Kirkus Star
THE KIRKUS STAR
Awarded to Books of Exceptional Merit

BROWSE BOOK REVIEWS




Current Affairs Book Reviews Available Now (page 2)


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Cover art for CARRIED IN OUR HEARTS
NONFICTION
Released: April 18, 2013

"Short, sweet, eye-opening thoughts on adoption and mixed-race parenthood."
True stories of creating loving families despite long odds. Read full book review >
Cover art for LIGHT WITHOUT FIRE
NONFICTION
Released: April 16, 2013

"A brief look at what may surely be a historic class in American educational history--a subject worthy of deeper exploration."
The inaugural class of the first Islamic college in America share their hopes and dreams with a visiting journalist. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE AGE OF THE IMAGE
NONFICTION
Released: April 16, 2013

"Apkon goes to great lengths to assay the obvious. Only in passing does he grant that the image does not exist in isolation, that word and image are inextricable. After all, he required this ancient technology--a book--to communicate his ideas."
Debut author Apkon, executive director of the Jacob Burns Film Center, makes a strong case for the moving image as today's primary form of communication. Yet, like many true believers, he pays short shrift to the cultural downside. Read full book review >
Cover art for MISTRIAL
NONFICTION
Released: April 11, 2013

"A no-holds-barred indictment of the system, filled with memorable anecdotes and accessibly written."
Two high-profile defense lawyers pull back the curtain on the U.S. criminal justice system and find much to criticize. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE ART OF CONTROVERSY
NONFICTION
Released: April 10, 2013

"Generally engaging and often illuminating, but the study might better have gone deeper rather than wide."
The veteran journalist offers a survey of political caricature, international in scope, but a little sketchy in its short biographical summaries. Read full book review >
Cover art for WHY ARE PROFESSORS LIBERAL AND WHY DO CONSERVATIVES CARE?
NONFICTION
Released: April 9, 2013

"A dense sociological report on the facts and falsehoods of the political leanings of professors."
Gross (Sociology/Univ. of British Columbia; Richard Rorty: The Making of an American Philosopher, 2008, etc.) examines the facts behind the conservative movement's oft-heard criticism of higher education: that American universities are, as presidential candidate Rick Santorum famously said, little more than "indoctrination mills" for the political left. Read full book review >
Cover art for WHY GROWTH MATTERS
NONFICTION
Released: April 9, 2013

"For students of Indian affairs or global economics, particularly in the East."
Bhagwati (Economics/Columbia Univ.) and Panagariya (Indian Economics/Columbia Univ.) collaborate again (co-editors: India's Reforms: How They Produced Inclusive Growth, 2012, etc.) in this rebuttal of critics of India's present economic performance. Read full book review >
Cover art for I TOLD YOU SO
NONFICTION
Released: April 9, 2013

"Missing the voice and presence of a man who could be an outrageously entertaining speaker, these transcripts fail to match the depth of his writing, as well."
These transcripts of four interviews with the late man of letters offer some provocative volleys but cover the same ground too often and don't show Vidal fully amplifying his ideas. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE DEMOCRACY PROJECT
NONFICTION
Released: April 9, 2013

"Resolutely, proudly left wing/radical/anarchic with an exuberant optimism that usually keeps the tendentious text aloft."
A professor and social activist for Occupy Wall Street rehearses the history of OWS and of democracy and argues for a more "horizontal" approach to political decision-making. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE WAY OF THE KNIFE
NONFICTION
Released: April 9, 2013

"A well-reported, smoothly written book for anyone who wants to understand contemporary American military might and the widespread hatred for the U.S. that has been the result."
Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times national security correspondent Mazzetti demonstrates in horrifying, persuasive detail how the new-style warfare approved by both George W. Bush and Barack Obama has led to controversial assassinations by the U.S. government and blowback yielding new terrorists determined to harm American citizens. Read full book review >
Cover art for PAYING FOR THE PARTY
NONFICTION
Released: April 8, 2013

"The prose is sometimes sluggish and the recommendations perhaps quixotic, but the portrait of the university features stark lines and alarming colors."
How a large Midwestern state university (unnamed in this longitudinal study) does little to help young women move upward or outward from their working- and middle-class backgrounds. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE SECOND ARAB AWAKENING
NONFICTION
Released: April 8, 2013

"A knowledgeable survey for students and a glimpse into what the Islamist future might offer."
A solid overview of the Arab revolutions, country by country, from the first nationalist stirrings of the 1950s that put the dictators in place to the snowballing events in recent years. Read full book review >