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LATEST ISSUE OF
Kirkus Reviews
Best-seller Jeannette Walls talks about mining her own history for her new novel, The Silver Star.
Kirkus Star
THE KIRKUS STAR
Awarded to Books of Exceptional Merit

BROWSE BOOK REVIEWS



Best Nonfiction of 2012 (page 4)

Cover art for MARVEL COMICS
NONFICTION
Released: Oct. 9, 2012
Kirkus Star MARVEL COMICS: THE UNTOLD STORY
by Sean Howe
"Brilliantly juxtaposes Marvel with its best characters: flawed and imperfect, but capable of achieving miraculous feats."
An impeccably researched, authoritative history of Marvel Comics. Read full book review >
Cover art for CONSIDER THE FORK
NONFICTION
Released: Oct. 9, 2012
CONSIDER THE FORK: A HISTORY OF HOW WE COOK AND EAT
by Bee Wilson
"Rarely has a book with so much information been such an entertaining read."
From British food writer Wilson (Sandwich: A Global History, 2010, etc.), a savory survey of kitchen implements and their impact. Read full book review >
Cover art for HELLO, GORGEOUS
NONFICTION
Released: Oct. 9, 2012
Kirkus Star HELLO, GORGEOUS: BECOMING BARBRA STREISAND
by William J. Mann
"Even though we know the answers to most of the questions--Will our heroine win the coveted role of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl? Will she live happily ever after with her Prince Charming, Elliott Gould?--this book makes getting to them a treat."
Hollywood chronicler Mann (How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood, 2010, etc.) divulges the blood, sweat and tears that propelled a diva's rise to stardom. Read full book review >
Cover art for MAO
NONFICTION
Released: Oct. 2, 2012
Kirkus Star MAO: THE REAL STORY
by Alexander V. Pantsov, Steven I. Levine
"The Great Helmsman fully fleshed, still complicated and ever provocative."
A comprehensive, authoritative new study that challenges the received wisdom regarding Mao's relationship with Stalin and the Soviet Union. Read full book review >
Cover art for SPILLOVER
NONFICTION
Released: Oct. 1, 2012
Kirkus Star SPILLOVER: ANIMAL INFECTIONS AND THE NEXT HUMAN PANDEMIC
by David Quammen
"A wonderful, eye-opening account of humans versus disease that deserves to share the shelf with such classics as Microbe Hunters and Rats, Lice and History."
Nature writer and intrepid traveler Quammen (The Reluctant Mr. Darwin, 2006, etc.) sums up in one absorbing volume what we know about some of the world's scariest scourges: Ebola, AIDS, pandemic influenza--and what we can do to thwart the "NBO," the Next Big One. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE LAST VIKING
NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 25, 2012
Kirkus Star THE LAST VIKING: THE LIFE OF ROALD AMUNDSEN
by Stephen R. Bown
"A superb biography of a fiercely driven explorer who traveled across the last inaccessible areas on earth before technical advances made the journey much easier."
Bown (1494: How a Family Feud in Medieval Spain Divided the World in Half, 2012, etc.) delivers an intensely researched, thoroughly enjoyable life of one of history's best explorers. Read full book review >