When Yonous Muhammadi fled his native Afghanistan for Greece in 2001, he was able to successfully obtain political asylum. But he doubts that his relatives still back home would prove as fortunate if they managed to escape today.

After the Taliban seized Kabul on Aug. 15, the Greek government was quick to declare it would stop Afghan refugees from crossing into Europe, for fear of a repeat of the European migration crisis of 2015-16. Although the government promised to rescue eight Afghans who worked with its NATO deployment in Afghanistan – “We will not stop until we bring them back to our country,” a spokesperson said – Greece also rapidly completed a 25-mile wall on its frontier with Turkey.

“We cannot wait, passively, for the possible impact,” Michalis Chrisochoidis, the Greek minister for citizens’ protection, said. “Our borders will remain safe and inviolable.”

When Mr. Muhammadi hears European politicians say such things, he is disappointed.

“Not just disappointed that they cannot respond to this crisis,” says the former asylum-seeker, now president of the Greek Forum of Refugees. “Disappointed that the West, after 20 years, failed on their mission in Afghanistan. It is a complete, shameless failure.”

Ever since Kabul fell, European nations, much like the United States, have been scrambling to evacuate their citizens and Afghan allies. That effort has been mixed up with conflicting messages: a sense of solidarity and responsibility toward the Afghan people, and fears of mass migration that experts warn are unfounded and potential fodder for the far-right.

“There’s been two strands to the European response,” says Catherine Woollard, director of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles. “One element has been quite an insular response based on panic, or attempting to generate panic, about the number of people who may eventually arrive in Europe ... [which] plays into the hands of extremists and the far-right, anti-immigration forces that are still there.”

The other, she says, has been the massive – and even surprising – effort by European nations to evacuate as many people as possible in a race against the clock.

From Lisbon to London, Madrid to Vienna, cities across Europe have come forward to welcome Afghan refugees. In Germany, more than 300,000 people signed a petition to create safe pathways for refugees. “We must adopt an attitude of openness and maximum welcome,” declared Marina Sereni, the deputy foreign minister of Italy, taking stock of the many municipalities, associations, and civil organizations that have “made it known that they are ready to welcome people, families, women, and children who want to flee Afghanistan.”

Missed opportunities

Group of Seven leaders held an emergency meeting on Afghanistan on Tuesday. Central to the discussions were how to get as many Afghans as possible out of Kabul in the short term and how to coordinate a resettlement program for at-risk Afghans in the midterm.

Britain, France, and Germany wanted the U.S. to stay in Afghanistan beyond the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline to complete evacuation operations – even though the Taliban warned against this. The contrast is sharp. Days before Kabul fell, six European nations lobbied the European Commission to maintain the deportation of rejected Afghan asylum-seekers to prevent motivating “even more Afghan citizens to leave their home for the EU.”

Ann Hermes/Staff/File

Refugees from Afghanistan show Pastor Tibor Varga (right) a map of their route as they make their way into the European Union on June 2, 2015, in Subotica, Serbia. European leaders are acting to avoid a repeat of the 2015 migration crisis, but there is little evidence that the situations are the same.

“There was a window of opportunity of several weeks, if not months, to bring these people safely to Europe, to North America and elsewhere,” says Alberto Horst Neidhardt, an analyst at the European Policy Centre. “And yet nothing was done. These people were left there. Their visa applications were not processed. And now we see absolute panic both in Afghanistan but also in Europe and in North America because nothing was done.”

The thornier question is how to deal with the Taliban to make repatriation and resettlement possible and also ensure that the once-ousted regime forms an inclusive government.

“Are the Taliban really going to be a soft version of what they were in the in the late 1990s, or [will they] manifest themselves as most people fear they will? Depending which way things go, there’s going to be more and more Afghans rightly fleeing the country,” says Kemal Kirisci, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who in April warned that the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan risked triggering a mass exodus of refugees.

He now believes the Taliban are more likely to prevent people from leaving – indeed, the Taliban announced Tuesday that they want Afghan nationals to stay in the country, and that they would no longer be allowed to go to the Kabul airport. But Mr. Kirisci says that he expects young Afghans who grew up with freedoms to constantly trickle out with the help of smugglers.

Not a new crisis

But despite the rhetoric of far-right politicians who have turned migration into a toxic issue in Europe, only a small, manageable number of Afghans are likely to reach Europe, experts say. The majority will probably stay in the Central Asian and Mideast region, they add, and a repeat of the mass migration movements witnessed in 2015 and 2016 is unlikely.

“The kind of fear-mongering themes of recent days is unjustified, and the comparison with 2015 and 2016 is misleading,” says Mr. Neidhard. “There are significant differences.” The European Union has spent the last several years building strong partnerships, especially with Turkey, to prevent irregular migration, he notes. The Syrian crisis was the focal point, but the 2015-16 population movements were the product of instability across the Middle East and North Africa region, not just one country.

Since then, Europe has massively fortified its borders and now boasts a robust border and coast guard agency, Frontex.

“Afghans are not going to face a welcoming Europe or welcoming neighboring countries,” says Angeliki Dimitriadi, senior research fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy. “They’re going to face deterrence measures and they are going to face hostile policies. Most member states are unified in that they don’t want too many asylum-seekers. There’s no doubt that Europeans have a fatigue with the refugee issue.”

The Afghan crisis also finds Europe in a weaker state economically, and the pandemic hasn’t helped, she adds. France and Germany have key elections. Europe also failed to hammer out a common migration and asylum policy. And the idea of European solidarity still hits a wall when it comes to spreading the refugee load.

“Virtually none of the structural reforms that are so badly needed in European migration policy have happened in the last five-plus years,” says Mr. Neidhard. “This means that should we witness a big rise in irregular arrivals – and that’s a big if – the EU could potentially face another governance crisis in the area of migration.”

“The crisis at the moment”

Many experts see current discussions to expand the EU-Turkey Statement – a migration control pact with safeguards for Syrian asylum-seekers – to include Afghans or to use it as a blueprint for deals with Afghanistan’s neighbors as misguided. What is needed, they say, is a global resettlement program and robust support for international organizations already supporting Afghans inside their country and the surrounding region.

“We should keep in mind that these are not countries that can function for an indefinite period of time as host countries to the Afghans,” says Dr. Dimitriadi.

Turkey, a transit country, is already home to about 500,000 Afghans living in often difficult conditions, in addition to nearly 4 million Syrians. Pakistan and Iran each host more than 3 million Afghan refugees, most of them without formal refugee status. Since 2015, nearly 600,000 Afghans have requested asylum in the EU.

“The EU and other wealthy countries must set up a sweeping resettlement scheme for vulnerable Afghan refugees from the region,” says Niamh Nic Carthaigh, director of EU policy and advocacy for the International Rescue Committee. “It is critical that the EU protects the people of Afghanistan and supports countries in the region rather than pouring any effort into preventing people from reaching safety in Europe.”

She points out that the majority of Afghans are internally displaced, and recent events have only amplified the huge humanitarian needs within the country. The EU had increased its humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan by 18% this year. However, only 37% of the United Nations humanitarian response plan has been funded for 2021. There are more than 18 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan.

“The crisis at the moment is for the people of Afghanistan,” she stresses. “That’s where the attention needs to be focused.”

Editor's note: The original version misstated how many people in Afghanistan need humanitarian assistance.

Even Fred Upton’s former opponents like Fred Upton.

For more than three decades, Congressman Upton has represented Michigan’s 6th District, the southwest corner of the state, stretching from Lake Michigan to Kalamazoo to the Indiana border. And every two years, Mr. Upton has sailed through reelection with a coalition of supporters across the political spectrum.

Dale Shugars, a Kalamazoo County Commissioner who lost a primary challenge to Mr. Upton in 2002, calls him “a person that has integrity.” He “works hard and represents most of the views of the area,” Mr. Shugars says, adding that “he votes, for the most part, very well for Southwest Michigan.”

By “most,” Mr. Shugars is referring to Mr. Upton’s January impeachment vote, which has roiled 6th District Republicans and made the congressman a target for many members of the national GOP.

After mobs of angry Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 10 Republicans joined House Democrats to impeach President Donald Trump for his role in inciting the violence. Mr. Upton was one. Rep. Peter Meijer, from Michigan’s neighboring 3rd district, was another.

Since then, many of those Republicans have been censured by their state parties or county groups, amid calls for their resignation. Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney lost her leadership position in the House. Nine of the 10 already have Trump-backed primary opponents, who are framing the 2022 midterm election as a referendum on support for Mr. Trump.

But in Mr. Upton’s district in southwest Michigan, it’s not that simple. The region has long been a stronghold of Dutch Americans, who settled in the area beginning in the mid-1800s, and the Dutch Reformed Church.

It’s similar to Utah, founded by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the sense that it has a unique sense of morality and an appreciation for politicians who can deliver for constituents.

“I don’t think it was the right thing to do,” says Mr. Shugars of Mr. Upton’s impeachment vote, sitting in the Kalamazoo County GOP office, a camouflage “Trump 2024” flag behind him. “But having said that, Fred’s office was very instrumental in getting $750,000 from FEMA for the area that was flooded out.”

It’s a sentiment echoed by many Trump supporters here, who say they still plan to back their longtime congressman, whether the former president attacks him or not.

“Our district, and I think this is a lot of the country, they don’t care if you have an ‘R’ or a ‘D’ next to your name,” says Mr. Upton from his office on Capitol Hill. “They just want the job done.”

“We can’t wait.”

Recently for Mr. Upton, getting the job done has meant working on a bipartisan infrastructure bill as a member of the House’s Problem Solvers Caucus. It’s the type of practical legislating he gets excited talking about, hands laced behind his head, one foot propped up on his coffee table.

He expresses concern about Mr. Trump’s many statements urging Republicans not to do an infrastructure deal with Democrats, instead waiting until “after we get proper election results in 2022.”

“If we don’t get this done, nothing is going to happen,” says Mr. Upton, who has been working on the bill since April. “We can’t wait. Our roads suck.”

Joan Hillebrands, Mr. Upton’s chief of staff who has worked for him for over 30 years, interrupts. This is why, she says, Republicans in the 6th Congressional District can disagree with Mr. Upton’s impeachment vote but still support him: It’s things like the roads that they really care about.

“They see Fred and they see him working on the real issues that they are lying awake at night worrying about,” says Ms. Hillebrands, pointing to legislation Mr. Upton introduced earlier this year with Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Dingell to protect drinking water from harmful chemicals, and his leadership on the Cures Act, a law signed by President Barack Obama in 2016 that increased the National Institute of Health’s budget for developing cures and vaccines.

Michigan’s 6th is a swing district, divided between Democratic Kalamazoo, which makes up almost half the district’s voters, and five Republican counties to the west and south. For the past three decades, Mr. Upton has won reelection with sizable margins, even as the state backed Democratic presidential candidates. In 2016, Mr. Upton surpassed Mr. Trump’s winning margin by 14 percentage points in the district; in 2020 he surpassed Mr. Trump’s winning margin by 11 percentage points.

The surrounding region is generally socially conservative, but wasn’t with Mr. Trump from the beginning, says Matt Grossmann, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research and Professor of Political Science at Michigan State University.

Like the Mormons, the West Michigan Dutch population is a religious minority that is socially conservative but is also pro-immigration and pro-refugee, says Professor Grossmann. Their churches are, at least.

“But of course, we are in an era where supporting Trump’s views and being a Republican are fused together,” Professor Grossmann says. “Even if there are distinctions and these different views on issues, they are harder to manage.”

A number of district Republican voters say they wish Mr. Upton had voted differently on impeachment, but say the past 30-plus years he’s spent responding to constituents and traveling back home to his district mean something.

Larry Ladenburger, a retired county government worker from the Allegan area, says he voted for Mr. Trump in 2016 and 2020 and has supported Mr. Upton since he first ran for office. When asked if he’d no longer support Mr. Upton following his impeachment vote, Mr. Ladenburger lets out a sigh. He pauses for a few beats.

“No, the vote doesn’t change my support for Fred,” says Mr. Ladenburger.

“He has done well for this area of Michigan,” he adds, referencing Mr. Upton’s bipartisan work on the Cures Act. “And I know he walks a difficult line.”

Difficult votes

Walking a difficult line means taking difficult votes for a GOP member of Congress.

In 2019, Mr. Upton was one of seven Republicans to vote with Democrats to end a government shutdown, and later that year he was one of four Republicans to condemn Mr. Trump’s tweet that several Democratic congresswomen “go back” to other countries. Earlier this year he was one of 11 House Republicans who voted to strip fellow Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments for making incendiary statements, and then he was one of eight Republicans to support expanding background checks for gun purchases.

But he has also been at the forefront of some conservative causes, and has often agreed with Mr. Trump.

Mr. Upton, the former chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has called the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions an “unconstitutional power grab.” Under Mr. Trump, the congressman voted several times in favor of repealing the Affordable Care Act. And during the four years Mr. Trump was in office, he voted in line with the president 79% of the time – which, according to the data journalism site FiveThirtyEight, is more than expected given Mr. Trump’s 2016 margin in the 6th District.

The congressman remains a member in good standing of the Michigan state GOP. A party committee voted against censuring him and Mr. Meijer earlier this month.

But that doesn’t mean Mr. Upton’s path to reelection is free and clear. He and Mr. Meijer both already have three Republican primary opponents apiece, even though the 2022 midterms are more than a year away. Michigan’s other five Republican representatives have none.

Mr. Trump is a big reason for that. The former president has made the 10 impeachment-voting Republicans a top target, recruiting and endorsing primary challengers to run against them. “Get rid of them all,” said Mr. Trump at a Conservative Political Action Conference in late February, during which he called out all 10 by name.

Carolyn Kaster/AP

First lady Jill Biden is greeted by Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigan as she arrives at Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan, May 27, 2021. Representative Meijer, a freshman and a veteran, is one of 10 Republicans – two from Michigan – who voted to impeach President Donald Trump.

Mr. Meijer and Mr. Upton’s challengers are leaning on Mr. Trump’s directive, often advertising themselves as the race’s “only real supporter” of the former president. Mr. Meijer’s opponents include Audra Johnson, who made news in 2019 for her MAGA-themed wedding, and Mr. Upton’s opponents include Jon Rocha, a Mexican American Marine Corps veteran who was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

“Upton is one of those politicians, those Republicans, who say, ‘Well I guess we could bend a little bit.’ That type of thinking needs to be removed,” says Mr. Rocha. “The Trump impeachment added fuel to that fire.”

And plenty of Republican voters in the district agree with Mr. Rocha.

“The other grassroots people I’m talking to, we feel like Upton betrayed his constituents,” says Steven Kuivenhoven, a GOP precinct delegate who lives in Kalamazoo and is backing another Upton challenger, state Rep. Steve Carra.

“We felt like [Upton] was impeaching us when he impeached Trump,” says Mr. Kuivenhoven.

But the number of Mr. Upton and Mr. Meijer’s primary challengers, and the fact that they are running similar campaigns, helps the two incumbents. So too does the fact that Mr. Trump, despite the CPAC callout, has not yet made either of the congressmen a direct focus like he has of other pro-impeachment voters like Representative Cheney.

Voted to impeach two presidents

Mr. Upton is quick to pull out his cell phone and show pictures of his grandson. But scrolling a little bit farther back, he finds photos of a crowd approaching the Capitol steps on Jan. 6 – an overhead view from the balcony of his office.

He was in his office when he saw the news on the TV, and then out his window. Mr. Upton heard the flash grenades and locked the doors of his office. He turned off the lights so it would look like the room was empty.

“It was real,” says Mr. Upton. “And it was pretty scary.”

But it was Mr. Trump’s comments afterward, when he said that his speech before the riot was “totally appropriate” – Mr. Upton does air quotes here – that made the congressman vote in favor of impeachment.

“People know that I’m not afraid to oppose or support any president,” says Mr. Upton. “I’ve served with what – eight presidents now?” The congressman looks at Ms. Hillebrands and begins to count on his fingers: Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden. He corrects himself: seven presidents.

One of Mr. Upton’s first votes, for example, was to override President Reagan’s veto on a federal highway funding bill in 1987. Before assuming office, Mr. Upton had worked for Mr. Reagan in the Office of Management and Budget. He still has a framed photo of the two of them in his office. But contrary to what his former colleagues in the Reagan administration had hoped, Mr. Upton voted against his old boss because, as he says with a shrug of his shoulders, “highways are important.”

“My successor at OMB ... he goes, ‘Well Fred, you’re going to be with The Gipper on this, right?’ and I said, ‘Well, no,’” recalls Mr. Upton, chuckling. “It’s who I’ve always been. I haven’t changed.”

And with his vote to impeach President Bill Clinton in 1998 and then Mr. Trump in 2021, Mr. Upton holds another superlative: the only U.S. Representative in the country’s history to have voted to impeach two presidents.

When I start to ask Mr. Upton about this, he closes his eyes and nods his head before I’ve finished. He learned this stat recently, in one of the letters he received from angry constituents since January. Mr. Upton responded to this letter himself, as he does all others, citing his 100% ratings with conservative groups and strong conservative voting record.

Then he signed it, as he does with all his mail: “Fred.” 

An Olympic-size swimming pool in coastal Senegal. A military base in Somalia. And in arid Niger, a gateway to the Sahara desert, a remodeled, sprawling airport to be managed on Niger’s behalf for three decades.

These are only a few recent private and public investments in Africa by Turkey, an emerging middle power that’s making moves in a region that has historically received aid and investment from European colonial powers, and of late, from China. 

Speculations abound on what this represents. While some chalk up Turkey’s moves to economic interests and competition with other regional powers, others point to national security priorities and domestic political agendas. 

Federico Donelli, an expert on Ankara’s activity in the Horn of Africa,  says it’s likely all of the above.

“Undoubtedly, Turkish openness towards Africa is part of a broader framework aimed at building Turkey’s role as a global player,” says Dr. Donelli, a researcher at the University of Genoa. “Turkey in Africa seeks material gains and popularity, but also has reasons for regional competition with some Gulf states,” he adds, referring to its rivalry with the United Arab Emirates, which also has ties in East Africa.

Perhaps the pertinent question is how Turkey might smooth-talk African countries at a time when other investors face pushback. In the Sahel region, where hundreds of French companies run everything from mobile networks to mines, and which hosts some 5,000 French troops, there have been protests calling for France to withdraw. Citizens complain that their sovereignty has been undermined and their mineral resources exploited by the former colonial power. China’s growing footprint has also drawn ire across Africa. Will partnerships with Turkey prove any different?

Until the early 2000s, Turkish foreign policy was focused on trying to join the European Union. But as that goal receded, its interests shifted, including toward Africa. In 2005, it declared a “Year of Africa” and has hosted two Turkey-Africa summits. And President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has visited the continent more than two dozen times, including a trip to Somalia in 2011 that was the first by a non-African leader in two decades. Turkey has become a significant donor and investor in Somalia, where it has also built its largest foreign military base. 

Still, on a continent rich in resources and human capital, there’s plenty of competition. China and India are both eager to consolidate their economic and military influence, particularly in the Horn of Africa that borders the Middle East. China is now Africa’s largest trading partner. 

Undaunted, President Erdoğan’s government has begun calling Turkey an “Afro-Eurasian state“ and wooing countries with infrastructure and education opportunities for young Africans. Turkey has also played on cultural affinities: Turkish soap operas have flooded East African markets, for example. 

Turkey has designated relations with Africa as a core pillar of its foreign policy, and opened 30 new embassies between 2002 and 2019, while Turkish Airlines is a major carrier on Africa-Europe routes. In 2008, the African Union designated Turkey as a strategic partner. 

Rising investment, less baggage

African countries have benefitted from this partnership. El Hadji Idi Abdou, an analyst in Niamey, Niger, says the international airport was in “total disrepair” before Turkey took charge. According to Turkey, since 1992 some 13,000 African students have won scholarships to Turkey while its aid agency is active in 22 countries. Trade volume between sub-Saharan African countries and Turkey rose to $10 billion in 2020, up from $1.35 billion in 2003, and Turkish companies have invested about $19.5 billion in the region. 

Perhaps the most important reason for Africa’s romance with Turkey, analysts say, is that the country doesn’t carry the baggage of ex-colonial powers like France. Another is religion: Almost all of the countries Turkey has wooed have significant Muslim populations that are more receptive to a partnership with an Islamic power. 

Turkey’s relationship with Africa is not saddled with “a complex or paternalistic spirit that most often characterizes the partnership between African countries and Western or American countries,” says Mr. Abdou.

And where Beijing has a reputation for financing arrangements that can saddle countries with heavy debt, Ankara appears so far to tread more softly. 

“Unlike China, Turkey tends to involve the native population more” by hiring and training local workers, says Dr. Donelli, which he says shows an intent to transfer skills and know-how. 

But time will tell what form Turkey’s diplomacy ultimately takes. In Niger, it signed a secretive defense pact last year that could allow for Turkish troop deployments, which has rattled Paris and other Western powers. Turkey is also using its military to secure its maritime interests in Libya. 

A mixed political agenda

Some analysts say Turkey’s engagement in Africa has been oversold. Alex Vines, director of the Africa program at Chatham House think tank in London, points out that one of Turkey’s diplomatic goals is to root out Africa-based religious networks linked to exiled Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a rival of President Erdoğan’s whom he accuses of masterminding a 2016 coup attempt. (Other analysts say the Gulen affair is a minor motive.)

“Turkey is trying to compete by offering connectivity and ease of access to Turkey to grow business and connections,” Dr. Vines says via email. But “there has been some hype and the AU itself stated that Turkey had not delivered all it had promised. In some places, there is little engagement beyond an Embassy.”

There are also fears that relations with Turkey could soon turn sour in a region where oversight is mostly weak, if Ankara were to support unpopular governments. Reports of Turkish drone support for Ethiopia, where the government has been accused of war crimes during the war in Tigray, have spurred condemnation; Turkey has denied those reports.  

Mr. Abdou says that while a diverse base of partners can help African countries to develop, each country and its voters need to monitor whether Turkey, or any other foreign power, is empowering bad leadership and fueling corruption.

“Responsible citizenship is needed to hold leaders to account,” he says. “States, it is said, have no friends but interests. If African leaders prioritize their interests to the detriment of the interests of their peoples, the diversification of partners alone will not change anything.”

St. Martin's Press and Grove Press

As August leans into September, the book satchel may not travel to the beach, but it doesn’t need to hang in the closet. These novels, memoirs, and works of history are well worth carrying into fall. 

1. Emily’s House by Amy Belding Brown

Irish immigrant Margaret Maher works as the maid in the family home of poet Emily Dickinson, cleaning, cooking, and defending her mistress from prying eyes. Margaret’s Tipperary-tinged voice brings this captivating novel to life; it’s a perspective rife with honesty, humor, and clever observations. Upon discovering Emily’s verses, Margaret breathes, “Like sparks they were – tiny scraps of light.”

2. The Human Zoo by Sabina Murray 

A Filipino American writer named Ting flees to Manila, where her extended family lives in fading, upper-class ease. As she researches a native tribe for a book on human zoos, Ting witnesses the human and political damage inflicted by the country’s strongman leader. Sabina Murray’s smart, idea-packed story grapples with corruption, identity, and loyalty, building to a searing climax.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

3. Agatha of Little Neon by Claire Luchette

“When people saw our habits, they ceased to see our faces,” muses Agatha, one of four young nuns tending to the residents of Little Neon, a lime green-colored halfway house in Rhode Island. The relationship between individuality and faith underpins Claire Luchette’s spare, deeply sympathetic debut. Sharp dialogue and fresh observations bring the characters’ quirks and doubts to life.

4. The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny

Louise Penny’s 17th mystery in her “Chief Inspector Gamache” series deals with hot-button issues, from free speech and academic freedom to euthanasia. Set in a post-pandemic world (Penny wrote the novel during the coronavirus lockdown), this riveting murder mystery explores moral quandaries with her trademark incisiveness. 

5. The Husbands by Chandler Baker

This feminist noir mystery is a gender-flipped “Stepford Wives” in which high-powered working women attain their dream careers while their men handle the domestic duties. With satirical wit and insightful compassion, author Chandler Baker gives voice to the frustrations borne of society’s expectations of women. The book’s thriller undertones make for propulsive reading.

6. The Long-Lost Jules by Jane Elizabeth Hughes

When a suspiciously charming Oxford professor begins traipsing after a shy London banker, insisting she is the long lost heir of Henry VIII’s last queen (Katherine Parr), an enthralling contemporary romantic mystery heats up. Add in secret agendas, family drama, international money-laundering rings, and European locations, and this is a terrific romp for history buffs and adventure lovers.

7. All In by Billie Jean King

The tennis champion writes about her life with self-awareness and humility, while not underplaying her role as a trailblazer for women’s rights. She gently criticizes her younger self for feeling a need to hide her sexual identity to safeguard her career, and touches on the toll that secret exacted. Find the full review here.

8. Pastoral Song by James Rebanks

English sheep farmer and writer James Rebanks offers a sustainable method for raising animals, preserving habitat, caring for the environment, and nurturing small farmers all at the same time. Find the full review here. 

9. The Ambassador by Susan Ronald

Susan Ronald, who wrote a thought-provoking biography of Condé Nast, turns to a different name-brand plutocrat: Joseph Kennedy, the patriarch of the Kennedy family, concentrating on his disastrous turn as ambassador to England. Ronald respects her readers by not trying to rehabilitate Kennedy; instead, she presents a three-dimensional portrait of a flawed but fascinating man.

10. All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days by Rebecca Donner

Rebecca Donner’s harrowing book tells the story of American-born Mildred Harnack, a bright, unassuming young woman who played a central role in organizing German resistance to the Nazis – planning sabotage and helping Jewish people escape.  

AP

Farmers plant rice last May in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Over his four years as South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in has looked for what he calls “snowballs,” or openings for soft diplomacy with North Korea. A snowball, he says, might be rolled into a snowman of peace. In recent weeks, Mr. Moon has spotted such an opening – a food crisis in North Korea – and has made plans to offer humanitarian aid. On Monday, he won a green light from the Biden administration to start this snowball rolling.

His hopes of using food aid to start a dialogue with North Korea on its nuclear program were bolstered in early August. Pyongyang agreed to reestablish a telephone hotline after a 13-month lapse. Also, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been unusually open and contrite about his failure to feed his 25 million people. Earlier this year, he apologized for what he called the “worst situation ever” in agriculture.

While heavy rains, drought, international sanctions, and the pandemic have contributed to the North’s food shortage, Mr. Kim’s apology clearly points to mismanagement of his government-run and closed economy. His regime has had to dip into the military’s rice reserves to keep people from starvation. According to a United Nations forecast in late July, the food situation will deteriorate through November. Some Korea watchers expect an aid deal within a year.

Food aid is allowed under the U.N. sanctions regime imposed on North Korea for violations in its testing of missiles and nuclear weapons. For Mr. Moon, a former human rights lawyer whose parents came from North Korea, the aid would be a small step in rebuilding trust and in signaling a message of unity between the divided Korean people. His act of kindness might have that sort of snowball effect.