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COWBOY FROM PRAGUE

AN IMMIGRANT’S PURSUIT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

An emotional and engaging story of exploring one’s past and building a new life.

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Writer and lecturer Heller’s fifth memoir explores the immigrant experience and the reconciliation of identity, family history, and ambitions for a better future.

In 1948, the author, along with his parents, escaped their native Czechoslovakia to come to the United States via a refugee camp in Germany; they’d lost the rest of their family during the Holocaust. Heller arrived in New York’s Long Island at the age of 12 with barely any knowledge of English and an interrupted education. His father told him that in their adopted country, “You’re going to be thrown into the river and will have to swim in order to survive.” The author did just that, quickly learning the language and excelling in school and, in particular, sports. Heller’s memoir follows his early education and college years closely as well as his early days as an engineer working toward a doctorate; it also details his relationship with his wife, Sue, and the birth of their son, David, recalling amusing, difficult, and thought-provoking anecdotes from a life well lived. Some chapters focus on the sports that Heller loved—such as skiing, golf, and baseball and their impact on his life—a little too closely, but every tale effectively aims to give readers an understanding of his journey from Holocaust survivor to wealthy American businessperson. The passages in which Heller focuses on understanding his own identity and connecting with his Jewish heritage despite not being religious are among the most compelling, as in passages about his family’s background, such as how he had to hide on a family farm while his father fought in the armed forces and his mother was forced to work in a labor camp. Heller writes of the pursuit of the American dream and the contributions of immigrants to the fabric of the United States with nuance and reverence. It will surely strike a chord with many readers, particularly those who’ve lived through similar experiences.

An emotional and engaging story of exploring one’s past and building a new life.

Pub Date: July 19, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-63988-354-7

Page Count: 306

Publisher: Atmosphere Press

Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022

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  • New York Times Bestseller

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107 DAYS

A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.

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An insider’s chronicle of a pivotal presidential campaign.

Several months into the mounting political upheaval of Donald Trump’s second term and following a wave of bestselling political exposés, most notably Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s Original Sin on Joe Biden’s health and late decision to step down, former Vice President Harris offers her own account of the consequential months surrounding Biden’s withdrawal and her swift campaign for the presidency. Structured as brief chapters with countdown headers from 107 days to Election Day, the book recounts the campaign’s daily rigors: vetting a running mate, navigating back-to-back rallies, preparing for the convention and the debate with Trump, and deflecting obstacles in the form of both Trump’s camp and Biden’s faltering team. Harris aims to set the record straight on issues that have remained hotly debated. While acknowledging Biden’s advancing decline, she also highlights his foreign-policy steadiness: “His years of experience in foreign policy clearly showed….He was always focused, always commander in chief in that room.” More blame is placed on his inner circle, especially Jill Biden, whom Harris faults for pushing him beyond his limits—“the people who knew him best, should have realized that any campaign was a bridge too far.” Throughout, she highlights her own qualifications and dismisses suggestions that an open contest might have better served the party: “If they thought I was down with a mini primary or some other half-baked procedure, I was quick to disabuse them.” Facing Trump’s increasingly unhinged behavior, Harris never openly doubts her ability to confront him. Yet she doesn’t fully persuade the reader that she had the capacity to counter his dominance, suggesting instead that her defeat stemmed from a lack of time—a theme underscored by the urgency of the book’s title. If not entirely sanguine about the future, she maintains a clear-eyed view of the damage already done: “Perhaps so much damage that we will have to re-create our government…something leaner, swifter, and much more efficient.”

A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.

Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025

ISBN: 9781668211656

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025

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POEMS & PRAYERS

It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.

A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”

McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.

It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.

Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025

ISBN: 9781984862105

Page Count: 208

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025

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