All Book Reviews
'First In Line' profiles modern vice presidents from Nixon to PenceJournalist Kate Brower interviewed all of the former living vice presidents among the 200 subjects she spoke to and her extensive reporting pays off.
3 books for deep summer readingFor readers for whom 'summer reading' means 'a really long book,' here are three pleasing giants.
'What to Read and Why' shares a personal love of authors and titlesFrancine Prose鈥檚 wide-ranging oeuvre encompasses everything from biographies of Anne Frank and the painter Caravaggio to young adult novels about bullying and sex.
'Verdi' takes a lively approach to uncovering the man behind the art'The Man Revealed' is an introduction to Verdi, as a man rather than as a composer. Suchet takes great pains not to get bogged down in boring details or obscure music theory.
'Northland' is an entertaining trip along America's 4,000-mile northern border
'There There' weaves a powerful tale of contemporary urban Native AmericansOrange's debut novel follows 12 indigenous people living in Oakland, Calif., all wrestling with the effects of their heritage on their daily experiences.
'Squeezed' paints a dark picture of an American middle class that can't keep upJournalist Alissa Quart takes a hard look at 'the Middle Precariat,' highly educated Americans who are barely able to keep up the facade of middle class respectability.
'Uncensored' tells of a difficult passage between black and white, poor and richZachary Wood, famed for promoting controversial speakers at Williams College, tells the story of his own painful transitions.
'The Bone and Sinew of the Land' restores a lost chapter of US historyWe鈥檝e long forgotten the African-Americans who lived free 鈥� at least some of the time 鈥� in the Midwest in the decades before the Civil War.
'Rough Beauty' recounts a poet's journey from self-reliance to community livingWhen award-winning poet Karen Auvinen loses all in a fire, she must decide what kind of life to rebuild.
'And Then We Danced,' 'Old in Art School,' tell of later-in-life creative endeavorsNell Painter enrolls in art school at 64, while Henry Alford begins a serious pursuit of dance at the age of 50.
'Frenemies' is Ken Auletta's brightly readable tour of today's ad businessNew Yorker writer Auletta takes his readers deep inside the conference calls and boardrooms of the professionals on the front lines of the industry's internet transformation.
'The Debatable Land' probes the history of a chink in the Scottish-English borderBritish historian Graham Robb explores the land that once supported the descendents of the first king of Scotland.
Lively narrators, rich context make these middle-grade books shineFrom Pakistan to Miami, these lively tales speak to readers in the 8-12 age group.
'The Word Is Murder' is Anthony Horowitz at his ambitious bestThis clever work of meta-fiction is told by a writer named Anthony Horowitz, who has been asked by a former detective to look into a most unusual murder.
10 best books of June: the Monitor's picksFrom the Tour de France to the dark side of America's economy, these new June releases cover plenty of ground.
'Life in the Garden' lovingly recalls the place of gardens in an author's lifePenelope Lively explores the garden鈥檚 place in art and literature, and in her own life.
'A View of the Empire at Sunset' uses author Jean Rhys to explore 'otherness'Novelist Caryl Phillips uses the life of author Jean Rhys to once again explore themes of racism and colonialism.
'Our Towns' finds optimism in America's smaller citiesHusband-and-wife journalism team James and Deborah Fallows spent five years traveling the US via passenger plane and returned with a refreshingly positive story to tell.
Voyages, animals, beauty for the youngest readersSix lovely picture books exemplify the joys of summer reading.
