In “Partisans,” Nicole Hemmer zeros in on ’90s figures like Pat Buchanan as guiding forces behind the Republican Party’s hard-right, conspiracy-minded turn.
The essayist talks about his book “Theft by Finding,” a selection of diary entries spanning 25 years that helped him find and shape his voice as a writer.
“Somewhere along the line I liberated myself from the idea that I have to finish every book I start, instantly enlarging my exposure to new kinds of books.,” says the author and illustrator, whose latest picture book is “The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster!” “A book doesn’t have to be to my taste to be ‘good.’”
A sad, brutally honest memoir about "a poor, sexually abused, drug-addicted Chicano kid," Jesse Leon's narrative is one that vividly brings to the page the realities of someone ignored by the system.