Current Issue: Nonfiction

Atran, Scott TALKING TO THE ENEMY August 1, 2010 - French-American anthropologist Atran (In God We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion, 2002, etc.) travels widely interviewing terrorists and jihadists to uncover the driving force motivating religious violence. Wildly ambitious and meandering, the book is at once frustratingly ill-focused, historically ... Full Review

Badkhen, Anna PEACE MEALS August 1, 2010 - Freelance reporter Badkhen attempts to wrap her many war-zone experiences around the framework of food. Born in the Soviet Union, the author has traveled to numerous combat zones, braving the shooting, shelling, highway robbery and inebriated officers to get her ... Full Review

Bakewell, Sarah HOW TO LIVE August 1, 2010 - Former Wellcome Library curator Bakewell (Creative Writing/City Univ. London; The English Dane: A Life of Jorgen Jorgenson, 2005, etc.) sketches the life of essayist Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533–1592) and traces his evolving reputation. The author notes that Montaigne is ... Full Review

Bendavid-Val, Avrom THE HEAVENS ARE EMPTY August 1, 2010 - A methodical chronicle of a once-thriving farming town in western Ukraine that was obliterated by the Nazis and resurrected by witnesses’ testimonies. Bendavid-Val’s father grew up in Trochenbrod and emigrated as a young man, skirting the Holocaust, but the author ... Full Review

Borneman, Walter RIVAL RAILS August 1, 2010 - Workmanlike history of the post–Civil War effort to lace the western United States with steel rails. That war, writes lawyer-historian Borneman (Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America, 2008, etc.), proved the efficacy of the railroads in moving ... Full Review

Brands, H.W. AMERICAN COLOSSUS August 1, 2010 - A loosely themed survey of 35 years of American history. Eminent historian Brands (History/Univ. of Texas; American Dreams: The United States Since 1945, 2010, etc.) elucidates the tension between the U.S. brand of democracy and its version of capitalism through ... Full Review

Buford, Kate NATIVE AMERICAN SON August 1, 2010 - An impeccably researched biography of one of the world’s greatest all-around athletes, a symbol of racial injustice and untapped potential. This retrospective is not the first to tackle the complex life of Jim Thorpe (1888–1953), but it’s the most comprehensive. ... Full Review

Burstein, Andrew MADISON AND JEFFERSON August 1, 2010 - A monumental account of a 50-year political partnership that shaped the early history of the United States. In a dual biography of uncommon merit, Louisiana State University historians Burstein (Jefferson’s Secrets: Death and Desire at Monticello, 2005, etc.) and Isenberg ... Full Review

Cambanis, Thanassis A PRIVILEGE TO DIE August 1, 2010 - If there’s anything to unite the Arab world, it’s opposition to Israel. If there’s a group to do that unifying, writers former Boston Globe Middle East bureau chief Cambanis, it’s the much-feared Hezbollah, the Party of God. Hezbollah, writes the ... Full Review

Camuto, Robert V. PALMENTO August 1, 2010 - An Italian-American writer embeds himself in the Sicilian wine trade for a year. Wine Spectator contributor Camuto (Corkscrewed: Adventures in the New French Wine Country, 2008) takes an intimate journey through vineyards from Marsala to Corleone and up the slopes ... Full Review

Chemerinsky, Erwin THE CONSERVATIVE ASSAULT ON THE CONSTITUTION August 1, 2010 - A constitutional lawyer argues that since the Republican platform of 1964, the conservative movement has succeeded in altering basic precepts of constitutional law, not just through the policies of Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and the two Bushes, but through Supreme ... Full Review

Chivers, C.J. THE GUN August 1, 2010 - An eye-opening, often grim history of automatic weapons, emphasizing the Soviet Union’s murderous, wildly successful legacy. Former Marine officer and New York Times Moscow bureau chief Chivers hardly mentions his subject in the book’s first third as he recounts the ... Full Review

Colton, Larry NO ORDINARY JOES August 1, 2010 - Four survivors of a World War II Japanese prison camp are the subjects of this gripping story. Colton (Counting Coup: A Story of Basketball and Honor on the Little Big Horn, 2000) picks up his subjects at a young age. ... Full Review

Davidson, Ian VOLTAIRE August 1, 2010 - From the author of Voltaire in Exile: The Last Years, 1753–1778 (2004), a psychologically intimate biography of the great writer and philosopher. While it’s important to recognize Voltaire (1694–1778) as symbolic of the French Enlightenment, it's also vital, writes Davidson, ... Full Review

Dunton-Downer, Leslie THE ENGLISH IS COMING! August 1, 2010 - An exploration of the English language via the study of specific words that have “gone global.” As a result of English’s increasing worldwide dominance, there has been a recent surge of interest in its historical transformations and global impact. Dunton-Downer ... Full Review

Eichstaedt, Peter PIRATE STATE August 1, 2010 - Veteran journalist Eichstaedt (First Kill Your Family: Child Soldiers of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army, 2009, etc.) explores the murky waters of Somali piracy. In the seas around the Horn of Africa, which form the coast of troubled and ... Full Review

Eyman, Scott EMPIRE OF DREAMS August 1, 2010 - Palm Beach Post books editor Eyman (Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Times of Louis B. Mayer, 2005, etc.) presents the truly epic life of director Cecil B. DeMille (1881–1959) in grand style, befitting the great man, who, in addition ... Full Review

Feldman, Noah SCORPIONS August 1, 2010 - New York Times Magazine contributor Feldman (Law/Harvard Univ.; (The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State, 2008, etc.) compares the careers and the constitutional visions of four of the most important Supreme Court justices ever. Of Franklin Roosevelt’s nine Supreme ... Full Review

Fishkoff, Sue KOSHER NATION August 1, 2010 - An exploration of the evolution of kosher food and certification in the United States. Freelance journalist Fishkoff (The Rebbe’s Army: Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch, 2003) argues that kosher food has become more prominent because of a “perfect storm of ... Full Review

Fletcher, Martin WALKING ISRAEL August 1, 2010 - An award-winning war correspondent files penetrating stories of Israel containing scant politics and much personal observation. Fletcher (Breaking News: A Stunning and Memorable Account of Reporting from Some of the Most Dangerous Places in the World, 2008, etc.), the longtime ... Full Review

Gitlin, Todd THE CHOSEN PEOPLES August 1, 2010 - A treatise on the roots and consequences of believing that one’s people and oneself are chosen by God, specifically in the cases of Israel and the United States. In the first half of the book, Gitlin (Journalism and Sociology/Columbia Univ.; ... Full Review

Goldacre, Ben BAD SCIENCE August 1, 2010 - British National Health Service physician Goldacre shoots down what he considers to be quackery. This updated version of the UK edition, published in 2008, begins with the statement, “Homeopaths are morons.” However, the author’s real targets are not proponents of ... Full Review

Hendricks, Steve A KIDNAPPING IN MILAN August 1, 2010 - The vivid true story behind the kidnapping of Islamist troublemaker Abu Omar in Milan in 2003. Tipped off by an American CIA chief to a terrorist plot led by an Egyptian exile who lived in the relatively liberal Milan and ... Full Review

Hersh, Kristin RAT GIRL August 1, 2010 - Funny, quirky coming-of-age story from a unique musical artist. For her first work of nonfiction, Hersh (Toby Snax, 2007), best known as founder and principal songwriter of art-rock band Throwing Muses, revisited the journal she kept from the winter of ... Full Review

Holt, Thomas C. CHILDREN OF FIRE August 1, 2010 - Sweeping history of African-Americans’ experiences in America from Jamestown to the present. In the introduction, Holt (American and African-American History/Univ. of Chicago; The Problem of Race in the Twenty-first Century, 2001, etc.) questions previous authors’ attempts at pigeonholing African-American history ... Full Review

Isaacson, Walter PROFILES IN LEADERSHIP August 1, 2010 - Renowned historians describe the leadership secrets of presidents, generals, preachers, a baseball manager and others. This bright anthology from the Society of American Historians gathers essays from top-flight historians—Sean Wilentz, David M. Kennedy, Jean Strouse, Alan Brinkley, David Levering Lewis, ... Full Review

Jones, Ann WAR IS NOT OVER WHEN IT’S OVER August 1, 2010 - A gripping, ground-floor look at the lingering ravages of conflict in some of the deadliest contemporary war zones. Photographer and activist Jones (Kabul in Winter, 2007, etc.), an award-winning authority on domestic violence, turns her journalistic sights on women in ... Full Review

Kidd, Thomas S. GOD OF LIBERTY August 1, 2010 - Intriguing look at the role played by faith in America’s movement for independence. Though books about the faith lives of America’s founders are abundant, Kidd (History/Baylor; The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America, 2007, etc.) finds ... Full Review

Kimball, Kristin THE DIRTY LIFE August 1, 2010 - A freelance writer moves from Manhattan to create an organic farm in upstate New York. When she met her future husband, Mark, Kimball was working on a story about young farmers going local and organic. The two eventually fell in ... Full Review

Kirk, Jay KINGDOM UNDER GLASS August 1, 2010 - Lively biography of an award-winning 19th-century taxidermist. Carl Akeley (1864–1926) began his career as a nature-loving natural-history museum apprentice in New York “skinning birds” for ladies’ hats. He soon became disillusioned after being viewed as a loafer, repeatedly sabotaged by ... Full Review

Leavy, Jane THE LAST BOY August 1, 2010 - Another biography of the late Yankee slugger—but this candid, compassionate portrait is worth a dugout full of the others. Sports journalist Leavy (Sandy Koufax, 2002) produces an enduring, though certainly not endearing, portrait of The Mick. Eschewing traditional chronology, the ... Full Review

Lubet, Steven FUGITIVE JUSTICE August 1, 2010 - Examination of three prosecutions under the notorious Fugitive Slave Act. The Constitution’s Fugitive Slave Clause required successive congressional action to ensure its enforcement, legislation that culminated in the Compromise of 1850’s Fugitive Slave Act, intended to reconcile the nation. It ... Full Review

Overy, Richard 1939 August 1, 2010 - Overy (History/Univ. of Exeter; The Twilight Years: The Paradox of Britain Between the Wars, 2009, etc.) limns the annus horribilis in which World War II broke out in Europe. By the author’s account, the war was inevitable. Europe had nearly ... Full Review

Palmer, Karen SPELLBOUND August 1, 2010 - Anecdote-rich account of how witchcraft pervades the culture of a stress-ridden region of Africa caught between ancient traditions and modernism. Palmer, a Canadian journalist working in Ghana to improve investigations of human-rights abuses, became curious about witch camps after she ... Full Review

Rappleye, Charles ROBERT MORRIS August 1, 2010 - Passionate biography of a Founding Father whose legacy exists in the shadow of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, but who played an equally vital role in the creation of the United States. Born in England, Robert Morris (1734–1806) moved to ... Full Review

Ross, Alex LISTEN TO THIS August 1, 2010 - A vibrant new collection from New Yorker music critic Ross (The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, 2007). The author brings together the best of his writings, mostly from the New Yorker, with revisions, expansions and a few ... Full Review

Russell, Thaddeus A RENEGADE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES August 1, 2010 - Sure, you’ve got your Honest Abe and your steadfast Molly Pitcher, your Daniel Boone and Dale Evans. But how do the vice-ridden rest of us fit into American history? As Russell (History and Cultural Studies/Occidental Coll.; Out of the Jungle: ... Full Review

Schechter, Harold KILLER COLT August 1, 2010 - Energetic Wild West tale about two enterprising brothers whose determination to make something of themselves came to radically different ends. Even though retailer Christopher Colt, of Hartford, Conn., enjoyed wealth and prominence in the early 1800s, his sons, Samuel and ... Full Review

Schumacher, Michael WILL EISNER August 1, 2010 - This biography of visionary pioneer Will Eisner (1917–2005) also includes a compact history of the progression from comic books to graphic novels. Though Eisner’s 1940s hero, The Spirit, never achieved as much subsequent mainstream cultural currency as Superman or Batman, ... Full Review

Snyder, Timothy BLOODLANDS August 1, 2010 - A chillingly systematic study of the mass murder mutually perpetrated by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. From 1933 to 1945, 14 million people were murdered between the two regimes, as Stalin and Hitler consolidated power, jointly occupied Poland and ... Full Review

Stern, Seth JUSTICE BRENNAN August 1, 2010 - Comprehensive biography of the Supreme Court Justice whose liberal agenda profoundly affected public policy in the second half of the 20th century. During his tenure from 1956 to 1990, William Brennan (1905–1997) provided more than 1,350 opinions on a wide ... Full Review

Wexler, Sarah Z. LIVING LARGE August 1, 2010 - A sociological exploration of America’s obsession with the supersized lifestyle. “There’s nothing wrong with our living large, nor anything particularly new about it,” writes journalist and debut author Wexler, citing Manifest Destiny as historical proof of America’s longtime tradition of ... Full Review

Winchester, Simon ATLANTIC August 1, 2010 - The prolific journalist and historian returns with a story both geographically immense and profoundly personal. Winchester (The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom, 2008, etc.) offers a ... Full Review