NONFICTION
Released: May 1, 2012
"A quick read about a gruesome crime with a twist at the end--will appeal mostly to die-hard fans of historical true crime."
The final installment of the author's true-crime trilogy about New York City in the Gilded Age.
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NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 4, 2012
"Well-written and bursting with ideas, this will be essential reading for anyone who cares about childhood in America."
Turning the conventional wisdom about child development on its head,
New York Times Magazine editor Tough (
Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America, 2008) argues that non-cognitive skills (persistence, self-control, curiosity, conscientiousness, grit and self-confidence) are the most critical to success in school and life.
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NONFICTION
Released: Aug. 7, 2012
"A provocative and unsettling look at something most take for granted--but shouldn't."
Acclaimed essayist and
Harper's contributor Keizer (
The Unwanted Sound of Everything We Want: A Book About Noise, 2010, etc.) conducts a philosophical meditation on the nature of privacy and finds that the "right to be let alone" is a lot more complex than many may think.
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NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 18, 2012
"A rarefied, intimate literary study delineating a roiling revolutionary era."
A compelling new work by literary detective Reiss (
The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life, 2005) tracks the wildly improbable career of Alexandre Dumas' mixed-race father.
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NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 11, 2012
"The tedious format only occasionally dulls the author's sharp descriptive and analytical skills."
The author of
Don't Know Much About History and similar titles returns with a sometimes-saucy handbook on the American presidency.
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NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 1, 2012
"A brief but eloquent plea for peace. Perhaps it takes a Nobel Laureate to see hope as the beating heart in the body of despair."
The Nigerian 1986 Nobel Laureate (Literature) offers a slender, hopeful volume about his native continent's potential for healing the world's spiritual ills.
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NONFICTION
Released: Aug. 14, 2012
"A witty and politically charged analysis of a potent obscenity in its modern and contemporary context."
Linguistic analysis and cultural criticism meet sociopolitical rant in this investigation of the word
asshole and the modern phenomena of "assholism."
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NONFICTION
Released: April 1, 2012
"An education on organic farming and its importance, as well as a heartfelt love letter to the land."
NONFICTION
Released: June 1, 2012
"Contemplative, upbeat enlightenment for spiritually inclined positive thinkers."
NONFICTION
Released: June 1, 2012
"Tasty as a Buddy Guy guitar lick, but seldom revelatory."
One of the last survivors of Chicago blues' golden age of the 1950s and '60s, Guy retravels a familiar route in this ingratiating but disappointingly slim as-told-to autobiography.
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NONFICTION
Released: May 17, 2012
"A worthy tribute and a good lesson on the conservation movement."
A tribute to David Brower (1912–2000), father of the modern environmental movement, on what would have been his 100th birthday.
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NONFICTION
Released: Aug. 21, 2012
"A consummate professional explores the attic of his life, converting rumination to art."
The acclaimed novelist (
Sunset Park, 2010, etc.), now 65, writes affectingly about his body, family, lovers, travels and residences as he enters what he calls the winter of his life.
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NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 1, 2012
"An essential eyewitness account, and with luck an inaugural document in a Syrian literature that is uncensored and unchained."
NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 1, 2012
"A scholarly yet thoroughly readable historical/biographical study, of considerable interest to students of 19th-century American history and religious revivalism."
NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 18, 2012
"Mostly entertaining but not a standout. Coulda been a contender, but the author touches too lightly on the hard questions about celebrity, violence and money in America."
FOXSports.com columnist Kriegel (
Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich, 2007, etc.) tells the story of a Youngstown, Ohio, lightweight boxer whose brief championship reign included a notorious 1982 bout that ended with the death of opponent Duk Koo Kim.
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NONFICTION
Released: Oct. 2, 2012
"A welcome second installment for readers who enjoyed Janzen's first memoir. Others may want to turn elsewhere."
Continuing her search for spiritual relevance in everyday life, Janzen (
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, 2009) recounts the travails and joys encountered while finding love, embracing her new beau's religion, and surviving breast cancer.
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NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 25, 2012
"Appealing reading for those interested in memoirs about the Camino de Santiago and other epic modern-day treks."
A journalist chronicles his month-long, 500-mile trek with his grown son along one of the world's most famous pilgrim routes.
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