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New & Notable Nonfiction: February 2012 (page 2)

Cover art for ENEMIES
NONFICTION
Released: Feb. 14, 2012
ENEMIES: A HISTORY OF THE FBI
by Tim Weiner
"A sober, monumental and unflinchingly critical account of a problematic institution."
Drawing on thousands of pages of recently declassified documents and oral histories, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner Weiner (Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, 2008, etc.) delivers an authoritative and often frightening history of what has been, in effect, America's secret police. Read full book review >
Cover art for ON AN IRISH ISLAND
NONFICTION
Released: Feb. 13, 2012
Kirkus Star ON AN IRISH ISLAND
by Robert Kanigel
"A mesmerizing interplay of lives and socio-historical contexts."
A richly detailed biographical study of a group of early-20th-century intellectuals whose shared love for a dying insular culture helped save it from extinction. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE SCIENCE OF YOGA
NONFICTION
Released: Feb. 7, 2012
THE SCIENCE OF YOGA: THE MYTHS AND THE REWARDS
by William J. Broad
"A fascinating, persuasive case for demythologizing yoga and recognizing its true value to mind and body."
A fair, well-reasoned assessment of the many extraordinary claims made for yoga. Read full book review >
Cover art for BEHIND THE BEAUTIFUL FOREVERS
NONFICTION
Released: Feb. 7, 2012
Kirkus Star BEHIND THE BEAUTIFUL FOREVERS: LIFE, DEATH, AND HOPE IN A MUMBAI UNDERCITY
by Katherine Boo
"The best book yet written on India in the throes of a brutal transition."
In her debut, Pulitzer Prize–winning New Yorker staff writer Boo creates an intimate, unforgettable portrait of India's urban poor. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE NEW HATE
NONFICTION
Released: Feb. 7, 2012
Kirkus Star THE NEW HATE: A HISTORY OF FEAR AND LOATHING ON THE POPULIST RIGHT
by Arthur Goldwag
"A provocative, intellectually rigorous book written clearly and with an admirable lack of hatred."
A well-reported study of disaffected groups who hate other groups whose members look or think differently than the haters. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE HAPPINESS OF PURSUIT
NONFICTION
Released: Feb. 1, 2012
Kirkus Star THE HAPPINESS OF PURSUIT: WHAT NEUROSCIENCE CAN TEACH US ABOUT THE GOOD LIFE
by Shimon Edelman
"An elegant tour de force that combines neuropsychology with liberal references to Shakespeare and Homer."
Edelman (Psychology/Cornell Univ.; Computing the Mind: How the Mind Really Works, 2008, etc.) asks readers to discard the "familiar ‘computer metaphor' that halfheartedly likens the brain to a computer," and accept his argument that "the mind is computational in the literal sense." Read full book review >