All Book Reviews
'Bob, Son of Battle' comes alive in a wonderful new editionAward-winning author and translator Lydia Davis scraped away some 'taxing overgrowth' to enhance the rough beauty of Alfred Ollivant's classic dog story.
'The Wrong Carlos': Was an innocent man executed?Law professor James Liebman says a Texas case reveals the injustice of the death penalty.
'The Invention of Exile' is a poignant tale of an immigrant's loss and longingVanessa Manko’s wistful, perceptive debut novel tells the story of a Russian engineer who yearns for his family during a stateless exile in Mexico City.
'Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors' brings nuance and complexity to the age of CrusadesScholar Brian Catlos argues that the Crusades were more a struggle for power than a battle about religion, and stresses the many moments of cultural integration and strategic cooperation during the era.
'Lisette's List' is aimed at Francophiles and art loversSusan Vreeland's latest focuses on a collection of paintings hidden during the Nazi occupation of France and then unearthed after the war.
'Augustus: First Emperor of Rome' intrigues with its view of Roman politicsWhile parallels between ancient Rome and the US are revealing, our contemporary political scandals are mundane by the standards of antiquity.
'Football: Great Writing About the National Sport' touches on the good, bad, and the uglyEditor John Schulian does not turn away from the dark side of football, but neither does he forget the joy, inspiration, and even the humor to be found in the game.
'Death by Toilet Paper' is a poignant story with just enough bathroom humor to captivate kidsThis heartfelt and thoroughly readable story about a boy coping with the loss of his father is more than just a delightful end-of-summer read.
'A Colder War' features dramatic twists, exotic scenery, and inscrutable charactersFrom Istanbul to Odessa, Charles Cumming's latest spy tale is packed with the classic pleasures of a really good thriller.
'Excellent Sheep' calls for colleges to reform their admissions processWilliam Deresiewicz, Ivy League grad and former professor, critiques current standards at colleges, but offers little data to back up his assertions.
'The End of Absence' chronicles one man's quest to pull away from a hyperconnected lifeMichael Harris wishes to gently wake us from the 'swarm of noise' so that we may recall the benefits of silence.
'Panic in a Suitcase' is a story of Odessan émigrés in Brooklyn, told with humor and catharsisA Brighton Beach family’s saga bends Russian literary tradition into mordant modern comedy.
'Unruly Places' finds our planet's clandestine, mismapped, abandoned, or repurposed placesSocial geographer Alastair Bonnett explores the challenge – and delight – of searching for undiscovered territories in the age of Google Earth.
'Berlin, Now' describes a city that is 'weird,' 'incomplete,' yet ever attractiveGerman author Peter Schneider tries to articulate what Berlin is today, as a community, a quarter century after reunification.
'In the Kingdom of Ice' follows a disaster-ridden journey to the North PoleHampton Sides blends human drama with suspense and engrossing play-by-play descriptions to tell the tragic and triumphant story of the USS Jeannette.
'Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage' is straightfoward and un-Murakami-likeHaruki Murakami's latest novel has its moments, but sometimes falters as it ranges over the less-than-grand terrain of near-middle age.
'Lucky Us' follows two sisters on a chase across 1940s America, in search of fortune and loveAmy Bloom’s new book is an entertaining, moving, quasi-historical escapade featuring a plucky girl who graduates from the school of hard knocks.
'China's Second Continent' tells the fascinating yet alarming story of China's economic colonization of AfricaJournalist Howard W. French travels through Africa to meet up with some of the one million Chinese migrants now living and working there.
'Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph' is a remarkable portrait of a human being that goes beyond the mythHistorian-composer Jan Swafford tackles one of the most monumental figures in classical music in a biography that presents Ludwig van Beethoven more as a man and less as a legend.
'The Magician's Land' brings Lev Grossman's 'Magician’s Trilogy' series to an enchanting conclusionWith echoes of C.S. Lewis’s “The Last Battle,' Grossman crafts a thoroughly satisfying finale for his 'Magician’s Trilogy'
