From the Harlem Renaissance to today, the painting and photography and poetry of black Americans have both shaped and reflected a shifting cultural landscape.
“How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England,” by Ruth Goodman, and “What Would Mrs. Astor Do?,” by Cecelia Tichi, are witty guides to the manners and insults of previous eras.
One is set in the world of Sydney Taylor’s All-of-a-Kind Family. One features talking latkes. Both capture the holiday’s promise that light will triumph over darkness.
In “Severance,” by Ling Ma, and “We Can Save Us All,” by Adam Nemett, young people are faced with preventing, or even just surviving, impending apocalypse.