All Book Reviews
'Hiroji Kubota Photographer' chronicles a life of explorationHiroji Kubota made a career out of聽identifying with the dispossessed.
'The Crossing' teams Harry Bosch with his scruffy half-brother Mickey Haller'The Crossing' puts two popular characters 鈥� Bosch and Haller 鈥� on the same side, trying to prove a reformed gang member innocent of a high-profile murder of a suburban woman in her bed.
'To Hell and Back' chronicles Europe on the brink of annihilationKershaw is particularly good at exploring 'fascism's message of national renewal, powerfully linking fear and hope,' and the book's sections on postwar deprivations England breathe with immediacy.
'Dirt Meridian' and 'My Last Day at Seventeen'The Monitor's photo editor offers his photo book picks for 2015.
'Tom Petty' is an impossibly intimate, clear-eyed portrait of a rock godOnly a biographer who鈥檚 been in a band, and striven to make great rock music, could have written Petty鈥檚 story with such insight and familiarity.
'Unstoppable' is Bill Nye's call to action, urging us to save our planet'Unstoppable' is unapologetically science-stuffed. This is its best and worst quality.
'Reporting Always' showcases the work of New Yorker giant Lillian RossRoss prefaces this wonderful collection of her own work expressing gratitude to have had 'my little say about what I have found going on in our time.'
'The Invention of Science' tells the story of the shaping of the modern worldThe central subject of this vibrant work is not really the invention of a process but rather the invention of a principle.
'Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band 1975' shows us the Boss as he wasPhotographer Barbara Pyle captured Springsteen at a moment of transition.
'Conquerors' chronicles the fear with which Portugal shaped a global empireA fleet of Portuguese caravels first rounded the Cape of Good Hope near the southern tip of Africa in 1488. By the first decade of the 16th century the Portuguese were both trading with and terrorizing Muslims and Hindus in southern India.
'The Bazaar of Bad Dreams' is time well spent with Stephen KingKing's latest short story collection shows the Master of Horror to be at the top of his form.
'Destiny and Power' brings a gentle touch to biography of Bush 41Jon Meacham offers a surprisingly deferential biography of George Herbert Walker Bush.
'Reclaiming Conversation': what we lose when we're always onlineMIT professor Sherry Turkle is not averse to technology. But she expresses hope that society's reliance on it could be moderated a bit.
'Under the Udala Trees' examines the potential for cruelty in ordinary lifeNigerian author Chinelo Okparanta's first novel starts quietly. Don't be deceived.
'Kin' expresses Pieter Hugo's discomfort with his homeland South AfricaHugo's photgraphs in 'Kin' might best be called thoughtfully uncomfortable.
'Sam Phillips' chronicles the life of the man who incubated rock 'n rollPhillips dreamed of capturing 'the excitement from the music in the cotton fields.'
'The Gratitude Diaries' explains why a grateful heart is a happy heartAn author takes a hard look at gratitude and finds her life transformed.
'S.P.Q.R.' offers a learned, intimate view of ancient RomeThe survival of what Romans wrote about themselves gives Mary Beard鈥檚 project its heft.
'This Old Man' displays the charms of New Yorker writer Roger AngellAngell moves with agility between humor, pathos, and playful metaphor, often within the same essay.
'Paradise of the Pacific': a transporting immersion in Hawai鈥榠鈥檚 historySusanna Moore details the tenacity with which Hawai鈥榠鈥檚 native peoples held on to their way of life in the face of colonial exploits.
