From Our Archives: Notes From the Book Review Archives
In which we consult the Book Review’s past to shed light on the books of the present. This week: an unsigned review of Louisa Alcott’s letters.
Investigative Journalist Aims To Expose Ills Of Privately Run Prisons
American Prison is the remarkable story of a journalist who spent four months working as a corrections officer — and a horrifying exposé of how prisoners are treated by a profiting corporation.
(Image credit: NPR)
Nonfiction: The Power of the Supreme Court Inside America’s Schools
In a timely new book, “The Schoolhouse Gate,” the University of Chicago law professor Justin Driver traces the influence of our highest court on schools and classrooms.
Nonfiction: Behind the Kidnapping Case That Inspired ‘Lolita’
Two new books, Sarah Weinman’s “The Real Lolita” and T. Greenwood’s “Rust and Stardust,” revisit the story of Sally Horner’s 1948 abduction.
Match Book: Short Stories to Read Before Bed
Interlinked story collections provide narrative continuity, while allowing you to take a pause.
'These Truths' Looks At America Through The Promises Of Its Beginning
By engaging with our country's past — and present — in an intellectually honest way, Jill Lepore has created a book that truly does encapsulate the American story in all its pain and triumph.
(Image credit: NPR)
In The Powerful 'Deviation,' Luce D'Eramo Rejects Her Past And Faces An Uncertain Future
First published in 1979 and now released in English for the first time, D'Eramo's autobiographical novel details her harrowing experiences in German labor camps during World War II.
(Image credit: )
Nonfiction: Clarity and Grace Shine Through the Darkness in Sally Field’s Memoir, ‘In Pieces’
Though the traumatic events of Field’s childhood permeate almost every page, they do not define her.
New & Noteworthy
A selection of books published this week; plus, a peek at what our colleagues around the newsroom are reading.
Graphic Content: Jules Feiffer Completes His Trilogy: A Song of American Deceptions
A look at “The Ghost Script,” the last of Feiffer’s trio of noir graphic novels, alongside Hartley Lin’s charming “Young Frances.”
Nonfiction: The Quest to Create and Perfect an Artificial Heart
Mimi Swartz’s “Ticker” tells the story of the doctors who, against all odds, struggled to make a device to replace one of our most vital organs.
Nonfiction: Termites Are Actually Shrunken Cockroaches and Other Things About Them You Really Don’t Want to Know
In Lisa Margonelli’s “Underbug,” she focuses on the extraordinary capabilities of the termite and what the insect can teach us about ourselves.
Did A Real-Life Kidnapping Inspire Nabokov's 'Lolita'?
Sarah Weinman's The Real Lolita offers a compelling argument that Nabokov's 1955 novel had its roots in the 1948 abduction of 11-year-old Sally Horner — despite the author's claim to the contrary.
'Accessory To War' An Uncomfortable Wake-Up Call For Some
An "unspoken alliance" between scientists and the military had been brewing for millennia prior to Hiroshima. Neil deGrasse Tyson and Avis Lang excel at detailing this union and its possible future.
(Image credit: Araya Diaz/Getty Images)
Nonfiction: A Nobel Laureate Asks What Makes a ‘Disordered Mind’
In his new book, the neuroscientist Eric Kandel explores the science of unusual brains, locating many of his answers in genetics.
Fiction: Escaping Slavery in a Hot-Air Balloon
In Esi Edugyan’s daringly imagined new novel, “Washington Black,” a slave boy and his master’s brother flee a plantation in a flying contraption and forge an unlikely bond.
Homer's 'Unwilling' Women Are No Longer Quiet In 'The Silence Of The Girls'
Told from the perspective of Achilles' concubine, Briseis, Pat Barker's The Silence Of The Girls brings new life to the women of Homer's Iliad.
(Image credit: Cameron Pollack/NPR)
Apocalypse? Naw. 'Woman World' Is a Laid-Back Utopia
Aminder Dhaliwal's popular Instagram comic chronicles life in a world where men have gone extinct. It turns out, without men, life is pretty mellow — making for a sly critique of patriarchy.
(Image credit: Cameron Pollack/NPR)
Bill Cunningham: A Memoir Of Style On All Levels, High And Low
"The best fashion show is definitely on the street — always has been and always will be." Bill Cunningham
(Image credit: Noam Galai/Getty Images)
The Book Review: A Memoir From the Hard-Working ‘Heartland’
“The culture I grew up in is a very individualistic one, but for understandable reasons,” says Sarah Smarsh.
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