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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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NONFICTION
Released: April 3, 2013
"A clear explanation of a complicated, and severely flawed, idea."
NONFICTION
Released: April 2, 2013
"A skillful presentation that lifts the veil too often hiding areas that should be brought to light."
NONFICTION
Released: April 2, 2013
"Inspired, breath-of-fresh-air reading, especially for those who have ever questioned what the public school system can do for American children."
A veteran educator's uplifting account of how he introduced schoolchildren to global problems through a visionary game that charged them with saving the world.
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NONFICTION
Released: April 2, 2013
"A worthy tool for liberal educators, but it is not likely to change the minds of conservatives who feel that prisoners are getting what they deserve."
A graphic primer on the inequities of the American penal system, presumably aimed at students who have yet to form an opinion on the subject.
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NONFICTION
Released: April 1, 2013
"Insightful, knowledgeable account of the "good war," intimately informed from the trenches. "
Using as a model Jeffrey Race's influential first-person Vietnam War–era analysis,
War Comes to Long An, Malkasian (
A History of Modern Wars of Attrition, 2002, etc.) evenhandedly examines the Garmser district in southern Afghanistan, where he was stationed as a political officer for the State Department between 2009 and 2011.
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NONFICTION
Released: April 1, 2013
"Some intriguing stories better read the way newspaper columns are published--one at a time--than as an extended series in one sitting."
A collection of recent newspaper columns on the homes of New York residents illuminates the ways in which the city has (and hasn't) changed.
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NONFICTION
Released: April 1, 2013
"An admirable, worthy message that could be contained on a bumper sticker."
