structure and form, making Panic and Desire an unconventional read, even for creative nonfiction.

Reception
Between Panic and Desire received generally positive reviews. Most of these reviews made particular note of the unusual combination of forms used in the collection. Moore touched on this in an interview with Rebecca Skloot and said that the book was a bit of an experimentation and an exploration of the relationship between content and form in nonfiction.

The University of Nebraska Press calls it “a curious meditation on family and bereavement, longing and fear, self-loathing and desire…”

Publisher’s Weekly says it is a “quirky, entertaining joyride.”  Their review describes how Moore’s essays demonstrate a progression from childhood panic to teenaged paranoia before desire is introduced to interrupt that timeline. They also recognize the playful and variable form throughout the collection. In Library Journal, Robert Kelly recommends the book for public and academic libraries. He describe the book as leaning more toward being a collection of essays than an actual memoir. He discusses the style of writing--”insightful” and “funny”--and how the structure of the collection serves to demonstrate the point of Moore’s musings and meditations. In The Booklist, Donna Seamon discusses the poles of panic and desire and how Moore moves between them throughout the book. Like many other reviews, hers touches on the theme of television in the book, particularly how Moore uses it as an instrument of irony.

Additionally, Moore won the 2008 Grub Street National Book Prize in nonfiction for Between Panic and Desire.