All Book Reviews
'No Friend But the Mountains' asks why war is so often waged on mountainsWar correspondent Judith Matloff travels the world, exploring the many conflicts that have erupted at high altitude.
'South and West' pulls together jottings made by Joan Didion while travelingReaders would do well to follow the route mapped out in 'South and West': to be inquisitive about those with whom they seem to have nothing in common, including electoral preferences.
'The Devil's Mercedes' investigates a pair of notorious Nazi limosA major question surrounded both cars – which Nazi had used them?
'The Novel of the Century' chronicles literary phenomenon 'Les Misérables'But the heart of this book's tale is in the bookshops of Paris, where it should be.
'Civil Wars' considers internecine conflict throughout its long historyHistorian David Armitage packs a great deal of learning and insight into a text of little more than 200 pages.
'Duck Season' follows a Francophile on a quest to live life deeply in rural FranceFood and travel writer David McAninch moves to rural France, in search of a unique, authentic experience in a foreign land.
'A Piece of the World' looks deep within the story of an iconic paintingChristina Baker Kline, an artist herself, draws on the real history behind Andrew Wyeth's famed painting 'Christina's World' to conjure up her own haunting portrait.
'The Hate U Give' provides a window into conversations about raceThis excellent young adult novel tackles the toughest topics without flinching.
'The True Flag' traces America's leap into empire-building in summer 1898Avarice and arrogance, cloaked in rhetoric about humanitarian intervention, prompted an expensive foreign war that proved more intractable than any American had expected.
'Lincoln in the Bardo' imagines Lincoln losing his son as the Civil War ragesIn the first novel by celebrated short story writer George Saunders, Abraham Lincoln wrestles with grief – and the fate of the nation hangs in the balance.
'No Knives in the Kitchen of this City' tells the heartbreaking story of AleppoA novel set in the Syrian city of Aleppo counters the images of war with a multi-faceted, fragile portrait of the city's human past.
'Glass House' views the rise and fall of US industrialism through one town'Glass House' is Lancaster, Ohio, native Brian Alexander’s account of his hometown and its change from a prosperous, vibrant community to a bedroom town with a lot of minimum wage jobs and very little hope.
'Traveling with Ghosts' tells a true story of great tragedy, remarkable kindnessMarine biologist Shannon Leone Fowler tells of losing her boyfriend to the ocean, only to find a new world in the company of strangers.
'Golden Legacy' celebrates the literary triumph of the Golden BooksMillions of adults who owe these little books a debt they can never fully repay.
3 books about African American historyThree outstanding new books celebrate Black History Month with offerings in genres as disparate as literature, military history, and social justice.
'A Divided Spy' follows MI6 agent Thomas Kell through a maze of intrigue'A Divided Spy' works as a standalone, but most readers will find themselves craving more time with the moody but engaging protagonist.
'Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare' unveils Churchill's commando unitsThese small, fast bands of deadly World War II operatives worked outside standard War Office protocols to wreak a maximum of damage behind German lines.
'The Book Thieves' reveals the story of the Nazi assault on booksUp until now, the theft and destruction of more than 100 million books and religious tracts by Hitler's Third Reich has gone largely unreported.
'The Home That Was Our Country' recalls Syria as it once wasA Syrian attorney asks: 'What has happened to our country?'
'The Gardens of Consolation' spans six decades of Iranian historyA novel of Iran in the decades leading to Revolution is both a love story and a political epic.
