New Psychological Thrillers
In Peter Swanson’s new novel, “Nine Lives,” some unlucky folks find themselves singled out by a killer.
Life in an E.R. During Covid
Thomas Fisher talks about “The Emergency,” and Maud Newton discusses “Ancestor Trouble.”
Books You Wish You Hadn’t Read and Other Letters to the Editor
Readers respond to recent issues of the Sunday Book Review.
Remembrance of Bookstores Past
New Yorkers still tell stories of browsing at Harlem’s Liberation Bookstore or spending the afternoon at Scribner’s.
Review: ‘The Return of Faraz Ali,’ by Aamina Ahmad
In Aamina Ahmad’s stunning debut novel,“The Return of Faraz Ali,” a police officer is asked to cover up a young girl’s death in the red-light district of Lahore, Pakistan.
New in Paperback: ‘Caul Baby’ and ‘While Justice Sleeps’
Six new paperbacks to check out this week.
Stop and Smell the Roses
Or take a cloud out on a walk or climb the antlers of a deer.
10 New Books We Recommend This Week
Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.
The 1,328-Page Novel That Captivated the Primatologist Frans de Waal
“Haruki Murakami’s trilogy ’1Q84’ kept me spellbound for all of its 1,328 pages, which is unusual for me. Such an unrealistic story, yet so realistically told.”
Review: ‘The Trayvon Generation,’ by Elizabeth Alexander
“The Trayvon Generation” traces the influences of racism and violence on American culture today.
Rebecca Serle Met Her Mom’s Old Boyfriend, Then Wrote a Best Seller
‘One Italian Summer’ was inspired by a meaningful encounter during an intergenerational pilgrimage to Positano and Rome.
Richard Lipez, Who Reimagined the Gay Detective Novel, Dies at 83
Under the pen name Richard Stevenson, he sought to correct crime fiction’s portrayals of gay characters as freaks or villains with an entirely relatable protagonist.
Review: ‘Faith Ringgold: Politics / Power,’ by Faith Ringgold, Michele Wallace and Kirsten Weiss
A book of the artist’s work between 1967 and 1981 reveals her commitment to Black Power and Black feminism.
Review: ‘Sea of Tranquility,’ by Emily St. John Mandel
In “Station Eleven,” she explored fallout from a pandemic. Now, in “Sea of Tranquility,” Mandel takes up existential questions of time and being.
Newly Published, From Borscht to David Foster Wallace
A selection of books published this week.
In 'Ancestor Trouble,' Maud Newton wrestles with her family history
Maud Newton spent decades researching genealogic records, genetic science, and the cultural history of "ancestor hunger"; her book is also a coming-to-terms with how to face and honor family history.
(Image credit: Random House)
Brace yourself for 'Young Mungo,' a nuanced heartbreaker of a novel
Scottish author Douglas Stuart won the Booker Prize for his debut novel, Shuggie Bain, in 2020. His latest work is a suspense story wrapped around a novel of acute psychological observation.
(Image credit: Grove Atlantic)
Ways And Means: Lincoln and His Cabinet and the Financing of the Civil War
UnCovered review by Frank Tomasello, ACLS Mays Landing Branch
In Ways And Means: Lincoln And His Cabinet And The Financing Of The Civil War, Roger Lowenstein examines an inexplicably overlooked facet of Civil War history, finances. In the “lame duck” period from Abraham Lincoln’s election in November of 1860, until his inauguration in March of 1861, the then sitting Secretary of the Treasury, Georgia Confederate, Howell Cobb, sought to sabotage the Lincoln administration by racking up the enormous sum of $65,000,000.00 in short-term debt (over $202,000,000.00 adjusted for inflation). This added to immeasurably to the myriad of challenges this relatively inexperienced politician, Abraham Lincoln, faced from the first day of his Administration. He realized that he would need the right person for his Treasury Secretary. His own party had sought to place the incompetent, but politically connected, Simon Cameron in that office. Lincoln held firm for his choice: his rival to the 1860 Presidential nomination; more fervent anti-slavery “radical” and hard money leaning; Salmon P. Chase.
The problems Lincoln and Chase confronted seemed insurmountable. The Union began the Civil War mired in debt, which needed to be serviced, along with the need to build and provision an army from the 16,000-man army that existed at the time on top of running the country’s normal functions. Tying the administration’s hands was the Constitution which limited the Federal power to “coining” money, which had been held to mean that paper money was unconstitutional. Since there was only so much gold and silver to go around, this created a problem. Paper money did circulate at the time but was controlled by the states consistent with the prevailing view that the states were paramount to a central Federal government. The only option seemed to be borrowing by selling bonds. That meant that they would then have to find willing investors for these bonds. The problem was that the interest of potential investors seemed to ebb and flow with the successes and failures of the Union Army, which too often were failures for most of the war. Eventually, a new and unexpected pool of investors was cultivated, the taboo over paper money was overcome, a new national banking system was instituted, taxes and tariffs were fine-tuned and the salesmanship of the future scoundrel Jay Cooke, all contributed to the Union’s financial victory in the Civil War. As noted in the book, the Union’s most successful Generals, Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman, had said that Chase had done more to win the war than any General.
The contrast between the Union and Confederate approach to financing could not be more pronounced. As the Union came out of the war in better economic health than it entered it, the Confederacy experienced 9,000 per cent hyperinflation, the likes of which would not be seen again until the German Weimar Republic of the 1920s, and was utterly devastated. The end result was a remaking of America as a united whole, no longer a mere confederation of states, and thus on the path to becoming a modern Nation, thanks in no small part to Abraham Lincoln and his political rival Salmon P. Chase.
New Fiction Illuminates Scars of Ukraine’s War
Two newly translated books highlight everyday lives transformed by conflict.
Book Review: ‘Ancestor Trouble,’ by Maud Newton
Maud Newton’s “Ancestor Trouble” is a sweeping genealogical investigation that becomes an investigation of genealogy itself.
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