All Books
- 'The Road Not Taken,' a biography of Edward Lansdale, makes no secret of its belief in its hero
The book is comprehensively researched and insightfully written. Max Boot is, as always, an extremely talented writer.
- 'Ghosts of the Tsunami' humanizes the survivors of Japan's 2011 catastrophe
'Ghosts' is less an analytical or journalistic account than it is a character-driven, novelistic narrative about loss and trauma.
- 'A Village with My Name' blends family stories with 20th-century Chinese history
An NPR reporter tracks his family roots and comes to see China in a new way.
- 'The Newcomers' follows 22 immigrant students as they become Americans
This deeply affecting book tells the story of young people who've lost everything except the hope for a chance to start over.
- 'The Extra Woman' is the smart, enjoyable story of the 1930s maverick who embraced singledom
Author Joanna Scutts elegantly argues that Marjorie Hillis was a trailblazer, calling her sharp, witty writing 'a beacon of social change.'
- 'I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter' lays out a real and raw world
At times, this blistering YA book is as messy and unlikable as its protagonist. But it’s also authentic and deeply moving.
- 'Renoir: An Intimate Biography' shows an artist scarcely hinted at in the sunny swirl of his paintings
Barbara Ehrlich White's new book goes far beyond her earlier work on Renoir.
- One writer's 2018 resolution? Fret less about bookshelf mishaps
A library should be a living thing – open to the world and all of its dangers.
- 'A Hundred Small Lessons' explores the question of home ownership through the lives of two women
'Lessons' is an engaging look at the lives of two women who are centered around the home, physically and figuratively.
- 'Latif Al Ani' portrays Iraq in an era of optimism
After Ottoman and later British rule, the Iraqi republic was formed in 1958, at a time of great hope.
- 'No Time to Spare' is an enjoyable visit with literary giant Ursula Le Guin (and her cat)
Le Guin reflects on the value of time, when simply living life, visiting with friends and family, grocery shopping, and writing, fills each and every day.
- 'The Revolution of Marina M.' grounds readers in the sweep of Russian history
This is 'White Oleander' author Janet Fitch's most powerful narrative, dense with atmosphere and poetics.
- 'The Last Man Who Knew Everything' is a detailed and sympathetic biography of Enrico Fermi
'The Last Man Who Knew Everything' manages the neat double trick of making both Fermi and his abstruse work accessible
- When a used book has an inscription, it's like a visit from a ghost of Christmas past
Clifton Fadiman said it best when he wrote of 'objects whose connection with us lies just this side of evanescence.'
- 'Feast for the Eyes' is a delightful history of food in photography
What we eat, and how we consume it, is directly linked to photography’s evolution.
- 'Rooster Bar' author John Grisham sinks his teeth into a juicy target: privately owned, for-profit law schools
Grisham details the dismal mediocrity and hopelessness engulfing the school and its students.
- 'Playing with Fire' chronicles 1968 in America, eschewing easy answers to complex questions
The aftermath of 1968 – seven more years of war, continued social unrest, Watergate, Nixon's resignation, Gerald Ford's pardon – combined to alter forever the trajectory of American public life.
- Henry Louis Gates Jr. discusses his mission to marvel with '100 Amazing Facts About the Negro'
'God put me on earth for many reasons, and one is to integrate the history of the human community by establishing the role that black people played,' he says.
- 'The Saboteur' combines heroic World War II history with thriller dramatics
Robert de La Rochefoucauld and his Resistance comrades were guided by an unspoken code of bravery.
- 'Modern Color' shows how Fred Herzog captured an era in living color
Herzog offers up a body of street photography created before it was a recognized genre.