Books Book Reviews
-
'Elizabeth': how she ruled, from 1588 to her death in 1603
Guy does a masterfully comprehensive job writing about the Elizabeth of these waning years
-
'Valiant Ambition' offers a more nuanced history of Benedict Arnold
Nathaniel Philbrick shows that while a major gulf of character did separate Arnold and Washington, the former was more sympathetic and the latter more flawed than the popular mythology suggests.
-
'A Self-Made Man' follows Abraham Lincoln from youth to political hustler
Blumenthal's new biography of Lincoln – the first of a multi-volume project – is engaging, informative, meandering.
-
'The Noise of Time' blends Shostakovich, Stalin, the meaning of art
Julian Barnes weaves his new novel from the true story of Russian composer Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich.
-
'Booked' asks tweens to consider the idea that being smart could be cool
Newbery medal-winner Kwame Alexander brings soccer, poetry, and teen life together in a compelling narrative for middle-grade readers.
-
'Zero K' is Don DeLillo's spare but bracing assessment of life's later years
Ross Lockhart, a super-wealthy businessman, has holed up in a facility in the barren chaparral of Kyrgyzstan, hoping to cheat death through cryonic suspension.
-
'The Secret War' tells the remarkable story of World War II espionage
The highly respected British military historian Max Hastings has written an authoritative and engaging book that will stand as the definitive single volume analysis of 'The Secret War' for years to come.
-
'The Politicians & the Egalitarians' posits conflict as central to democracy
What historian Sean Wilentz gets really passionate about in this collection of essays is the defense of politicians and the political process.
-
'The Twilight Children' makes a compelling coda to a remarkable career
Released shortly after the sudden passing of creator Darwyn Cooke, 'The Twilight Children' pays fitting tribute to an exceptional talent.
-
'Pit Bull' aims to tell the story of a maligned breed
Journalist Bronwen Dickey has written a powerful and disturbing book suggesting that fear of pit bulls reflects many broader American anxieties and pathologies surrounding race, class, and poverty.
-
'Everybody's Fool' revisits Sully Sullivan and his crumbling hometown
Pulitzer Prize winner Russo’s return to his fictional upstate New York mill town also marks a welcome return to the hard-bitten, hard-drinking, hardscrabble comedy of his first novels.
-
'Peter Arno' celebrates the iconic, one-of-a-kind New Yorker cartoonist
In Michael Maslin’s dazzling, well-illustrated biography, Arno’s story is told with skill and flair.
-
'American Rhapsody' is a dazzling slice of American cultural history
From Edith Wharton to Nina Simone, New Yorker writer Claudia Roth Pierpont brings 20th-century America alive.
Follow Stories Like This
Get the Monitor stories you care about delivered to your inbox.
May 20, 2016
Photos of the day 05/20
South Korean policemen take part in an anti-terror and security drill at a mall in Seoul, South Korea on Friday.
More Book Reviews
-
'Pumpkinflowers,' a memoir by an Israeli soldier, questions the battle
Was a small hilltop in southern Lebanon worth the lives that were lost there?
-
'The Morning They Came for Us' conveys the grim story of Syria
A journalist refuses to let readers forget Syria.
-
'Scarlett Epstein Hates It Here' is full of penetrating insights into teens' lives
This debut novel makes important points about poverty, bullying, and popularity.
-
'Ghetto' tells the 500-year history of the word and the institution
From the Venetian Jewish ghetto of the 1500s through Harlem and South Central LA, Princeton professor Mitchell Duneier profiles an urban phenomenon.
-
'Far and Away' lets readers travel the world with Andrew Solomon
A lifetime of travel writing by Solomon includes a wide array of adventures, all wonderfully observed.
-
'Her Again' tells how Meryl Streep became a star
Even as a teenager, Meryl Streep was already a standout.
-
'Free Verse' is the tale of a young girl saved by words and love
Where 'Free Verse' diverges from the typical words-saved-my-life narrative is in the way it chronicles Sasha’s development as a writer.
-
'America's War for the Greater Middle East' surveys decades of failed policy
The note of precisely controlled anger in this book is nothing short of mesmerizing.
-
'The Lost Book of Moses' is a mystery of biblical proportions
Decades before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, did a Jerusalem antiquities dealer really find a first draft of the Bible?
-
'The Summer Before the War' speaks directly to Downton Abbey fans
Helen Simonson, author of 'Major Pettigrew's Last Stand,' lovingly recreates the days before World War I, an era about to be obliterated by the twin agents of technology and war.
Monitor's Best: Top 5
