All Book Reviews
The Index: A humble but mighty tool to bring order to chaos“Index, A History of the” by Dennis Duncan, offers a surprisingly entertaining account of an overlooked, even underrated, organizational tool.
Did the family of John Wilkes Booth miss the warning signs?In the novel “Booth,” Karen Joy Fowler illuminates the family and the milieu that produced John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Abraham Lincoln.
Beatrix Potter: Illustrator, storyteller, farmer, and ... scientist?If Beatrix Potter had realized her early dream of becoming a scientist, would there have been a “Peter Rabbit”? A new book wonders.
What America’s treatment of the bald eagle says about the nation itself“The Bald Eagle,” by Jack E. Davis, explores the cultural history of the raptor, who was revered as a national symbol, but reviled by early settlers.
Thwarted: The massive terrorist attack that never came to beFive years after 9/11, terrorists plotted a similar attack. In a gripping saga, Aki J. Peritz details the heroic intelligence work that stopped it.
A Black historian journeys south to confront the past – and presentIn her highly personal travelogue “South to America,” Alabama-born Imani Perry tackles attitudes and encounters below the Mason-Dixon Line.
A whole world of food is vanishing. Dan Saladino explains why that matters.“Eating to Extinction” warns of the limits of modern agriculture when it comes to building a healthy relationship with food – and the natural world.
Frederick Law Olmsted and H.H. Richardson: The design dream team of the 19th centuryThe friendship between Frederick Law Olmsted and Henry Hobson Richardson led to fruitful collaborations in “Architects of an American Landscape.”
Five romance novels celebrate belonging, friendship, and foodNot just for Valentine’s Day, these books treat readers to stories about belonging, whether it’s to a couple, a set of friends, or a community.
Greta Garbo gave up stardom. A biographer explores why.Robert Gottlieb’s “Garbo” digs into the story of Swedish movie star Greta Garbo, who famously declared that she wanted to be alone.
Was King George III slandered by historians? A biographer thinks so.Andrew Roberts argues in “The Last King of America” that George III, the monarch who lost the American Colonies, was hardly a tyrant.
‘Thank You, Mr. Nixon’ and other tales of the Chinese diasporaGish Jen tackles the cultural whiplash experienced by Chinese people living both inside and outside China in “Thank You, Mr. Nixon: Stories.”
Toni Morrison’s ‘Recitatif’ is a brilliant guessing gameToni Morrison’s only stand-alone short story, “Recitatif,” which is being reissued, leaves readers pondering their own preconceptions about race.
The compassionate economist: Amartya Sen reflects on an Indian childhoodIn “Home in the World,” Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen describes how growing up in India fed a desire to connect theories with real people.
How Kobe became Kobe: The story of a legend gone too soonIn “The Rise: Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality,” Mike Sielski offers readers a detailed and nuanced backstory of the late basketball star’s life.
Revisiting Black history through the eyes of Zora Neale Hurston“You Don’t Know Us Negroes and Other Essays” by Zora Neal Hurston creates a powerful and nuanced mosaic of Black culture.
‘Our goal is never revenge’: Poet Amanda Gorman’s path for healingIn “Call Us What We Carry,” Amanda Gorman reveals hidden layers and deeper context to both history and the present.
‘The Paris Bookseller’ honors the American woman who published ‘Ulysses’Kerri Maher’s novel “The Paris Bookseller” celebrates the life of American Sylvia Beach, a bookstore owner who saw promise in James Joyce’s “Ulysses.”
Jami Attenberg models a long but tenacious journey toward writingIn “I Came All This Way to Meet You,” author Jami Attenberg describes the early trials and tribulations of claiming a writer’s life as her own.
Who was Vivian Maier? Book explores mysterious ‘photographer nanny.’“Vivian Maier Developed” delves into the life and art of the reclusive photographer, who did not process most of her images.
