All Book Reviews
Are more eyes better? How social media can worsen foreign crises.“Bring Back Our Girls” examines the unintended consequences of Western attention and highlights efforts to rescue schoolgirls taken by Boko Haram.
Jewish women spied, smuggled, and sabotaged under the Nazis’ nosesInside Poland’s ghettos, Jewish women played key roles in the resistance. They knew death was almost certain, yet they undermined their captors.
‘The Elephant of Belfast’ explores love, loyalty, and tragedyThe World War II novel, based on true events, follows an orphaned elephant and a young zookeeper through struggles that demand courage and sacrifice.
Philip Roth biography emphasizes his unruly life over his celebrated novels“Philip Roth: The Biography” aims to “rehabilitate” its subject’s reputation, but succeeds only in making his excesses more apparent.
Extinction isn’t inevitable. ‘Beloved Beasts’ explains why.Past efforts to prevent extinction took a species-by-species approach. But now a more comprehensive plan is needed that looks at interconnections.
‘First Person Singular’ delves into lost love and strange happeningsJapanese writer Haruki Murakami offers a collection of imaginative short stories with skewed elements that his many fans are sure to applaud.
Harpies, sirens, and other ‘nasty’ women: Going beneath misogyny.Mythology is rife with female monsters. Essayist Jess Zimmerman sees their stories not as cautionary tales, but as inspiration for powerful women.
Marriages of long standing are tested in quiet, contained ‘Good Company’Long-time couples and old friendships come under scrutiny in Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s highly anticipated second novel.
Beyond Jackie Robinson: The unsung heroes of the Negro LeaguesJackie Robinson may have been the first Black player in the majors, but others soon followed – an exodus that spelled the end of the Negro Leagues.
‘Libertie’ imagines the whole of a Black girl’s self-determination“Libertie,” a novel about a Black girl growing up in 19th-century New York, rings with historical truth.
Shakespeare’s plays meet plagiarism-detection softwareThe Shakespeare canon undergoes scrutiny, turning up links to Thomas North. But ‘plagiarism’ was more the rule than the exception for Elizabethans.
Crafts and social movements went hand-in-hand in American historyAuthor Glenn Adamson points out that the artisan’s workshop has long served as a shared space where people gathered with a common goal.
Machines that learn: The origin story of artificial intelligenceAI may have had a slow start, but companies like Google and Facebook are pursuing it like a modern-day gold rush.
‘Fierce Poise’ illuminates the career of an overlooked abstract expressionistElectrified by Jackson Pollock’s work, painter Helen Frankenthaler blazed her own path and went toe-to-toe with the male artists of the New York School.
‘Red Island House’ probes uncomfortable collisions of class, raceColonialism fuels the conflict within a Black American woman, whose wealthy Italian husband sets up a resort on an impoverished African island.
‘In the Gospels, no one is essential but Jesus’: new translation adds fresh scholarshipSome of Sarah Ruden’s choices offer a refreshing break from the familiar versions of the past. Others don’t quite work.
Cosmic grandeur pervades Alan Lightman’s ‘Probable Impossibilities’Galactic wonder radiates through these essays by the renowned theoretical physicist, whose writing proves companionable and illuminating.
A win for labor laid the groundwork for workers’ rightsA strike at General Motors, led by the rising UAW, brought concessions that improved the lives of workers across the United States.
The road to reclaiming Jewish property rarely runs smoothlyProperty records and personal history become entwined as a descendant of a Holocaust survivor searches Poland for clues about his grandfather’s life.
An early Black mutual aid society surfaces in New OrleansA set of ledgers, nearly thrown out, leads Fatima Shaik to discover a fellowship of free Black men that predates the Civil War in “Economy Hall.”
