Books | Book Reviews
5 children’s picture books bring beauty and delight to story timeGorgeously illustrated children’s books provide visual worlds to explore, while the books’ hopeful messages will cheer young and old alike.
Raising hens: A nature writer celebrates the humble chickenSy Montgomery fell in love with the chickens she raised. In “What the Chicken Knows,” she reflects on their sociability and barnyard smarts.
Krakens, codes, and cliff-hangers: Six stories to delight young readersImmersive books for young readers include Kate DiCamillo’s “The Hotel Balzaar,” Katherine Rundell’s “Imaginary Creatures,” and four others.
Reagan left his mark on the Republican Party, and on the presidencyBiographer Max Boot charts the course of a politician who was famously affable and pragmatic, but who also resorted to racist dog whistles and played loose with facts.
Intervene or isolate? America’s role abroad has long been contested.America First was a rallying cry of isolationists in the 1930s. Charles Lindbergh, a spokesman for the movement, clashed with President Franklin D. Roosevelt over U.S. involvement.
Justice delayed: Why it’s so hard to free the wrongfully convictedIn “Bringing Ben Home,” Barbara Bradley Hagerty explores the long road toward exonerating Ben Spencer, a Black man imprisoned for a murder he didn’t commit.
October’s 10 best books add up to a month of great readingThe 10 best books of October 2024 include a thrilling naval adventure, a novel about 19th-century New Orleans, and a history of Handel’s “Messiah.”
In ‘The Message,’ Ta-Nehisi Coates urges his students to see for themselves“The Message” is a collection of commentaries about African ancestry and identity, political power and polarity, and finally, a damning assessment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Americans are actually less divided than they think“Remaking the Space Between Us” counters the inclination to feel overwhelmed, angry, or helpless about civic life.
After a violent upheaval, impressionists chose beautyA war and an insurrection upended Paris in the 1800s. Then came the soothing art.
His father fled China. It took years for him to talk about it.In “At the Edge of Empire: A Family’s Reckoning With China,” Edward Wong traces the roots of his father’s flight from China – and the country’s evolution.
Kick off fall with the Monitor’s 10 best books of SeptemberAs summer fades into fall, our picks for September’s best books offer the perfect contemplative page-turners for chilly autumn days.
Five mysteries to savor, from Kate Atkinson to Richard OsmanDeath takes a holiday, as a quintet of cozy mysteries transports readers to far-flung locales, including Italy, France, and the Himalayas.
‘Tell Me Everything’ listens in on the stories of the heartElizabeth Strout tenderly reminds us that each person longs to be heard, and their story is worth hearing, in “Tell Me Everything.”
They took up arms to fight Russia. They’ve taken up pens to express themselves.
Ukraine’s Pokrovsk was about to fall to Russia 2 months ago. It’s hanging on.
What Trump’s historic victory says about America
Cover StoryWomen in construction find solidarity as ‘sisters in the brotherhood’
Worries rise over a Trump ‘warrior board’ to remove officers ‘unfit for leadership’
