All Book Reviews
Glittering currents of the Ganges RiverLike all great rivers, the Ganges carries important cultural and spiritual meaning. Author Sudipta Sen illuminates the background of this sacred river, connecting it to thousands of years of Indian history.
'The Darkest Year' explores how Americans adapted to World War IIThe appeal of William K. Klingaman’s 'The Darkest Year,' which uses contemporary sources to survey the national psyche in the tense months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, is in enabling readers to feel the immediacy of well-known historical events as they unfolded.
'From Gutenberg to Google,' how human inquiry became a networked activityAuthor Tom Wheeler chronicles how knowledge in the Western world was largely localized, artisanal, and intensely exclusionary until Johannes Gutenberg combined a suite of technological innovations to revolutionize the way books were made.
In 'On the Come Up,' an aspiring teen rapper grapples with lifeA street-smart poet-geek navigates challenges pulled from the headlines.
'Last Boat Out of Shanghai' has four stories at once personal and universalShanghai residents left in droves as the Communists took power in China.
'Tombland' unearths plots and Tudor-era political intrigueC. J. Sansom's historical mystery series features lawyer Matthew Shardlake – one of the best-drawn leading characters in the entire genre.
'Henry VIII and the Men Who Made Him' shows the interplay between the public face and private life of the Tudor monarchTudor historian Tracy Borman evaluates the king through the eyes of his most important advisers.
'Free All Along' Illuminates the civil rights movementThe book brings together transcriptions from Robert Penn Warren's 1960s interviews with leaders as well as foot soldiers in the fight for justice.
Distance tells a story in ‘Merrie Albion’Photographer Simon Roberts's images turn scenes into large-scale dioramas.
Amid injustice, unforgettable imagesJapanese Americans held at Manzanar demonstrated dignity and resilience.
Private moments laced with social commentary in 'Lars Tunbjörk'Tunbjork was one of Sweden’s most prominent photographers.
Training his lens on social justiceGordon Parks’s work confronted racism in the pre-civil rights era.
'The Eternal City' chronicles Rome's inimitable historyIn many ways, Ferdinand Addis's book reads more like a slightly modernized and extended version of Livy than an actual work of what we would consider modern, serious history.
'We Begin in Gladness' delves into how poets teach themselves to write their bestAuthor Craig Morgan Teicher’s best insights are ultimately about poetry’s connection to the sublime.
'The End of the End of the Earth' is Jonathan Franzen at his idiosyncratic bestFranzen ranges far and wide here – from birds to travel to climate change and then back to birds – sometimes leaving skid marks between pieces.
'God in the Qur'an' continues Jack Miles's journey through religionsReaders who marveled at the passionate intellectual pyrotechnics of Miles's two books will notice almost immediately in this third installment that something seems fundamentally changed.
'Churchill' takes reader through stages of Churchill's life in brightly engaging fashionThe book is a thematic continuation of author Andrew Roberts' bestselling one-volume 2014 work 'Napoleon: A Life.'
'The Betrayal of Mary, Queen of Scots' analyzes monarch's story from modern perspectiveMary’s story has been often told, but it has been interpreted differently through the generations.
'The Tale of Cho Ung' introduces Korean classic tale to English speakersSookja Cho offers the first-ever English translation of the pre-modern classic.
'Heirs of the Founders' profiles the 'second generation' of great American leadersIn his latest historical spellbinder, bestselling author and scholar H.W. Brands profiles Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John Calhoun, as well as the decades leading up to the Civil War.
