Greil Marcus brought serious intellectual ambition to rock-and-roll criticism—he also spawned a million pretentious rock critics. But you have to admire the ambition of Marcus's new book. In over a thousand pages, A New Literary History of America attempts to do for American history what Marcus did for rock criticism. Pieces by Jonathan Lethem and Sarah Vowell and other literary geniuses bring vivid life to American history (Edison! Tarzan! Alcoholics Anonymous!), with Marcus's unparalleled critical smarts nimbly guiding the whole monstrous book. (Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave, 624-6600. 7 pm, free.)