Kirkus Star
THE KIRKUS STAR
Awarded to Books of Exceptional Merit

BROWSE BOOK REVIEWS




Tailor-Made for the Big Screen


Showing

Cover art for TITANIC THOMPSON
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 22, 2010

"Whether a colorful trickster or amoral predator, Thompson becomes an irresistible folk legend in Cook's capable hands."
Former Sports Illustrated editor Cook (Driven: Teen Phenoms, Mad Parents, Swing Science and the Future of Golf, 2008, etc.) provides a raucous retelling of the life of a consummate gambler, grifter and quintessential American character. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE DEEDS OF MY FATHERS
NONFICTION
Released: Oct. 11, 2010

"Readable and revealing, and the vividly re-created scenes cry out for film treatment."
Inside story of the controversial Italian-American family that gave us the Italian-language daily Il Progresso and the National Enquirer. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE LAST OF THE TRIBE
NONFICTION
Released: June 15, 2010

"Unlike the story of Ishi, however, this one has a happy ending--a payoff that isn't entirely anticipated, given all the other tragic aspects of the tale."
Washington Post South America correspondent Reel delivers a moving, well-constructed account of a latter-day Ishi in the embattled Amazonian rainforest. Read full book review >
Cover art for DARK HARBOR
NONFICTION
Released: June 15, 2010

"A lucid, illuminating history of the epicenter of organized crime in America."
Former American Heritage editor Ward reveals the seedy history of the old New York waterfront, a brutal, dangerous environment ruled by corrupt union officials and the mob. Read full book review >
Cover art for BIG HAIR AND PLASTIC GRASS
NONFICTION
Released: May 25, 2010

"Baseball fans and non-fans alike will revel in this loving look at a long-gone era."
A delightful history of the "weirdness, hairiness, overall funkiness, and sheer amusement" that was America's pastime in the 1970s. Read full book review >
Cover art for WAR
NONFICTION
Released: May 11, 2010
WAR

"An often harrowing, though mostly conventional, account of the physical and psychological toll of modern warfare on the average soldier."
The latest flexing of journalistic muscle from Vanity Fair contributor Junger (A Death in Belmont, 2006, etc.). Read full book review >
Cover art for HITLER’S HOLY RELICS
NONFICTION
Released: May 11, 2010

"Fast-moving and intriguing, in the vein of Raiders of the Lost Ark."
From filmmaker Kirkpatrick (The Revenge of Thomas Eakins, 2006, etc.), a vivid true-crime narrative about a post–World War II investigation meant to prevent Nazis still at large from using several venerable medieval artifacts to reconstitute the Reich. Read full book review >
Cover art for GET CAPONE
NONFICTION
Released: May 1, 2010

"An impressive, accessible history of a troubled time."
Scrupulously researched account of the men who made the 1920s roar, and the straight-arrows who stopped them. Read full book review >
Cover art for MY QUEER WAR
NONFICTION
Released: May 1, 2010

"A timely, artfully written memoir of one man's war."
Art historian and critic Lord (Mythic Giacometti, 2004, etc.) recounts his life as a gay GI in World War II. Read full book review >
Cover art for HELLHOUND ON HIS TRAIL
NONFICTION
Released: April 27, 2010

"An expertly written study in true crime, vividly recapturing the mood of 1968."
From veteran journalist and historian Sides (Blood and Thunder, 2006, etc.), a riveting account of James Earl Ray's long quest to kill Martin Luther King Jr. Read full book review >
Cover art for FLAWLESS
NONFICTION
Released: Feb. 2, 2010

"Sure to appeal to armchair rogues and, like Blood Diamond, cinema-ready."
Exciting, well-crafted tale of the "School of Turin," a gang of master thieves who looted the putatively theft-proof Antwerp Diamond Center. Read full book review >