Book Review: ‘The Deepest Map,’ by Laura Trethewey
Laura Trethewey’s “The Deepest Map” explores the new world of oceanic exploration — and its dangers.
Lincoln and the Fight for Peace
UnCovered
Review by Frank Tomasello, ACLS Mays Landing Branch
In his book, LINCOLN AND THE FIGHT FOR PEACE, John Avlon examines the well-known, yet surprisingly little-discussed, two-week trip President Lincoln took to Virginia after the fall of Richmond near the end of the U.S. Civil War. It is often discussed that Lincoln met with Generals Grant and Sherman and others to discuss bring the war to a close and the handling of the post war South, but little is mentioned of the sheer joy Lincoln felt at that time that the terrible war would soon be over and how he enjoyed just simply walking around Richmond (ignoring the obvious danger this placed him in being the most hated man in the South). The book later focuses on Lincoln’s “Let ‘em up easy” approach to future Reconstruction. While acknowledging that an assassin’s bullet prevented that approach from coming to fruition, the author extrapolates that philosophy in later wars involving the United States. Quite validly, the author makes the point that the harsh treatment of Germany after WWI led, in part, to WWII. By contrast, things like the Marshall Plan led to peace in Europe since. Quoting American General Lucius Clay, architect of the post-WWII German occupation, when asked what guided his decisions: “I tried to think of the kind of occupation the South would have had if Abraham Lincoln had lived.”
Unfortunately, the book contains several factual errors, among others, the thoroughly disproven myth, that Lincoln prophesied his imminent death by way of a dream the night before his assassination. This is inexcusable poor research and fact checking which tarnishes an otherwise useful work. Worth reading for the treatment of Lincoln’s happiest moments at the end of the war, which has not be so extensively examined elsewhere.
Two new feel-good novels about bookstores celebrate the power of reading
Most novels set in bookshops are heartwarming paeans to bonds forged among readers. The Door-to-Door Bookstore by Carsten Henn and Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa are no exception.
(Image credit: Harper Perennial)
250 Pounds of Pot, a Taco Truck and a Cross-Country Road Trip
Scott Von Doviak’s novel “Lowdown Road” evokes “The Dukes of Hazzard” — in a good way.
Giorgi Gospodinov’s Time-Bending Fiction
Georgi Gospodinov won the prestigious International Booker Prize this year for “Time Shelter,” a satirical novel exploring lofty ideas about nostalgia.
Book Review: ‘At the End of Every Day,’ by Arianna Reiche
In Arianna Reiche’s debut novel, “At the End of Every Day,” a death at an amusement park leads to the discovery of a mysterious underworld lurking beneath the attractions.
Book Review: ‘The Madam and the Spymaster,’ by Nigel Jones, Urs Brunner and Julia Schrammel
In “The Madam and the Spymaster,” a trio of journalists probe the story of a German bordello that purportedly doubled as a listening post.
How Stalin’s Control of Foreign Reporters Helped Shape Russia Coverage Today
In “The Red Hotel,” Alan Philps, a former Moscow correspondent, documents the lives of Western journalists under Stalin and traces through lines to media relations in Russia today.
Book Review: ‘The Light Room,’ by Kate Zambreno
In her new memoir, “The Light Room,” Kate Zambreno looks back on the unending togetherness of family life during the pandemic.
Book Review: ‘Completely Mad,’ by James R. Hansen
In “Completely Mad,” James Hansen tells the stories of two men who in 1969 vied to be the first to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
Book Review: ‘The Exhibitionist,’ by Charlotte Mendelson
In Charlotte Mendelson’s “The Exhibitionist,” a wife and children live in the shadow of a blustering, egotistic, once important painter.
Book Review: ‘The Theory of Everything Else,’ by Dan Schreiber
Dan Schreiber’s “The Theory of Everything Else” is a return to the golden age of the trivia compendium.
Child’s Play
An editor recommends old and new books.
Book Review: ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart,’ by Beth Nguyen
Beth Nguyen left Vietnam and her biological mother when she was a baby. Her memoir “Owner of a Lonely Heart” examines the ripple effect of those departures.
TikTok Sells A Lot of Books. Now, Its Owner Wants to Publish Them, Too.
As ByteDance launches a publishing company, many in the book world wonder if it will create an uneven playing field by boosting its own authors at the expense of others.
Book Review: ‘Pete and Alice in Maine,’ by Caitlin Shetterly
Remember the people who fled to second homes during the pandemic? Caitlin Shetterly wrote a novel about them.
Book Review: ‘New International Fiction’
Novels and stories by Itamar Vieira Junior, Carlos Fonseca, Guadalupe Nettel and Norman Erikson Pasaribu.
Looking Back at ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’
Helen Fielding’s ditzy heroine was all the rage when she was introduced to American audiences in 1998. Today, her nuttiness and self-loathing read like a relic from another time.
Newly Published, from Young Adult Novels to Political Tumult in Translation
A selection of recently published books.
Marvin Kitman, Satirist Whose Main Target Was TV, Dies at 93
He twitted the networks for 35 years as a critic at Newsday. He also audited George Washington’s wartime expense account and wrote a biography of Bill O’Reilly.
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