All Books
- Carry the summer into fall with the 10 best books of August
The 10 best books of August provide a bridge into fall reading, with a mix of clever novels, satisfying memoirs, and two revealing biographies.
- Afghanistan’s first female pilot paid a steep price for the freedom to fly
Now in exile, Niloofar Rahmani writes of her journey to become the Afghanistan’s first female pilot in the memoir, “Open Skies.”
- ‘The Outlier’ paints a complex portrait of Jimmy Carter
Kai Bird’s “The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter” shows the president’s fierce intelligence, stubbornness, and decency.
- ‘The Power of Strangers’: What we gain from listening to others
Joe Keohane, author of “The Power of Strangers,” says we gain from talking with – and especially listening to – people we don’t know.
- Billie Jean King goes ‘All In’ on tennis and women’s equality
Tennis legend Billie Jean King’s activism brought greater respect and higher pay to women’s sports, but she felt forced to hide her sexuality.
- Napoleon plundered Europe’s art to bring prestige home to France
“Plunder” digs deep into Napoleon’s theft of artworks across conquered Europe in his effort to enrich the Louvre and solidify French dominance.
- Three amazing sports books showcase triumphs and progress
Top sports books of summer focus on the Tour de France, women surfers, and the 1969 NBA finals in glorious detail, bringing the events to life.
- A shepherd’s guide to feeding the planet and saving the Earth
Sheep farmer James Rebanks reimagines how to feed the planet and save the Earth in “Pastoral Song: A Farmer’s Journey.”
- ‘Lieutenant Dangerous’ uses wry humor to point out the absurdity of Vietnam War
In his memoir about being drafted into the Vietnam War, Jeff Danziger lays bare the futility and waste, as well as his own naiveté.
- Edgar Allan Poe exposed scientific hoaxes, and invented his own
A new Poe biography by John Tresch shows the writer’s deep involvement in the scientific milieu of his day.
- Before ‘The Wiz’ and ‘Dreamgirls,’ there was ‘Shuffle Along’
In a Q&A, Caseen Gaines talks about the first Broadway musical with an all-Black cast, the 1921 “Shuffle Along,” and how it broke boundaries.
- ‘How the Word Is Passed’: The stories we tell about race
Poet, scholar, and writer Clint Smith delves into the past – both personal and collective – to unravel the tangled history of race in America.
- ‘The God Beat’: Journalists reflect on questions of meaning and transcendence
This timely collection of essays explores how journalists wrestle with faith, doubt, solidarity, and protest.
- The general who let Robert E. Lee get away
General Meade’s Union troops routed Lee at Gettysburg, and let the Confederate soldiers retreat to safety. A new book defends his actions.
- Laurie Colwin possessed a ‘positive genius for comfort’
With the reissue of novelist and food writer Laurie Colwin’s books, our reviewer recalls interviewing her decades ago.
- Melting pot: Vietnamese family settles in New Orleans
“Things We Lost to the Water” transposes Vietnamese refugee tale to New Orleans, where a single mother writes notes to her absent husband.
- A world where men make art and women take ‘Second Place’
Rachel Cusk’s novel “Second Place” explores a woman’s thwarted creativity, as she pits herself against a male artist staying on her property.
- Paging through summer: Cool reads for hot days
The 10 best books of July provide cool reads for hot days. From novels to a biography, these titles offer made-in-the-shade reading enjoyment.
- The popular books that brought Americans together in a common culture
The canon of popular American literature not only unified the culture, it helped create the national narrative of individualism and self-reliance.
- ‘Facing the Mountain’ tells of heroic Japanese Americans who fought for the US
Despite discrimination and internment, Japanese Americans joined the U.S. military during World War II and fought with honor and distinction.