This list is, of course, open to debate. A hundred, if not a thousand, couplings could be offered in their place. I will say that the last two pairings are quintessential to the premise behind these categories. Originally, they were first on the list.
| MODERN | POSTMODERN | |
| steel | plastic | |
| Picasso | Warhol | |
| Pullman & Coach | First Class & Economy | |
| romance | narcissism | |
| pot roast | vegan | |
| FDR | GWB | |
| Hitler | Hussein | |
| Churchill | Blair | |
| Zionism | Israel | |
| USSR | People’s Republic of China | |
| consumption | cancer | |
| Gone With the Wind | The DaVinci Code | |
| drought | flood | |
| blizzard | global warming | |
| steak | salad | |
| beer | lite beer | |
| dessert | No-Cal | |
| tycoons | CEOs | |
| typewriters | PCs | |
| Off-Broadway | Off-Off-Broadway | |
| bebop | rap | |
| shoes | sneakers | |
| library | Internet | |
| epistles | blogs | |
| Gallo | Pinot Noir | |
| bourbon | single malt | |
| the Depression | the 1990s | |
| corner stores | malls | |
| Sinatra | Eminem | |
| farming | agribusiness | |
| slums | projects | |
| highways | superhighways | |
| Sears, Roebuck | Wal-Mart | |
| antiseptics | antibiotics | |
| heart attacks | bypasses | |
| concentration | fragmentation | |
| war | terrorism |
Norman MailerNorman Mailer has won the National Book Award, two Pulitzer Prizes and the National Book Foundation's Award for Distinguished Service to American Letters. Nation Books has just published his latest work, written with his son John Buffalo Mailer: The Big Empty: Dialogues on Politics, Sex, God, Boxing, Morality, Myth, Poker and Bad Conscience in America.