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New & Notable Nonfiction: May 2012

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Cover art for ARE YOU MY MOTHER?
NONFICTION
Released: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Star ARE YOU MY MOTHER?: A COMIC DRAMA
by Alison Bechdel, illustrated by Alison Bechdel
"Subtitled "A Comic Drama," the narrative provides even fewer laughs than its predecessor but deeper introspection."
A psychologically complex, ambitious, illuminating successor to the author's graphic-memoir masterpiece. Read full book review >
Cover art for FARTHER AWAY
NONFICTION
Released: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Star FARTHER AWAY: ESSAYS
by Jonathan Franzen
"An unfailingly elegant and thoughtful collection of essays from the formidable mind of Franzen, written with passion and haunted by loss."
Further dispatches from one of contemporary literature's most dependable talents. Read full book review >
Cover art for PARIS, I LOVE YOU BUT YOU'RE BRINGING ME DOWN
NONFICTION
Released: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Star PARIS, I LOVE YOU BUT YOU'RE BRINGING ME DOWN
by Rosecrans Baldwin
"Great fun and surprisingly touching."
A charming, hilarious account of la vie Parisienne as experienced by an observant young American. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE PASSAGE OF POWER
NONFICTION
Released: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Star THE PASSAGE OF POWER: THE YEARS OF LYNDON JOHNSON
by Robert A. Caro
"The Johnson project deserves equal praise."
The fourth volume of one of the most anticipated English-language biographies of the past 30 years. Read full book review >
Cover art for PRIVATE EMPIRE
NONFICTION
Released: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Star PRIVATE EMPIRE: EXXONMOBIL AND AMERICAN POWER
by Steve Coll
"Leaks, reserves, PACs, hydrofracking, bloated corporate profits and more: all pertinent concerns nicely handled by Coll in this engaging, hard-hitting work."
A thorough, sobering study of the pernicious consolidation of Big Oil. Read full book review >
Cover art for ON THE EVE
NONFICTION
Released: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Star ON THE EVE: THE JEWS OF EUROPE BEFORE THE SECOND WORLD WAR
by Bernard Wasserstein
"A wide-ranging, marvelously complete overview of a diverse, teeming civilization poised for ruin."
A bright, hard glimpse at the final thriving days of European Jewry and the first edges of its unraveling. Read full book review >