Kirkus Star
THE KIRKUS STAR
Awarded to Books of Exceptional Merit

BROWSE BOOK REVIEWS




New & Notable Nonfiction: November 2012


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Cover art for IRON CURTAIN
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 27, 2012

"A dark but hopeful chronicle that shows how even humanity's worst can fracture and fall."
A Pulitzer Prize–winning author returns with the story of those dark decades in Eastern Europe when the Soviet Union slammed the prison doors on people, cultures and countries. Read full book review >
Cover art for 1775
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 27, 2012

"Impressively authoritative."
A noted historian and political commentator claims 1775 as the American Revolution's true beginning. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE CARBON CRUNCH
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 27, 2012

"An optimistically levelheaded book about actually dealing with global warming."
A serious attempt to address climate change: "why it matters, what causes [it], and who is responsible." Read full book review >
Cover art for MENACHEM BEGIN
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 27, 2012

"A fully realized, important portrait of a significant 20th-century leader."
The "first full-scale biography" of Israel's controversial Prime Minister Menachem Begin (1913–1992). Read full book review >
Cover art for THROUGH THE WINDOW
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 20, 2012

"Not every piece will connect with every reader, but Barnes is a fine literary companion."
The focus on books and literature makes this more cohesive than the usual collection of journalistic miscellany. Read full book review >
Cover art for ELSEWHERE
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 14, 2012

"An affecting yet never saccharine glimpse of the relationship among place, family and fiction."
The celebrated best-selling novelist recalls his late mother's powerful, often frustrating influence on his life and work. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE PATRIARCH
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 13, 2012

"It did not, and nothing came easy to any of the Kennedys, that tragic clan, who continue to fascinate. Exhaustive yet accessible, Nasaw's book illuminates."
Sprawling, highly readable biography of the dynast and larger-than-life figure whose presence still haunts American political life. Read full book review >
Cover art for JOHN KEATS
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 13, 2012

"Roe's biography acutely displays the intensity, anguish and triumph of a great life for whom the clock was always ticking."
Roe (English/Univ. of St. Andrews; Fiery Heart: The First Life of Leigh Hunt, 2005, etc.) delivers a tightly focused and highly useful biography of the great English Romantic. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE ANTIDOTE
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 13, 2012

"This broad approach toward harnessing our "negative capability" deserves wide readership; the author's nonprescriptive message has the potential to effect genuine, lasting changes for people who find happiness just out of reach."
A fascinating, wide-ranging exploration of negativity, positivity, failure, success and what it means to be happy. Read full book review >
Cover art for THOMAS JEFFERSON
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 13, 2012

"An outstanding biography that reveals an overlooked steeliness at Jefferson's core that accounts for so much of his political success."
A Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer lauds the political genius of Thomas Jefferson. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE GREAT CHARLES DICKENS SCANDAL
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 13, 2012

"A sexy story resting on a bed of comprehensive scholarship and pursued with Sherlock-ian imagination."
A noted Dickens scholar and biographer traces the story of Dickens' relationship with young actress Nelly Ternan, an affair that has titillated Dickens fans and scholars since the mid 19th century. Read full book review >
Cover art for NATURE WARS
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 13, 2012

"An eye-opening take on how romantic sentimentalism about nature can have destructive consequences."
Journalist Sterba (Frankie's Place: A Love Story, 2003, etc.) employs humor and an eye for the absurd to document the sometimes bizarre conflicts that arise as a consequence of America's transformed relationship with nature. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE GUERRILLA FACTORY
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 13, 2012

"An eye-opening, unconventional war story in which the war itself resides in the training."
A retired U.S. Army Special Forces officer provides a behind-the-scenes look at the physical, psychological and emotional toll one pays to join the ranks of America's most elite fighting force. Read full book review >
Cover art for FAR FROM THE TREE
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 13, 2012

"An informative and moving book that raises profound issues regarding the nature of love, the value of human life and the future of humanity."
National Book Award–winning journalist Solomon (The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, 2001, etc.) uses issues raised by disability to examine the nature of parenthood, the definition of disability and the ability to control reproduction to create designer children. Read full book review >
Cover art for HOW TO CREATE A MIND
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 13, 2012

"A fascinating exercise in futurology."
A pioneering developer of optical character recognition and text-to-speech software explores the possibility of creating a synthetic neocortex that could surpass the human mind. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE INJUSTICE SYSTEM
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 12, 2012

"A wrongful-conviction saga different from most others because there is no justice at the end."
Stinging account of a questionable 1986 death penalty case by the lawyer who tried to get it overturned. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE AMISTAD REBELLION
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 8, 2012

"A first-rate example of history told from the bottom up."
Rigorous account of a slave-ship rebellion that altered American and African societies. Read full book review >
Cover art for AMONG THE ISLANDS
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 6, 2012

"A breathtaking, informative tour of faraway lands."
From the tides of the South Pacific to the impossible peaks of jungle islands, one zoologist sets out to find the living riches of the planet. Read full book review >
Cover art for A LITTLE HISTORY OF SCIENCE
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 6, 2012

"Nonscientists especially will applaud Bynum's lively narrative, which certainly delivers on his opening line: "Science is special.""
A brief but panoramic account of science from Hippocrates to Crick. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE LAST LION
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 6, 2012

"Essential for Manchester collectors, WWII buffs and Churchill completists."
A (very) posthumous study of the late, great British leader by the late, great popular historian, aided by journalist Reid. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE ANNOTATED AND ILLUSTRATED DOUBLE HELIX
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 6, 2012

"Readers old or new are in for a fine treat; there really has been nothing in the history of science writing comparable to Watson's tell-all memoir."
The classic Double Helix (1968) is here again, this time annotated and illustrated and told in all the bold, brash, bumptious style that has become Watson's (Avoid Boring People and Other Lessons from a Life in Science, 2007, etc.) trademark in the intervening years. Read full book review >
Cover art for MARBLES
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 6, 2012
by Ellen Forney, illustrated by Ellen Forney

"Forney's story should resonate with those grappling with similar issues, while her artistry should appeal to a wide readership."
For anyone who loves graphic memoir or has concerns about bipolar swings, creativity and medication, this narrative will prove as engaging and informative as it is inspirational. Read full book review >
Cover art for CUSTER
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 6, 2012

"The distilled perceptions of a lifetime of study, beautifully illustrated."
A Pulitzer Prize winner's idiosyncratic take on one of American history's great blunderers. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE RICHARD BURTON DIARIES
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 6, 2012

"A text that thrums with life and assures the rest is not silence."
The inspiring, salacious, sad, materialistic, insecure, arrogant, hilarious and dull ruminations of a most gifted actor. Read full book review >
Cover art for HALLUCINATIONS
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 6, 2012

"A riveting look inside the human brain and its quirks."
Acclaimed British neurologist Sacks (Neurology and Psychiatry/Columbia Univ.; The Mind's Eye, 2010, etc.) delves into the many different sorts of hallucinations that can be generated by the human mind. Read full book review >
Cover art for REPORTING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 1, 2012

"An impressive cache of primary-source documents, normally the province of scholars, presented here in an entertaining, aesthetically pleasing fashion guaranteed to entice general readers."
In his first book project, Andrlik, the curator and publisher of Raglinen.com, an online archive of rare newspapers, presents an intriguing real-time look at the American Revolution. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE STORY OF AMERICA
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 1, 2012

"As smart, lively and assured as modern debunkery gets."
"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend," says a character in John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. As New Yorker contributor Lepore (American History/Harvard Univ.; The Mansion of Happiness: A History of Life and Death, 2012, etc.) sees it, American historians have been doing just that since the dawn of the republic. Read full book review >
Cover art for LEONARDO AND THE LAST SUPPER
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 1, 2012

"Thankfully, King's book is an impressive work of restoration--the author helps readers see this painting for the first time."
An absorbing study of a disappearing masterpiece. Read full book review >
Cover art for KURT VONNEGUT
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 1, 2012

"Vonnegut's most human of hearts beats on every page."
Selected and edited letters by the author of Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse-Five and other enduringly popular novels, letters that reveal Vonnegut's passions, annoyances, loves, losses, mind and heart. Read full book review >
Cover art for LOST AT SEA
NONFICTION
Released: Oct. 30, 2012

"Casual readers will find plenty to like about this excellent collection, but journalism and philosophy students should find it especially stimulating."
A sterling collection of amazing stories from an offbeat journalist at the top of his game. Read full book review >