NONFICTION
Released: Aug. 27, 2012
"An innovative, marvelous book about comedy, stereotypes and the struggle to steer through the sometimes-fierce internal debates over African-American identity in a society still struggling with its racial past."
A provocative, compelling exploration of one of the most controversial elements of the black entertainment world.
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NONFICTION
Released: Aug. 27, 2012
"Not for all readers, but Gorra's approach will appeal to scholars, fans of the James family, and lovers of important novels and those who create them."
Gorra (English/Smith Coll.;
The Bells in Their Silence: Travels Through Germany, 2004, etc.) blends a focused biography of Henry James (1843–1916) with the story of his composition of
The Portrait of a Lady (1881).
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NONFICTION
Released: Aug. 28, 2012
"Cleareyed, compassionate and hopeful."
The award-winning author of
Death at an Early Age (1967) tells the stories of the later lives of poor children who grew up in the Bronx.
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NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 4, 2012
"A poignant, galvanizing, meaningful tribute."
Fifty years after the publication of Rachel Carson's seminal
Silent Spring, Pulitzer Prize nominee Souder (
Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of The Birds of America, 2004, etc.) examines the legacy and lasting impact of Carson's passionate environmental work.
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NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 4, 2012
"Playfully drawn and provocatively written, the memoir reinforces Bell's standing among the first rank of the genre's artists."
"Graphic memoir" only hints at the artistry of a complex, literary-minded author who resists the bare-all confessionalism so common to the genre and blurs the distinction between fiction and factual introspection.
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NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 4, 2012
"A stellar biography of a complicated subject: Max's portrait skillfully unites Wallace's external and internal lives."
A thorough, understated account of the life of the pioneering author and how his addictions and fiction intersected.
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NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 4, 2012
"Certainly, Hitchens died too soon. May this moving little visit to his hospital room not be the last word from him."
A jovially combative riposte to anyone who thought that death would silence master controversialist Hitchens (
Hitch-22, 2010, etc.).
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NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 4, 2012
"Truly remarkable, composed with all the precision and insight you expect from a law professor, marked by all the elegance and sparkling readability you don't."
Artfully mixing law, history and sharp analysis, a Yale law professor examines the persistent struggle to reconcile justice and humanitarianism in America's conduct of war.
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NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 10, 2012
"Survivors of traumatic events often do not recover without help from others, and Gonzales' excellent book is an education for those wishing to be of use in a stressful, often frightening world."
NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 10, 2012
"A rich, highly readable examination of the seeds of poppies, trade, greed, grandeur and an international partnership that remains uneasy and perilous."
The author of
Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America (2010) returns with the story of America's first voyages to the Middle Kingdom, where Americans and Chinese looked at each other with wonder, alarm and calculation.
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NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 11, 2012
"Taking on a looming subject with intelligence and wit, Simmons manages to take the full measure of her man."
NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 12, 2012
"Highly recommended--anyone at all interested in music will learn a lot from this book."
From the former Talking Heads frontman, a supremely intelligent, superbly written dissection of music as an art form and way of life.
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NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 18, 2012
"A triumph of scholarship."
NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 18, 2012
"Essential reading for anyone interested in justice or memoir."
NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 18, 2012
"Aspects of a spy novel, a writer's autobiography and a victim's affidavit pulsing with resentment and fear combine to reveal a man's dawning awareness of the primacy of freedom."
The frightening, illuminating and disturbing memoir by the author of
The Satanic Verses, the book that provoked a death sentence from the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989.
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NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 24, 2012
"Such a large historical project could have easily descended into tedious and dry academia, but instead, all three volumes are briskly paced, well-researched and insightful. Aficionados of urban histories, in particular, will find much to enjoy."
This ambitious three-volume history, overseen by Moore (Judaic Studies and History/Univ. of Michigan;
American Jewish Identity Politics, 2008, etc.), provides a lively, much-needed overview of the role that Jews have played in the history and success of the Big Apple, helping to transform it into "a city of promises, some fulfilled, some pending, some beckoning new generations."
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NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 25, 2012
"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.
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NONFICTION
Released: Oct. 1, 2012
"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.
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NONFICTION
Released: Oct. 2, 2012
"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.
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NONFICTION
Released: Oct. 9, 2012
"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.
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