Exploring Books Through Articles, Reviews, Announcements, & Lists 2025-1 Jan-March
This is a continuation of the topic Exploring Books Through Articles, Reviews, Announcements, & Lists 2024-4 Oct-Dec.
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1featherbear
NYRB Online Jan 16 2025
Literature
Peter Brooks. Passion’s Countervoices. Review of: The Lily in the Valley / Honoré de Balzac, translated from the French by Peter Bush, with an introduction by Geoffrey O’Brien (New York Review Books)
Darryl Pinckney. Baldwin’s Spell. Review of: JIMMY! God’s Black Revolutionary Mouth, an exhibition at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City, August 2, 2024–February 28, 2025.
Arts
James Shapiro. Rebels Without a Cause. Review of: Romeo + Juliet, a play by William Shakespeare, directed by Sam Gold, at Circle in the Square, New York City, October 24, 2024–February 16, 2025.
Sarah L. Kaufman. Limitless Space, Endless Motion. Review of: The Boy from Kyiv: Alexei Ratmansky’s Life in Ballet / Marina Harss.
Leo Rubinflen. Chaos and Treasure. Review of: Coming and Going / Jim Goldberg -- Candy / Jim Goldberg -- The Last Son / Jim Goldberg -- Open See / Jim Goldberg -- Raised by Wolves / Jim Goldberg, with Philip Brookman -- Rich and Poor / Jim Goldberg
Religion
Adam Hochschild. Evolution in the Dock. Review of: Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy, and the Trial That Riveted a Nation / Brenda Wineapple.
Caroline Fraser. Dispirited Away. Review of: Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church / Eliza Griswold.
History, Society, & Culture
Rachel Donadio. Unsinkable Paris. Review of: Impossible City: Paris in the 21st Century / Simon Kuper -- Paris in Turmoil: A City Between Past and Future / Éric Hazan, translated from the French by David Fernbach -- Paris Is Not Dead: Surviving Hypergentrification in the City of Light / Cole Stangler -- V13: Chronicle of a Trial / Emmanuel Carrère, translated from the French by John Lambert, with a postscript by Grégoire Leménager -- The Zone: An Alternative History of Paris / Justinien Tribillon.
Trevor Jackson. ‘Never Too Much.’ Review of: The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism / Martin Wolf.
Elaine Blair. Far from the Seventies. Review of: Consent: a memoir / Vanessa Springora, translated from the French by Natasha Lehrer -- Consent: a memoir / Jill Ciment.
Ursula Lindsey. Joy and Apprehension in Syria. (Article)
David Shulman. A Deadly Apathy. (Article: "A blank indifference to cruelty and atrocity as a normative mode of waging war has infected Israel’s collective conscience.")
Upcoming NYRB Webinars
Tragic Meaning: Daniel Mendelsohn on the Iliad, January 15–February 19, 2025.
What Will She Do?: Merve Emre on Henry James’s The Portrait of a Lady, March 3–24, 2025.
Tragic Meaning: Daniel Mendelsohn on Aeschylus, March 5–26, 2025.
Literature
Peter Brooks. Passion’s Countervoices. Review of: The Lily in the Valley / Honoré de Balzac, translated from the French by Peter Bush, with an introduction by Geoffrey O’Brien (New York Review Books)
Darryl Pinckney. Baldwin’s Spell. Review of: JIMMY! God’s Black Revolutionary Mouth, an exhibition at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City, August 2, 2024–February 28, 2025.
Arts
James Shapiro. Rebels Without a Cause. Review of: Romeo + Juliet, a play by William Shakespeare, directed by Sam Gold, at Circle in the Square, New York City, October 24, 2024–February 16, 2025.
Sarah L. Kaufman. Limitless Space, Endless Motion. Review of: The Boy from Kyiv: Alexei Ratmansky’s Life in Ballet / Marina Harss.
Leo Rubinflen. Chaos and Treasure. Review of: Coming and Going / Jim Goldberg -- Candy / Jim Goldberg -- The Last Son / Jim Goldberg -- Open See / Jim Goldberg -- Raised by Wolves / Jim Goldberg, with Philip Brookman -- Rich and Poor / Jim Goldberg
Religion
Adam Hochschild. Evolution in the Dock. Review of: Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy, and the Trial That Riveted a Nation / Brenda Wineapple.
Caroline Fraser. Dispirited Away. Review of: Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church / Eliza Griswold.
History, Society, & Culture
Rachel Donadio. Unsinkable Paris. Review of: Impossible City: Paris in the 21st Century / Simon Kuper -- Paris in Turmoil: A City Between Past and Future / Éric Hazan, translated from the French by David Fernbach -- Paris Is Not Dead: Surviving Hypergentrification in the City of Light / Cole Stangler -- V13: Chronicle of a Trial / Emmanuel Carrère, translated from the French by John Lambert, with a postscript by Grégoire Leménager -- The Zone: An Alternative History of Paris / Justinien Tribillon.
Trevor Jackson. ‘Never Too Much.’ Review of: The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism / Martin Wolf.
Elaine Blair. Far from the Seventies. Review of: Consent: a memoir / Vanessa Springora, translated from the French by Natasha Lehrer -- Consent: a memoir / Jill Ciment.
Ursula Lindsey. Joy and Apprehension in Syria. (Article)
David Shulman. A Deadly Apathy. (Article: "A blank indifference to cruelty and atrocity as a normative mode of waging war has infected Israel’s collective conscience.")
Upcoming NYRB Webinars
Tragic Meaning: Daniel Mendelsohn on the Iliad, January 15–February 19, 2025.
What Will She Do?: Merve Emre on Henry James’s The Portrait of a Lady, March 3–24, 2025.
Tragic Meaning: Daniel Mendelsohn on Aeschylus, March 5–26, 2025.
2featherbear
TLS January 3, 2025|No. 6353
Featured
Mary Beard. An American Christmas.
Michèle Roberts. Canon fodder: A personal survey of twentieth-century fiction. Review of: STRANGER THAN FICTION: Lives of the twentieth-century novel / Edwin Frank.
Kerry Brown. Party man: A Chinese-speaking western politician probes Xi Jinping’s ideology. Review of: ON XI JINPING: How Xi’s Marxist nationalism is shaping China and the world / Kevin Rudd.
David Evans. Pure poetry: A new translation of Paul Valéry’s collected verse. Review of: Paul Valéry COLLECTED VERSE / Translated by Paul Ryan (Oxford World's Classics)
Robert Adès. Teacher’s friend or enemy?: AI could revolutionize the classroom. Review of: BRAVE NEW WORDS: How AI will revolutionize education (and why that’s a good thing) / Salman Khan -- THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EDUCABLE: A new theory of human uniqueness / Leslie Valiant.
Literature
Regina Rini. Chatbottery: Why the writing is on the wall for essay writing. (Essay)
Christy Edwall. Up close and personal: The virtues of an elite and curriculum-mandated activity. Review of: ON CLOSE READING / John Guillory. With an annotated bibliography by Scott Newstok.
Walker Rutter-Bowman. Villains who talk: A private dick considers the future of humanity. Review of: EVERY ARC BENDS ITS RADIAN / Sergio de la Pava.
Anna Aslanyan. Everything started with language: A writer who sympathized with the young, poor and dispossessed. Review of: GREEN WATER, GREEN SKY / Mavis Gallant -- THE UNCOLLECTED STORIES OF MAVIS GALLANT / Garth Risk Hallberg, Editor (NYRB Classics) -- MONTREAL STANDARD TIME: The early journalism of Mavis Gallant / Bill Richardson, Neil Besner and Marta Dvorák, editors.
William Wootten. ‘Don’t place him at the front’: An anthology of war poetry and reporting. Review of: I BROUGHT THE WAR WITH ME: Stories and poems from the front line / Lindsey Hilsum.
Marek Sullivan. Into the unexpected: Michael Ondaatje’s first poetry collection in eighteen years. Review of: A YEAR OF LAST THINGS / Michael Ondaatje.
Jaya Savige. ‘Tell it slant’: A collection that defies essentialist conceptions. Review of: 36 WAYS OF WRITING A VIETNAMESE POEM / Nam Le.
Dominic Leonard. The stains of the past: Poems of violence, risk and reflection. Review of: THE PALACE OF FORTY PILLARS / Armand Davoudian.
In Brief Review of: RED HOUSE ALLEY / Else Jerusalem; translated by Stephanie G. Ortega. "Der Heilige Skarabäus, fully translated into English for the first time as Red House Alley, was a success when it was published in 1909 ... the novel highlighted the mistreatment of sex workers in Vienna, receiving a film adaptation by Richard Oswald and an abridged English translation in 1932.")
In Brief Review of: GULAG FICTION: Labour camp literature from Stalin to Putin / Polly Jones. ("The Gulag spawned writing in a vast range of genres, from memoirs and fiction to poetry and drama. Jones defines her subject more narrowly, however, focusing primarily on novels written since the 1950s.")
In Brief Review of: INVISIBLE DOGS / Charles Boyle. ("a country with “no dogs”, either as pets or strays (which have, allegedly, been rounded up and shot), yet the narrator sees dogs everywhere.")
Arts & Architecture
Michael Caines. Illyria reinvigorated: Two new productions of a Shakespearean stalwart. Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT / directed by Prasanna Puwanarajah @ Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, until January 18 -- / directed by Tom Littler @ Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, until January 25.
Colin Grant. Crimes and punishments: RaMell Ross’s film of Colson Whitehead’s novel. Review of the film NICKEL BOYS, based on the novel The Nickel Boys / Colson Whitehead.
Peter Salmon. His films were enough: Reflections on cinema by a French auteur. Review of: EARLY FILM WRITINGS / Chris Marker; translated by Sally Shafto, edited by Steven Ungar.
James Cahill. Hollywood stories: A witty collection made up of rejected film pitches. Review of: THE AMERICAN NO : short stories / Rupert Everett.
Lucasta Miller. Live ever: Commissioning a bust of John Keats. (Essay)
In Brief Review of: ROGUE GOTHS: R. L. Roumieu, Joseph Peacock and Bassett Keeling / Edmund Harris. ("The ‘inventive oddities’ of Victorian architecture")
Politics, Society, Culture & Geography
Noga Arikha. Fear and loathing: How frustrated anger fuels our ‘visceral politics.’ Review of: ALL THE RAGE: Why anger drives the world / Josh Cohen.
Anne Fuchs. Victim mentality: The toxic politics of German reunification today. Review of: DER OSTEN: Eine westdeutsche Erfindung / Dirk Oschmann -- DIE MÖGLICHKEIT VON GLÜCK / Anne Rabe -- UNGLEICH VEREINT: Warum der Osten anders bleibt / Steffen Mau.
Kate Merkel-Hess. To get rich was glorious: How China adopted the market economy while keeping Party rule. Review of: THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION: China’s road from revolution to reform / Odd Arne Westad and Chen Jian.
Tim Whitmarsh. Opportunity and threat: China’s new-found enthusiasm for classics. (Essay)
Peter Parker. ‘His weedy world’: The man who wrote Akenfield. Review of: BLYTHE SPIRIT: The remarkable life of Ronald Blythe / Ian Collins.
Richard Smythe. Total recall: The making of Gerald Durrell’s most famous memoir. (Essay on My Family and Other Animals / Gerald Durrell)
Noreen Masud. Gentle on her mind: Seventeen years spent in the Shetlands. Review of: STORM PEGS: A life made in Shetland / Jen Hadfield.
In Brief Review of: SLAVES FOR PEANUTS: A story of conquest, liberation, and a crop that changed history / Jori Lewis.
In Brief Review of: THE BONE CHESTS: Unlocking the secrets of the Anglo-Saxons / Cat Jarman.
In Brief Review of: CHARM: How magnetic personalities shape global politics / Julia Sonnevend.
Featured
Mary Beard. An American Christmas.
Michèle Roberts. Canon fodder: A personal survey of twentieth-century fiction. Review of: STRANGER THAN FICTION: Lives of the twentieth-century novel / Edwin Frank.
Kerry Brown. Party man: A Chinese-speaking western politician probes Xi Jinping’s ideology. Review of: ON XI JINPING: How Xi’s Marxist nationalism is shaping China and the world / Kevin Rudd.
David Evans. Pure poetry: A new translation of Paul Valéry’s collected verse. Review of: Paul Valéry COLLECTED VERSE / Translated by Paul Ryan (Oxford World's Classics)
Robert Adès. Teacher’s friend or enemy?: AI could revolutionize the classroom. Review of: BRAVE NEW WORDS: How AI will revolutionize education (and why that’s a good thing) / Salman Khan -- THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EDUCABLE: A new theory of human uniqueness / Leslie Valiant.
Literature
Regina Rini. Chatbottery: Why the writing is on the wall for essay writing. (Essay)
Christy Edwall. Up close and personal: The virtues of an elite and curriculum-mandated activity. Review of: ON CLOSE READING / John Guillory. With an annotated bibliography by Scott Newstok.
Walker Rutter-Bowman. Villains who talk: A private dick considers the future of humanity. Review of: EVERY ARC BENDS ITS RADIAN / Sergio de la Pava.
Anna Aslanyan. Everything started with language: A writer who sympathized with the young, poor and dispossessed. Review of: GREEN WATER, GREEN SKY / Mavis Gallant -- THE UNCOLLECTED STORIES OF MAVIS GALLANT / Garth Risk Hallberg, Editor (NYRB Classics) -- MONTREAL STANDARD TIME: The early journalism of Mavis Gallant / Bill Richardson, Neil Besner and Marta Dvorák, editors.
William Wootten. ‘Don’t place him at the front’: An anthology of war poetry and reporting. Review of: I BROUGHT THE WAR WITH ME: Stories and poems from the front line / Lindsey Hilsum.
Marek Sullivan. Into the unexpected: Michael Ondaatje’s first poetry collection in eighteen years. Review of: A YEAR OF LAST THINGS / Michael Ondaatje.
Jaya Savige. ‘Tell it slant’: A collection that defies essentialist conceptions. Review of: 36 WAYS OF WRITING A VIETNAMESE POEM / Nam Le.
Dominic Leonard. The stains of the past: Poems of violence, risk and reflection. Review of: THE PALACE OF FORTY PILLARS / Armand Davoudian.
In Brief Review of: RED HOUSE ALLEY / Else Jerusalem; translated by Stephanie G. Ortega. "Der Heilige Skarabäus, fully translated into English for the first time as Red House Alley, was a success when it was published in 1909 ... the novel highlighted the mistreatment of sex workers in Vienna, receiving a film adaptation by Richard Oswald and an abridged English translation in 1932.")
In Brief Review of: GULAG FICTION: Labour camp literature from Stalin to Putin / Polly Jones. ("The Gulag spawned writing in a vast range of genres, from memoirs and fiction to poetry and drama. Jones defines her subject more narrowly, however, focusing primarily on novels written since the 1950s.")
In Brief Review of: INVISIBLE DOGS / Charles Boyle. ("a country with “no dogs”, either as pets or strays (which have, allegedly, been rounded up and shot), yet the narrator sees dogs everywhere.")
Arts & Architecture
Michael Caines. Illyria reinvigorated: Two new productions of a Shakespearean stalwart. Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT / directed by Prasanna Puwanarajah @ Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, until January 18 -- / directed by Tom Littler @ Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, until January 25.
Colin Grant. Crimes and punishments: RaMell Ross’s film of Colson Whitehead’s novel. Review of the film NICKEL BOYS, based on the novel The Nickel Boys / Colson Whitehead.
Peter Salmon. His films were enough: Reflections on cinema by a French auteur. Review of: EARLY FILM WRITINGS / Chris Marker; translated by Sally Shafto, edited by Steven Ungar.
James Cahill. Hollywood stories: A witty collection made up of rejected film pitches. Review of: THE AMERICAN NO : short stories / Rupert Everett.
Lucasta Miller. Live ever: Commissioning a bust of John Keats. (Essay)
In Brief Review of: ROGUE GOTHS: R. L. Roumieu, Joseph Peacock and Bassett Keeling / Edmund Harris. ("The ‘inventive oddities’ of Victorian architecture")
Politics, Society, Culture & Geography
Noga Arikha. Fear and loathing: How frustrated anger fuels our ‘visceral politics.’ Review of: ALL THE RAGE: Why anger drives the world / Josh Cohen.
Anne Fuchs. Victim mentality: The toxic politics of German reunification today. Review of: DER OSTEN: Eine westdeutsche Erfindung / Dirk Oschmann -- DIE MÖGLICHKEIT VON GLÜCK / Anne Rabe -- UNGLEICH VEREINT: Warum der Osten anders bleibt / Steffen Mau.
Kate Merkel-Hess. To get rich was glorious: How China adopted the market economy while keeping Party rule. Review of: THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION: China’s road from revolution to reform / Odd Arne Westad and Chen Jian.
Tim Whitmarsh. Opportunity and threat: China’s new-found enthusiasm for classics. (Essay)
Peter Parker. ‘His weedy world’: The man who wrote Akenfield. Review of: BLYTHE SPIRIT: The remarkable life of Ronald Blythe / Ian Collins.
Richard Smythe. Total recall: The making of Gerald Durrell’s most famous memoir. (Essay on My Family and Other Animals / Gerald Durrell)
Noreen Masud. Gentle on her mind: Seventeen years spent in the Shetlands. Review of: STORM PEGS: A life made in Shetland / Jen Hadfield.
In Brief Review of: SLAVES FOR PEANUTS: A story of conquest, liberation, and a crop that changed history / Jori Lewis.
In Brief Review of: THE BONE CHESTS: Unlocking the secrets of the Anglo-Saxons / Cat Jarman.
In Brief Review of: CHARM: How magnetic personalities shape global politics / Julia Sonnevend.
3featherbear
David Lodge, 1935-2025
Ella Creamer. Guardian, 01/03/2025: David Lodge, Campus Trilogy novelist and academic, dies aged 89.
"Lodge wrote more than two dozen novels and works of nonfiction, as well as television scripts and plays. He was shortlisted for the Booker prize twice, first for his 1984 novel Small World and then in 1988 for the novel Nice Work, which are the second and third instalments of his celebrated Campus Trilogy."
In my personal library, his Paradise News & Language of fiction: essays in criticism and verbal analysis of the English novel
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/lodgedavid
Jon Cotter. NYT, 12/03/2025: David Lodge, British Novelist Who Satirized Academic Life, Dies at 89. "His 15 well-plotted novels teemed with romance and strange coincidence. An erudite literary critic with an ear for language, he also wrote a raft of nonfiction books."
Ella Creamer. Guardian, 01/03/2025: David Lodge, Campus Trilogy novelist and academic, dies aged 89.
"Lodge wrote more than two dozen novels and works of nonfiction, as well as television scripts and plays. He was shortlisted for the Booker prize twice, first for his 1984 novel Small World and then in 1988 for the novel Nice Work, which are the second and third instalments of his celebrated Campus Trilogy."
In my personal library, his Paradise News & Language of fiction: essays in criticism and verbal analysis of the English novel
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/lodgedavid
Jon Cotter. NYT, 12/03/2025: David Lodge, British Novelist Who Satirized Academic Life, Dies at 89. "His 15 well-plotted novels teemed with romance and strange coincidence. An erudite literary critic with an ear for language, he also wrote a raft of nonfiction books."
4featherbear
LitHub, 01/02/2024: Notable Literary Deaths in 2024. "An Incomplete List of the Writers, Editors, and Great Literary Minds We Lost This Year."
5featherbear
Will try to do more monthly cumulations of frequently cited online journals in 2025 to cut down on postings but I can't promise total consistency:
New Yorker January 2025:
Louise Glück. 01/04/2025: Writing as Transformation. "Words and phrases came from nowhere; I rarely had any sense of what they meant or to what context they belonged."
Ian Buruma. 01/06/2025: Yukio Mishima’s Death Cult. Regarding Voices of the Fallen Heroes: And Other Stories / Yukio Mishima, Stephen Dodd editor (no info on translator). Reference also to: Mishima: A Vision of the Void / Marguerite Yourcenar (1986, no info on translator) -- Mishima: A Biography / John Nathan (2000; also author of the intro to Voices -- Confessions of a Mask / Yukio Mishima, translator Meredith Weatherby (1958) -- The Life and Death of Yukio Mishima / Henry Scott Stokes (2000) -- plus other works of Mishima, including his The Sea of Fertility trilogy & The Temple of the Golden Pavilion.
Anthony Gottlieb. 01/06/2025: He Was a Genius for the Ages. Can We Give Him a Break? "Gottfried Leibniz made conceptual advances that lie behind our digital world. Yet for centuries he was mocked for a misstep." Review of: Leibniz in His World: The Making of a Savant / Audrey Borowski and The Best of All Possible Worlds: A Life of Leibniz in Seven Pivotal Days / Michael Kempe, translator Marshall Yarbrough.
Katy Waldman. 01/06/2025: Did a Best-Selling Romantasy Novelist Steal Another Writer’s Story? "Tracy Wolff, the author of the “Crave” series, is being sued for copyright infringement. But romantasy’s reliance on standardized tropes makes proving plot theft tricky."
Elizabeth Kolbert. 01/13/2025: Does One Emotion Rule All Our Ethical Judgments? "When prehistoric predators abounded, the ability to perceive harm helped our ancestors survive. Some researchers wonder whether it fuels our greatest fights today." Review of: Outraged: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground / Kurt Gray.
Louis Menand. 01/13/2025: Why Zora Neale Hurston Was Obsessed with the Jews. "Her long-unpublished novel was the culmination of a years-long fascination. What does it reveal about her fraught views on civil rights?"
Garth Risk Hallberg. 01/15/2025: Garth Risk Hallberg’s Essential Joyce Carol Oates. "The author of “The Second Coming” and “City on Fire” selects recommendations from the great American writer’s sprawling body of work."
Idrees Kahloon. 01/23/2025: What’s the Matter with Men? "They’re floundering at school and in the workplace. Some conservatives blame a crisis of masculinity, but the problems—and their solutions—are far more complex." Review of: Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It Richard Reeves -- & in passing: Men without Work: Post-Pandemic Edition (2022) (New Threats to Freedom Series) / Nicholas Eberstadt.
Thomas Mallon. 01/20/2025: Washington’s Hostess with the Mostes.’ Review of: The Woman Who Knew Everyone: The Power of Perle Mesta, Washington’s Most Famous Hostess / Meryl Gordon.
Anna Russell. 01/17/2025: Ali Smith’s Playful Dystopia. "The author discusses why she has a dumbphone, how to “meet reverses boldly,” and her new novel, “Gliff.”
Daniel Immerwahr. 01/20/2025: What if the Attention Crisis Is All a Distraction? Review of the literature, though nominally a review of: The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource / Chris Hayes.
Joshua Rothman. 01/21/2025: Should You Question Everything? Review of: Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life / Agnes Callard. (see also Tim Clare review >6 featherbear:)
Jane Hu. 01/23/2025: The Long Shadow of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Review of: Orphan Bachelors: A Memoir / Fae Myenne Ng.
Anna Wiener. 01/27/2025: The Insidious Charms of the Entrepreneurial Work Ethic. Review of: Make Your Own Job: How the Entrepreneurial Work Ethic Exhausted America / Erik Baker.
Arthur Krystal. 01/27/2025: What We Learn About Our World by Imagining Its End. Review of: Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World / Dorian Lynskey.
Robert Pinsky. 01/30/2025: A Song on Porcelain. "Czesław Miłosz lost his homeland to a Stalinist regime. What have we Americans valued in our own cultural past that might now feel lost or troubling?"
New Yorker January 2025:
Louise Glück. 01/04/2025: Writing as Transformation. "Words and phrases came from nowhere; I rarely had any sense of what they meant or to what context they belonged."
Ian Buruma. 01/06/2025: Yukio Mishima’s Death Cult. Regarding Voices of the Fallen Heroes: And Other Stories / Yukio Mishima, Stephen Dodd editor (no info on translator). Reference also to: Mishima: A Vision of the Void / Marguerite Yourcenar (1986, no info on translator) -- Mishima: A Biography / John Nathan (2000; also author of the intro to Voices -- Confessions of a Mask / Yukio Mishima, translator Meredith Weatherby (1958) -- The Life and Death of Yukio Mishima / Henry Scott Stokes (2000) -- plus other works of Mishima, including his The Sea of Fertility trilogy & The Temple of the Golden Pavilion.
Anthony Gottlieb. 01/06/2025: He Was a Genius for the Ages. Can We Give Him a Break? "Gottfried Leibniz made conceptual advances that lie behind our digital world. Yet for centuries he was mocked for a misstep." Review of: Leibniz in His World: The Making of a Savant / Audrey Borowski and The Best of All Possible Worlds: A Life of Leibniz in Seven Pivotal Days / Michael Kempe, translator Marshall Yarbrough.
Katy Waldman. 01/06/2025: Did a Best-Selling Romantasy Novelist Steal Another Writer’s Story? "Tracy Wolff, the author of the “Crave” series, is being sued for copyright infringement. But romantasy’s reliance on standardized tropes makes proving plot theft tricky."
Elizabeth Kolbert. 01/13/2025: Does One Emotion Rule All Our Ethical Judgments? "When prehistoric predators abounded, the ability to perceive harm helped our ancestors survive. Some researchers wonder whether it fuels our greatest fights today." Review of: Outraged: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground / Kurt Gray.
Louis Menand. 01/13/2025: Why Zora Neale Hurston Was Obsessed with the Jews. "Her long-unpublished novel was the culmination of a years-long fascination. What does it reveal about her fraught views on civil rights?"
Garth Risk Hallberg. 01/15/2025: Garth Risk Hallberg’s Essential Joyce Carol Oates. "The author of “The Second Coming” and “City on Fire” selects recommendations from the great American writer’s sprawling body of work."
Idrees Kahloon. 01/23/2025: What’s the Matter with Men? "They’re floundering at school and in the workplace. Some conservatives blame a crisis of masculinity, but the problems—and their solutions—are far more complex." Review of: Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It Richard Reeves -- & in passing: Men without Work: Post-Pandemic Edition (2022) (New Threats to Freedom Series) / Nicholas Eberstadt.
Thomas Mallon. 01/20/2025: Washington’s Hostess with the Mostes.’ Review of: The Woman Who Knew Everyone: The Power of Perle Mesta, Washington’s Most Famous Hostess / Meryl Gordon.
Anna Russell. 01/17/2025: Ali Smith’s Playful Dystopia. "The author discusses why she has a dumbphone, how to “meet reverses boldly,” and her new novel, “Gliff.”
Daniel Immerwahr. 01/20/2025: What if the Attention Crisis Is All a Distraction? Review of the literature, though nominally a review of: The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource / Chris Hayes.
Joshua Rothman. 01/21/2025: Should You Question Everything? Review of: Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life / Agnes Callard. (see also Tim Clare review >6 featherbear:)
Jane Hu. 01/23/2025: The Long Shadow of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Review of: Orphan Bachelors: A Memoir / Fae Myenne Ng.
Anna Wiener. 01/27/2025: The Insidious Charms of the Entrepreneurial Work Ethic. Review of: Make Your Own Job: How the Entrepreneurial Work Ethic Exhausted America / Erik Baker.
Arthur Krystal. 01/27/2025: What We Learn About Our World by Imagining Its End. Review of: Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World / Dorian Lynskey.
Robert Pinsky. 01/30/2025: A Song on Porcelain. "Czesław Miłosz lost his homeland to a Stalinist regime. What have we Americans valued in our own cultural past that might now feel lost or troubling?"
6featherbear
The Guardian books Jan 2025:
Sumit Paul-Choudhury. 01/04/2025: ‘I became an optimist the night my wife died’: a science writer on loss and letting go of rationalism. Long excerpt from the author's The Bright Side: How Optimists Change the World, and How You Can Be One (UK title: The Bright Side: Why Optimists Have the Power to Change the World).
Philip Ball. 01/03/2025: The science of imagination: A neuroscientist’s sprawling survey of the creative mind takes in both William Blake and physicist Paul Dirac. Review of: The Shape of Things Unseen: A New Science of Imagination / Adam Zeman.
Sophie Pinkham. 01/09/2025: The mysterious novelist who foresaw Putin’s Russia – and then came to symbolise its moral decay. "Victor Pelevin made his name in 90s Russia with scathing satires of authoritarianism. But while his literary peers have faced censorship and fled the country, he still sells millions. Has he become a Kremlin apologist?"
Tim Clare. 01/16/2025: A bracing contemporary account of the philosopher’s age-old prescription for living. Review of: Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life / Agnes Collard. (see also: Rothman review >5 featherbear:)
Sumit Paul-Choudhury. 01/04/2025: ‘I became an optimist the night my wife died’: a science writer on loss and letting go of rationalism. Long excerpt from the author's The Bright Side: How Optimists Change the World, and How You Can Be One (UK title: The Bright Side: Why Optimists Have the Power to Change the World).
Philip Ball. 01/03/2025: The science of imagination: A neuroscientist’s sprawling survey of the creative mind takes in both William Blake and physicist Paul Dirac. Review of: The Shape of Things Unseen: A New Science of Imagination / Adam Zeman.
Sophie Pinkham. 01/09/2025: The mysterious novelist who foresaw Putin’s Russia – and then came to symbolise its moral decay. "Victor Pelevin made his name in 90s Russia with scathing satires of authoritarianism. But while his literary peers have faced censorship and fled the country, he still sells millions. Has he become a Kremlin apologist?"
Tim Clare. 01/16/2025: A bracing contemporary account of the philosopher’s age-old prescription for living. Review of: Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life / Agnes Collard. (see also: Rothman review >5 featherbear:)
7featherbear
Recommendations from fivebooks.com (1 January, 1 late December) -- not paywalled so I'm not going to provide lists:
Sylvia Bishop. 01/05/2025: The Best Fantasy Novels of the Past Decade.
Jason Furman, interview Eve Gerber. 12/27/2024: The Best Economics Books of 2024. A title that looks particularly interesting: Shock Values: Prices and Inflation in American Democracy / Carola Binder, since there have been claims that these affected the elections. But per Furman, don't overlook How Economics Explains the World: "If you read just one economics book in 2024—and perhaps if you just read one economics book in your life—it should be this book by Andrew Leigh, an Australian economics professor turned elected politician. How Economics Explains the World is a relatively short and easy read, proceeding chronologically from the advent of agriculture to the present day."
Last update 01/14/2025: Economics Books recommended by economists. Sublists include: Best Economics Books of 2024 (Jason Furman -- fuller citation above) -- The Best Books on Challenges Facing the World Economy (Martin Wolf) -- Best Books on Inflation (Federica Romei) -- Best Books on John Maynard Keynes (Robert Skidelsky) -- Best Books on Game Theory (Ariel Rubinstein) -- Best Books on Economics and the Environment (Dieter Helm) -- Best Books on Fiscal Policy (Sergio de Ferra) -- Best Books on Capitalism and Human Nature (Robert J. Shiller) -- Best Introductions to Economics (Tim Harford) and much much more!
Tyler Wetherall, interviewer Cal Flynn. 01/15/2025: Memoirs of Girlhood.
fivebooks experts. 01/22/2025: Pulitzer Prize-Winning History Books. "a guide to the winning books since the turn of the millennium."
Ana Lucia Araujo, interviewer Sophie Roell. 01/31/2025: The best books on The History of Brazil and Slavery. Recommendations from the author of: Humans in Shackles: An Atlantic History of Slavery.
Sylvia Bishop. 01/05/2025: The Best Fantasy Novels of the Past Decade.
Jason Furman, interview Eve Gerber. 12/27/2024: The Best Economics Books of 2024. A title that looks particularly interesting: Shock Values: Prices and Inflation in American Democracy / Carola Binder, since there have been claims that these affected the elections. But per Furman, don't overlook How Economics Explains the World: "If you read just one economics book in 2024—and perhaps if you just read one economics book in your life—it should be this book by Andrew Leigh, an Australian economics professor turned elected politician. How Economics Explains the World is a relatively short and easy read, proceeding chronologically from the advent of agriculture to the present day."
Last update 01/14/2025: Economics Books recommended by economists. Sublists include: Best Economics Books of 2024 (Jason Furman -- fuller citation above) -- The Best Books on Challenges Facing the World Economy (Martin Wolf) -- Best Books on Inflation (Federica Romei) -- Best Books on John Maynard Keynes (Robert Skidelsky) -- Best Books on Game Theory (Ariel Rubinstein) -- Best Books on Economics and the Environment (Dieter Helm) -- Best Books on Fiscal Policy (Sergio de Ferra) -- Best Books on Capitalism and Human Nature (Robert J. Shiller) -- Best Introductions to Economics (Tim Harford) and much much more!
Tyler Wetherall, interviewer Cal Flynn. 01/15/2025: Memoirs of Girlhood.
fivebooks experts. 01/22/2025: Pulitzer Prize-Winning History Books. "a guide to the winning books since the turn of the millennium."
Ana Lucia Araujo, interviewer Sophie Roell. 01/31/2025: The best books on The History of Brazil and Slavery. Recommendations from the author of: Humans in Shackles: An Atlantic History of Slavery.
8featherbear
TLS January 10, 2025|No. 6354
Featured
Charles Foster. Them and us: How good are we at getting on with one another? Review of: THE INVENTION OF GOOD AND EVIL: A world history of morality / Hanno Sauer; translated by Jo Heinrich.
J.S. Barnes. Strange attraction: A remake of Murnau’s genre-defining vampire tale. Review of Robert Eggers's new film/remake of Nosferatu.
Lindsey Hilsum. Time to catch up: A letter from Damascus. (Essay)
Daniel Butt. Proceeds of crime: A ‘trenchant plea’ for Britain to pay slavery reparations to the Caribbean. Review of: BRITAIN’S SLAVERY DEBT: Reparations now! / Michael Banner. (Oxford University Press)
Mary Beard. Donald Trump, satire and the lex Caecilia Didia of 98 BCE. (From the TLS landing page)
Literature
Alicia Rix. Might-have-beens: Indecision in the Victorian novel. Review of: THE ART OF UNCERTAINTY: Probable realism and the Victorian novel / Daniel Williams.
Oonagh Devitt Tremblay. Customer feedback: Samuel Richardson’s correspondence with readers about his novels in progress. Review of: CORRESPONDENCE PRIMARILY ON PAMELA AND CLARISSA, 1732–1749 / Samuel Richardson, Louise Curran, George Justice and Sören Hammerschmidt, editors (Cambridge University Press).
Sara Lodge. A punny fellow: The disconcerting wit of Thomas Hood. Review of: THOMAS HOOD: The uncrowned laureate / Peter Thorogood; edited by Alan Durden. (Bramber Press)
Violet Hudson. Running ahead: The brilliant mind and sad decline of an often misremembered writer. Review of: CONSTANT READER: The ‘New Yorker’ columns, 1927–28 / Dorothy Parker -- DOROTHY PARKER IN HOLLYWOOD / Gail Crowther.
Mia Levitin. Rather too much happiness: A woman prone to manic bouts comes up against the system. Review of: THE PRINCESS OF 72ND STREET / Elaine Kraf.
Heather Cass White. Props, plots and skirts: Building a world through playful free association. Review of: AMERICAN GENIUS, A COMEDY / Lynne Tillman.
Susie Mesure. Painfear and failsweat: Nuclear protest and a spycops scandal catch up in a courtroom. Review of: ALIVE IN THE MERCIFUL COUNTRY / A.L. Kennedy. (Saraband)
Richard Lea. The apocalypse is boring: A former physicist voyages into his inner life. Review of: TASMANIA / Paolo Giordano; translated by Anthony Shugaar.
Irina Dumitrescu. Calling a hack a hack: Satirical takes on the novelist. (Essay)
In Brief Review of: The Hotel / Daisy Johnson.
In Brief Review of: ADAM / Gboyega Odubanjo. (Faber)
Arts
Charles Darwent. Reading between the lines: What can reasonably be said about Mondrian? Review of: MONDRIAN: His life, his art, his quest for the absolute / Nicholas Fox Weber.
James Hall. Cut and paste: Stolen and recycled images in eighteenth-century French art. Review of: THE MOBILE IMAGE: From Watteau to Boucher / David Pullins.
Adam Mars-Jones. Uncertain territory: An ‘unpatronizing but disillusioned assessment of contemporary tribal culture.’ Review of Rungano Nyoni’s film ON BECOMING A GUINEA FOWL.
In Brief Review of: NEVER UNDERSTOOD: The Jesus and Mary Chain / William and Jim Reid.
Science & Technology
Jennifer Raff. The spice of life: The diversity of our genetic inheritance. Review of: HUMAN PEOPLES: On the genetic traces of human evolution, migration and adaptation / Lluís Quintana-Murci.
In Brief Review of: IMMACULATE FORMS: Uncovering the history of women’s bodies / Helen King.
Philosophy & Religion
Sarah Foot. Worth getting up for?: The monastic life, and those who chose to live it. Review of: THE MONASTIC WORLD: A 1,200-year history / Andrew Jotischky.
Steven Nadler. The rolling stone: Two biographies of Leibniz, a man of ‘great ambition, infinite interests and infinitesimal sleep.’ Review of: LEIBNIZ IN HIS WORLD: The making of a savant / Audrey Borowski -- THE BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS: A Life of Leibniz in seven pivotal days / Michael Kempe; translated by Marshall Yarbrough.
Barnaby Rogerson. Fake and awake: A father and son who crafted an Islam that appealed to the West. Review of: EMPIRE’S SON, EMPIRE’S ORPHAN: The fantastical lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah / Nile Green.
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
Helen Castor. Mystics and hustlers: A survey of women’s lives in the later Middle Ages. Review of: POET, MYSTIC, WIDOW, WIFE: The extraordinary lives of medieval women / Hetta Howes.
Mary C. Flannery. A varied menu: Medieval how-to guides, from recipes to remedies. Review of: RECIPES AND BOOK CULTURE IN ENGLAND, 1350–1600 / Carrie Griffin and Hannah Ryley, editors.
Manisha Sinha. A prophet and a warrior: The religious roots of a famous slave revolt. Review of: NAT TURNER, BLACK PROPHET: A visionary history / Anthony E. Kaye.
Lisa Hilton. Satan in the saucepan: The morality of food and sex. Review of: LUSTFUL APPETITES: An intimate history of good food and wicked sex / Rachel Hope Cleves. (Polity)
Oliver Balch. An acquired taste: A cultural history of a South American infusion. Review of: THE BOOK OF YERBA MATE: A stimulating history / Christine Folch.
In Brief Review of: DEMOCRACY: Eleven writers and leaders on what it is – and why it matters.
In Brief Review of: Review of: LONDON, 1984: Conflict and change in the radical city / Stephen Brooke. (Oxford University Press)
In Brief Review of: THE ROSE, THE BASTARD AND THE SAINT KING: The murder of Henry VI / A. W. Boardman. (History Press)
Featured
Charles Foster. Them and us: How good are we at getting on with one another? Review of: THE INVENTION OF GOOD AND EVIL: A world history of morality / Hanno Sauer; translated by Jo Heinrich.
J.S. Barnes. Strange attraction: A remake of Murnau’s genre-defining vampire tale. Review of Robert Eggers's new film/remake of Nosferatu.
Lindsey Hilsum. Time to catch up: A letter from Damascus. (Essay)
Daniel Butt. Proceeds of crime: A ‘trenchant plea’ for Britain to pay slavery reparations to the Caribbean. Review of: BRITAIN’S SLAVERY DEBT: Reparations now! / Michael Banner. (Oxford University Press)
Mary Beard. Donald Trump, satire and the lex Caecilia Didia of 98 BCE. (From the TLS landing page)
Literature
Alicia Rix. Might-have-beens: Indecision in the Victorian novel. Review of: THE ART OF UNCERTAINTY: Probable realism and the Victorian novel / Daniel Williams.
Oonagh Devitt Tremblay. Customer feedback: Samuel Richardson’s correspondence with readers about his novels in progress. Review of: CORRESPONDENCE PRIMARILY ON PAMELA AND CLARISSA, 1732–1749 / Samuel Richardson, Louise Curran, George Justice and Sören Hammerschmidt, editors (Cambridge University Press).
Sara Lodge. A punny fellow: The disconcerting wit of Thomas Hood. Review of: THOMAS HOOD: The uncrowned laureate / Peter Thorogood; edited by Alan Durden. (Bramber Press)
Violet Hudson. Running ahead: The brilliant mind and sad decline of an often misremembered writer. Review of: CONSTANT READER: The ‘New Yorker’ columns, 1927–28 / Dorothy Parker -- DOROTHY PARKER IN HOLLYWOOD / Gail Crowther.
Mia Levitin. Rather too much happiness: A woman prone to manic bouts comes up against the system. Review of: THE PRINCESS OF 72ND STREET / Elaine Kraf.
Heather Cass White. Props, plots and skirts: Building a world through playful free association. Review of: AMERICAN GENIUS, A COMEDY / Lynne Tillman.
Susie Mesure. Painfear and failsweat: Nuclear protest and a spycops scandal catch up in a courtroom. Review of: ALIVE IN THE MERCIFUL COUNTRY / A.L. Kennedy. (Saraband)
Richard Lea. The apocalypse is boring: A former physicist voyages into his inner life. Review of: TASMANIA / Paolo Giordano; translated by Anthony Shugaar.
Irina Dumitrescu. Calling a hack a hack: Satirical takes on the novelist. (Essay)
In Brief Review of: The Hotel / Daisy Johnson.
In Brief Review of: ADAM / Gboyega Odubanjo. (Faber)
Arts
Charles Darwent. Reading between the lines: What can reasonably be said about Mondrian? Review of: MONDRIAN: His life, his art, his quest for the absolute / Nicholas Fox Weber.
James Hall. Cut and paste: Stolen and recycled images in eighteenth-century French art. Review of: THE MOBILE IMAGE: From Watteau to Boucher / David Pullins.
Adam Mars-Jones. Uncertain territory: An ‘unpatronizing but disillusioned assessment of contemporary tribal culture.’ Review of Rungano Nyoni’s film ON BECOMING A GUINEA FOWL.
In Brief Review of: NEVER UNDERSTOOD: The Jesus and Mary Chain / William and Jim Reid.
Science & Technology
Jennifer Raff. The spice of life: The diversity of our genetic inheritance. Review of: HUMAN PEOPLES: On the genetic traces of human evolution, migration and adaptation / Lluís Quintana-Murci.
In Brief Review of: IMMACULATE FORMS: Uncovering the history of women’s bodies / Helen King.
Philosophy & Religion
Sarah Foot. Worth getting up for?: The monastic life, and those who chose to live it. Review of: THE MONASTIC WORLD: A 1,200-year history / Andrew Jotischky.
Steven Nadler. The rolling stone: Two biographies of Leibniz, a man of ‘great ambition, infinite interests and infinitesimal sleep.’ Review of: LEIBNIZ IN HIS WORLD: The making of a savant / Audrey Borowski -- THE BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS: A Life of Leibniz in seven pivotal days / Michael Kempe; translated by Marshall Yarbrough.
Barnaby Rogerson. Fake and awake: A father and son who crafted an Islam that appealed to the West. Review of: EMPIRE’S SON, EMPIRE’S ORPHAN: The fantastical lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah / Nile Green.
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
Helen Castor. Mystics and hustlers: A survey of women’s lives in the later Middle Ages. Review of: POET, MYSTIC, WIDOW, WIFE: The extraordinary lives of medieval women / Hetta Howes.
Mary C. Flannery. A varied menu: Medieval how-to guides, from recipes to remedies. Review of: RECIPES AND BOOK CULTURE IN ENGLAND, 1350–1600 / Carrie Griffin and Hannah Ryley, editors.
Manisha Sinha. A prophet and a warrior: The religious roots of a famous slave revolt. Review of: NAT TURNER, BLACK PROPHET: A visionary history / Anthony E. Kaye.
Lisa Hilton. Satan in the saucepan: The morality of food and sex. Review of: LUSTFUL APPETITES: An intimate history of good food and wicked sex / Rachel Hope Cleves. (Polity)
Oliver Balch. An acquired taste: A cultural history of a South American infusion. Review of: THE BOOK OF YERBA MATE: A stimulating history / Christine Folch.
In Brief Review of: DEMOCRACY: Eleven writers and leaders on what it is – and why it matters.
In Brief Review of: Review of: LONDON, 1984: Conflict and change in the radical city / Stephen Brooke. (Oxford University Press)
In Brief Review of: THE ROSE, THE BASTARD AND THE SAINT KING: The murder of Henry VI / A. W. Boardman. (History Press)
9featherbear
Washington Post (WaPo) January 2025 books:
Michael Dirda. 01/09/2025: Debunking the legend of El Cid. Review of: El Cid: The Life and Afterlife of a Medieval Mercenary / Nora Berend.
Michael Bobelian. 01/18/2025: The end of ‘serious efforts’ to integrate America’s schools. Review of: The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North / Michelle Adams, "a compelling history of a Supreme Court case that addressed schooling in Detroit." Temporarily unlocked.
Matthew Gabriele. 01/23/2025: A new history of the Vikings captures the humanity of a brutal world. Review of: Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age / Eleanor Barraclough.
Becca Rothfeld. 01/31/2025: A life nearly wrecked — and then rescued — by books. Review of: Bibliophobia: A Memoir / Sarah Chihaya.
Michael Dirda. 01/09/2025: Debunking the legend of El Cid. Review of: El Cid: The Life and Afterlife of a Medieval Mercenary / Nora Berend.
Michael Bobelian. 01/18/2025: The end of ‘serious efforts’ to integrate America’s schools. Review of: The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North / Michelle Adams, "a compelling history of a Supreme Court case that addressed schooling in Detroit." Temporarily unlocked.
Matthew Gabriele. 01/23/2025: A new history of the Vikings captures the humanity of a brutal world. Review of: Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age / Eleanor Barraclough.
Becca Rothfeld. 01/31/2025: A life nearly wrecked — and then rescued — by books. Review of: Bibliophobia: A Memoir / Sarah Chihaya.
10featherbear
LARB Jan 2025
Medaya Ocher. 01/10/2025: On the Los Angeles Fires: A note from LARB Editor in Chief.
Nic Cavell. 01/15/2025: Helen, Writer of Her Own Myth. Review of: Helen of Troy, 1993 / Maria Zoccola.
Jeremy Murray. 01/13/2025: Respecting the Waters: Jeremy Murray reviews three books on how the United States’ failure to ratify UNCLOS threatens global maritime order. Review of: On Dangerous Ground: America's Century in the South China Sea / Gregory B. Poling -- The Struggle for Law in the Oceans: How an Isolationist Narrative Betrays America / John Norton Moore -- China’s Law of the Sea: The New Rules of Maritime Order / Isaac B. Kardon.
Mary F. Corey. 01/14/2025: Nettie in Pantherland. Kingdom of No Tomorrow / Fabienne Josaphat (a novel about the Black Panther movement).
Zach Gibson. 01/12/2025: The Lost Utopia. Retrospective review of the Dalkey Archive reprint of Angel in the Forest: A Fairy Tale of Two Utopias / Marguerite Young.
Siobhan Maria Carroll. 01/18/2025: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and the End of Earnestness. Review of: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2024 / ed. Hugh Howey.
Nadia Ghent. 01/21/2025: Capacious and Alive. Review of: The Uncollected Stories of Mavis Gallant / Mavis Gallant, edited by Garth Risk Hallberg (NYRB Classics).
Medaya Ocher. 01/10/2025: On the Los Angeles Fires: A note from LARB Editor in Chief.
Nic Cavell. 01/15/2025: Helen, Writer of Her Own Myth. Review of: Helen of Troy, 1993 / Maria Zoccola.
Jeremy Murray. 01/13/2025: Respecting the Waters: Jeremy Murray reviews three books on how the United States’ failure to ratify UNCLOS threatens global maritime order. Review of: On Dangerous Ground: America's Century in the South China Sea / Gregory B. Poling -- The Struggle for Law in the Oceans: How an Isolationist Narrative Betrays America / John Norton Moore -- China’s Law of the Sea: The New Rules of Maritime Order / Isaac B. Kardon.
Mary F. Corey. 01/14/2025: Nettie in Pantherland. Kingdom of No Tomorrow / Fabienne Josaphat (a novel about the Black Panther movement).
Zach Gibson. 01/12/2025: The Lost Utopia. Retrospective review of the Dalkey Archive reprint of Angel in the Forest: A Fairy Tale of Two Utopias / Marguerite Young.
Siobhan Maria Carroll. 01/18/2025: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and the End of Earnestness. Review of: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2024 / ed. Hugh Howey.
Nadia Ghent. 01/21/2025: Capacious and Alive. Review of: The Uncollected Stories of Mavis Gallant / Mavis Gallant, edited by Garth Risk Hallberg (NYRB Classics).
11featherbear
Salmagundi 224-225, fall/winter 2024-25.
David Herman. Martin Amis and the Changing of the Guard.
Robert Boyers, moderator, Rochelle Gurstein et al. GOOD TASTE, BAD TASTE, NO TASTE, WHY TASTE?: A Salmagundi Symposium. "... an edited transcript of a conference sponsored by Salmagundi, convened in October 2023 at the Tang Museum on the campus of Skidmore College. There are three sessions, each kicked off with opening remarks by one of the participants."
David Herman. Martin Amis and the Changing of the Guard.
Robert Boyers, moderator, Rochelle Gurstein et al. GOOD TASTE, BAD TASTE, NO TASTE, WHY TASTE?: A Salmagundi Symposium. "... an edited transcript of a conference sponsored by Salmagundi, convened in October 2023 at the Tang Museum on the campus of Skidmore College. There are three sessions, each kicked off with opening remarks by one of the participants."
12featherbear
Carmine Starnino. The Walrus, 01/03/2025: Why Alice Munro’s Biographer Left Her Daughter’s Abuse Out of His Book. "An exclusive interview with Robert Thacker on the secret he carried for twenty years."
13featherbear
Temporarily unlocked:
Kwame Anthony Appiah. NYT, 01/10/2024: Can I Ban Books From My Front-Yard Little Free Library? "The magazine’s Ethicist columnist on the curation of a book collection."
Kwame Anthony Appiah. NYT, 01/10/2024: Can I Ban Books From My Front-Yard Little Free Library? "The magazine’s Ethicist columnist on the curation of a book collection."
14featherbear
Richard B. Hays, 1948-2025
Trip Gabriel. NYT, 01/12/2025: Richard Hays, 76, Dies; Theologian Who Had Stunning Change of Heart. "He released a thunderclap into the evangelical world by asserting that a deeper reading of the Bible revealed that same-sex relationships are not sinful." NYT Obit temporarily unlocked.
"In “The Widening of God’s Mercy,” published in September by Yale University Press and written with his son, Christopher B. Hays, Mr. Hays maintained that if the Bible is read holistically, as a complete narrative, it reveals a God who continually extends grace and mercy to ever wider circles of people, including those who once were outcasts."
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/haysrichardb
Trip Gabriel. NYT, 01/12/2025: Richard Hays, 76, Dies; Theologian Who Had Stunning Change of Heart. "He released a thunderclap into the evangelical world by asserting that a deeper reading of the Bible revealed that same-sex relationships are not sinful." NYT Obit temporarily unlocked.
"In “The Widening of God’s Mercy,” published in September by Yale University Press and written with his son, Christopher B. Hays, Mr. Hays maintained that if the Bible is read holistically, as a complete narrative, it reveals a God who continually extends grace and mercy to ever wider circles of people, including those who once were outcasts."
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/haysrichardb
15featherbear
Paul Glynn. BBC Culture, 01/14/2025: Neil Gaiman faces more sexual assault allegations.
16featherbear
The Atlantic January 2025 books:
Judith Shulevitz. 01/14/2025: Where Han Kang’s Nightmares Come From. "In her novels, the South Korean Nobel laureate returns again and again to her country’s bloody past."
Kristen Martin. 01/31/2025: In Search of the Book That Would Save Her Life. Review of: Bibliophobia - A Memoir / Sarah Chihaya.
Gal Beckerman. 01/22/2025: Be Like Sisyphus: How to embrace hopeful pessimism in a moment of despair. Review of: Hopeful Pessimism / Mara van der Lugt.
Sheila McClear. 01/16/2025: The Forgotten Woman Who Transformed Forensics. Review of: The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story / Pagan Kennedy.
Mark Athitakis. 01/31/2025: The Stranger Things Effect Comes for the Novel. Confessions: a novel / Catherine Airey.
Caroline Miranda. 01/22/2025: The ‘Dark Prophet’ of L.A. Wasn’t Dark Enough. "As fires have raged, so have citations of the prescient author Mike Davis. But in a changed world, we need new thinkers too."
Judith Shulevitz. 01/14/2025: Where Han Kang’s Nightmares Come From. "In her novels, the South Korean Nobel laureate returns again and again to her country’s bloody past."
Kristen Martin. 01/31/2025: In Search of the Book That Would Save Her Life. Review of: Bibliophobia - A Memoir / Sarah Chihaya.
Gal Beckerman. 01/22/2025: Be Like Sisyphus: How to embrace hopeful pessimism in a moment of despair. Review of: Hopeful Pessimism / Mara van der Lugt.
Sheila McClear. 01/16/2025: The Forgotten Woman Who Transformed Forensics. Review of: The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story / Pagan Kennedy.
Mark Athitakis. 01/31/2025: The Stranger Things Effect Comes for the Novel. Confessions: a novel / Catherine Airey.
Caroline Miranda. 01/22/2025: The ‘Dark Prophet’ of L.A. Wasn’t Dark Enough. "As fires have raged, so have citations of the prescient author Mike Davis. But in a changed world, we need new thinkers too."
17featherbear
Bradford Morrow. LitHub, 01/14/2025: The Forgers Hall of Fame: A Brief History of Literary Fakes and Frauds. Excerpt from: The Forger's Requiem / Bradford Morrow.
18featherbear
TLS January 17, 2025|No. 6355
Featured
Jonathan Rée. What about the workers?: A new English translation of Marx’s magnum opus. Review of: CAPITAL: Critique of political economy: Volume 1 / Karl Marx; Translated by Paul Reitter, edited by Paul North and Paul Reitter.
Tim Parks. Hornets: Censorship and the 'new consensus.' (Essay)
Adam Roberts. Missions to Mars: Does God have a place in space? Review of: RELIGION AND OUTER SPACE / Eric Michael Mazur and Sarah McFarland Taylor, editors.
Sophie Oliver. ‘Hiccoughs’ and ‘Angelica’: ‘Hiccoughs’ and ‘Angelica’: Two newly discovered poems by Virginia Woolf. (Essay)
Mary Beard (from the TLS landing page). Inside the White House.
Literature
Peter McDonald. No Homer for this war: The death of classicism in the trenches. Review of: GREEK AND ROMAN ANTIQUITY IN FIRST WORLD WAR POETRY: Making connections / Elizabeth Vandiver, Lorna Hardwick, and Stephen Harrison -- RUPERT BROOKE, CHARLES SORLEY, ISAAC ROSENBERG, AND WILFRED OWEN: Classical connections / Lorna Hardwick, Stephen Harrison and Elizabeth Vandiver.
Kathryn Gray. The Great Inevitable: Two prizewinning poets take on death. Review of: FIERCE ELEGY / Peter Gizzi -- SKELETONS / Deborah Landau.
Miranda France. Middle class to militant: The making of a revolutionary poet. Review of: EL CUMPLEAÑOS DE JUAN ÁNGEL/ JUAN ÁNGEL’S BIRTHDAY / Mario Benedetti; translated by Adam Feinstein.
Stephen Henighan. Lost in translation: A poet who changed the way modern Spanish is written. Review of: REDISCOVERING RUBÉN DARÍO THROUGH TRANSLATION / Carlos F. Grigsby.
Thomas de Waal. Bringing it all back home: An Azerbaijani author of fierce political courage and local loyalty. Review of: PEOPLE AND TREES / Akram Aylisli; translated by Katherine E. Young.
Caroline Moorehead. Walk the line: Spies, fugitives and partisans in the wartime Vatican. Review of: THE GHOSTS OF ROME / Joseph O’Connor.
Estelle Shirbon. Past saving: A once-banned novel of Ethiopia’s war against Eritrean independence. Review of: OROMAY / Baalu Girma; translated by David DeGusta and Mesfin Felleke Yirgu.
In Brief Review of: STEERING THE CRAFT / Ursula K. Le Guin.
In Brief Review of: LUCY / Paul Pickering. ("An absurdist – and revisionist – narrative about the morality of war")
In Brief Review of: TALES OF LONDON TOWN / Joan Aiken.
Arts
Emma Greensmith. Hybrid histories: Composite creatures in myth, art and literature. Review of: CENTAURS AND SNAKE-KINGS: Hybrids and the Greek imagination / Jeremy McInerney.
Diana Darke. Spiritual material: The influence of Islamic art on the Arts and Crafts pioneer. Review of: TULIPS AND PEACOCKS: William Morris and art from the Islamic world / Rowan Bain, editor & the exhibition WILLIAM MORRIS AND ART FROM THE ISLAMIC WORLD, William Morris Museum, London, until March 9.
Larry Wolff. Gold standard: A new production of Verdi’s grand opera in New York. Review of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida, Metropolitan Opera, New York, until May 9.
In Brief Review of: HOW WOMEN MADE MUSIC: A revolutionary history from NPR Music / Alison Fensterstock, editor.
Science & Technology
Barbara J. King. How to live with a calculating cat: The territorial and psychological imperatives of felines. Review of: THE INTERPRETATION OF CATS: And their owners / Claude Béata; translated by David Watson.
Religion
Clare Carlisle. Philosophy for the real world: Religious, scientific and academic orthodoxies ‘are not the truth. Review of: HOW TO THINK IMPOSSIBLY: About souls, UFOs, time, belief, and everything else / Jeffrey J. Kripal.
History, Politics, & Society
Helen King. Risky business: Pregnancy, birth and death in Roman times. Review of: BIRTHING ROMANS: Childbearing and its risks in imperial Rome / Anna Bonnell Freidin.
Tim Blanning. Frederick’s masterpiece: A battle that saved Prussia. Review of: GREAT BATTLES: LEUTHEN / T.G. Otte.
Patricia Craig. Exit Holy Catholic Ireland: The building of ‘a prosperous and forward-looking nation.’ Review of: THE REVELATION OF IRELAND 1995–2020 / Diarmaid Ferriter.
Andrew Preston. Westy’s war: A polemical account of American errors in Vietnam. Review of: THE VIETNAM WAR: A military history / Geoffrey Wawro.
Sarah Knott. Women and the state: Mothering as a political and public act. Review of: MOTHER STATE: A political history of motherhood / Helen Charman.
Michael Reid. Why the East is red: The global balance sheet of Marxism-Leninism. Review of: TO OVERTHROW THE WORLD: The rise and fall and rise of Communism / Sean McMeekin -- GLOBAL MARXISM: Decolonisation and revolutionary politics / Simin Fadaee.
Nat Segnit. Writing in triplicate: More borrowings from the work of social scientists. Review of: REVENGE OF THE TIPPING POINT: Overstories, superspreaders and the rise of social engineering / Malcolm Gladwell.
In Brief Review of: THE BOOKSHOP, THE DRAPER, THE CANDLESTICK MAKER: A history of the high street / Annie Gray.
In Brief Review of: HOW THE RAILWAYS WILL FIX THE FUTURE / Gareth Dennis.
In Brief Review of: THE BREW DEAL: How beer helped battle the Great Depression / Jason E. Taylor.
Featured
Jonathan Rée. What about the workers?: A new English translation of Marx’s magnum opus. Review of: CAPITAL: Critique of political economy: Volume 1 / Karl Marx; Translated by Paul Reitter, edited by Paul North and Paul Reitter.
Tim Parks. Hornets: Censorship and the 'new consensus.' (Essay)
Adam Roberts. Missions to Mars: Does God have a place in space? Review of: RELIGION AND OUTER SPACE / Eric Michael Mazur and Sarah McFarland Taylor, editors.
Sophie Oliver. ‘Hiccoughs’ and ‘Angelica’: ‘Hiccoughs’ and ‘Angelica’: Two newly discovered poems by Virginia Woolf. (Essay)
Mary Beard (from the TLS landing page). Inside the White House.
Literature
Peter McDonald. No Homer for this war: The death of classicism in the trenches. Review of: GREEK AND ROMAN ANTIQUITY IN FIRST WORLD WAR POETRY: Making connections / Elizabeth Vandiver, Lorna Hardwick, and Stephen Harrison -- RUPERT BROOKE, CHARLES SORLEY, ISAAC ROSENBERG, AND WILFRED OWEN: Classical connections / Lorna Hardwick, Stephen Harrison and Elizabeth Vandiver.
Kathryn Gray. The Great Inevitable: Two prizewinning poets take on death. Review of: FIERCE ELEGY / Peter Gizzi -- SKELETONS / Deborah Landau.
Miranda France. Middle class to militant: The making of a revolutionary poet. Review of: EL CUMPLEAÑOS DE JUAN ÁNGEL/ JUAN ÁNGEL’S BIRTHDAY / Mario Benedetti; translated by Adam Feinstein.
Stephen Henighan. Lost in translation: A poet who changed the way modern Spanish is written. Review of: REDISCOVERING RUBÉN DARÍO THROUGH TRANSLATION / Carlos F. Grigsby.
Thomas de Waal. Bringing it all back home: An Azerbaijani author of fierce political courage and local loyalty. Review of: PEOPLE AND TREES / Akram Aylisli; translated by Katherine E. Young.
Caroline Moorehead. Walk the line: Spies, fugitives and partisans in the wartime Vatican. Review of: THE GHOSTS OF ROME / Joseph O’Connor.
Estelle Shirbon. Past saving: A once-banned novel of Ethiopia’s war against Eritrean independence. Review of: OROMAY / Baalu Girma; translated by David DeGusta and Mesfin Felleke Yirgu.
In Brief Review of: STEERING THE CRAFT / Ursula K. Le Guin.
In Brief Review of: LUCY / Paul Pickering. ("An absurdist – and revisionist – narrative about the morality of war")
In Brief Review of: TALES OF LONDON TOWN / Joan Aiken.
Arts
Emma Greensmith. Hybrid histories: Composite creatures in myth, art and literature. Review of: CENTAURS AND SNAKE-KINGS: Hybrids and the Greek imagination / Jeremy McInerney.
Diana Darke. Spiritual material: The influence of Islamic art on the Arts and Crafts pioneer. Review of: TULIPS AND PEACOCKS: William Morris and art from the Islamic world / Rowan Bain, editor & the exhibition WILLIAM MORRIS AND ART FROM THE ISLAMIC WORLD, William Morris Museum, London, until March 9.
Larry Wolff. Gold standard: A new production of Verdi’s grand opera in New York. Review of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida, Metropolitan Opera, New York, until May 9.
In Brief Review of: HOW WOMEN MADE MUSIC: A revolutionary history from NPR Music / Alison Fensterstock, editor.
Science & Technology
Barbara J. King. How to live with a calculating cat: The territorial and psychological imperatives of felines. Review of: THE INTERPRETATION OF CATS: And their owners / Claude Béata; translated by David Watson.
Religion
Clare Carlisle. Philosophy for the real world: Religious, scientific and academic orthodoxies ‘are not the truth. Review of: HOW TO THINK IMPOSSIBLY: About souls, UFOs, time, belief, and everything else / Jeffrey J. Kripal.
History, Politics, & Society
Helen King. Risky business: Pregnancy, birth and death in Roman times. Review of: BIRTHING ROMANS: Childbearing and its risks in imperial Rome / Anna Bonnell Freidin.
Tim Blanning. Frederick’s masterpiece: A battle that saved Prussia. Review of: GREAT BATTLES: LEUTHEN / T.G. Otte.
Patricia Craig. Exit Holy Catholic Ireland: The building of ‘a prosperous and forward-looking nation.’ Review of: THE REVELATION OF IRELAND 1995–2020 / Diarmaid Ferriter.
Andrew Preston. Westy’s war: A polemical account of American errors in Vietnam. Review of: THE VIETNAM WAR: A military history / Geoffrey Wawro.
Sarah Knott. Women and the state: Mothering as a political and public act. Review of: MOTHER STATE: A political history of motherhood / Helen Charman.
Michael Reid. Why the East is red: The global balance sheet of Marxism-Leninism. Review of: TO OVERTHROW THE WORLD: The rise and fall and rise of Communism / Sean McMeekin -- GLOBAL MARXISM: Decolonisation and revolutionary politics / Simin Fadaee.
Nat Segnit. Writing in triplicate: More borrowings from the work of social scientists. Review of: REVENGE OF THE TIPPING POINT: Overstories, superspreaders and the rise of social engineering / Malcolm Gladwell.
In Brief Review of: THE BOOKSHOP, THE DRAPER, THE CANDLESTICK MAKER: A history of the high street / Annie Gray.
In Brief Review of: HOW THE RAILWAYS WILL FIX THE FUTURE / Gareth Dennis.
In Brief Review of: THE BREW DEAL: How beer helped battle the Great Depression / Jason E. Taylor.
19featherbear
Washington Monthly January 2025 books:
Allen G. Guelzo. 01/05/2025: In Sherman’s Wake: The hidden story of enslaved Georgians who, however briefly, seized freedom during the Union general’s famous march to the sea. Review of: Somewhere Toward Freedom: Sherman's March and the Story of America's Largest Emancipation / Bennett Parten.
Anita Jain. 01/05/2025: Gray Expectations: Caring for my aging father taught me about the massive holes in America’s safety net for the elderly. Review of: Golden Years: How Americans Invented and Reinvented Old Age / James Chappel.
James Traub. 01/05/2025: Party Animal: Martin Van Buren, father of the Democrats, knew that the Founders were wrong about partisan politics. Review of: Martin Van Buren: America’s First Politician / James M. Bradley.
Jean Parvin Bordewich. 01/05/2025: An Iron Hand Loses Its Grip: Mitch McConnell wielded power deftly for decades, only to see his party and the institution he loved fracture around him. Review of: The Price of Power: How Mitch McConnell Mastered the Senate, Changed America, and Lost His Party / Michael Tackett.
Allen G. Guelzo. 01/05/2025: In Sherman’s Wake: The hidden story of enslaved Georgians who, however briefly, seized freedom during the Union general’s famous march to the sea. Review of: Somewhere Toward Freedom: Sherman's March and the Story of America's Largest Emancipation / Bennett Parten.
Anita Jain. 01/05/2025: Gray Expectations: Caring for my aging father taught me about the massive holes in America’s safety net for the elderly. Review of: Golden Years: How Americans Invented and Reinvented Old Age / James Chappel.
James Traub. 01/05/2025: Party Animal: Martin Van Buren, father of the Democrats, knew that the Founders were wrong about partisan politics. Review of: Martin Van Buren: America’s First Politician / James M. Bradley.
Jean Parvin Bordewich. 01/05/2025: An Iron Hand Loses Its Grip: Mitch McConnell wielded power deftly for decades, only to see his party and the institution he loved fracture around him. Review of: The Price of Power: How Mitch McConnell Mastered the Senate, Changed America, and Lost His Party / Michael Tackett.
20featherbear
Public Books January 2025:
Maggie McGowan. 01/15/2025: Our Last Supper. Review of: The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers’ Guild / Mathias Énard, trans. Frank Wynne.
H.J. Tam. 01/16/2025: B-Sides: Anthony Veasna So’s “Afterparties.” Anchor link: Afterparties: Stories / Anthony Veasna So (2021, Ecco Press)
Charlotte Rogers. 01/21/2025: When Language Is Lost, What Can Be Gained? Review of: Austral / Carlos Fonseca, translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell -- Glad to the Brink of Fear: A Portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson / James Marcus.
Eleanor Courtemanche. 01/30/2025: Beyond the Doom Loop of High Theory. Review of: On Paradox: The Claims of Theory / Elizabeth S. Anker.
Sari Edelstein. 01/29/2025: B-Sides: Gloria Steinem’s “The Beach Book.” Retro review of The Beach Book / Gloria Steinem.
Maggie McGowan. 01/15/2025: Our Last Supper. Review of: The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers’ Guild / Mathias Énard, trans. Frank Wynne.
H.J. Tam. 01/16/2025: B-Sides: Anthony Veasna So’s “Afterparties.” Anchor link: Afterparties: Stories / Anthony Veasna So (2021, Ecco Press)
Charlotte Rogers. 01/21/2025: When Language Is Lost, What Can Be Gained? Review of: Austral / Carlos Fonseca, translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell -- Glad to the Brink of Fear: A Portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson / James Marcus.
Eleanor Courtemanche. 01/30/2025: Beyond the Doom Loop of High Theory. Review of: On Paradox: The Claims of Theory / Elizabeth S. Anker.
Sari Edelstein. 01/29/2025: B-Sides: Gloria Steinem’s “The Beach Book.” Retro review of The Beach Book / Gloria Steinem.
21featherbear
The Millions January 2025
Ed Simon. 01/08/2025: Rubies Shored Against the Ruin. Review of: Context Collapse: A Poem Containing a History of Poetry / Ryan Ruby.
Marek Makowski. 01/30/2025: Esther Kinsky’s Lyrical Elegy for the Movies. Review of:Seeing Further / Esther Kinsky; translator Caroline Schmidt.
Ed Simon. 01/08/2025: Rubies Shored Against the Ruin. Review of: Context Collapse: A Poem Containing a History of Poetry / Ryan Ruby.
Marek Makowski. 01/30/2025: Esther Kinsky’s Lyrical Elegy for the Movies. Review of:Seeing Further / Esther Kinsky; translator Caroline Schmidt.
22featherbear
Greg Barnhisel. TNR, 01/16/2025: When America’s Top Spies Were Academics and Librarians. Review of: Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II / Elyse Graham.
23featherbear
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, 1934-2024*
Richard Sandomir. NYT, 01/17/2025: Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, 90, Dies; Her Internment Inspired a Memoir. "In “Farewell to Manzanar,” she wrote about the years she and her family were imprisoned in a camp for Japanese Americans. It became the basis for a TV movie."
"The book recounts the more than three years Ms. Houston and about 10,000 other Japanese Americans endured at the camp until the war ended. Given its location, at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, the weather could be fiercely hot or freezing cold. The area was prone to severe winds that kicked up billows of dust. She was often sick, at first from typhoid shots and then from food that spoiled because of improper refrigeration.
"Books provided by charitable groups became Jeanne’s salvation. Until a library was opened in a barracks, books piled up outside, where they provided a small mountain for children to climb on. But Jeanne became fascinated by what was inside their covers; she discovered the joys of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales, James Fenimore Cooper’s historical novels and Nancy Drew mysteries.
“Books became my major form of recreation, my channel to worlds outside the confined and monotonous routine of camp life,” Ms. Houston wrote in an essay for the reference work Contemporary Authors in 1992."
Her LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/houstonjeannewakatsu
*She died Dec. 21 2024, Santa Cruz California.
Richard Sandomir. NYT, 01/17/2025: Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, 90, Dies; Her Internment Inspired a Memoir. "In “Farewell to Manzanar,” she wrote about the years she and her family were imprisoned in a camp for Japanese Americans. It became the basis for a TV movie."
"The book recounts the more than three years Ms. Houston and about 10,000 other Japanese Americans endured at the camp until the war ended. Given its location, at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, the weather could be fiercely hot or freezing cold. The area was prone to severe winds that kicked up billows of dust. She was often sick, at first from typhoid shots and then from food that spoiled because of improper refrigeration.
"Books provided by charitable groups became Jeanne’s salvation. Until a library was opened in a barracks, books piled up outside, where they provided a small mountain for children to climb on. But Jeanne became fascinated by what was inside their covers; she discovered the joys of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales, James Fenimore Cooper’s historical novels and Nancy Drew mysteries.
“Books became my major form of recreation, my channel to worlds outside the confined and monotonous routine of camp life,” Ms. Houston wrote in an essay for the reference work Contemporary Authors in 1992."
Her LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/houstonjeannewakatsu
*She died Dec. 21 2024, Santa Cruz California.
24featherbear
Andrew Van Dam. WaPo, 01/17/2025: Who are the top readers for 2024? And where did they get their books? "And — bonus data — which books were they least likely to finish?" (Temporarily unlocked)
25featherbear
Hannah H. Kim. Aeon, 01/20/2025: The truth about fiction. "What distinguishes fiction from nonfiction? The answer to this perennial question relies on how we understand reality itself."
26featherbear
NYT books Jan 2025:
Victoria Kim. 01/21/2025: A Nobel Laureate Who Mines Her Country’s Nightmares, and Her Own. "Han Kang’s latest novel, about a South Korean massacre, delves into why atrocities must be remembered. “It’s pain and it is blood, but it’s the current of life,” she said." Regarding We Do Not Part: a novel / Kang Han, translators e yaewon & Paige Aniyah Morris.
Katrina Miller. 01/19/2025: Want to Get Sucked Into a Black Hole? Try This Book. Review of: A CRACK IN EVERYTHING: How Black Holes Came In From the Cold and Took Cosmic Centre Stage / Marcus Chown.
Alexandra Alter. 01/30/2025: Rebecca Yarros’s ‘Onyx Storm’ Is the Fastest-Selling Adult Novel in 20 Years. "The book, the third in a series, has sold 2.7 million copies in its first week, and provided yet another example of the romantasy genre’s staying power." LT anchor: Onyx Storm / Rebecca Yaros.
Dan Piepenbring. 01/29/2025: Talk Is Cheap. It Can Make You Rich. Review of: TALK: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves / by Alison Wood Brooks.
Victoria Kim. 01/21/2025: A Nobel Laureate Who Mines Her Country’s Nightmares, and Her Own. "Han Kang’s latest novel, about a South Korean massacre, delves into why atrocities must be remembered. “It’s pain and it is blood, but it’s the current of life,” she said." Regarding We Do Not Part: a novel / Kang Han, translators e yaewon & Paige Aniyah Morris.
Katrina Miller. 01/19/2025: Want to Get Sucked Into a Black Hole? Try This Book. Review of: A CRACK IN EVERYTHING: How Black Holes Came In From the Cold and Took Cosmic Centre Stage / Marcus Chown.
Alexandra Alter. 01/30/2025: Rebecca Yarros’s ‘Onyx Storm’ Is the Fastest-Selling Adult Novel in 20 Years. "The book, the third in a series, has sold 2.7 million copies in its first week, and provided yet another example of the romantasy genre’s staying power." LT anchor: Onyx Storm / Rebecca Yaros.
Dan Piepenbring. 01/29/2025: Talk Is Cheap. It Can Make You Rich. Review of: TALK: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves / by Alison Wood Brooks.
27featherbear
Jules Feiffer, 1929-2025
Ali Bahrampour. WaPo, 01/21/2025: Jules Feiffer, cartoonist of acerbic wit and satire, dies at 95. "The Pulitzer-winning writer found his voice in comics that provided a sardonic and sarcastic takedown of authority and conventional wisdom. He was also a playwright and screenwriter." Temporarily unlocked.
Andy Webster. NYT, 01/21/2025: Jules Feiffer, Acerbic Cartoonist, Writer and Much Else, Dies at 95. "In his long-running Village Voice comic strip and in his many plays and screenplays, he took delight in skewering politics, relationships and human nature." Temporarily unlocked.
Ali Bahrampour. WaPo, 01/21/2025: Jules Feiffer, cartoonist of acerbic wit and satire, dies at 95. "The Pulitzer-winning writer found his voice in comics that provided a sardonic and sarcastic takedown of authority and conventional wisdom. He was also a playwright and screenwriter." Temporarily unlocked.
Andy Webster. NYT, 01/21/2025: Jules Feiffer, Acerbic Cartoonist, Writer and Much Else, Dies at 95. "In his long-running Village Voice comic strip and in his many plays and screenplays, he took delight in skewering politics, relationships and human nature." Temporarily unlocked.
28featherbear
TLS January 24, 2025|No. 6356
Featured
Stephen Romer. Something to be said: Eliot’s prose writings in one chronological sweep. Review of: THE COLLECTED PROSE: Volumes 1–4 / T.S. Eliot; edited by Archie Burnett (Faber).
Carol Tavris. Bridging the divide: Why we should listen to those with opposing views. Review of: FALSE: How mistrust, disinformation, and motivated reasoning make us believe things that aren’t true / Joe Pierre (Oxford University Press) -- BRIDGING OUR POLITICAL DIVIDE: How liberals and conservatives can understand each other and find common ground / Kenneth Barish (Routledge).
Ian Sansom. You can’t stay at the Y-M-C-A: The loss of civic space. (Essay)
Mike Jakeman. Out of our league: How foreign money has transformed English football. Review of: WHO OWNS FOOTBALL?: The changing face of club ownership / Nick Miller (Bloomsbury) -- STATES OF PLAY: How sportswashing took over football / Miguel Delaney.
Mary Beard (from the landing page). Pompeii: The old discoveries can be the best. (Blog post)
Literature & Language
Ritchie Robertson. None so queer as volk: There was much more to the Grimms than their famous Tales. Review of: THE BROTHERS GRIMM: A biography / Ann Schmiesing.
Norma Clarke. Magical thinking: ‘Timeless’ tales collected for an ecumenical purpose. Review of: THE TREASURY OF FOLKLORE: Waterlands, wooded worlds and starry skies / Dee Dee Chainey and Willow Winsham.
Rachel Hadas. Bowlful of dead bees: A poet’s forlorn attempt to define poetry in prose. Review of: HOW TO THINK LIKE A POET: The poets that made our world and why we need them / Dai George.
Bryan Karetnyk. Terrible beauty: The late stories of an author who saw ‘slaughter as a form of art.’ Review of: VOICES OF THE FALLEN HEROES: And other stories / Yukio Mishima; translated by Jeffrey Angles, Sam Bett et al.
Harrison Stetler. Deserving targets: A novel that captures French public debate. Review of: LES DERNIERS JOURS DU PARTI SOCIALISTE / Aurélien Bellanger.
Russell Williams. All that parades: The French B-movie universe captured with elegance and wit. Review of: BRISTOL / Jean Echenoz.
Uilleam Blacker. Rockets and children: Two exemplars of the renaissance in Ukrainian poetry. Review of: STILL CITY / Oksana Maksymchuk -- WE WERE HERE / Artur Dron’; translated by Yuliya Musakovska (Jantar).
In Brief Review of: EL VIGILANTE DE SALA/ THE MUSEUM GUARD / J. M. Coetzee; translated by Mariana Dimópulos.
In Brief Review of: THE MORTAL AND IMMORTAL LIFE OF THE GIRL FROM MILAN / Domenico Starnone; translated by Oonagh Stransky.
In Brief Review of: SYLVIA PLATH'S TOMATO SOUP CAKE: A compendium of classic authors’ favourite recipes. (Faber)
In Brief Review of: OCCUPIED WORDS: What the Holocaust did to Yiddish / Hannah Pollin-Galay.
Arts
James Hall. Pictures with a big story: Renaissance masters in a messy but enthralling exhibition. Review of the exhibitions MICHELANGELO, LEONARDO, RAPHAEL: Florence, c.1504, Royal Academy of Arts, until February 16 -- DRAWING THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE, King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, until March 9.
Lillian Crawford. Credited at last: A screenwriter’s career from fame to obscurity. Review of: MARY C. MCCALL JR: The rise and fall of Hollywood’s most powerful screenwriter / J. E. Smyth (Columbia University Press).
Nancy Campbell. Down in Dungeness: The risk-taking artist’s retreat to a bleak Kent landscape. Review of: DEREK JARMAN’S VISIONARY ARTS: Exploring land and depth / Michael Charlesworth (Bloomsbury Academic).
Amber Massie-Blomfield. Policy and parentheses: How to make a drama out of a conference. Review of Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson's play about the making of the Kyoto Protocol of 1997, Kyoto, Soho Place, until May 3.
In Brief Review of: BEDSIT LAND: The strange worlds of Soft Cell / Patrick Clarke.
Science & Technology
Henry Sanderson. The long reign of King Coal: 80 per cent of the world’s energy still comes from fossil fuels. Review of: MORE AND MORE AND MORE: An all-consuming history of energy / Jean-Baptiste Fressoz -- MATERIAL WORLD: A substantial story of our past and future / Ed Conway.
In Brief Review of: EINSTEIN IN OXFORD / Andrew Robinson.
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
Josephine Crawley-Quinn. Obelisks and triumphal arches: Italy’s African empire. Review of: RESTORATIONS OF EMPIRE IN AFRICA: Ancient Rome and modern Italy’s African colonies / Samuel Agbamu (Oxford University Press).
David Abulafia. Knights’ moves: The limits of Ottoman power. Review of: THE GREAT SIEGE OF MALTA / Marcus Ball (Allen Lane).
Blair Worden. Long divisions: A friendship broken by war. Review of: FRIENDS IN YOUTH: Choosing sides in the English Civil War / Minoo Dinshaw (Allen Lane).
Martyn Rady. Neither West nor East: The rise and fall of Central European dissidence. Review of: THE MAKING OF DISSIDENTS: Hungary’s democratic opposition and its Western friends, 1973–1998 / Victoria Harms (University of Pittsburgh Press).
Boris Dralyuk. ‘Everybody can say what they think’: The freedom-loving city of jokers and gangsters in peace and war. Review of: UNDEFEATABLE: Odesa in love and war / Julian Evans.
Daniel Susskind. Anarchy in the UK: People are good, institutions are bad, says an intellectual magpie. Review of: THE ULTIMATE HIDDEN TRUTH OF THE WORLD / David Graeber.
Alex Dean. Starmer’s magic lamp: Organizational flair – and a little luck – brought Labour victory. Review of: TAKEN AS RED: How Labour won big and the Tories crashed the party / Anushka Asthana (HarperNorth) -- LANDSLIDE: The inside story of the 2024 Election / Tim Ross and Rachel Wearmouth (Biteback).
In Brief Review of: ON THE BACK OF AN ENVELOPE: A life in writing / Peter Hennessy with Polly Coupar-Hennessy (Haus).
Featured
Stephen Romer. Something to be said: Eliot’s prose writings in one chronological sweep. Review of: THE COLLECTED PROSE: Volumes 1–4 / T.S. Eliot; edited by Archie Burnett (Faber).
Carol Tavris. Bridging the divide: Why we should listen to those with opposing views. Review of: FALSE: How mistrust, disinformation, and motivated reasoning make us believe things that aren’t true / Joe Pierre (Oxford University Press) -- BRIDGING OUR POLITICAL DIVIDE: How liberals and conservatives can understand each other and find common ground / Kenneth Barish (Routledge).
Ian Sansom. You can’t stay at the Y-M-C-A: The loss of civic space. (Essay)
Mike Jakeman. Out of our league: How foreign money has transformed English football. Review of: WHO OWNS FOOTBALL?: The changing face of club ownership / Nick Miller (Bloomsbury) -- STATES OF PLAY: How sportswashing took over football / Miguel Delaney.
Mary Beard (from the landing page). Pompeii: The old discoveries can be the best. (Blog post)
Literature & Language
Ritchie Robertson. None so queer as volk: There was much more to the Grimms than their famous Tales. Review of: THE BROTHERS GRIMM: A biography / Ann Schmiesing.
Norma Clarke. Magical thinking: ‘Timeless’ tales collected for an ecumenical purpose. Review of: THE TREASURY OF FOLKLORE: Waterlands, wooded worlds and starry skies / Dee Dee Chainey and Willow Winsham.
Rachel Hadas. Bowlful of dead bees: A poet’s forlorn attempt to define poetry in prose. Review of: HOW TO THINK LIKE A POET: The poets that made our world and why we need them / Dai George.
Bryan Karetnyk. Terrible beauty: The late stories of an author who saw ‘slaughter as a form of art.’ Review of: VOICES OF THE FALLEN HEROES: And other stories / Yukio Mishima; translated by Jeffrey Angles, Sam Bett et al.
Harrison Stetler. Deserving targets: A novel that captures French public debate. Review of: LES DERNIERS JOURS DU PARTI SOCIALISTE / Aurélien Bellanger.
Russell Williams. All that parades: The French B-movie universe captured with elegance and wit. Review of: BRISTOL / Jean Echenoz.
Uilleam Blacker. Rockets and children: Two exemplars of the renaissance in Ukrainian poetry. Review of: STILL CITY / Oksana Maksymchuk -- WE WERE HERE / Artur Dron’; translated by Yuliya Musakovska (Jantar).
In Brief Review of: EL VIGILANTE DE SALA/ THE MUSEUM GUARD / J. M. Coetzee; translated by Mariana Dimópulos.
In Brief Review of: THE MORTAL AND IMMORTAL LIFE OF THE GIRL FROM MILAN / Domenico Starnone; translated by Oonagh Stransky.
In Brief Review of: SYLVIA PLATH'S TOMATO SOUP CAKE: A compendium of classic authors’ favourite recipes. (Faber)
In Brief Review of: OCCUPIED WORDS: What the Holocaust did to Yiddish / Hannah Pollin-Galay.
Arts
James Hall. Pictures with a big story: Renaissance masters in a messy but enthralling exhibition. Review of the exhibitions MICHELANGELO, LEONARDO, RAPHAEL: Florence, c.1504, Royal Academy of Arts, until February 16 -- DRAWING THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE, King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, until March 9.
Lillian Crawford. Credited at last: A screenwriter’s career from fame to obscurity. Review of: MARY C. MCCALL JR: The rise and fall of Hollywood’s most powerful screenwriter / J. E. Smyth (Columbia University Press).
Nancy Campbell. Down in Dungeness: The risk-taking artist’s retreat to a bleak Kent landscape. Review of: DEREK JARMAN’S VISIONARY ARTS: Exploring land and depth / Michael Charlesworth (Bloomsbury Academic).
Amber Massie-Blomfield. Policy and parentheses: How to make a drama out of a conference. Review of Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson's play about the making of the Kyoto Protocol of 1997, Kyoto, Soho Place, until May 3.
In Brief Review of: BEDSIT LAND: The strange worlds of Soft Cell / Patrick Clarke.
Science & Technology
Henry Sanderson. The long reign of King Coal: 80 per cent of the world’s energy still comes from fossil fuels. Review of: MORE AND MORE AND MORE: An all-consuming history of energy / Jean-Baptiste Fressoz -- MATERIAL WORLD: A substantial story of our past and future / Ed Conway.
In Brief Review of: EINSTEIN IN OXFORD / Andrew Robinson.
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
Josephine Crawley-Quinn. Obelisks and triumphal arches: Italy’s African empire. Review of: RESTORATIONS OF EMPIRE IN AFRICA: Ancient Rome and modern Italy’s African colonies / Samuel Agbamu (Oxford University Press).
David Abulafia. Knights’ moves: The limits of Ottoman power. Review of: THE GREAT SIEGE OF MALTA / Marcus Ball (Allen Lane).
Blair Worden. Long divisions: A friendship broken by war. Review of: FRIENDS IN YOUTH: Choosing sides in the English Civil War / Minoo Dinshaw (Allen Lane).
Martyn Rady. Neither West nor East: The rise and fall of Central European dissidence. Review of: THE MAKING OF DISSIDENTS: Hungary’s democratic opposition and its Western friends, 1973–1998 / Victoria Harms (University of Pittsburgh Press).
Boris Dralyuk. ‘Everybody can say what they think’: The freedom-loving city of jokers and gangsters in peace and war. Review of: UNDEFEATABLE: Odesa in love and war / Julian Evans.
Daniel Susskind. Anarchy in the UK: People are good, institutions are bad, says an intellectual magpie. Review of: THE ULTIMATE HIDDEN TRUTH OF THE WORLD / David Graeber.
Alex Dean. Starmer’s magic lamp: Organizational flair – and a little luck – brought Labour victory. Review of: TAKEN AS RED: How Labour won big and the Tories crashed the party / Anushka Asthana (HarperNorth) -- LANDSLIDE: The inside story of the 2024 Election / Tim Ross and Rachel Wearmouth (Biteback).
In Brief Review of: ON THE BACK OF AN ENVELOPE: A life in writing / Peter Hennessy with Polly Coupar-Hennessy (Haus).
29featherbear
Martin Edwards. crimereads.com, 01/22/2025: Rediscovering the Golden Age Detective Novels of Dostoevsky Translator David Magarshack.
30featherbear
NYRB Online Feb 13 2025:
Literature
Deborah Eisenberg. Urgent Messages from Eternity. Review of Franz Kafka, an exhibition at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, May 30–October 27, 2024, and the Morgan Library and Museum, New York City, November 22, 2024–April 13, 2025; catalog of the exhibition edited by Ritchie Robertson.
Giles Harvey. ‘Bonds and Gestures.’ Review of: Long Island / Colm Tóibín.
Nicole Flattery. The House of Self-Worth. Review of: Banal Nightmare / Halle Butler.
Arts
Blair McClendon. It’s Technicolor. Review of: Edges of Ailey, an exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, September 25, 2024–February 9, 2025; catalog of the exhibition edited by Adrienne Edwards.
Andrew Butterfield. A Half-Century of Artistic Genius. Review of Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300–1350, an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, October 13, 2024–January 26, 2025, and the National Gallery, London, March 8–June 22, 2025; catalog of the exhibition edited by Joanna Cannon with Caroline Campbell and Stephan Wolohojian. (See also: Rachel Eisendrath, Yale Review, 01/15/2025: A Miracle at the Met, a review of the same exhibition)
Jé Wilson. Real Misfits in Real Gardens. Review of La Chimera, a film directed by Alice Rohrwacher.
Science & Philosophy
Jessica Riskin. Turtles All the Way Up. Review of: Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will / Robert M. Sapolsky.
Religion
Robyn Creswell. Bewildered Rhapsodies. Review of: The Qur’an: A Verse Translation / M.A.R. Habib and Bruce B. Lawrence -- The Devotional Qur’an: Beloved Surahs and Verses / selected and translated by Shawkat M. Toorawa.
History, Politics, Society, & Economics
Daniel J. Kevles. Farmer George. Review of: Washington at the Plow: The Founding Farmer and the Question of Slavery / Bruce A. Ragsdale.
Gary Saul Morson. With Liberals Like These. Review of: Russian Liberalism / Paul Robinson.
Robert O. Paxton. De Gaulle’s Gamble. Review of: The War Memoirs of Charles de Gaulle (no info on translator).
Caitlin Zaloom. Too Close for Comfort. Review of: The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism / Clara E. Mattei -- Thinking Like an Economist: How Efficiency Replaced Equality in US Public Policy / Elizabeth Popp Berman -- Economics in America: An Immigrant Economist Explores the Land of Inequality / Angus Deaton.
Aryeh Neier & Amrit Singh. Guatemala: Democracy Imperiled. (Article: "Bernardo Arévalo’s inauguration last year as president of Guatemala symbolized the revival of democracy in a notoriously corrupt country. A concerted effort by obstructionist elites now threatens to oust him on specious grounds—and bring repression back.")
Literature
Deborah Eisenberg. Urgent Messages from Eternity. Review of Franz Kafka, an exhibition at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, May 30–October 27, 2024, and the Morgan Library and Museum, New York City, November 22, 2024–April 13, 2025; catalog of the exhibition edited by Ritchie Robertson.
Giles Harvey. ‘Bonds and Gestures.’ Review of: Long Island / Colm Tóibín.
Nicole Flattery. The House of Self-Worth. Review of: Banal Nightmare / Halle Butler.
Arts
Blair McClendon. It’s Technicolor. Review of: Edges of Ailey, an exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, September 25, 2024–February 9, 2025; catalog of the exhibition edited by Adrienne Edwards.
Andrew Butterfield. A Half-Century of Artistic Genius. Review of Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300–1350, an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, October 13, 2024–January 26, 2025, and the National Gallery, London, March 8–June 22, 2025; catalog of the exhibition edited by Joanna Cannon with Caroline Campbell and Stephan Wolohojian. (See also: Rachel Eisendrath, Yale Review, 01/15/2025: A Miracle at the Met, a review of the same exhibition)
Jé Wilson. Real Misfits in Real Gardens. Review of La Chimera, a film directed by Alice Rohrwacher.
Science & Philosophy
Jessica Riskin. Turtles All the Way Up. Review of: Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will / Robert M. Sapolsky.
Religion
Robyn Creswell. Bewildered Rhapsodies. Review of: The Qur’an: A Verse Translation / M.A.R. Habib and Bruce B. Lawrence -- The Devotional Qur’an: Beloved Surahs and Verses / selected and translated by Shawkat M. Toorawa.
History, Politics, Society, & Economics
Daniel J. Kevles. Farmer George. Review of: Washington at the Plow: The Founding Farmer and the Question of Slavery / Bruce A. Ragsdale.
Gary Saul Morson. With Liberals Like These. Review of: Russian Liberalism / Paul Robinson.
Robert O. Paxton. De Gaulle’s Gamble. Review of: The War Memoirs of Charles de Gaulle (no info on translator).
Caitlin Zaloom. Too Close for Comfort. Review of: The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism / Clara E. Mattei -- Thinking Like an Economist: How Efficiency Replaced Equality in US Public Policy / Elizabeth Popp Berman -- Economics in America: An Immigrant Economist Explores the Land of Inequality / Angus Deaton.
Aryeh Neier & Amrit Singh. Guatemala: Democracy Imperiled. (Article: "Bernardo Arévalo’s inauguration last year as president of Guatemala symbolized the revival of democracy in a notoriously corrupt country. A concerted effort by obstructionist elites now threatens to oust him on specious grounds—and bring repression back.")
31featherbear
William Leuchtenberg, 1922-2025
Sewell Chan. NYT, 01/29/2025: William E. Leuchtenburg, Scholar of F.D.R. and the Presidency, Dies at 102. "His writings, which stretched across eight decades, helped Americans understand a president who transformed the office and shaped the postwar years."
"The work generally regarded as his masterpiece is “Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932-1940,” published in 1963, which was awarded the Bancroft Prize by Columbia University and the Francis Parkman Prize by the Society of American Historians.
"His other major books include “The Perils of Prosperity, 1914-1932” (1958), which traces the United States’ transformation from an agrarian, moralistic, isolationist nation into an industrial, liberal and engaged power involved in foreign affairs in spite of itself; and “The Supreme Court Reborn: The Constitutional Revolution in the Age of Roosevelt” (1995), about the events surrounding the 1937 constitutional crisis set off by Roosevelt’s effort to expand the court to as many as 15 justices. That plan was ultimately defeated, but only after the court shifted its jurisprudence to be more open to legislation regulating business activities.
"Mr. Leuchtenburg taught for three decades at Columbia and then for two more at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was an emeritus professor at his death.
"He was never confined to the ivory tower. He was a New England field representative from 1945 to 1946 for a national council seeking to permanently ban racial discrimination in federal employment; served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1952; and joined other historians in marching to Montgomery, Ala., with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1965. He was active in Americans for Democratic Action, the liberal and anti-communist group that Eleanor Roosevelt helped found."
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/leuchtenburgwilliame
Sewell Chan. NYT, 01/29/2025: William E. Leuchtenburg, Scholar of F.D.R. and the Presidency, Dies at 102. "His writings, which stretched across eight decades, helped Americans understand a president who transformed the office and shaped the postwar years."
"The work generally regarded as his masterpiece is “Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932-1940,” published in 1963, which was awarded the Bancroft Prize by Columbia University and the Francis Parkman Prize by the Society of American Historians.
"His other major books include “The Perils of Prosperity, 1914-1932” (1958), which traces the United States’ transformation from an agrarian, moralistic, isolationist nation into an industrial, liberal and engaged power involved in foreign affairs in spite of itself; and “The Supreme Court Reborn: The Constitutional Revolution in the Age of Roosevelt” (1995), about the events surrounding the 1937 constitutional crisis set off by Roosevelt’s effort to expand the court to as many as 15 justices. That plan was ultimately defeated, but only after the court shifted its jurisprudence to be more open to legislation regulating business activities.
"Mr. Leuchtenburg taught for three decades at Columbia and then for two more at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was an emeritus professor at his death.
"He was never confined to the ivory tower. He was a New England field representative from 1945 to 1946 for a national council seeking to permanently ban racial discrimination in federal employment; served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1952; and joined other historians in marching to Montgomery, Ala., with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1965. He was active in Americans for Democratic Action, the liberal and anti-communist group that Eleanor Roosevelt helped found."
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/leuchtenburgwilliame
32featherbear
Matthew Schneier. Vulture via New York Mag online, 01/29/2025: Sarah McNally’s Book Club. "The owner of the McNally Jackson literary empire is reshaping the city’s reading life."
33featherbear
Dana Goldstein. NYT, 01/29/2025: American Children’s Reading Skills Reach New Lows. "results, from last year’s National Assessment of Educational Progress."
"The percentage of eighth graders who have “below basic” reading skills according to NAEP was the largest it has been in the exam’s three-decade history — 33 percent. The percentage of fourth graders at “below basic” was the largest in 20 years, at 40 percent.
"There was progress in math, but not enough to offset the losses of the pandemic.
"Recent reading declines have cut across lines of race and class. And while students at the top end of the academic distribution are performing similarly to students prepandemic, the drops remain pronounced for struggling students, despite a robust, bipartisan movement in recent years to improve foundational literacy skills.
"In fourth-grade reading, students who score below the basic level on NAEP cannot sequence events from a story or describe the effects of a character’s actions. In eighth grade, students who score below basic cannot determine the main idea of a text or identify differing sides of an argument.
"Experts have no clear explanation for the dismal reading results. While school closures and other stresses associated with the Covid-19 pandemic deepened learning loss, reading scores began declining several years before the virus emerged.
"In a new paper, Nat Malkus, an education researcher at the American Enterprise Institute, points out that declines in American children’s performance are echoed in tests of adults’ skills over the same time period."
"The percentage of eighth graders who have “below basic” reading skills according to NAEP was the largest it has been in the exam’s three-decade history — 33 percent. The percentage of fourth graders at “below basic” was the largest in 20 years, at 40 percent.
"There was progress in math, but not enough to offset the losses of the pandemic.
"Recent reading declines have cut across lines of race and class. And while students at the top end of the academic distribution are performing similarly to students prepandemic, the drops remain pronounced for struggling students, despite a robust, bipartisan movement in recent years to improve foundational literacy skills.
"In fourth-grade reading, students who score below the basic level on NAEP cannot sequence events from a story or describe the effects of a character’s actions. In eighth grade, students who score below basic cannot determine the main idea of a text or identify differing sides of an argument.
"Experts have no clear explanation for the dismal reading results. While school closures and other stresses associated with the Covid-19 pandemic deepened learning loss, reading scores began declining several years before the virus emerged.
"In a new paper, Nat Malkus, an education researcher at the American Enterprise Institute, points out that declines in American children’s performance are echoed in tests of adults’ skills over the same time period."
34featherbear
TLS January 31, 2025|No. 6357
Featured
Regina Rini. Justice and character: Lessons from the California fires. (Essay).
Toby Lichtig. Hit and myth: A new film on the early days of ‘the most fecund empty vessel who ever did live.’ Review of the James Mangold film A COMPLETE UNKNOWN (a biopic about the early career of Bob Dylan)
Peter Parker. ‘Sargent’s Mess’: Why the artist felt an affinity with a Jewish family grudgingly admitted to high society. Review of: FAMILY ROMANCE: John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers / Jean Strouse.
Mary Beard (from the TLS landing page). Kennedy Center, inside and out.
Islam Issa. ’Tis pity he’s a Moor: Shakespeare deliberately excised Muslims from his plays. Review of: SHAKESPEARE THROUGH ISLAMIC WORLDS / Ambereen Dadabhoy.
Literature
Rohdri Lewis. An illicit love: Modern criticism of Antony and Cleopatra. Review of: ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA: Shakespeare: The critical tradition / Marga Munkelt, editor (Arden Shakespeare).
Peter Holland. No isolated genius: Common phrases in the playwright’s works. Review of: SHAKESPEARE’S BORROWED FEATHERS: How early modern playwrights shaped the world’s greatest writer / Darren Freebury-Jones.
David Gallagher. His face tomorrow: The Oxford scholar who inspired Javier Marias’s fictional spy. Review of: SCHOLAR-SPY: The worlds of Professor Sir Peter Russell / Bruce Taylor (Splash Editions).
Rohan Maitzen. In praise of just okay: The riches of ‘a new Anne Tyler..’ Review of: THREE DAYS IN JUNE / Anne Tyler.
Houman Barekat. No direction home: A novel of postwar British , rooted in displacement. Review of: ANOTHER MAN IN THE STREET / Caryl Phillips.
Hal Jensen. Time to change the story: A mother and son seek to recast the narrative of their estrangement. Review of: MOTHERS AND SONS / Adam Haslett.
Rachel Hadas. The condemned man’s cell: Poems from Boethius’s farewell to life. Review of: THE POEMS FROM ON THE CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY / Boethius; translated out of the original Latin into diverse historical Englishings diligently collaged by Peter Glassgold.
Jaya Savige. A world in ultra-high definition: Selections from the work of a ‘stand-out’ Australian poet. Review of: THE JAGUAR: Selected poems / Sarah Holland-Batt.
Louis Klee. Beyond white time: An inclusive view of avant-garde Australian poetry. Review of: LITERARY HISTORY AND AVANT-GARDE POETICS IN THE ANTIPODES: Languages of invention / A. J. Carruthers.
Anna Aslanyan. Stoned on sunlight: A triumphant new translation of a Romanesco dialect poet. Review of: DAY LASTS FOREVER: Selected poems / Mario dell’Arco; translated by Marc Alan di Martino. (Romanesco was a dialect once in common use in Rome)
In Brief Review of: THIRST / Giles Foden. (thriller about search for an aquifer in Namibia in 2039)
In Brief Review of: ALL THE FUN’S IN HOW YOU SAY A THING: An explanation of meter and versification / Timothy Steele.
In Brief Review of: BLACK VOICES IN EARLY MODERN SPANISH LITERATURE, 1500-1750 / Diana Berruezo-Sánchez.
Arts, Culinary Arts, & Architecture
Harrison Stetler. A warning from the past: Brecht’s vignettes of the early Nazi regime. Review of GRAND-PEUR ET MISÈRE DU IIIE REICH / Bertolt Brecht, translated by Pierre Vesperini, Odéon – Théâtre de l’Europe, Paris, until February 7. (English translation: Fear and Misery of the Third Reich.
Pen Vogler. At home with the rosbifs: The popularity of traditional English cooking. Review of: THE ENGLISH TABLE: Our food through the ages / Jill Norman.
Adam Sutcliffe. Unabashed glitz: The rise, fall and rise of the Jewish stately home. Review of: JEWISH COUNTRY HOUSES / Juliet Carey and Abigail Green, editors.
Robert Bevan. Idling with the rich: The English country house in an age of excess. Review of: THE POWER AND THE GLORY: The country house before the Great War / Adrian Tinniswood.
In Brief Review of: THE LOST CHAPEL OF WESTMINSTER: How a royal chapel became the House of Commons / John Cooper.
Science & Technology
Michele Pridmore-Brown. Rats in a trap: Rodent and human social networks. Review of: DR CALHOUN’S MOUSERY: The strange tale of a celebrated scientist, a rodent dystopia, and the future of humanity / Lee Alan Dugatkin.
In Brief Review of: LOST WONDERS: 10 tales of extinction from the 21st century / Tom Lathan; illustrated by Claire Kohda.
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
James G. Keenan. Paper trail: Uncovering the real source of ancient texts. Review of: STOLEN FRAGMENTS: Black markets, bad faith, and the illicit trade in ancient artefacts / Roberta Mazza.
Harry Mount. Lie detector: The brilliance and insecurity of a legendary barrister. Review of: GET CARMAN: In court with George Carman QC, Britain’s most feared lawyer – The man behind the advocate / Karen Phillipps (Biteback).
Jane Yager. The lady vanishes: The search for a mysterious countess from Mitteleuropa. Review of: SECRETS OF A SUITCASE: The countess, the Nazis, and Middle Europe’s lost nobility / Pauline Terreehorst; translated by Brent Annable (the suitcase of Silesian Countess Margarethe (“Margit”) Henckel von Donnersmarck).
Catriona Seth. Literary ‘Who’s Who’: The correspondence of a hostess of a renowned German salon. Review of: I JUST LET LIFE RAIN DOWN ON ME: Selected letters and reflections / Rahel Levin Varnhagen; selected and translated by Peter Wortsman (Seagull Books).
Cordelia Fine. Wedding and bedding: Puritans, reformers and radicals in American sexual history. Review of: FIERCE DESIRES: A new history of sex and sexuality in America / Rebecca L. Davis.
In Brief Review of: WRITING HOME: Selected World War II letters of Leslie A. Fiedler / Edited by Samuele F. S. Pardini.
In Brief Review of: AYN RAND: Writing a gospel of success / Alexandra Popoff.
Featured
Regina Rini. Justice and character: Lessons from the California fires. (Essay).
Toby Lichtig. Hit and myth: A new film on the early days of ‘the most fecund empty vessel who ever did live.’ Review of the James Mangold film A COMPLETE UNKNOWN (a biopic about the early career of Bob Dylan)
Peter Parker. ‘Sargent’s Mess’: Why the artist felt an affinity with a Jewish family grudgingly admitted to high society. Review of: FAMILY ROMANCE: John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers / Jean Strouse.
Mary Beard (from the TLS landing page). Kennedy Center, inside and out.
Islam Issa. ’Tis pity he’s a Moor: Shakespeare deliberately excised Muslims from his plays. Review of: SHAKESPEARE THROUGH ISLAMIC WORLDS / Ambereen Dadabhoy.
Literature
Rohdri Lewis. An illicit love: Modern criticism of Antony and Cleopatra. Review of: ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA: Shakespeare: The critical tradition / Marga Munkelt, editor (Arden Shakespeare).
Peter Holland. No isolated genius: Common phrases in the playwright’s works. Review of: SHAKESPEARE’S BORROWED FEATHERS: How early modern playwrights shaped the world’s greatest writer / Darren Freebury-Jones.
David Gallagher. His face tomorrow: The Oxford scholar who inspired Javier Marias’s fictional spy. Review of: SCHOLAR-SPY: The worlds of Professor Sir Peter Russell / Bruce Taylor (Splash Editions).
Rohan Maitzen. In praise of just okay: The riches of ‘a new Anne Tyler..’ Review of: THREE DAYS IN JUNE / Anne Tyler.
Houman Barekat. No direction home: A novel of postwar British , rooted in displacement. Review of: ANOTHER MAN IN THE STREET / Caryl Phillips.
Hal Jensen. Time to change the story: A mother and son seek to recast the narrative of their estrangement. Review of: MOTHERS AND SONS / Adam Haslett.
Rachel Hadas. The condemned man’s cell: Poems from Boethius’s farewell to life. Review of: THE POEMS FROM ON THE CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY / Boethius; translated out of the original Latin into diverse historical Englishings diligently collaged by Peter Glassgold.
Jaya Savige. A world in ultra-high definition: Selections from the work of a ‘stand-out’ Australian poet. Review of: THE JAGUAR: Selected poems / Sarah Holland-Batt.
Louis Klee. Beyond white time: An inclusive view of avant-garde Australian poetry. Review of: LITERARY HISTORY AND AVANT-GARDE POETICS IN THE ANTIPODES: Languages of invention / A. J. Carruthers.
Anna Aslanyan. Stoned on sunlight: A triumphant new translation of a Romanesco dialect poet. Review of: DAY LASTS FOREVER: Selected poems / Mario dell’Arco; translated by Marc Alan di Martino. (Romanesco was a dialect once in common use in Rome)
In Brief Review of: THIRST / Giles Foden. (thriller about search for an aquifer in Namibia in 2039)
In Brief Review of: ALL THE FUN’S IN HOW YOU SAY A THING: An explanation of meter and versification / Timothy Steele.
In Brief Review of: BLACK VOICES IN EARLY MODERN SPANISH LITERATURE, 1500-1750 / Diana Berruezo-Sánchez.
Arts, Culinary Arts, & Architecture
Harrison Stetler. A warning from the past: Brecht’s vignettes of the early Nazi regime. Review of GRAND-PEUR ET MISÈRE DU IIIE REICH / Bertolt Brecht, translated by Pierre Vesperini, Odéon – Théâtre de l’Europe, Paris, until February 7. (English translation: Fear and Misery of the Third Reich.
Pen Vogler. At home with the rosbifs: The popularity of traditional English cooking. Review of: THE ENGLISH TABLE: Our food through the ages / Jill Norman.
Adam Sutcliffe. Unabashed glitz: The rise, fall and rise of the Jewish stately home. Review of: JEWISH COUNTRY HOUSES / Juliet Carey and Abigail Green, editors.
Robert Bevan. Idling with the rich: The English country house in an age of excess. Review of: THE POWER AND THE GLORY: The country house before the Great War / Adrian Tinniswood.
In Brief Review of: THE LOST CHAPEL OF WESTMINSTER: How a royal chapel became the House of Commons / John Cooper.
Science & Technology
Michele Pridmore-Brown. Rats in a trap: Rodent and human social networks. Review of: DR CALHOUN’S MOUSERY: The strange tale of a celebrated scientist, a rodent dystopia, and the future of humanity / Lee Alan Dugatkin.
In Brief Review of: LOST WONDERS: 10 tales of extinction from the 21st century / Tom Lathan; illustrated by Claire Kohda.
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
James G. Keenan. Paper trail: Uncovering the real source of ancient texts. Review of: STOLEN FRAGMENTS: Black markets, bad faith, and the illicit trade in ancient artefacts / Roberta Mazza.
Harry Mount. Lie detector: The brilliance and insecurity of a legendary barrister. Review of: GET CARMAN: In court with George Carman QC, Britain’s most feared lawyer – The man behind the advocate / Karen Phillipps (Biteback).
Jane Yager. The lady vanishes: The search for a mysterious countess from Mitteleuropa. Review of: SECRETS OF A SUITCASE: The countess, the Nazis, and Middle Europe’s lost nobility / Pauline Terreehorst; translated by Brent Annable (the suitcase of Silesian Countess Margarethe (“Margit”) Henckel von Donnersmarck).
Catriona Seth. Literary ‘Who’s Who’: The correspondence of a hostess of a renowned German salon. Review of: I JUST LET LIFE RAIN DOWN ON ME: Selected letters and reflections / Rahel Levin Varnhagen; selected and translated by Peter Wortsman (Seagull Books).
Cordelia Fine. Wedding and bedding: Puritans, reformers and radicals in American sexual history. Review of: FIERCE DESIRES: A new history of sex and sexuality in America / Rebecca L. Davis.
In Brief Review of: WRITING HOME: Selected World War II letters of Leslie A. Fiedler / Edited by Samuele F. S. Pardini.
In Brief Review of: AYN RAND: Writing a gospel of success / Alexandra Popoff.
35featherbear
Faith Lawrence. Aeon, 01/30/2025: The listening gift. "For Rilke, listening is receiving the divine."
36featherbear
Juliana Barbassa & Jennifer Harland, eds., Jennifer Egan et al. NYT, 01/30/2025: Read Your Way Through New York City. "We asked 10 writers to share slices of their literary lives in New York. We bring you …"
37featherbear
Ranjit Hoskote. LitHub, 01/31/2025: What South Asia’s Literary Classics Reveal About Its Linguistic and Cultural Diversity. From Hoskote's introduction to Ten Indian Classics (Murty Classical Library of India) (Harvard University Press).
38featherbear
With the end of January, here's something I should have done at the beginning of the thread, a quickie index of the postings that gather the reviews & bibliographic articles for the month:
Atlantic January >16 featherbear:
fivebooks.com January >7 featherbear:
Guardian January >6 featherbear:
LARB January >10 featherbear:
The Millions January >21 featherbear:
New Yorker January >5 featherbear:
NYT January >26 featherbear:
Public Books January >20 featherbear:
Salmagundi January >11 featherbear:
Washington Monthly January >19 featherbear:
WaPo January >9 featherbear:
Multiple postings for:
NYRB Online January 01/16 >1 featherbear: (NYRB posting for Feb 13 was in Jan; will link in the Feb index)
TLS January 01/03 >2 featherbear: 01/10 >8 featherbear: 01/17 >18 featherbear: 01/24 >28 featherbear: 01/31 >34 featherbear:
Will work on the one-offs as time permits
Atlantic January >16 featherbear:
fivebooks.com January >7 featherbear:
Guardian January >6 featherbear:
LARB January >10 featherbear:
The Millions January >21 featherbear:
New Yorker January >5 featherbear:
NYT January >26 featherbear:
Public Books January >20 featherbear:
Salmagundi January >11 featherbear:
Washington Monthly January >19 featherbear:
WaPo January >9 featherbear:
Multiple postings for:
NYRB Online January 01/16 >1 featherbear: (NYRB posting for Feb 13 was in Jan; will link in the Feb index)
TLS January 01/03 >2 featherbear: 01/10 >8 featherbear: 01/17 >18 featherbear: 01/24 >28 featherbear: 01/31 >34 featherbear:
Will work on the one-offs as time permits
39featherbear
Feb 2025 index (March Index >79 featherbear:)
Atlantic Feb >47 featherbear:
Bookforum winter >68 featherbear:
Boston Review Feb >73 featherbear:
The Critic (UK) Feb >51 featherbear:
fivebooks.com Feb >56 featherbear:
Guardian Feb >44 featherbear:
LARB Feb >41 featherbear:
Literary Review (UK) Feb >40 featherbear:
LitHub Feb >54 featherbear:
New Yorker Feb >46 featherbear:
NYRB Online Feb 13 >30 featherbear: Feb 27 >58 featherbear:
NYT Feb >43 featherbear:
Paris Review Feb >55 featherbear:
The Point Feb >52 featherbear:
Public Books Feb >53 featherbear:
Salon Feb >48 featherbear:
TLS Feb 7 >49 featherbear: >50 featherbear: Feb 14 >65 featherbear: Feb 21 >74 featherbear: Feb 28 >84 featherbear:
WaPo Feb >42 featherbear:
Atlantic Feb >47 featherbear:
Bookforum winter >68 featherbear:
Boston Review Feb >73 featherbear:
The Critic (UK) Feb >51 featherbear:
fivebooks.com Feb >56 featherbear:
Guardian Feb >44 featherbear:
LARB Feb >41 featherbear:
Literary Review (UK) Feb >40 featherbear:
LitHub Feb >54 featherbear:
New Yorker Feb >46 featherbear:
NYRB Online Feb 13 >30 featherbear: Feb 27 >58 featherbear:
NYT Feb >43 featherbear:
Paris Review Feb >55 featherbear:
The Point Feb >52 featherbear:
Public Books Feb >53 featherbear:
Salon Feb >48 featherbear:
TLS Feb 7 >49 featherbear: >50 featherbear: Feb 14 >65 featherbear: Feb 21 >74 featherbear: Feb 28 >84 featherbear:
WaPo Feb >42 featherbear:
40featherbear
Literary Review (UK), Feb 2025 Issue 537 (selections):
Ritchie Robertson. No Way Home. Review of: Silent Catastrophes: Essays in Austrian Literature / W G Sebald (Translated from German by Jo Catling).
Norma Clarke. La Vie en Rose. Review of: Pink: The History of a Color / Michel Pastoureau (Translated from French by Jody Gladding).
Theo Zenou. Sanctity & Scandal. Review of: Hope: The Autobiography / Pope Francis (Translated from Italian by Richard Dixon).
Michael Burleigh. Mixed Signals. Review of: House of Huawei: Inside the Secret World of China’s Most Powerful Company / Eva Dou. (Abacus is the UK publisher: LT cites, presumably the American title: House of Huawei: The Secret History of China's Most Powerful Company)
Nicholas Rankin. Among the Bandits. Review of: A Quiet Evening: The Travels of Norman Lewis / Norman Lewis; John Hatt (ed).
John Adamson. Lawyers in Arms. Review of: Friends in Youth: Choosing Sides in the English Civil War / Minoo Dinshaw. (Allen Lane)
Ritchie Robertson. No Way Home. Review of: Silent Catastrophes: Essays in Austrian Literature / W G Sebald (Translated from German by Jo Catling).
Norma Clarke. La Vie en Rose. Review of: Pink: The History of a Color / Michel Pastoureau (Translated from French by Jody Gladding).
Theo Zenou. Sanctity & Scandal. Review of: Hope: The Autobiography / Pope Francis (Translated from Italian by Richard Dixon).
Michael Burleigh. Mixed Signals. Review of: House of Huawei: Inside the Secret World of China’s Most Powerful Company / Eva Dou. (Abacus is the UK publisher: LT cites, presumably the American title: House of Huawei: The Secret History of China's Most Powerful Company)
Nicholas Rankin. Among the Bandits. Review of: A Quiet Evening: The Travels of Norman Lewis / Norman Lewis; John Hatt (ed).
John Adamson. Lawyers in Arms. Review of: Friends in Youth: Choosing Sides in the English Civil War / Minoo Dinshaw. (Allen Lane)
41featherbear
LARB Feb 2025
Torsa Ghosal. 02/01/2025: Beautiful Excesses. Review of: Ten Indian Classics (Murty Classical Library of India series; Harvard University Press).
Andre Pagliarini. 02/01/2025: The Life and Times of Lula da Silva. Review of: Lula: a biography / Fernando Morais (no info on translator). (publisher Verso, "biography of Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva" (Amazon), scheduled for pub. August 2024)
Jonathan Bolton. 02/02/2025: To Touch the Dust of Anarres. Re reading via The Dispossessed: 50th Anniversary Edition / Ursula K. Le Guin.
Maria Chicosz. 02/02/2025: Are We All Addicts? Review of: Addiction Becomes Normal: On the Late-Modern American Subject / Jaeyoon Park -- On Addiction: Insights from History, Ethnography, and Critical Theory / Darin Weinberg (Duke University Press).
Grace Byron. 02/04/2025: Symptomatic Reading. Review of: Bibliophobia: a memoir / Sarah Chihaya.
Maureen Holloway. 02/05/2025: The Last Laugh. Review of: Elaine May / Elizabeth Alsop (University of Illinois Press).
Tim Riley. 02/06/2025: The Young Dead. Review of: Before Elvis: The African American Musicians Who Made the King / Preston Lauterbach.
Michael Goodrum. 02/07/2025: Gore Is More. Review of: American Scary: A History of Horror, from Salem to Stephen King and Beyond / Jeremy Dauber.
Erwin Chemerinsky. 02/16/2025: Colleges or Caretakers? Review of: All The Campus Lawyers: Litigation, Regulation, and the New Era of Higher Education / Louis H. Guard and Joyce P. Jacobsen.
Winnie Wang. 02/18/2025: Untying the Knot. Review of: No Fault: A Memoir of Romance and Divorce / Haley Mlotek.
Julie Stone Peters. 02/21/2025: Law, Lies, and Hollywood: Stanley Fish’s Cinematic Jurisprudence. Review of: Law at the Movies: Turning Legal Doctrine into Art / Stanley Fish.
Rodger Citron. 02/24/2025: Legal Agitator of Our Time. Review of: Demand the Impossible: One Lawyer’s Pursuit of Equal Justice for All / Robert L. Tsai.
Jenessa Abrams. 02/26/2025: A Body Is Never Just a Body. Review of: Leave: A Postpartum Account / Shayne Terry (Autofocus Books).
Alix Christie. 02/27/2025: Double Vision and Full Dissolution. Review of: Dust and Light: On the Art of Fact in Fiction / Andrea Barrett.
Tim Brinkhof. 02/27/2025: Rembrandt and Literature.
Torsa Ghosal. 02/01/2025: Beautiful Excesses. Review of: Ten Indian Classics (Murty Classical Library of India series; Harvard University Press).
Andre Pagliarini. 02/01/2025: The Life and Times of Lula da Silva. Review of: Lula: a biography / Fernando Morais (no info on translator). (publisher Verso, "biography of Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva" (Amazon), scheduled for pub. August 2024)
Jonathan Bolton. 02/02/2025: To Touch the Dust of Anarres. Re reading via The Dispossessed: 50th Anniversary Edition / Ursula K. Le Guin.
Maria Chicosz. 02/02/2025: Are We All Addicts? Review of: Addiction Becomes Normal: On the Late-Modern American Subject / Jaeyoon Park -- On Addiction: Insights from History, Ethnography, and Critical Theory / Darin Weinberg (Duke University Press).
Grace Byron. 02/04/2025: Symptomatic Reading. Review of: Bibliophobia: a memoir / Sarah Chihaya.
Maureen Holloway. 02/05/2025: The Last Laugh. Review of: Elaine May / Elizabeth Alsop (University of Illinois Press).
Tim Riley. 02/06/2025: The Young Dead. Review of: Before Elvis: The African American Musicians Who Made the King / Preston Lauterbach.
Michael Goodrum. 02/07/2025: Gore Is More. Review of: American Scary: A History of Horror, from Salem to Stephen King and Beyond / Jeremy Dauber.
Erwin Chemerinsky. 02/16/2025: Colleges or Caretakers? Review of: All The Campus Lawyers: Litigation, Regulation, and the New Era of Higher Education / Louis H. Guard and Joyce P. Jacobsen.
Winnie Wang. 02/18/2025: Untying the Knot. Review of: No Fault: A Memoir of Romance and Divorce / Haley Mlotek.
Julie Stone Peters. 02/21/2025: Law, Lies, and Hollywood: Stanley Fish’s Cinematic Jurisprudence. Review of: Law at the Movies: Turning Legal Doctrine into Art / Stanley Fish.
Rodger Citron. 02/24/2025: Legal Agitator of Our Time. Review of: Demand the Impossible: One Lawyer’s Pursuit of Equal Justice for All / Robert L. Tsai.
Jenessa Abrams. 02/26/2025: A Body Is Never Just a Body. Review of: Leave: A Postpartum Account / Shayne Terry (Autofocus Books).
Alix Christie. 02/27/2025: Double Vision and Full Dissolution. Review of: Dust and Light: On the Art of Fact in Fiction / Andrea Barrett.
Tim Brinkhof. 02/27/2025: Rembrandt and Literature.
42featherbear
WaPo February 2025:
Quill R. Kukla. 02/01/2025: What if the philosophical life really is the only one worth living? Review of: Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life / Agnes Collard.
Hamilton Cain. 02/01/2025: Ali Smith delivers another masterwork. Review of Gliff / Ali Smith.
Wendy Smith. 02/06/2025: How technology changed art and music for the better. Review of: The Uncanny Muse: Music, Art, and Machines from Automata to AI / David Hajdu (Norton).
Elizabeth Hand. 02/07/2025: Once upon a time there lived a hungry girl and a monstrous mother. Review of: The Lamb: A Novel / Lucy Rose.
Marion Winik. 02/07/2025: Two new reasons to revisit Joni Mitchell’s remarkable catalogue. Review of: I Dream of Joni: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell in 53 Snapshots / Henry Alford -- Song So Wild and Blue: A Life with the Music of Joni Mitchell / Paul Lisicky.
Dan Lamothe. 02/07/2025: Trump DEI crackdown targets books in Pentagon schools. "As the DEI purge widens, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered restrictions on what books DOD schools can teach, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Post."
John Williams. 02/08/2025: Post critic Michael Dirda turns a page. "Dirda discusses the life of a critic, and his decision for a change of pace after 30 years of weekly columns." TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED.
Joseph Finder. 02/14/2025: What’s a spy novelist to do in the age of Trump? Temporarily Unlocked
Lisa Page. 02/15/2025: Josephine Baker, in her own words, amplifies her renown as provocateur. Review of: Fearless and Free: A Memoir / Josephine Baker; translators, Anam Zafar & Sophie Lewis.
Marion Winik. 02/16/2025: Banned in fascist Italy, ‘There’s No Turning Back’ gets new life. Citation: There's No Turning Back: A Novel / Alba De Céspedes; translator, Ann Goldstein (Washington Square Press).
Jacob Brogan. 02/17/2025: An actress produces a stirring novel about her unreliable father. Review of: Lion / Sonya Walger.
Joan Frank. 02/17/2025: ‘Theory & Practice’ is a whip-smart novel about life and art. Review of: Theory & Practice: A Novel / Michelle de Kretser.
Ron Charles. 02/18/2025: Oprah’s book club pick, ‘Dream State,’ is a transporting wonder. Review of: Dream State: Oprah's Book Club: A Novel / Eric Puchner.
Anthony Domestico. 02/18/2025: A critic wrestles with Robert Frost’s life and verse. Review of: Love and Need: The Life of Robert Frost’s Poetry / Adam Plunkett (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux)
Michael Bobelian. 02/20/2025: Jeffrey Toobin’s ‘The Pardon’ explores a hazardous presidential power. Review of: The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy / Jeffrey Toobin.
Samuel Ashworth. 02/20/2025: A sci-fi novel that feels like listening to a Hans Zimmer score. Review of: The Garden / Nick Newman.
David Perry. 02/21/2025: In the age of AI, colleges need to rethink how students learn. Review of: More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI / John Warner -- Hacking College: Why the Major Doesn't Matter―and What Really Does / Ned Scott Laff & Scott Carlson (Johns Hopkins University Press).
Bob Ivry. 02/21/2025: A call to arms (literally) for tech bros. Review of: The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West / Alexander C. Karp, Nicholas W. Zamiska.
Malcolm Forbes. 02/21/2025: Curtis Sittenfeld’s bravura collection revisits her first creation. Review of: Show Don't Tell: Stories / Curtis Sittenfeld.
Ron Charles. 02/26/2025: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has finally, fortunately returned to fiction. Review of: Dream Count: A Novel / Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Mar. 4 publ. date by Knopf per Amazon).
Laura Mills. 02/27/2025: ‘Death Is Our Business’ explores the propaganda value of a Russian warlord. Review of: Death Is Our Business: Russian Mercenaries and the New Era of Private Warfare / John Lechner.
Becca Rothfeld. 02/28/2025: ‘Money, Lies, and God’ looks at the creation of MAGA’s ‘grass roots.’ Review of: Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy / Katherine Stewart.
Mac Barnett. 02/28/2025: Children’s picture books are a glorious art form. "Mac Barnett is the 2025-2026 national ambassador for young people’s literature." (Per the Library of Congress?)
Quill R. Kukla. 02/01/2025: What if the philosophical life really is the only one worth living? Review of: Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life / Agnes Collard.
Hamilton Cain. 02/01/2025: Ali Smith delivers another masterwork. Review of Gliff / Ali Smith.
Wendy Smith. 02/06/2025: How technology changed art and music for the better. Review of: The Uncanny Muse: Music, Art, and Machines from Automata to AI / David Hajdu (Norton).
Elizabeth Hand. 02/07/2025: Once upon a time there lived a hungry girl and a monstrous mother. Review of: The Lamb: A Novel / Lucy Rose.
Marion Winik. 02/07/2025: Two new reasons to revisit Joni Mitchell’s remarkable catalogue. Review of: I Dream of Joni: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell in 53 Snapshots / Henry Alford -- Song So Wild and Blue: A Life with the Music of Joni Mitchell / Paul Lisicky.
Dan Lamothe. 02/07/2025: Trump DEI crackdown targets books in Pentagon schools. "As the DEI purge widens, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered restrictions on what books DOD schools can teach, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Post."
John Williams. 02/08/2025: Post critic Michael Dirda turns a page. "Dirda discusses the life of a critic, and his decision for a change of pace after 30 years of weekly columns." TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED.
Joseph Finder. 02/14/2025: What’s a spy novelist to do in the age of Trump? Temporarily Unlocked
Lisa Page. 02/15/2025: Josephine Baker, in her own words, amplifies her renown as provocateur. Review of: Fearless and Free: A Memoir / Josephine Baker; translators, Anam Zafar & Sophie Lewis.
Marion Winik. 02/16/2025: Banned in fascist Italy, ‘There’s No Turning Back’ gets new life. Citation: There's No Turning Back: A Novel / Alba De Céspedes; translator, Ann Goldstein (Washington Square Press).
Jacob Brogan. 02/17/2025: An actress produces a stirring novel about her unreliable father. Review of: Lion / Sonya Walger.
Joan Frank. 02/17/2025: ‘Theory & Practice’ is a whip-smart novel about life and art. Review of: Theory & Practice: A Novel / Michelle de Kretser.
Ron Charles. 02/18/2025: Oprah’s book club pick, ‘Dream State,’ is a transporting wonder. Review of: Dream State: Oprah's Book Club: A Novel / Eric Puchner.
Anthony Domestico. 02/18/2025: A critic wrestles with Robert Frost’s life and verse. Review of: Love and Need: The Life of Robert Frost’s Poetry / Adam Plunkett (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux)
Michael Bobelian. 02/20/2025: Jeffrey Toobin’s ‘The Pardon’ explores a hazardous presidential power. Review of: The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy / Jeffrey Toobin.
Samuel Ashworth. 02/20/2025: A sci-fi novel that feels like listening to a Hans Zimmer score. Review of: The Garden / Nick Newman.
David Perry. 02/21/2025: In the age of AI, colleges need to rethink how students learn. Review of: More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI / John Warner -- Hacking College: Why the Major Doesn't Matter―and What Really Does / Ned Scott Laff & Scott Carlson (Johns Hopkins University Press).
Bob Ivry. 02/21/2025: A call to arms (literally) for tech bros. Review of: The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West / Alexander C. Karp, Nicholas W. Zamiska.
Malcolm Forbes. 02/21/2025: Curtis Sittenfeld’s bravura collection revisits her first creation. Review of: Show Don't Tell: Stories / Curtis Sittenfeld.
Ron Charles. 02/26/2025: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has finally, fortunately returned to fiction. Review of: Dream Count: A Novel / Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Mar. 4 publ. date by Knopf per Amazon).
Laura Mills. 02/27/2025: ‘Death Is Our Business’ explores the propaganda value of a Russian warlord. Review of: Death Is Our Business: Russian Mercenaries and the New Era of Private Warfare / John Lechner.
Becca Rothfeld. 02/28/2025: ‘Money, Lies, and God’ looks at the creation of MAGA’s ‘grass roots.’ Review of: Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy / Katherine Stewart.
Mac Barnett. 02/28/2025: Children’s picture books are a glorious art form. "Mac Barnett is the 2025-2026 national ambassador for young people’s literature." (Per the Library of Congress?)
43featherbear
NYT books for February 2025:
Alexandra Jacobs. 02/02/2025: Grieving the End of a Literary Couple’s Globetrotting Life. "In “Memorial Days,” Geraldine Brooks retreats to an island off Australia hoping to pick up the pieces after the sudden death of her husband." Temporarily Unlocked.
Elizabeth Egan. 02/10/2025: At 83, Anne Tyler Has a New Novel. She’d Rather Talk About Anything Else. "While many of her contemporaries are playing canasta, she’s releasing her 25th book. There’s no mystery to it, Tyler says: Start on Page 1, then keep writing." The latest would be Three Days in June. Temporarily Unlocked
Mary Marge Locker. 02/11/2025: Ireland Banned This 1961 Novel About Catholic Sex and Desire. It’s Back. Review of: THE PILGRIMAGE / John Broderick.
Katie Roiphe. New York Times Magazine, 02/12/2025: Janet Malcolm Understood the Power of Not Being ‘Nice.’ "The writer is remembered, above all, for her ruthlessness. But when I went looking for it, I found something much more complicated."
Deborah Blum. 02/12/2025: Can Understanding the Brain Make Us Better People? Review of: CEREBRAL ENTANGLEMENTS: How the Brain Shapes Our Public and Private Lives / Allan J. Hamilton (Post Hill Press).
Thomas Meaney. 02/11/2025: You Can’t Trust Elites. Just Ask a 500-Year-Old German Peasant. Review of: SUMMER OF FIRE AND BLOOD: The German Peasants’ War / Lyndal Roper. "The German Peasants’ War was the greatest social explosion in Europe before the French Revolution. As Lyndal Roper explains in “Summer of Fire and Blood,” her engrossing new history of the upheaval, “It all began with snails.”
Mary Jo McConahay. 02/15/2025: A History of Modern Catholicism Puts Sex Abuse Front and Center. Review of: JESUS WEPT: Seven Popes and the Battle for the Soul of the Catholic Church / Philip Shenon. "the church since World War II, with particular focus on the clerical abuse crisis and the ideological battles that followed the Second Vatican Council."
Dwight Garner. 02/15/2025: This Book on World War I Changed How I Think of Nonfiction. "Paul Fussell’s 50-year-old survey of trench warfare The Great War and Modern Memory deserves a new generation of readers, our book critic writes."
Alexandra Jacobs. 02/16/2025: In His 80s, and Recalling All the Men He’s Loved Before. Review of: THE LOVES OF MY LIFE: A Sex Memoir / Edmund White.
Alexandra Alter. 02/15/2025: A Tiny Press Took a Big Risk on Experimental Books. It Paid Off. "The British publisher Tilted Axis specialized in innovative translated literature. It won them major awards. Now they’re coming to the U.S." For expanded coverage see >71 featherbear:
Katie J.M. Barker. 02/15/2025: The Nightmare of Leaving an Abusive Marriage. Review of NESTING: a novel / Roisín O’Donnell.
Sadie Stein. 02/17/2025: The Forgotten Writers Who Influenced Jane Austen. Review of: JANE AUSTEN’S BOOKSHELF: A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend / Rebecca Romney. Temporarily unlocked. See also Romney's list of Austen's literary afterlives on LitHub >54 featherbear:
Rhonda Garelick. 02/14/2025: Who Is Ugly? Review of: Ugliness / Moshtari Hilal; translated by Elisabeth Lauffer.
Rebecca Donner. 02/18/2025: She Gathered Evidence of War Crimes. Then She Became a Victim of One. Review of: LOOKING AT WOMEN LOOKING AT WAR: A War and Justice Diary / Victoria Amelina; translated by Daisy Gibbons and Uilleam Blacker. "The Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina compiled stories of women resisting the Russian invasion. After she was killed, colleagues ensured publication of her unfinished book."
Maxim Loskutoff. 02/18/2025: Oprah’s Latest Book Club Pick: A Shimmering Montana Saga. Review of: DREAM STATE: a novel / Eric Puchner.
Marjoleine Kars. 02/19/2025: How Teatime and Cartoons Changed the World. Review of: THE REVOLUTIONARY SELF: Social Change and the Emergence of the Modern Individual, 1770-1800 / Lynn Hunt (Norton).
Jennifer Szalai. 02/19/2025: How Trump Rode a Wave of ‘Reactionary Nihilism’ to the White House. Review of: MONEY, LIES, AND GOD: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy / Katherine Stewart.
Lisa Brown. 02/21/2025: Why Children Love Edward Gorey: A Centenary Tribute.
David Levering Lewis, interviewer Scott Heller. The By the Book column in the NYT Sunday Book Review, 02/23/2025: A Taxi Driver’s Comment Inspired David Levering Lewis’s Personal New Book. The book is The Stained Glass Window: A Family History as the American Story, 1790-1958.
Molly Young. 02/23/2025: These Books Are Absolutely Unreadable. That’s the Point. TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED
Orlando Mayorquin. 02/24/2025: In Huntington Beach, Politics on a Plaque. "MAGA references on a library plaque have divided the Southern California surf town and thrust it into the national spotlight."
Katie Kitamura. 02/25/2025: Solving a Head-Spinning Murder Mystery With Literary Analysis. Review of: DEATH TAKES ME / Cristina Rivera Garza. Translated by Sarah Booker and Robin Myers.
Fintan O'Toole. 02/25/2025: How Will the West Look Back on the Crisis in Gaza? Review of: ONE DAY, EVERYONE WILL HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AGAINST THIS / Omar El Akkad.
Mark Gimein. 02/27/2025: This History of a Swiss Bank Is a Dossier of Sleaze. Review of: MELTDOWN: Greed, Scandal, and the Collapse of Credit Suisse / Duncan Mavin.
Alexandra Jacobs. 02/02/2025: Grieving the End of a Literary Couple’s Globetrotting Life. "In “Memorial Days,” Geraldine Brooks retreats to an island off Australia hoping to pick up the pieces after the sudden death of her husband." Temporarily Unlocked.
Elizabeth Egan. 02/10/2025: At 83, Anne Tyler Has a New Novel. She’d Rather Talk About Anything Else. "While many of her contemporaries are playing canasta, she’s releasing her 25th book. There’s no mystery to it, Tyler says: Start on Page 1, then keep writing." The latest would be Three Days in June. Temporarily Unlocked
Mary Marge Locker. 02/11/2025: Ireland Banned This 1961 Novel About Catholic Sex and Desire. It’s Back. Review of: THE PILGRIMAGE / John Broderick.
Katie Roiphe. New York Times Magazine, 02/12/2025: Janet Malcolm Understood the Power of Not Being ‘Nice.’ "The writer is remembered, above all, for her ruthlessness. But when I went looking for it, I found something much more complicated."
Deborah Blum. 02/12/2025: Can Understanding the Brain Make Us Better People? Review of: CEREBRAL ENTANGLEMENTS: How the Brain Shapes Our Public and Private Lives / Allan J. Hamilton (Post Hill Press).
Thomas Meaney. 02/11/2025: You Can’t Trust Elites. Just Ask a 500-Year-Old German Peasant. Review of: SUMMER OF FIRE AND BLOOD: The German Peasants’ War / Lyndal Roper. "The German Peasants’ War was the greatest social explosion in Europe before the French Revolution. As Lyndal Roper explains in “Summer of Fire and Blood,” her engrossing new history of the upheaval, “It all began with snails.”
Mary Jo McConahay. 02/15/2025: A History of Modern Catholicism Puts Sex Abuse Front and Center. Review of: JESUS WEPT: Seven Popes and the Battle for the Soul of the Catholic Church / Philip Shenon. "the church since World War II, with particular focus on the clerical abuse crisis and the ideological battles that followed the Second Vatican Council."
Dwight Garner. 02/15/2025: This Book on World War I Changed How I Think of Nonfiction. "Paul Fussell’s 50-year-old survey of trench warfare The Great War and Modern Memory deserves a new generation of readers, our book critic writes."
Alexandra Jacobs. 02/16/2025: In His 80s, and Recalling All the Men He’s Loved Before. Review of: THE LOVES OF MY LIFE: A Sex Memoir / Edmund White.
Alexandra Alter. 02/15/2025: A Tiny Press Took a Big Risk on Experimental Books. It Paid Off. "The British publisher Tilted Axis specialized in innovative translated literature. It won them major awards. Now they’re coming to the U.S." For expanded coverage see >71 featherbear:
Katie J.M. Barker. 02/15/2025: The Nightmare of Leaving an Abusive Marriage. Review of NESTING: a novel / Roisín O’Donnell.
Sadie Stein. 02/17/2025: The Forgotten Writers Who Influenced Jane Austen. Review of: JANE AUSTEN’S BOOKSHELF: A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend / Rebecca Romney. Temporarily unlocked. See also Romney's list of Austen's literary afterlives on LitHub >54 featherbear:
Rhonda Garelick. 02/14/2025: Who Is Ugly? Review of: Ugliness / Moshtari Hilal; translated by Elisabeth Lauffer.
Rebecca Donner. 02/18/2025: She Gathered Evidence of War Crimes. Then She Became a Victim of One. Review of: LOOKING AT WOMEN LOOKING AT WAR: A War and Justice Diary / Victoria Amelina; translated by Daisy Gibbons and Uilleam Blacker. "The Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina compiled stories of women resisting the Russian invasion. After she was killed, colleagues ensured publication of her unfinished book."
Maxim Loskutoff. 02/18/2025: Oprah’s Latest Book Club Pick: A Shimmering Montana Saga. Review of: DREAM STATE: a novel / Eric Puchner.
Marjoleine Kars. 02/19/2025: How Teatime and Cartoons Changed the World. Review of: THE REVOLUTIONARY SELF: Social Change and the Emergence of the Modern Individual, 1770-1800 / Lynn Hunt (Norton).
Jennifer Szalai. 02/19/2025: How Trump Rode a Wave of ‘Reactionary Nihilism’ to the White House. Review of: MONEY, LIES, AND GOD: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy / Katherine Stewart.
Lisa Brown. 02/21/2025: Why Children Love Edward Gorey: A Centenary Tribute.
David Levering Lewis, interviewer Scott Heller. The By the Book column in the NYT Sunday Book Review, 02/23/2025: A Taxi Driver’s Comment Inspired David Levering Lewis’s Personal New Book. The book is The Stained Glass Window: A Family History as the American Story, 1790-1958.
Molly Young. 02/23/2025: These Books Are Absolutely Unreadable. That’s the Point. TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED
Orlando Mayorquin. 02/24/2025: In Huntington Beach, Politics on a Plaque. "MAGA references on a library plaque have divided the Southern California surf town and thrust it into the national spotlight."
Katie Kitamura. 02/25/2025: Solving a Head-Spinning Murder Mystery With Literary Analysis. Review of: DEATH TAKES ME / Cristina Rivera Garza. Translated by Sarah Booker and Robin Myers.
Fintan O'Toole. 02/25/2025: How Will the West Look Back on the Crisis in Gaza? Review of: ONE DAY, EVERYONE WILL HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AGAINST THIS / Omar El Akkad.
Mark Gimein. 02/27/2025: This History of a Swiss Bank Is a Dossier of Sleaze. Review of: MELTDOWN: Greed, Scandal, and the Collapse of Credit Suisse / Duncan Mavin.
44featherbear
Guardian February books:
John Naughton. 02/02/2025: Growing pains of a computer geek. "The first volume of the tech baron turned philanthropist’s memoirs focuses on his parent’s struggles to control him – and a painful early loss." Review of: Source Code: My Beginnings / Bill Gates.
Colin Barrett, interviewer Killian Fox. 02/01/2025: Colin Barrett: ‘My wife is astonished that I’m able to write.’ "The award-winning author on his move from short stories to novels, writing marginal characters in small-town Mayo and the Irish fiction he rates most." On Wild Houses, among others.
Matthew Cantor. 02/02/2025: Forget the pundits – here’s how philosophers see America’s moral divide over Trump. "How can neighbors have such a fundamental disagreement about seemingly basic concepts of rightness and justice?"
Marina Dunbar. 02/07/2025: Multi-level barrage of US book bans is ‘unprecedented’, says PEN America.
Vanessa Thorpe. 02/08/2025: Rediscovered, a young English novelist’s warning of the Nazi threat. "Crooked Cross, Sally Carson’s ‘electrifying masterpiece’ from 1934, to be republished."
Ed Pilkington. 02/13/2025: Pentagon schools suspend library books for ‘compliance review’ under Trump orders.
Ella Creamer. 02/17/2025: A ‘great shock’: Julianne Moore’s children’s book under review by Trump administration. "The actor’s book Freckleface Strawberry is on a list of library books suspended for a ‘compliance review’ after a presidential executive order." Cartman will be pleased.
Martin Pengelly. 02/19/2025: Disposable: what Covid-19 did to those who couldn’t afford to fight the virus. Review of: Disposable: America's Contempt for the Underclass / Sarah P. Jones.
Sandra Newman. 02/19/2025: Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor review – an SF master moves into the mainstream. Review of: Death of the Author: a novel / Nnedi Okorafor.
Ella Creamer. 02/19/2025: Hundreds of books seized from stores in Kashmir as Indian police crack down on dissent.
Charlie English. 02/22/2025: ‘It allowed us to survive, to not go mad’: the CIA book smuggling operation that helped bring down communism. "From George Orwell to Hannah Arendt and John le Carré, thousands of blacklisted books flooded into Poland during the cold war, as publishers and printers risked their lives for literature."
Lloyd Green. 02/23/2025: ‘Royal authority’: Jeffrey Toobin explores the US presidential pardon in his new book. Review of: The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy / Jeffrey Toobin.
Donna Ferguson. 02/23/2025: Literary gold … or betrayal of trust? Joan Didion journal opens ethical minefield. "Soon we can all read the late author’s private notes about her therapy. But should we?"
Ella Creamer. 02/24/2025: 2,000 year old book about Roman emperors enters bestseller charts. Review of: The Lives of the Caesars / Suetonius; translator Tom Holland (Penguin Classics).
Dale Berning Sawa. 02/24/2025: The one change that worked: I found an escape from online life by swapping my home office for the library. "I can find essential and unusual facts for my arts journalism in the dusty old tomes – information not readily available on Google. And, as I did as a child, I lose myself in a world of books ..."
John Naughton. 02/02/2025: Growing pains of a computer geek. "The first volume of the tech baron turned philanthropist’s memoirs focuses on his parent’s struggles to control him – and a painful early loss." Review of: Source Code: My Beginnings / Bill Gates.
Colin Barrett, interviewer Killian Fox. 02/01/2025: Colin Barrett: ‘My wife is astonished that I’m able to write.’ "The award-winning author on his move from short stories to novels, writing marginal characters in small-town Mayo and the Irish fiction he rates most." On Wild Houses, among others.
Matthew Cantor. 02/02/2025: Forget the pundits – here’s how philosophers see America’s moral divide over Trump. "How can neighbors have such a fundamental disagreement about seemingly basic concepts of rightness and justice?"
Marina Dunbar. 02/07/2025: Multi-level barrage of US book bans is ‘unprecedented’, says PEN America.
Vanessa Thorpe. 02/08/2025: Rediscovered, a young English novelist’s warning of the Nazi threat. "Crooked Cross, Sally Carson’s ‘electrifying masterpiece’ from 1934, to be republished."
Ed Pilkington. 02/13/2025: Pentagon schools suspend library books for ‘compliance review’ under Trump orders.
Ella Creamer. 02/17/2025: A ‘great shock’: Julianne Moore’s children’s book under review by Trump administration. "The actor’s book Freckleface Strawberry is on a list of library books suspended for a ‘compliance review’ after a presidential executive order." Cartman will be pleased.
Martin Pengelly. 02/19/2025: Disposable: what Covid-19 did to those who couldn’t afford to fight the virus. Review of: Disposable: America's Contempt for the Underclass / Sarah P. Jones.
Sandra Newman. 02/19/2025: Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor review – an SF master moves into the mainstream. Review of: Death of the Author: a novel / Nnedi Okorafor.
Ella Creamer. 02/19/2025: Hundreds of books seized from stores in Kashmir as Indian police crack down on dissent.
Charlie English. 02/22/2025: ‘It allowed us to survive, to not go mad’: the CIA book smuggling operation that helped bring down communism. "From George Orwell to Hannah Arendt and John le Carré, thousands of blacklisted books flooded into Poland during the cold war, as publishers and printers risked their lives for literature."
Lloyd Green. 02/23/2025: ‘Royal authority’: Jeffrey Toobin explores the US presidential pardon in his new book. Review of: The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy / Jeffrey Toobin.
Donna Ferguson. 02/23/2025: Literary gold … or betrayal of trust? Joan Didion journal opens ethical minefield. "Soon we can all read the late author’s private notes about her therapy. But should we?"
Ella Creamer. 02/24/2025: 2,000 year old book about Roman emperors enters bestseller charts. Review of: The Lives of the Caesars / Suetonius; translator Tom Holland (Penguin Classics).
Dale Berning Sawa. 02/24/2025: The one change that worked: I found an escape from online life by swapping my home office for the library. "I can find essential and unusual facts for my arts journalism in the dusty old tomes – information not readily available on Google. And, as I did as a child, I lose myself in a world of books ..."
45featherbear
Karen Pryor, 1932-2025
Penelope Green. NYT, 02/02/2025: Karen Pryor, Guru of Positive Reinforcement, Is Dead at 92. "She was so successful at training dolphins that she began applying the same techniques to other creatures, including dogs — and humans."
"Karen grew up in Connecticut and Miami and was a born naturalist — the kind of child, her daughter said, who always had a frog in her pocket. With her father, she learned to snorkel and dive. At Cornell University, she wanted to major in ornithology but was told that women could not be accepted in the program because there was no place for them to go to the bathroom in the woods.
"Ms. Pryor was a naturalist by nature, but she had not planned on a career as a dolphin trainer. She was an English major whose husband, a poet and helicopter pilot turned marine biologist, built the first marine park in Hawaii. --Personal note: Sea Life Park was part of my childhood in Hawaii --
"The crew at Sea Life, the Pryors’ soon-to-be-opened park, had been given a manual based on those principles. But the trainers had gotten bogged down in the scientific jargon. So Ms. Pryor took over.
"She learned the elegance of the technique, which involves waiting for a desired behavior — jumping, say, or retrieving an object — and then rewarding it with a treat. (That would be a fish, if you’re a dolphin.) She learned about conditioned reinforcers: using a signal — a whistle, a hand movement, a clicker — to herald that a reward was on its way, and then using that signal to refine or shape a behavior or series of behaviors.
"Sea Life Park had been designed as a marine park and a research center overseen by Kenneth Norris, a noted marine mammal expert. Ms. Pryor and her cadre of trainers and dolphins began to participate in studies Dr. Norris was conducting, including for the Navy. They tested the limits of dolphin speed. They measured how deep the dolphins could dive. Years later, as a consultant to the tuna industry along with Dr. Norris, Ms. Pryor offered recommendations for designing nets so dolphins would not be caught in them."
Daughter of author Philip Wylie.
Author of: Don't Shoot the Dog! The New Art of Teaching and Training (1984). (Kristi Noem appears not to have read the book)
Her LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/pryorkaren
Penelope Green. NYT, 02/02/2025: Karen Pryor, Guru of Positive Reinforcement, Is Dead at 92. "She was so successful at training dolphins that she began applying the same techniques to other creatures, including dogs — and humans."
"Karen grew up in Connecticut and Miami and was a born naturalist — the kind of child, her daughter said, who always had a frog in her pocket. With her father, she learned to snorkel and dive. At Cornell University, she wanted to major in ornithology but was told that women could not be accepted in the program because there was no place for them to go to the bathroom in the woods.
"Ms. Pryor was a naturalist by nature, but she had not planned on a career as a dolphin trainer. She was an English major whose husband, a poet and helicopter pilot turned marine biologist, built the first marine park in Hawaii. --Personal note: Sea Life Park was part of my childhood in Hawaii --
"The crew at Sea Life, the Pryors’ soon-to-be-opened park, had been given a manual based on those principles. But the trainers had gotten bogged down in the scientific jargon. So Ms. Pryor took over.
"She learned the elegance of the technique, which involves waiting for a desired behavior — jumping, say, or retrieving an object — and then rewarding it with a treat. (That would be a fish, if you’re a dolphin.) She learned about conditioned reinforcers: using a signal — a whistle, a hand movement, a clicker — to herald that a reward was on its way, and then using that signal to refine or shape a behavior or series of behaviors.
"Sea Life Park had been designed as a marine park and a research center overseen by Kenneth Norris, a noted marine mammal expert. Ms. Pryor and her cadre of trainers and dolphins began to participate in studies Dr. Norris was conducting, including for the Navy. They tested the limits of dolphin speed. They measured how deep the dolphins could dive. Years later, as a consultant to the tuna industry along with Dr. Norris, Ms. Pryor offered recommendations for designing nets so dolphins would not be caught in them."
Daughter of author Philip Wylie.
Author of: Don't Shoot the Dog! The New Art of Teaching and Training (1984). (Kristi Noem appears not to have read the book)
Her LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/pryorkaren
46featherbear
New Yorker February books:
Hanif Abdurraqib. 02/02/2025: Lessons for the End of the World. "On Octavia Butler, the L.A. fires, and the uses and misuses of the things that cannot be recovered." And not to forget Nikki Giovanni.
Elisa Gonzalez. 02/03/2025: The Poet Shane McCrae Goes Back to Hell. Review of: New and Collected Hell: A Poem / Shane McCrae.
Fuchsia Dunlop. 02/05/2025: Fuchsia Dunlop’s Taste for Adventure. A reading list.
Kathryn Schulz. 02/10/2025: An Arachnophobe Pays Homage to the Spider. Review of: The Lives of Spiders: A Natural History of the World's Spiders (The Lives of the Natural World) / Ximena Nelson.
Adam Gopnick. 02/10/2025: The Profile Hemingway Could Never Live Down. "When Lillian Ross profiled the celebrated novelist, the world saw ridicule and ruin. But letters between the reporter and her subject reveal something far more complicated."
Graciela Mochkofsky. 02/11/2025: An Argentinean Writer and the Movement for Women’s Rights. On writer Selva Almada, author of Not a River: A Novel, The Wind That Lays Waste: A Novel, Dead Girls (all translated by Annie McDermott), coping with the right wing backlash following the election of Javier Milei in 2023.
Gideon Lewis-Kraus. 02/18/2025: The Palantir Guide to Saving America’s Soul. Review of: The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West / Alexander C. Karp & Nicholas W. Zamiska.
Min Jin Lee. 02/19/2025: Min Jin Lee’s Indelible Twentieth-Century Women. "The “Pachinko” author recommends four novels that present character studies of bold women making their way in changing times."
Jay Kaspian Kang. 02/21/2025: A Profoundly Empathetic Book on Homelessness in the Bay Area. Review of: The Lost and the Found: A True Story of Homelessness, Found Family, and Second Chances / Kevin Fagan.
Adam Gopnick. 02/24/2025: The Gilded Age Never Ended. Review of: Henry James Comes Home: Rediscovering America in the Gilded Age / Peter Brooks. Plus call outs to a number of Gilded Age classics.
Maggie Doherty. 02/24/2025: The Many Guises of Robert Frost. Review of: Love and Need: The Life of Robert Frost’s Poetry / Adam Plunkett (Farrar. Straus & Giroux).
Joshua Rothman. 02/25/2025: Should You Be Religious? Review of: Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious / Ross Douthat.
Paul Elie. 02/26/2025: The Pope’s Role Has Changed in Our Time. But Has the Church? On Jesus Wept: Seven Popes and the Battle for the Soul of the Catholic Church / Philip Shenon.
Hanif Abdurraqib. 02/02/2025: Lessons for the End of the World. "On Octavia Butler, the L.A. fires, and the uses and misuses of the things that cannot be recovered." And not to forget Nikki Giovanni.
Elisa Gonzalez. 02/03/2025: The Poet Shane McCrae Goes Back to Hell. Review of: New and Collected Hell: A Poem / Shane McCrae.
Fuchsia Dunlop. 02/05/2025: Fuchsia Dunlop’s Taste for Adventure. A reading list.
Kathryn Schulz. 02/10/2025: An Arachnophobe Pays Homage to the Spider. Review of: The Lives of Spiders: A Natural History of the World's Spiders (The Lives of the Natural World) / Ximena Nelson.
Adam Gopnick. 02/10/2025: The Profile Hemingway Could Never Live Down. "When Lillian Ross profiled the celebrated novelist, the world saw ridicule and ruin. But letters between the reporter and her subject reveal something far more complicated."
Graciela Mochkofsky. 02/11/2025: An Argentinean Writer and the Movement for Women’s Rights. On writer Selva Almada, author of Not a River: A Novel, The Wind That Lays Waste: A Novel, Dead Girls (all translated by Annie McDermott), coping with the right wing backlash following the election of Javier Milei in 2023.
Gideon Lewis-Kraus. 02/18/2025: The Palantir Guide to Saving America’s Soul. Review of: The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West / Alexander C. Karp & Nicholas W. Zamiska.
Min Jin Lee. 02/19/2025: Min Jin Lee’s Indelible Twentieth-Century Women. "The “Pachinko” author recommends four novels that present character studies of bold women making their way in changing times."
Jay Kaspian Kang. 02/21/2025: A Profoundly Empathetic Book on Homelessness in the Bay Area. Review of: The Lost and the Found: A True Story of Homelessness, Found Family, and Second Chances / Kevin Fagan.
Adam Gopnick. 02/24/2025: The Gilded Age Never Ended. Review of: Henry James Comes Home: Rediscovering America in the Gilded Age / Peter Brooks. Plus call outs to a number of Gilded Age classics.
Maggie Doherty. 02/24/2025: The Many Guises of Robert Frost. Review of: Love and Need: The Life of Robert Frost’s Poetry / Adam Plunkett (Farrar. Straus & Giroux).
Joshua Rothman. 02/25/2025: Should You Be Religious? Review of: Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious / Ross Douthat.
Paul Elie. 02/26/2025: The Pope’s Role Has Changed in Our Time. But Has the Church? On Jesus Wept: Seven Popes and the Battle for the Soul of the Catholic Church / Philip Shenon.
47featherbear
Atlantic Feb 2025
Adam Begley. 02/04/2025: A Novelist Who Looks Into the Dark. On Gliff / Ali Smith.
George Packer. 02/05/2025: The Warrior’s Anti-War Novel. "In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque invented modern war writing."
Lauren LeBlanc. 02/10/2025: The Outsider Who Captured American Loneliness. "The Finnish writer Tove Jansson returned from a U.S. trip with a new perspective on home—and an enduring novel." Regarding the reissue of: Sun City / Tove Jansson; translated by Thomas Teal. (NYRB Classics)
Haley Mlotek. 02/14/2025: Seven Books That Capture How Love Really Feels. Valentine's Day Special. The books are: The End of the Novel of Love / Vivian Gornick -- I Can Give You Anything but Love / Gary Indiana --Rapture / Susan Minot -- See Now Then / Jamaica Kincaid -- Sula / Toni Morrison -- A Year on Earth With Mr. Hell / Young Kim -- Famous Questions / Fanny Howe (also in the collection Radical Love: 5 novels).
James Parker. 02/18/2025 (March 2025 print issue): When Robert Frost Was Bad: Before he became America’s most famous poet, he wrote some real howlers.
02/18/2025: ‘There Is No One-Size-Fits-All Approach to Reading Instruction.’ "Readers respond to our December 2024 issue and more."
Yoni Applebaum, interviewer Hanna Rosin. 02/20/2025: Americans Are Stuck. Who’s to Blame? Regarding Applebaum's new book Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity.
David L. Ulin. 02/21/2025: A Novel That Boldly Rethinks the Border. Review of: Brother Brontë: A Novel / Fernando A. Flores.
Rhian Saseen. 02/24/2025: Six Older Books That Deserve to Be Popular Today: The Maimed / Hermann Ungar, translated by Kevin Blahut -- Fish Tales / Nettie Jones -- I Who Have Never Known Men / Jacqueline Harpman, translated by Ros Schwartz -- The Long-Winded Lady: Notes From The New Yorker / Maeve Brennan -- Mr. Dudron / Giorgio de Chirico, translated by Stefania Heim (A Public Space Books) -- Twilight Sleep / Edith Wharton.
Franklin Foer. 02/26/2025: The Dangers of Philo-Semitism. Review of: The World After Gaza - A History / Pankaj Mishra.
George Packer. 02/27/2025: How Ross Douthat’s Proselytizing Falls Short. Review of: Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious / Ross Douthat.
Danielle Amir Jackson. 02/27/2025: The Island Nation Whose History Reflects America’s. Review of: Talk to Me: Lessons From a Family Forged by History / Rich Benjamin. "Rich Benjamin’s new book reveals a shared spirit between the world’s first Black republic and the United States."
Adam Begley. 02/04/2025: A Novelist Who Looks Into the Dark. On Gliff / Ali Smith.
George Packer. 02/05/2025: The Warrior’s Anti-War Novel. "In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque invented modern war writing."
Lauren LeBlanc. 02/10/2025: The Outsider Who Captured American Loneliness. "The Finnish writer Tove Jansson returned from a U.S. trip with a new perspective on home—and an enduring novel." Regarding the reissue of: Sun City / Tove Jansson; translated by Thomas Teal. (NYRB Classics)
Haley Mlotek. 02/14/2025: Seven Books That Capture How Love Really Feels. Valentine's Day Special. The books are: The End of the Novel of Love / Vivian Gornick -- I Can Give You Anything but Love / Gary Indiana --Rapture / Susan Minot -- See Now Then / Jamaica Kincaid -- Sula / Toni Morrison -- A Year on Earth With Mr. Hell / Young Kim -- Famous Questions / Fanny Howe (also in the collection Radical Love: 5 novels).
James Parker. 02/18/2025 (March 2025 print issue): When Robert Frost Was Bad: Before he became America’s most famous poet, he wrote some real howlers.
02/18/2025: ‘There Is No One-Size-Fits-All Approach to Reading Instruction.’ "Readers respond to our December 2024 issue and more."
Yoni Applebaum, interviewer Hanna Rosin. 02/20/2025: Americans Are Stuck. Who’s to Blame? Regarding Applebaum's new book Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity.
David L. Ulin. 02/21/2025: A Novel That Boldly Rethinks the Border. Review of: Brother Brontë: A Novel / Fernando A. Flores.
Rhian Saseen. 02/24/2025: Six Older Books That Deserve to Be Popular Today: The Maimed / Hermann Ungar, translated by Kevin Blahut -- Fish Tales / Nettie Jones -- I Who Have Never Known Men / Jacqueline Harpman, translated by Ros Schwartz -- The Long-Winded Lady: Notes From The New Yorker / Maeve Brennan -- Mr. Dudron / Giorgio de Chirico, translated by Stefania Heim (A Public Space Books) -- Twilight Sleep / Edith Wharton.
Franklin Foer. 02/26/2025: The Dangers of Philo-Semitism. Review of: The World After Gaza - A History / Pankaj Mishra.
George Packer. 02/27/2025: How Ross Douthat’s Proselytizing Falls Short. Review of: Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious / Ross Douthat.
Danielle Amir Jackson. 02/27/2025: The Island Nation Whose History Reflects America’s. Review of: Talk to Me: Lessons From a Family Forged by History / Rich Benjamin. "Rich Benjamin’s new book reveals a shared spirit between the world’s first Black republic and the United States."
48featherbear
Salon books Feb 2025:
Quin Sental. 02/04/2025: Barnes & Noble opening 60 bookstores this year.
Amanda Marcotte interviews Katherine Stewart. 02/18/2025: "His mission is to eradicate 'woke Jesus'": How money, lies and religion are abused to gut democracy. Regarding Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy / Katherine Stewart.
Quin Sental. 02/04/2025: Barnes & Noble opening 60 bookstores this year.
Amanda Marcotte interviews Katherine Stewart. 02/18/2025: "His mission is to eradicate 'woke Jesus'": How money, lies and religion are abused to gut democracy. Regarding Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy / Katherine Stewart.
49featherbear
TLS February 7, 2025|No. 6358
Featured
A.N. Wilson. The Peronist Pope: The Argentine pontiff who accepts his own fallibility. Review of: HOPE: The autobiography / Pope Francis; translated by Richard Dixon.
Lindsey Hilsum. We are the news: Poems, stories, essays and artwork from Gaza. Review of: SUMŪD: A new Palestinian reader: Essays, memoir, fiction, poetry, and art from ‘The Markaz Review’ / Jordan Elgrably and Malu Halasa, editors (Seven Stories) -- DAYBREAK IN GAZA: Stories of Palestinian lives and cultures / Mahmoud Muna and Matthew Teller, editors -- FOREST OF NOISE / Mosab abu Toha.
Adam Mars-Jones. Negative space: Brady Corbet’s new film about architecture and survival. Review of Corbet's THE BRUTALIST.
Damon Galgut. Ever tried, ever failed: Eimear McBride’s risky sequel to The Lesser Bohemians. Review of: THE CITY CHANGES ITS FACE / Eimear McBride.
Mary Beard (from the TLS landing page). The name-police: modern and ancient. "My parents registered (and christened) me Winifred Mary Beard ..."
Literature & Linguistics
Anna Aslanyan. A kind of reading: The art and craft of translation. Review of: THE PHILOSOPHY OF TRANSLATION / Damion Searls.
Kathryn Sutherland. Opening a door into history: Walter Scott’s lyric versatility. Review of: POETRY FROM THE WAVERLEY NOVELS AND OTHER WORKS / Walter Scott; edited by David Hewitt.
Kate Chisholm. Knitting together a picture: The materials that connected home life to the colonies. Review of: NOVELS, NEEDLEWORKS, AND EMPIRE: Material entanglements in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world / Chloe Wigston Smith.
Keith Hopper. You don’t get to decide: An Irish migrant family is beset by tragedy down the generations. Review of: CONFESSIONS: a novel / Catherine Airey.
Nicholas Clee. Molloy dreams: A designer of playgrounds wanders in search of divinity. Review of: THE GORGEOUS INERTIA OF THE EARTH / Adrian Duncan.
Beejay Silcox. Hiroshima baby: A memoir that combines literary history, eco-elegy and polemic. Review of: QUESTION 7 / Richard Flanagan.
W. J. Davies. How he sees Howe: Claims of a family resemblance between two writers. Review of: BECKETT’S CHILDREN: A literary memoir / Michael Coffey.
Irina Dumitrescu. Lessons for leaders: The political power of “Havelok the Dane.” (Essay)
In Brief Review of: IN THRALL / Jane DeLynn.
In Brief Review of: MURDER AT MOUNT FUJI / Shizuko Natsuki; translated by Robert B. Rohmer.
In Brief Review of: THE SEAFARER / Translated by Matthew Hollis, with photographs by Norman McBeath (Hazel Press).
In Brief Review of: SOVIET-BORN: The afterlives of migration in Jewish American fiction / Karolina Krasuska.
Arts
Colin Grant. Not a well woman: Anger, grief, wit and despair in Mike Leigh’s new work. Review of Leigh's film HARD TRUTHS.
Keith Miller. The man behind the glasses: A thousand pages of comic pastiche about a Pinteresque cultural icon. Review of: THE UNFINISHED HARAULD HUGHES / Richard Ayoade -- PLAYS, PROSE, PIECES, POETRY / Harauld Hughes -- THE MODELS TRILOGY / Harauld Hughes -- FOUR FILMS / Harauld Hughes.
Henri Estier. Paris decides: An exhibition on the year of the Terror, from the heart of the city. Review of the exhibition PARIS 1793–1794: Une année révolutionnaire, Musée Carnavalet, Paris, until February 16.
Religion
Costica Bradatan. A life like a poem: The mystery of Saint Francis, beloved holy fool. Review of: FRANCIS OF ASSISI: The life of a restless saint / Volker Leppin; translated by Rhys S. Bezzant.
In Brief Review of: THE SHRINKING GODDESS: Power, myth and the female body / Mineke Schipper.
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
Patricia Fara. The first great American?: An immodest autodidact whose laboratory was the world. Review of: INGENIOUS: A biography of Benjamin Franklin, scientist / Richard Munson.
Kevin Brazil. One final kiss-off: Edmund White’s account of sex with thousands of men. Review of: THE LOVES OF MY LIFE: A sex memoir / Edmund White.
Jonathan Clark. Liberty? What liberty?: Freedom in theory and historical fact. Review of: LIBERTY AS INDEPENDENCE: The making and unmaking of a political ideal / Quentin Skinner.
Michael Taylor. Geological to a fault: How Americans asserted their providential place in the world. Review of: HOW THE NEW WORLD BECAME OLD: The deep time revolution in America / Caroline Winterer.
Kristin Roth-Ey. Red letter days: Pen pals across Cold War lines. Review of: Dear Unknown Friend: The remarkable correspondence between American and Soviet women / Alexis Peri.
Adeeb Khalid. History’s victims: Expunging the Crimean Tatars from their homeland. Review of: “A SEDITIOUS AND SINISTER TRIBE”: The Crimean Tatars and their khanate / Donald Rayfield.
In Brief Review of: SCREAMS!: Shrieks of horror and yelps of pleasure from modern life / Ysenda Maxtone Graham.
In Brief Review of: OXFORD'S WAR 1939-1945 / Ashley Jackson.
Featured
A.N. Wilson. The Peronist Pope: The Argentine pontiff who accepts his own fallibility. Review of: HOPE: The autobiography / Pope Francis; translated by Richard Dixon.
Lindsey Hilsum. We are the news: Poems, stories, essays and artwork from Gaza. Review of: SUMŪD: A new Palestinian reader: Essays, memoir, fiction, poetry, and art from ‘The Markaz Review’ / Jordan Elgrably and Malu Halasa, editors (Seven Stories) -- DAYBREAK IN GAZA: Stories of Palestinian lives and cultures / Mahmoud Muna and Matthew Teller, editors -- FOREST OF NOISE / Mosab abu Toha.
Adam Mars-Jones. Negative space: Brady Corbet’s new film about architecture and survival. Review of Corbet's THE BRUTALIST.
Damon Galgut. Ever tried, ever failed: Eimear McBride’s risky sequel to The Lesser Bohemians. Review of: THE CITY CHANGES ITS FACE / Eimear McBride.
Mary Beard (from the TLS landing page). The name-police: modern and ancient. "My parents registered (and christened) me Winifred Mary Beard ..."
Literature & Linguistics
Anna Aslanyan. A kind of reading: The art and craft of translation. Review of: THE PHILOSOPHY OF TRANSLATION / Damion Searls.
Kathryn Sutherland. Opening a door into history: Walter Scott’s lyric versatility. Review of: POETRY FROM THE WAVERLEY NOVELS AND OTHER WORKS / Walter Scott; edited by David Hewitt.
Kate Chisholm. Knitting together a picture: The materials that connected home life to the colonies. Review of: NOVELS, NEEDLEWORKS, AND EMPIRE: Material entanglements in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world / Chloe Wigston Smith.
Keith Hopper. You don’t get to decide: An Irish migrant family is beset by tragedy down the generations. Review of: CONFESSIONS: a novel / Catherine Airey.
Nicholas Clee. Molloy dreams: A designer of playgrounds wanders in search of divinity. Review of: THE GORGEOUS INERTIA OF THE EARTH / Adrian Duncan.
Beejay Silcox. Hiroshima baby: A memoir that combines literary history, eco-elegy and polemic. Review of: QUESTION 7 / Richard Flanagan.
W. J. Davies. How he sees Howe: Claims of a family resemblance between two writers. Review of: BECKETT’S CHILDREN: A literary memoir / Michael Coffey.
Irina Dumitrescu. Lessons for leaders: The political power of “Havelok the Dane.” (Essay)
In Brief Review of: IN THRALL / Jane DeLynn.
In Brief Review of: MURDER AT MOUNT FUJI / Shizuko Natsuki; translated by Robert B. Rohmer.
In Brief Review of: THE SEAFARER / Translated by Matthew Hollis, with photographs by Norman McBeath (Hazel Press).
In Brief Review of: SOVIET-BORN: The afterlives of migration in Jewish American fiction / Karolina Krasuska.
Arts
Colin Grant. Not a well woman: Anger, grief, wit and despair in Mike Leigh’s new work. Review of Leigh's film HARD TRUTHS.
Keith Miller. The man behind the glasses: A thousand pages of comic pastiche about a Pinteresque cultural icon. Review of: THE UNFINISHED HARAULD HUGHES / Richard Ayoade -- PLAYS, PROSE, PIECES, POETRY / Harauld Hughes -- THE MODELS TRILOGY / Harauld Hughes -- FOUR FILMS / Harauld Hughes.
Henri Estier. Paris decides: An exhibition on the year of the Terror, from the heart of the city. Review of the exhibition PARIS 1793–1794: Une année révolutionnaire, Musée Carnavalet, Paris, until February 16.
Religion
Costica Bradatan. A life like a poem: The mystery of Saint Francis, beloved holy fool. Review of: FRANCIS OF ASSISI: The life of a restless saint / Volker Leppin; translated by Rhys S. Bezzant.
In Brief Review of: THE SHRINKING GODDESS: Power, myth and the female body / Mineke Schipper.
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
Patricia Fara. The first great American?: An immodest autodidact whose laboratory was the world. Review of: INGENIOUS: A biography of Benjamin Franklin, scientist / Richard Munson.
Kevin Brazil. One final kiss-off: Edmund White’s account of sex with thousands of men. Review of: THE LOVES OF MY LIFE: A sex memoir / Edmund White.
Jonathan Clark. Liberty? What liberty?: Freedom in theory and historical fact. Review of: LIBERTY AS INDEPENDENCE: The making and unmaking of a political ideal / Quentin Skinner.
Michael Taylor. Geological to a fault: How Americans asserted their providential place in the world. Review of: HOW THE NEW WORLD BECAME OLD: The deep time revolution in America / Caroline Winterer.
Kristin Roth-Ey. Red letter days: Pen pals across Cold War lines. Review of: Dear Unknown Friend: The remarkable correspondence between American and Soviet women / Alexis Peri.
Adeeb Khalid. History’s victims: Expunging the Crimean Tatars from their homeland. Review of: “A SEDITIOUS AND SINISTER TRIBE”: The Crimean Tatars and their khanate / Donald Rayfield.
In Brief Review of: SCREAMS!: Shrieks of horror and yelps of pleasure from modern life / Ysenda Maxtone Graham.
In Brief Review of: OXFORD'S WAR 1939-1945 / Ashley Jackson.
50featherbear
Footnote to TLS February 7, 2025|No. 6358, since I'm currently re-reading Middlemarch, here's an excerpt from the NB column:
"A short interview with Elda Rotor, the vice-president and publisher of Penguin Classics, appeared in the New York Times at the end of December. “I approach ‘Penguin Classic’ like it’s a verb”, Ms Rotor said of her line of work. “When we Penguin Classic something, we are publishing with an intention to make the most of your experience reading something from the past.” Something from the past – or something profitable from the past? When Rotor’s colleagues heard about a proposal for Penguin Classic-ing some Marvel Comics, the response was apparently “gasps of excitement” and “at least one ‘Hell yeah’”. Asked if there was a book she was embarrassed not to have read yet, Rotor gamely confessed that she hadn’t got around to Middlemarch. “Too many people I admire love that book.”
A few weeks later, we were pleased to learn from Substack – the online platform for publishing newsletters, launched in 2017 and much expanded in recent years – that some other people are now catching up with Middlemarch. And Substack itself has something do with this trend.
“Substack made me do it”, declared the novelist Catherine Lacey on that same platform last month, adding to her announcement a photograph of – what else? – the Penguin Classic-ed edition of the novel. One response to Lacey runs: “omg everyone is reading Middlemarch! I must start it immediately”. “Why is everyone suddenly reading Middlemarch?”, asks the headline of a recent Substack newsletter; apparently, there are readers who took to reading George Eliot’s novel as early as … 2024. “Why is everybody reading Middlemarch right now?”, another Substacker asks, before adding the question that’s surely on your mind, too: “A hyper-networked, algo-forward world accidentally nurtures something meaningful. Dare I call it a vibeshift?”
All of this makes us think back to the heady days of last November, when the novelist Garth Greenwell told the Guardian that he was a “late adopter” of George Eliot; he only got round to Middlemarch in his late thirties. “Why didn’t someone intervene?”
"A short interview with Elda Rotor, the vice-president and publisher of Penguin Classics, appeared in the New York Times at the end of December. “I approach ‘Penguin Classic’ like it’s a verb”, Ms Rotor said of her line of work. “When we Penguin Classic something, we are publishing with an intention to make the most of your experience reading something from the past.” Something from the past – or something profitable from the past? When Rotor’s colleagues heard about a proposal for Penguin Classic-ing some Marvel Comics, the response was apparently “gasps of excitement” and “at least one ‘Hell yeah’”. Asked if there was a book she was embarrassed not to have read yet, Rotor gamely confessed that she hadn’t got around to Middlemarch. “Too many people I admire love that book.”
A few weeks later, we were pleased to learn from Substack – the online platform for publishing newsletters, launched in 2017 and much expanded in recent years – that some other people are now catching up with Middlemarch. And Substack itself has something do with this trend.
“Substack made me do it”, declared the novelist Catherine Lacey on that same platform last month, adding to her announcement a photograph of – what else? – the Penguin Classic-ed edition of the novel. One response to Lacey runs: “omg everyone is reading Middlemarch! I must start it immediately”. “Why is everyone suddenly reading Middlemarch?”, asks the headline of a recent Substack newsletter; apparently, there are readers who took to reading George Eliot’s novel as early as … 2024. “Why is everybody reading Middlemarch right now?”, another Substacker asks, before adding the question that’s surely on your mind, too: “A hyper-networked, algo-forward world accidentally nurtures something meaningful. Dare I call it a vibeshift?”
All of this makes us think back to the heady days of last November, when the novelist Garth Greenwell told the Guardian that he was a “late adopter” of George Eliot; he only got round to Middlemarch in his late thirties. “Why didn’t someone intervene?”
51featherbear
The Critic (UK) February 2025:
James Stevens Curl. 02/02/2025: The lost world of Stefan Zweig. Review of: In the Future of Yesterday: A Life of Stefan Zweig / Rüdiger Görner.
Cayla Bleoaja. 02/03/2025: Mushrooming problem: We’re getting closer to fungi breaking down our plastic waste. Review of: Entangled Life / Merlin Sheldrake.
Daniel Hannan. 02/03/2025: Holy wars and unlikely alliances. Review of: House of War: The Struggle between Christendom and the Caliphate / Simon Mayall.
Frances Forbes-Carbines. 02/06/2025: Life stories, writ large. Review of: Tattoos: The Untold History of a Modern Art / Matthew Lodder.
Helen Joyce. 02/07/2025: Being cruel to women. Review of: (Un)kind: How “Be Kind” Entrenches Sexism / Victoria Smith (Fleet).
John Marenbon. 02/08/2025: Keeping the faith. Review of: Why Aquinas Matters Now / Oliver Keenan.
Justin Marozzi. 02/10/2025: A peerless witness. Review of: A Quiet Evening: The Travels of Norman Lewis / Norman Lewis; selected and introduced by John Hatt.
Alexandra Wilson. 02/17/2025: Russian roulette. Review of: The Sound of Utopia: Musicians in the Time of Stalin / Michel Krielaars, translated by Jonathan Reeder (Pushkin).
Peter Sarris. 02/23/2025: Young man — there’s a place you can go … Review of: Queer Cambridge: An Alternative History / Simon Goldhill.
Mark Mason. 02/24/2025: Your front-room friend. Review of: Listen In: How Radio Changed the Home / Beaty Rubens.
Aditya Anand Kumar. 02/24/2025: How Britain made Assam. Review of: The British Takeover of Assam / Caroline Keen (Amberley Publishing).
Alan Sokal. 02/27/2025: Deconstructing the architecture of cancel culture. Review of: The Canceling of the American Mind: How Cancel Culture Undermines Trust, Destroys Institutions, and Threatens Us All / Greg Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott.
James Stevens Curl. 02/02/2025: The lost world of Stefan Zweig. Review of: In the Future of Yesterday: A Life of Stefan Zweig / Rüdiger Görner.
Cayla Bleoaja. 02/03/2025: Mushrooming problem: We’re getting closer to fungi breaking down our plastic waste. Review of: Entangled Life / Merlin Sheldrake.
Daniel Hannan. 02/03/2025: Holy wars and unlikely alliances. Review of: House of War: The Struggle between Christendom and the Caliphate / Simon Mayall.
Frances Forbes-Carbines. 02/06/2025: Life stories, writ large. Review of: Tattoos: The Untold History of a Modern Art / Matthew Lodder.
Helen Joyce. 02/07/2025: Being cruel to women. Review of: (Un)kind: How “Be Kind” Entrenches Sexism / Victoria Smith (Fleet).
John Marenbon. 02/08/2025: Keeping the faith. Review of: Why Aquinas Matters Now / Oliver Keenan.
Justin Marozzi. 02/10/2025: A peerless witness. Review of: A Quiet Evening: The Travels of Norman Lewis / Norman Lewis; selected and introduced by John Hatt.
Alexandra Wilson. 02/17/2025: Russian roulette. Review of: The Sound of Utopia: Musicians in the Time of Stalin / Michel Krielaars, translated by Jonathan Reeder (Pushkin).
Peter Sarris. 02/23/2025: Young man — there’s a place you can go … Review of: Queer Cambridge: An Alternative History / Simon Goldhill.
Mark Mason. 02/24/2025: Your front-room friend. Review of: Listen In: How Radio Changed the Home / Beaty Rubens.
Aditya Anand Kumar. 02/24/2025: How Britain made Assam. Review of: The British Takeover of Assam / Caroline Keen (Amberley Publishing).
Alan Sokal. 02/27/2025: Deconstructing the architecture of cancel culture. Review of: The Canceling of the American Mind: How Cancel Culture Undermines Trust, Destroys Institutions, and Threatens Us All / Greg Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott.
52featherbear
The Point, Feb 2025
Sam Criss. 02/04/2025: Alt Lit.
Jared Marcell Pollen. 02/19/2025: The Painter of Thought: On Montaigne’s epistemic style
Sam Criss. 02/04/2025: Alt Lit.
Jared Marcell Pollen. 02/19/2025: The Painter of Thought: On Montaigne’s epistemic style
53featherbear
Public Books on books Feb 2025:
Timothy Donahue. 02/04/2025: Civility and/or Social Change? Review of: Against Civility: The Hidden Racism in Our Obsession with Civility / Alex Zamalin.
Sharon Marcus interviews Deborah Paredez. 02/06/2025: “The Diva Always Has a Transcendent Virtuosity”: Deborah Paredez on Divas, Tías, and Celebrity. Concerning American Diva: Extraordinary, Unruly, Fabulous / Deborah Paredez.
Ryan Boyd. 02/11/2025: Money for Nothing: Finance and the End of Culture. Review of: Derivative Media: How Wall Street Devours Culture / Andrew deWaard -- Immediacy, or, The Style of Too Late Capitalism / Anna Kornbluh.
Melanie D. Newport. 02/12/2025: Slavery Is Not a Metaphor: Rethinking Mass Incarceration with John Bardes. Interviewing the author of: The Carceral City: Slavery and the Making of Mass Incarceration in New Orleans, 1803–1930 / John K. Bardes.
Sean Hooks. 02/18/2025: “Who Made These Rules?”: Claire Messud on What’s Distracting from Good Writing. Review of: This Strange Eventful History / Claire Messud.
Jessica Rucker. 02/20/2025: Rethinking Reconstruction. Review of: Freedom Was in Sight! A Graphic History of Reconstruction in the Washington, D.C., Region / Kate Masur, illustrated by Liz Clarke.
Liz Bowen. 02/25/2025: Can You Predict What You’ll Need? Talking Time, Space, and Disability with Margaret Price. Review of: Crip Spacetime: Access, Failure, and Accountability in Academic Life / Margaret Price.
Maia McAleavey. 02/26/2025: B-Sides: Menander’s “Dyskolos.” On Dyskolos (The Bad-Tempered Man) / Menander.
Timothy Donahue. 02/04/2025: Civility and/or Social Change? Review of: Against Civility: The Hidden Racism in Our Obsession with Civility / Alex Zamalin.
Sharon Marcus interviews Deborah Paredez. 02/06/2025: “The Diva Always Has a Transcendent Virtuosity”: Deborah Paredez on Divas, Tías, and Celebrity. Concerning American Diva: Extraordinary, Unruly, Fabulous / Deborah Paredez.
Ryan Boyd. 02/11/2025: Money for Nothing: Finance and the End of Culture. Review of: Derivative Media: How Wall Street Devours Culture / Andrew deWaard -- Immediacy, or, The Style of Too Late Capitalism / Anna Kornbluh.
Melanie D. Newport. 02/12/2025: Slavery Is Not a Metaphor: Rethinking Mass Incarceration with John Bardes. Interviewing the author of: The Carceral City: Slavery and the Making of Mass Incarceration in New Orleans, 1803–1930 / John K. Bardes.
Sean Hooks. 02/18/2025: “Who Made These Rules?”: Claire Messud on What’s Distracting from Good Writing. Review of: This Strange Eventful History / Claire Messud.
Jessica Rucker. 02/20/2025: Rethinking Reconstruction. Review of: Freedom Was in Sight! A Graphic History of Reconstruction in the Washington, D.C., Region / Kate Masur, illustrated by Liz Clarke.
Liz Bowen. 02/25/2025: Can You Predict What You’ll Need? Talking Time, Space, and Disability with Margaret Price. Review of: Crip Spacetime: Access, Failure, and Accountability in Academic Life / Margaret Price.
Maia McAleavey. 02/26/2025: B-Sides: Menander’s “Dyskolos.” On Dyskolos (The Bad-Tempered Man) / Menander.
54featherbear
LitHub book related Feb 2025:
James Folta. 02/05/2025: Libraries are already contending with crappy, AI-generated books.
Rebecca Romney. 02/18/2025: Jane Austen’s Many Literary Afterlives: A Reading List. See also the NYT review of Romney's Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend >43 featherbear:
James Folta. 02/19/2025: Next week, Amazon is stripping away your ability to download your ebooks.
Madeleine Watts. 02/20/2025: WG Sebald’s Rings of Saturn Might Be the Perfect Climate Change Novel. LT touchstone link: The Rings of Saturn / W.G. Sebald.
Annabel Abbs. 02/19/2025: How Walking Shaped Simone and Hélène de Beauvoir’s Art and Thought. I'm guessing this is an excerpt from Windswept: walking the paths of trailblazing women / Annabel Abbs, but LitHub wasn't clear.
Wendy Chen. 02/23/2025: On Being Mentored by a Chinese Woman Writer Who Lived a Thousand Years Ago. "Wendy Chen Considers What Translating Li Qingzhao Taught Her About Her Own Work." Regarding The Magpie at Night: The Complete Poems of Li Qingzhao (1084–1151) / Li Qingzhao, translated by Wendy Chen.
Charlotte Taylor Fryar. 02/26/2025: Lit From the Chocolate City: Ten Washington D.C Books That Aren’t About Politicians: Lost in the City: Stories / Edward P. Jones -- The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears / Dinaw Mengestu -- Creatures of Passage / Morowa Yejidé -- The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois: A Novel / Honoree Fanonne Jeffers -- Cane / Jean Toomer -- Spring in Washington / Louis Halle -- Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation’s Capital / Chris Myers Asch, George Derek Musgrove -- Go-Go Live: The Musical Life and Death of a Chocolate City / Natalie Hopkinson -- Black in Place: The Spatial Aesthetics of Race in a Post-Chocolate City / Brandi Thompson Summers -- River of Redemption: Almanac of Life on the Anacostia / Krista Schyler. Fryar's Potomac Fever: Reflections on the Nation’s River is scheduled for publication Mar. 10 per Amazon.
Nussaibah Younis. 02/28/2025: Ten Essential Novels That Showcase the Rich Literary Culture of the Middle East. Comments on: Woman at Point Zero / Nawal el-Saadawi -- The Rope: A Novel / Kanan Makiya -- Guapa: A Novel / Saleem Haddad -- Enter Ghost / Isabella Hammad -- In the Country of Men: A Novel / Hishama Matar -- The Yacoubian Building: A Novel / Alaa Al Aswany -- Girls of Riyadh / Rajaa Alsanea; translator Marilyn Booth -- Palace Walk: The Cairo Trilogy, Volume 1 / Naguib Mahfouz -- The Queue / Basma Abdel Aziz; translator, Elisabeth Jaquette -- Frankenstein in Baghdad: A Novel / Ahmed Saadawi. Younis is the author of Fundamentally: A Novel.
James Folta. 02/05/2025: Libraries are already contending with crappy, AI-generated books.
Rebecca Romney. 02/18/2025: Jane Austen’s Many Literary Afterlives: A Reading List. See also the NYT review of Romney's Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend >43 featherbear:
James Folta. 02/19/2025: Next week, Amazon is stripping away your ability to download your ebooks.
Madeleine Watts. 02/20/2025: WG Sebald’s Rings of Saturn Might Be the Perfect Climate Change Novel. LT touchstone link: The Rings of Saturn / W.G. Sebald.
Annabel Abbs. 02/19/2025: How Walking Shaped Simone and Hélène de Beauvoir’s Art and Thought. I'm guessing this is an excerpt from Windswept: walking the paths of trailblazing women / Annabel Abbs, but LitHub wasn't clear.
Wendy Chen. 02/23/2025: On Being Mentored by a Chinese Woman Writer Who Lived a Thousand Years Ago. "Wendy Chen Considers What Translating Li Qingzhao Taught Her About Her Own Work." Regarding The Magpie at Night: The Complete Poems of Li Qingzhao (1084–1151) / Li Qingzhao, translated by Wendy Chen.
Charlotte Taylor Fryar. 02/26/2025: Lit From the Chocolate City: Ten Washington D.C Books That Aren’t About Politicians: Lost in the City: Stories / Edward P. Jones -- The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears / Dinaw Mengestu -- Creatures of Passage / Morowa Yejidé -- The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois: A Novel / Honoree Fanonne Jeffers -- Cane / Jean Toomer -- Spring in Washington / Louis Halle -- Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation’s Capital / Chris Myers Asch, George Derek Musgrove -- Go-Go Live: The Musical Life and Death of a Chocolate City / Natalie Hopkinson -- Black in Place: The Spatial Aesthetics of Race in a Post-Chocolate City / Brandi Thompson Summers -- River of Redemption: Almanac of Life on the Anacostia / Krista Schyler. Fryar's Potomac Fever: Reflections on the Nation’s River is scheduled for publication Mar. 10 per Amazon.
Nussaibah Younis. 02/28/2025: Ten Essential Novels That Showcase the Rich Literary Culture of the Middle East. Comments on: Woman at Point Zero / Nawal el-Saadawi -- The Rope: A Novel / Kanan Makiya -- Guapa: A Novel / Saleem Haddad -- Enter Ghost / Isabella Hammad -- In the Country of Men: A Novel / Hishama Matar -- The Yacoubian Building: A Novel / Alaa Al Aswany -- Girls of Riyadh / Rajaa Alsanea; translator Marilyn Booth -- Palace Walk: The Cairo Trilogy, Volume 1 / Naguib Mahfouz -- The Queue / Basma Abdel Aziz; translator, Elisabeth Jaquette -- Frankenstein in Baghdad: A Novel / Ahmed Saadawi. Younis is the author of Fundamentally: A Novel.
55featherbear
Paris Review Feb 2025
Jamieson Webster. 02/06/2025: Room, Moon, Moon, Balloon: Reading and Breathing. On the author of Goodnight Moon / Margaret Wise Brown.
"Margaret Wise Brown is a special children’s book writer, psychoanalytically inspired, educated at the revolutionary Bank Street School in New York City where apparently she went too far for even their sensibilities. A New Yorker profile notes her tendency toward extremes going all the way back. “She was a tomboy with a terrible temper … When Brown became angry she some-times held her breath until she turned blue, prompting a nanny to plunge her head into a tub of ice-cold water.” Brown’s fantastical, wild, and brief life befits the modernist poetics of her writing, hidden in the simplest of stories. She changed children’s literature, and, like a good psychoanalyst, she claims she was mere “eye and ear” for the children who were the real writers of her stories."
Jamieson Webster. 02/06/2025: Room, Moon, Moon, Balloon: Reading and Breathing. On the author of Goodnight Moon / Margaret Wise Brown.
"Margaret Wise Brown is a special children’s book writer, psychoanalytically inspired, educated at the revolutionary Bank Street School in New York City where apparently she went too far for even their sensibilities. A New Yorker profile notes her tendency toward extremes going all the way back. “She was a tomboy with a terrible temper … When Brown became angry she some-times held her breath until she turned blue, prompting a nanny to plunge her head into a tub of ice-cold water.” Brown’s fantastical, wild, and brief life befits the modernist poetics of her writing, hidden in the simplest of stories. She changed children’s literature, and, like a good psychoanalyst, she claims she was mere “eye and ear” for the children who were the real writers of her stories."
56featherbear
fivebooks.com Feb 2025
Natascha Scott-Stokes, interviewer Sophie Roell. 02/05/2025: The best books on Chile: Back to Cape Horn / Rosie Swale -- Between Extremes: A Journey Beyond Imagination / Brian Keenan -- Victor: The Life and Music of Victor Jara / Joan Jara (UK title: An Unfinished Song -- The House of the Spirits: A Novel / Isabel Allende -- Cape Horn and Other Stories from the End of the World / Francisco Coloane; translator David A. Petreman. Scott-Stokes's recent book is Tales from the Sharp End: A Portrait of Chile.
Recommended by Expert interviewees on Five Books. 02/12/2025: Biographies of Ancient Greeks and Romans. "a roundup of all the biographies recommended on Five Books about ancient Greeks and Romans, from contemporary accounts to more recent works."
Rebeka Russell, Cal Flyn interviewer. 02/21/2025: Forgotten 20th-Century Classic Books: The Fly On the Wheel / Katherine Cecil Thurston -- The Ginger Tree / Oswald Wynd --The Girl with the White Flag / Tomiko Higa -- Minty Alley / C.L.R. James -- Riddley Walker / Russell Hoban.
Simon Cox, interviewer Sophie Roell. 02/24/2025: The best books on Taoism: The Taoist Experience: An Anthology (Chinese Philosophy Culture) / Livia Kohn -- The Daode jing Commentary of Cheng Xuanying: Daoism, Buddhism, and the Laozi in the Tang Dynasty (Oxford Chinese Thought) / Friederike Assandri -- Zhuangzi: A New Translation of the Sayings of Master Zhuang as Interpreted by Guo Xiang (Translations from the Asian Classics) / Richard John Lynn -- Taoism and the Arts of China / editors Stephen Little, Kristofer Schipper, Wu Hung -- Feline Philosophy / John Gray.
Natascha Scott-Stokes, interviewer Sophie Roell. 02/05/2025: The best books on Chile: Back to Cape Horn / Rosie Swale -- Between Extremes: A Journey Beyond Imagination / Brian Keenan -- Victor: The Life and Music of Victor Jara / Joan Jara (UK title: An Unfinished Song -- The House of the Spirits: A Novel / Isabel Allende -- Cape Horn and Other Stories from the End of the World / Francisco Coloane; translator David A. Petreman. Scott-Stokes's recent book is Tales from the Sharp End: A Portrait of Chile.
Recommended by Expert interviewees on Five Books. 02/12/2025: Biographies of Ancient Greeks and Romans. "a roundup of all the biographies recommended on Five Books about ancient Greeks and Romans, from contemporary accounts to more recent works."
Rebeka Russell, Cal Flyn interviewer. 02/21/2025: Forgotten 20th-Century Classic Books: The Fly On the Wheel / Katherine Cecil Thurston -- The Ginger Tree / Oswald Wynd --The Girl with the White Flag / Tomiko Higa -- Minty Alley / C.L.R. James -- Riddley Walker / Russell Hoban.
Simon Cox, interviewer Sophie Roell. 02/24/2025: The best books on Taoism: The Taoist Experience: An Anthology (Chinese Philosophy Culture) / Livia Kohn -- The Daode jing Commentary of Cheng Xuanying: Daoism, Buddhism, and the Laozi in the Tang Dynasty (Oxford Chinese Thought) / Friederike Assandri -- Zhuangzi: A New Translation of the Sayings of Master Zhuang as Interpreted by Guo Xiang (Translations from the Asian Classics) / Richard John Lynn -- Taoism and the Arts of China / editors Stephen Little, Kristofer Schipper, Wu Hung -- Feline Philosophy / John Gray.
57featherbear
Anson Rabinbach, 1945-2025
Clay Risen. NYT, 02/07/2025: Anson Rabinbach, Leading Historian of Nazi Culture, Dies at 79. "He demonstrated that fascism had its own intellectual roots and showed how ideas, theories and an antisemitic “ethos” influenced German culture and policymaking."
Co-founder of New German Critique. Author of The Human Motor: Energy, Fatigue and the Origins of Modernity (1990), In the Shadow of Catastrophe: German Intellectuals Between Apocalypse and Enlightenment (1997), editor, with Sandor Gilman, of The Third Reich Sourcebook (2013).
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/rabinbachanson
Clay Risen. NYT, 02/07/2025: Anson Rabinbach, Leading Historian of Nazi Culture, Dies at 79. "He demonstrated that fascism had its own intellectual roots and showed how ideas, theories and an antisemitic “ethos” influenced German culture and policymaking."
Co-founder of New German Critique. Author of The Human Motor: Energy, Fatigue and the Origins of Modernity (1990), In the Shadow of Catastrophe: German Intellectuals Between Apocalypse and Enlightenment (1997), editor, with Sandor Gilman, of The Third Reich Sourcebook (2013).
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/rabinbachanson
58featherbear
NYRB Online Feb 27 2025:
Literature
Christopher Benfy. ‘A Loving Caw from a Nameless Friend.’ Review of: The Letters of Emily Dickinson / edited by Cristanne Miller and Domhnall Mitchell.
Michael Hofmann. Curable or Not? "This essay appears, in somewhat different form, as the introduction to a new translation by Michael Hofmann of Markus Werner’s The Frog in the Throat, to be published by New York Review Books in March."
Sigrid Nunez. A Hero for Cro-MAGA Times. Review of: Blood Test / Charles Baxter.
Arts
Andrew Katzenstein. The Impressionist. Review of: Frederick Wiseman: An American Institution, a retrospective at Film at Lincoln Center, New York City, January 31–March 5, 2025 -- The Worlds of Wiseman, a retrospective at the Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, January 1–February 5, 2025 -- Voyages of Discovery: The Cinema of Frederick Wiseman, Revised and Expanded Edition / Barry Keith Grant -- Menus-Plaisirs—Les Troisgros / a documentary film directed by Frederick Wiseman.
Colin B. Bailey. A Daring Departure. Review of: Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment,
an exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, March 26–July 14, 2024, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., September 8, 2024–January 19, 2025; Catalog of the exhibition edited by Sylvie Patry and Anne Robbins with Kimberly A. Jones and Mary Morton -- Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism / Sebastian Smee.
Alma Guillermoprieto. A Telenovela Macondo. Review of: One Hundred Years of Solitude, a television series directed by Alex García López and Laura Mora.
Joe Sacco & Art Spiegelman. Never Again and Again: a graphic conversation.
Hannah Stamler. 02/08/2025: Cherchez les Femmes. "An exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery retells the history of transnational modernism from the perspective of expatriate American women."
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
James Gleick. The Prophet Business. Review of: A Century of Tomorrows: How Imagining the Future Shapes the Present / Glenn Adamson.
Irina Dumitrescu. The Great Leap Backward. Review of: Free: Coming of Age at the End of History / Lea Ypi. "Lea Ypi’s memoir of her childhood in Communist Albania asks whether individual freedom is always elusive, even in liberal democracies."
Perry Link. China’s Counter-Histories. Review of: Sparks: China’s Underground Historians and Their Battle for the Future / Ian Johnson.
Vivian Gornick. In Lieu of Love. Review of: Instead of a Letter / Diana Athill, with an afterword by Lena Dunham. "Diana Athill chose a life of sexual and intellectual exploration. Could she get it all down on the page?"
Anna Louie Sussman. Waiting by the Phone. Review of: The End of Love: Sex and Desire in the Twenty-First Century / Tamara Tenenbaum, translated from the Spanish by Carolina Parodi -- The Case Against the Sexual Revolution: A New Guide to Sex in the 21st Century / Louise Perry -- Rethinking Sex: a provocation / Christine Emba -- Bad Sex: Truth, Pleasure, and an Unfinished Revolution / Nona Willis Aronowitz.
Fred Kaplan. Rebooting the Pentagon. Review of: Unit X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Future of War / Raj M. Shah and Christopher Kirchhoff.
Christopher de Bellaigue. Brazil: The Threat from the Right. (Article: "Former president Jair Bolsonaro and his allies have brought violence into Brazilian political discourse, with consequences that will endure.")
Ben Tarnoff. 02/07/2025: More Babies! On the psychic allure of Trumpism.
Online Feb Addenda
Langdon Hammer. 02/23/2025: Grandfather’s Bible. "In the world of her grandparents in rural Nova Scotia, Elizabeth Bishop found a deep well of inspiration—and Christian beliefs she would always struggle against."
Moira Donegan. 02/26/2025: Patriarchal Bargains. "In her long-out-of-print study of conservative gender politics, Andrea Dworkin reflected on how right-wing women seek safety and status within a movement that demeans them." Regarding Right-Wing Women / Andrea Dworkin.
Literature
Christopher Benfy. ‘A Loving Caw from a Nameless Friend.’ Review of: The Letters of Emily Dickinson / edited by Cristanne Miller and Domhnall Mitchell.
Michael Hofmann. Curable or Not? "This essay appears, in somewhat different form, as the introduction to a new translation by Michael Hofmann of Markus Werner’s The Frog in the Throat, to be published by New York Review Books in March."
Sigrid Nunez. A Hero for Cro-MAGA Times. Review of: Blood Test / Charles Baxter.
Arts
Andrew Katzenstein. The Impressionist. Review of: Frederick Wiseman: An American Institution, a retrospective at Film at Lincoln Center, New York City, January 31–March 5, 2025 -- The Worlds of Wiseman, a retrospective at the Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, January 1–February 5, 2025 -- Voyages of Discovery: The Cinema of Frederick Wiseman, Revised and Expanded Edition / Barry Keith Grant -- Menus-Plaisirs—Les Troisgros / a documentary film directed by Frederick Wiseman.
Colin B. Bailey. A Daring Departure. Review of: Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment,
an exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, March 26–July 14, 2024, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., September 8, 2024–January 19, 2025; Catalog of the exhibition edited by Sylvie Patry and Anne Robbins with Kimberly A. Jones and Mary Morton -- Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism / Sebastian Smee.
Alma Guillermoprieto. A Telenovela Macondo. Review of: One Hundred Years of Solitude, a television series directed by Alex García López and Laura Mora.
Joe Sacco & Art Spiegelman. Never Again and Again: a graphic conversation.
Hannah Stamler. 02/08/2025: Cherchez les Femmes. "An exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery retells the history of transnational modernism from the perspective of expatriate American women."
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
James Gleick. The Prophet Business. Review of: A Century of Tomorrows: How Imagining the Future Shapes the Present / Glenn Adamson.
Irina Dumitrescu. The Great Leap Backward. Review of: Free: Coming of Age at the End of History / Lea Ypi. "Lea Ypi’s memoir of her childhood in Communist Albania asks whether individual freedom is always elusive, even in liberal democracies."
Perry Link. China’s Counter-Histories. Review of: Sparks: China’s Underground Historians and Their Battle for the Future / Ian Johnson.
Vivian Gornick. In Lieu of Love. Review of: Instead of a Letter / Diana Athill, with an afterword by Lena Dunham. "Diana Athill chose a life of sexual and intellectual exploration. Could she get it all down on the page?"
Anna Louie Sussman. Waiting by the Phone. Review of: The End of Love: Sex and Desire in the Twenty-First Century / Tamara Tenenbaum, translated from the Spanish by Carolina Parodi -- The Case Against the Sexual Revolution: A New Guide to Sex in the 21st Century / Louise Perry -- Rethinking Sex: a provocation / Christine Emba -- Bad Sex: Truth, Pleasure, and an Unfinished Revolution / Nona Willis Aronowitz.
Fred Kaplan. Rebooting the Pentagon. Review of: Unit X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Future of War / Raj M. Shah and Christopher Kirchhoff.
Christopher de Bellaigue. Brazil: The Threat from the Right. (Article: "Former president Jair Bolsonaro and his allies have brought violence into Brazilian political discourse, with consequences that will endure.")
Ben Tarnoff. 02/07/2025: More Babies! On the psychic allure of Trumpism.
Online Feb Addenda
Langdon Hammer. 02/23/2025: Grandfather’s Bible. "In the world of her grandparents in rural Nova Scotia, Elizabeth Bishop found a deep well of inspiration—and Christian beliefs she would always struggle against."
Moira Donegan. 02/26/2025: Patriarchal Bargains. "In her long-out-of-print study of conservative gender politics, Andrea Dworkin reflected on how right-wing women seek safety and status within a movement that demeans them." Regarding Right-Wing Women / Andrea Dworkin.
59featherbear
Tom Robbins, 1932-2025
Clay Risen. NYT, 02/09/2025: Tom Robbins, Whose Comic Novels Drew a Cult Following, Dies at 92.
"Alongside works by Carlos Castaneda, Richard Brautigan and Kurt Vonnegut, Tom Robbins paperbacks, dog-eared and torn, were common sights on the bookshelves and bedside milk crates of the late hippie era, between the tail end of the Vietnam War and the rise of Ronald Reagan’s America. He became one of the rare writers to achieve both a cult following and mega-best-seller status.
"With their meandering plots, pop-philosophical asides and frequent jabs at social convention and organized religion, Mr. Robbins’s books were the perfect accompaniment to acid trips, Grateful Dead shows and weekend yoga retreats, long before those things became middle-class and mainstream.
"In 1963, he ingested 300 micrograms of pharmaceutical-grade lysergic acid diethylamide — his first LSD trip. It was, he said, life changing and life affirming. He quit his job to write freelance for underground newspapers.
"He developed a local reputation as an offbeat writer, but it wasn’t until 1967, when he reviewed a concert by the Doors, that he found his style, inspired by the liberating otherworldliness of Jim Morrison and his band. He moved to La Conner and began to write a novel."
Books include: Another Roadside Attraction (1971) -- Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1976) -- Still Life with Woodpecker (1980) -- Jitterbug Perfume (1984) -- his memoir, Tibetan Peach Pie (2014)
Tom Robbins's LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/robbinstom-1
Clay Risen. NYT, 02/09/2025: Tom Robbins, Whose Comic Novels Drew a Cult Following, Dies at 92.
"Alongside works by Carlos Castaneda, Richard Brautigan and Kurt Vonnegut, Tom Robbins paperbacks, dog-eared and torn, were common sights on the bookshelves and bedside milk crates of the late hippie era, between the tail end of the Vietnam War and the rise of Ronald Reagan’s America. He became one of the rare writers to achieve both a cult following and mega-best-seller status.
"With their meandering plots, pop-philosophical asides and frequent jabs at social convention and organized religion, Mr. Robbins’s books were the perfect accompaniment to acid trips, Grateful Dead shows and weekend yoga retreats, long before those things became middle-class and mainstream.
"In 1963, he ingested 300 micrograms of pharmaceutical-grade lysergic acid diethylamide — his first LSD trip. It was, he said, life changing and life affirming. He quit his job to write freelance for underground newspapers.
"He developed a local reputation as an offbeat writer, but it wasn’t until 1967, when he reviewed a concert by the Doors, that he found his style, inspired by the liberating otherworldliness of Jim Morrison and his band. He moved to La Conner and began to write a novel."
Books include: Another Roadside Attraction (1971) -- Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1976) -- Still Life with Woodpecker (1980) -- Jitterbug Perfume (1984) -- his memoir, Tibetan Peach Pie (2014)
Tom Robbins's LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/robbinstom-1
60featherbear
Jason Garfield. Quillette, 02/10/2025: The Great Unfinished Generational Epic. "George R.R. Martin, the Strauss-Howe theory of history, and the failure of the Baby Boomers." Editorializing on Game of Thrones.
61featherbear
Jhumpa Lahiri. The Dial, 02/11/2025: Bone into stone: on translating Ovid's Metamorphoses.
62featherbear
Rosalind Harvey. Words Without Borders, 02/10/2025: Is That a Familiar Feeling? "In this intimate and insightful essay, Rosalind Harvey explores the complex emotional and professional terrain of literary translation, weaving together attachment theory, career precarity, and the unseen labor of bringing words across linguistic borders."
63featherbear
Nico Baumbach. Parapraxis, n.d.: The Last Good Dad: On Fredric Jameson’s pedagogy. "Bibliomania Issue 05."
64featherbear
William Dieresiewicz. The Hinternet, 02/09/2025: Here Come the Allodidacts: the future of reading. "Deep Reading with Ena Alvarado, Franklin Eccher, Brian Hamilton, Benjamin Laufer, Gabriella Okigbo, and Caroline Young."
65featherbear
TLS February 14, 2025|No. 6359
Featured
Mary Beard. Change and decay: The fashions and artifice of ruins. Review of: THE RUINS OF ROME: A cultural history / Roland Mayer.
Mary Beard (TLS landing page). Life writing.
Carlos Fraenkel. How should we live?: The case for the examined life. Review of: OPEN SOCRATES: The case for a philosophical life / Agnes Callard.
Claire Lowden. Pain keeps the dead alive: Remembering a massacre in Korea – and all those who ‘ever suffered similar fates.’ Review of: WE DO NOT PART / Han Kang; translated by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris.
Costica Bradatan. Paving the way for Trump: How America’s liberal elites exploit progressive causes for their own profit. Review of: WE HAVE NEVER BEEN WOKE: The cultural contradictions of a new elite / Musa al-Gharbi.
Literature & Linguistics
Tim Parks. Literature in Laputa: AI’s transformative translations. (Essay)
James McConnachie. A write-off: The variety and fragility of the world’s minority scripts. Review of: AN ATLAS OF ENDANGERED ALPHABETS: Writing systems on the verge of vanishing / Tim Brookes; illustrated by Sarah Greeno.
Anne Fuchs. Eyes wide open: The Austrian literary tradition in the work of a German master. Review of: SILENT CATASTROPHES: Essays in Austrian / W.G. Sebald; translated by Jo Catling.
Beejay Silcox. When the fog clears: The de Céspedes revival continues with a ‘magnificently savage’ novel set in a convent-run boarding house for young women. Review of: THERE’S NO TURNING BACK / Alba de Céspedes; translated by Ann Goldstein (Pushkin Press).
Conor Truax. Beauty is there: A crisis of masculinity – and the ultimate vow of commitment. Review of: THE SUICIDES / Antonio di Benedetto; translated by Esther Allen.
Kathryn Maris. One of the cool ones: The UK debut of a Floridian poet and critic. Review of: DIFFICULT ORNAMENTS: Florida and the poets / Ange Mlinko -- FOXGLOVEWISE / Ange Mlinko.
In Brief Review of: THE UNIVERSITY OF BLISS / Julian Stannard.
In Brief Review of: THE COLLECTED SHORT STORIES OF ROBERTO BOLAÑO / Roberto Bolaño. (translator not given)
In Brief Review of: THE POSITION OF SPOONS: And other intimacies / Deborah Levy.
Arts
Neguin Yavari. Faith and family: Iranian film-making at its most defiant. Review of Mohammad Rasoulof’s film THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG.
Sophie Pinkham. By the left march!: Socialist Realism in Soviet art and physical culture. Review of: SOVIET SPECTATORSHIP: Observing the body in physical and visual culture / Samuel Goff (Bloomsbury Academic) -- COLLECTIVE BODY: Aleksandr Deineka at the limit of Socialist Realism / Christina Kiaer.
Francesca Wade. Much more than a Mrs: Tirzah Garwood’s oil paintings. Review of the exhibition TIRZAH GARWOOD: BEYOND RAVILIOUS, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, until May 26.
In Brief Review of: GIANT LOVE: Edna Ferber, her best-selling novel of Texas, and the making of a classic American film / Julie Gilbert.
Philosophy & Science
Alice König. Myth of great thinkers: Humanizing Archimedes and Plato. Review of: PLATO: A civic life / Carol Atack -- ARCHIMEDES: Fulcrum of science / Nicholas Nicastro.
Rebecca L. Spang. Traditional fayre: How nutritional science replaced the health regimen. Review of: EATING AND BEING: A history of ideas about our food and ourselves / Steven Shapin.
Geertje Bol. Dangerous woman: A philosopher dismissed by men as Voltaire’s mistress. Review of: THE ENLIGHTENMENT’S MOST DANGEROUS WOMAN: Émilie du Châtelet and the making of modern philosophy / Andrew Janiak.
Angela Saini. What’s in a name: Are racial biases changing? Review of: THE SCIENCE OF RACISM: Everything you need to know but probably don’t – yet / Keon West -- SYSTEMIC: How racism harms health – and what we can do about it / Layal Liverpool.
In Brief Review of: SCHRÖDINGER’S WIFE: (and other possibilities) / Pippa Goldschmidt.
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
Clifford Thompson. Mississipi Goddam: An infamous murder in the segregationalist South. Review of: THE BARN: The murder of Emmett Till and the cradle of American racism / Wright Thompson.
Wendy Slater. Rotten ruler: The Russian monarchy might have survived but for Nicholas II. Review of: THE LAST TSAR: The abdication of Nicholas II and the fall of the Romanovs / Tsuyoshi Hasegawa.
Peter Geoghegan. Mafia state: The ruthless oligarch who underestimated Vladimir Putin. Review of: THE KREMLIN’S NOOSE: Putin’s bitter feud with the oligarch who made him ruler of Russia / Amy Knight -- RUSSIA IN FOUR CRIMINALS / Federico Varese (Polity).
Ben Hutchinson. The American friend: The ties that bound German left-wing intellectuals to Henry Kissinger. Review of: HUNDERT BRIEFE / Edited by Ulrike Anders and Jan Bürger -- KISSINGER & UNSELD: Die Freundschaft zweier Überlebender – ein Doppelporträt / Willi Winkler (Rowohlt).
Caroline Moorehead. The other Anne Franks: Two family stories of life on the run from the Nazis. Review of: TWO SISTERS: Betrayal, love and resistance in wartime France / Rosie Whitehouse -- NINETTE’S WAR: A Jewish story of survival in 1940s France / John Jay (Profile).
In Brief Review of: CHERNOBYL ROULETTE: A war story / Serhii Plokhy.
In Brief Review of: THE ART OF MEDIEVAL FALCONRY / Yannis Hadjinicolaou.
Featured
Mary Beard. Change and decay: The fashions and artifice of ruins. Review of: THE RUINS OF ROME: A cultural history / Roland Mayer.
Mary Beard (TLS landing page). Life writing.
Carlos Fraenkel. How should we live?: The case for the examined life. Review of: OPEN SOCRATES: The case for a philosophical life / Agnes Callard.
Claire Lowden. Pain keeps the dead alive: Remembering a massacre in Korea – and all those who ‘ever suffered similar fates.’ Review of: WE DO NOT PART / Han Kang; translated by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris.
Costica Bradatan. Paving the way for Trump: How America’s liberal elites exploit progressive causes for their own profit. Review of: WE HAVE NEVER BEEN WOKE: The cultural contradictions of a new elite / Musa al-Gharbi.
Literature & Linguistics
Tim Parks. Literature in Laputa: AI’s transformative translations. (Essay)
James McConnachie. A write-off: The variety and fragility of the world’s minority scripts. Review of: AN ATLAS OF ENDANGERED ALPHABETS: Writing systems on the verge of vanishing / Tim Brookes; illustrated by Sarah Greeno.
Anne Fuchs. Eyes wide open: The Austrian literary tradition in the work of a German master. Review of: SILENT CATASTROPHES: Essays in Austrian / W.G. Sebald; translated by Jo Catling.
Beejay Silcox. When the fog clears: The de Céspedes revival continues with a ‘magnificently savage’ novel set in a convent-run boarding house for young women. Review of: THERE’S NO TURNING BACK / Alba de Céspedes; translated by Ann Goldstein (Pushkin Press).
Conor Truax. Beauty is there: A crisis of masculinity – and the ultimate vow of commitment. Review of: THE SUICIDES / Antonio di Benedetto; translated by Esther Allen.
Kathryn Maris. One of the cool ones: The UK debut of a Floridian poet and critic. Review of: DIFFICULT ORNAMENTS: Florida and the poets / Ange Mlinko -- FOXGLOVEWISE / Ange Mlinko.
In Brief Review of: THE UNIVERSITY OF BLISS / Julian Stannard.
In Brief Review of: THE COLLECTED SHORT STORIES OF ROBERTO BOLAÑO / Roberto Bolaño. (translator not given)
In Brief Review of: THE POSITION OF SPOONS: And other intimacies / Deborah Levy.
Arts
Neguin Yavari. Faith and family: Iranian film-making at its most defiant. Review of Mohammad Rasoulof’s film THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG.
Sophie Pinkham. By the left march!: Socialist Realism in Soviet art and physical culture. Review of: SOVIET SPECTATORSHIP: Observing the body in physical and visual culture / Samuel Goff (Bloomsbury Academic) -- COLLECTIVE BODY: Aleksandr Deineka at the limit of Socialist Realism / Christina Kiaer.
Francesca Wade. Much more than a Mrs: Tirzah Garwood’s oil paintings. Review of the exhibition TIRZAH GARWOOD: BEYOND RAVILIOUS, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, until May 26.
In Brief Review of: GIANT LOVE: Edna Ferber, her best-selling novel of Texas, and the making of a classic American film / Julie Gilbert.
Philosophy & Science
Alice König. Myth of great thinkers: Humanizing Archimedes and Plato. Review of: PLATO: A civic life / Carol Atack -- ARCHIMEDES: Fulcrum of science / Nicholas Nicastro.
Rebecca L. Spang. Traditional fayre: How nutritional science replaced the health regimen. Review of: EATING AND BEING: A history of ideas about our food and ourselves / Steven Shapin.
Geertje Bol. Dangerous woman: A philosopher dismissed by men as Voltaire’s mistress. Review of: THE ENLIGHTENMENT’S MOST DANGEROUS WOMAN: Émilie du Châtelet and the making of modern philosophy / Andrew Janiak.
Angela Saini. What’s in a name: Are racial biases changing? Review of: THE SCIENCE OF RACISM: Everything you need to know but probably don’t – yet / Keon West -- SYSTEMIC: How racism harms health – and what we can do about it / Layal Liverpool.
In Brief Review of: SCHRÖDINGER’S WIFE: (and other possibilities) / Pippa Goldschmidt.
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
Clifford Thompson. Mississipi Goddam: An infamous murder in the segregationalist South. Review of: THE BARN: The murder of Emmett Till and the cradle of American racism / Wright Thompson.
Wendy Slater. Rotten ruler: The Russian monarchy might have survived but for Nicholas II. Review of: THE LAST TSAR: The abdication of Nicholas II and the fall of the Romanovs / Tsuyoshi Hasegawa.
Peter Geoghegan. Mafia state: The ruthless oligarch who underestimated Vladimir Putin. Review of: THE KREMLIN’S NOOSE: Putin’s bitter feud with the oligarch who made him ruler of Russia / Amy Knight -- RUSSIA IN FOUR CRIMINALS / Federico Varese (Polity).
Ben Hutchinson. The American friend: The ties that bound German left-wing intellectuals to Henry Kissinger. Review of: HUNDERT BRIEFE / Edited by Ulrike Anders and Jan Bürger -- KISSINGER & UNSELD: Die Freundschaft zweier Überlebender – ein Doppelporträt / Willi Winkler (Rowohlt).
Caroline Moorehead. The other Anne Franks: Two family stories of life on the run from the Nazis. Review of: TWO SISTERS: Betrayal, love and resistance in wartime France / Rosie Whitehouse -- NINETTE’S WAR: A Jewish story of survival in 1940s France / John Jay (Profile).
In Brief Review of: CHERNOBYL ROULETTE: A war story / Serhii Plokhy.
In Brief Review of: THE ART OF MEDIEVAL FALCONRY / Yannis Hadjinicolaou.
66featherbear
Mina Tavakoli. Yale Review, 02/05/2025: The Kings of College Radio: What happened when R.E.M. went mainstream. Review of: The Name of This Band Is R.E.M.: A Biography / Peter James Carlin.
67featherbear
Christopher Jencks, 1936-2025
Clay Risen. NYT, 02/12/2025: Christopher Jencks, a Shaper of Views on Economic Inequality, Dies at 88. "His clear prose, illuminating data and novel arguments, transformed debates around issues like public education and welfare reform."
"In books and articles, he wrote clear, concise sentences backed by finely honed data, presenting arguments that cut to the quick of policy debates, often in novel ways that defied traditional left-right divisions."
Author of, among others: Inequality: A Reassessment of the Effect of Family and Schooling in America -- Rethinking Social Policy: Race, Poverty, and the Underclass -- The Homeless -- Who Gets Ahead?: The Determinants of Economic Success in America
Christopher Jencks LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/jenckschristopher
Clay Risen. NYT, 02/12/2025: Christopher Jencks, a Shaper of Views on Economic Inequality, Dies at 88. "His clear prose, illuminating data and novel arguments, transformed debates around issues like public education and welfare reform."
"In books and articles, he wrote clear, concise sentences backed by finely honed data, presenting arguments that cut to the quick of policy debates, often in novel ways that defied traditional left-right divisions."
Author of, among others: Inequality: A Reassessment of the Effect of Family and Schooling in America -- Rethinking Social Policy: Race, Poverty, and the Underclass -- The Homeless -- Who Gets Ahead?: The Determinants of Economic Success in America
Christopher Jencks LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/jenckschristopher
68featherbear
Bookforum winter 2025 (Feb-)
Andrew Chan. Come as You Are: Remembering Joe Brainard in letters to friends, lovers, and fans. Review of: Love, Joe: The Selected Letters of Joe Brainard / edited by Daniel Kane.
Lizzy Harding. May Days: A new biography of an elusive comic talent. Review of: Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius / Carrie Courogen.
Becca Rothfeld. Nowhere Fast: Antonio di Benedetto’s “Trilogy of Expectation.” Review of: Zama -- The Silentiary -- The Suicides.
Melissa Anderson. Sweet Days of Discipline: Jane DeLynn’s novel of a student’s sexual awakening. Review of the Semiotexte reissue of In Thrall / Jane DeLynn.
Jessi Jezewska Simmons. You Can’t Go Home Again: Ágota Kristóf’s confounding fictions of exiles. Review of: The Illiterate / Ágota Kristóf; translated from French by Nina Bogin -- The Notebook, The Proof, and The Third Lie: Three Novels / Ágota Kristóf (Grove Press) -- I Don’t Care / Ágota Kristóf; translated from French by Chris Andrews.
Andrew Chan. Come as You Are: Remembering Joe Brainard in letters to friends, lovers, and fans. Review of: Love, Joe: The Selected Letters of Joe Brainard / edited by Daniel Kane.
Lizzy Harding. May Days: A new biography of an elusive comic talent. Review of: Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius / Carrie Courogen.
Becca Rothfeld. Nowhere Fast: Antonio di Benedetto’s “Trilogy of Expectation.” Review of: Zama -- The Silentiary -- The Suicides.
Melissa Anderson. Sweet Days of Discipline: Jane DeLynn’s novel of a student’s sexual awakening. Review of the Semiotexte reissue of In Thrall / Jane DeLynn.
Jessi Jezewska Simmons. You Can’t Go Home Again: Ágota Kristóf’s confounding fictions of exiles. Review of: The Illiterate / Ágota Kristóf; translated from French by Nina Bogin -- The Notebook, The Proof, and The Third Lie: Three Novels / Ágota Kristóf (Grove Press) -- I Don’t Care / Ágota Kristóf; translated from French by Chris Andrews.
69featherbear
Michael Longley, 1939-2025
Joanne Kaufman. 02/13/2025: Michael Longley, 85, Northern Irish Poet of Nature and ‘the Troubles,’ Dies. "“Ceasefire,” his most famous poem, invoked the “Iliad” in exploring his country’s sectarian strife. But his work wasn’t Homeric in length: “Michael was a miniaturist.”
Michael Longley's LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/longleymichael
Joanne Kaufman. 02/13/2025: Michael Longley, 85, Northern Irish Poet of Nature and ‘the Troubles,’ Dies. "“Ceasefire,” his most famous poem, invoked the “Iliad” in exploring his country’s sectarian strife. But his work wasn’t Homeric in length: “Michael was a miniaturist.”
Michael Longley's LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/longleymichael
70featherbear
Tim Donahue. NYT, 02/16/2025: Let Students Finish the Whole Book. It Could Change Their Lives. Temporarily Unlocked
71featherbear
Inspiring & hopeful news:
Alexandra Alter. 02/15/2025: A Tiny Press Took a Big Risk on Experimental Books. It Paid Off. "The British publisher Tilted Axis specialized in innovative translated literature. It won them major awards. Now they’re coming to the U.S."
"Since its founding a decade ago, Tilted Axis has gained a reputation for bringing out a wide range of groundbreaking, genre-defying literature in translation. With only eight employees working part-time on a tight budget, it has published 42 books translated from 18 languages, including Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Eastern Armenian, Kazakh, Kannada, Bengali, Uzbek and Turkish.
"The number of translated titles released in the United States has hovered around just a few hundred titles a year for much of the past decade.
"“There are so many different forms of literature that people don’t even know exist because we don’t have access to them,” said Kristen Vida Alfaro, Tilted Axis’ publisher. “Every translation from different parts of the world has the potential to give you not just a different perspective, but a window into an entirely different imagination.”
"The press was co-founded in 2015 by the translator Deborah Smith, who made a name for herself when her translation of Han Kang’s novel, “The Vegetarian,” won the International Booker Prize.
"For decades, the profession was dominated by white translators who came from academic backgrounds. Tilted Axis often hires translators from the global south, many of whom grew up steeped in the language and cultures of the books they are working on. Ten of their translators published their debut translations with the press, and several more first-time translators have books under contract.
"Tilted Axis put translators’ names prominently on its covers from the start, well before it became more common. It also gives them a cut of royalties and sub-licensing deals, which is still not the standard. Its small staff includes several translators who collectively speak more than a half dozen languages.
"Still, surviving as a small press has often been a struggle. To fund its translations, the press, a nonprofit, often relies on grants. The budget is so tight that its eight employees all have other jobs. Even its publisher, Alfaro, who took over when Smith left in 2022, works part-time at a publishing house specializing in art and children’s books.
"Alfaro hopes the press’s fortunes will improve this year with Tilted Axis’ expansion into North America, which will give them access to a much larger market.
"Until now, Tilted Axis has had to license its translations to American publishers to get its books into the United States, and just nine of its titles were acquired. Now that it can sell directly through American bookstores, Tilted Axis is bringing out a mix of new books and older works that never landed a U.S. publisher."
Alexandra Alter. 02/15/2025: A Tiny Press Took a Big Risk on Experimental Books. It Paid Off. "The British publisher Tilted Axis specialized in innovative translated literature. It won them major awards. Now they’re coming to the U.S."
"Since its founding a decade ago, Tilted Axis has gained a reputation for bringing out a wide range of groundbreaking, genre-defying literature in translation. With only eight employees working part-time on a tight budget, it has published 42 books translated from 18 languages, including Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Eastern Armenian, Kazakh, Kannada, Bengali, Uzbek and Turkish.
"The number of translated titles released in the United States has hovered around just a few hundred titles a year for much of the past decade.
"“There are so many different forms of literature that people don’t even know exist because we don’t have access to them,” said Kristen Vida Alfaro, Tilted Axis’ publisher. “Every translation from different parts of the world has the potential to give you not just a different perspective, but a window into an entirely different imagination.”
"The press was co-founded in 2015 by the translator Deborah Smith, who made a name for herself when her translation of Han Kang’s novel, “The Vegetarian,” won the International Booker Prize.
"For decades, the profession was dominated by white translators who came from academic backgrounds. Tilted Axis often hires translators from the global south, many of whom grew up steeped in the language and cultures of the books they are working on. Ten of their translators published their debut translations with the press, and several more first-time translators have books under contract.
"Tilted Axis put translators’ names prominently on its covers from the start, well before it became more common. It also gives them a cut of royalties and sub-licensing deals, which is still not the standard. Its small staff includes several translators who collectively speak more than a half dozen languages.
"Still, surviving as a small press has often been a struggle. To fund its translations, the press, a nonprofit, often relies on grants. The budget is so tight that its eight employees all have other jobs. Even its publisher, Alfaro, who took over when Smith left in 2022, works part-time at a publishing house specializing in art and children’s books.
"Alfaro hopes the press’s fortunes will improve this year with Tilted Axis’ expansion into North America, which will give them access to a much larger market.
"Until now, Tilted Axis has had to license its translations to American publishers to get its books into the United States, and just nine of its titles were acquired. Now that it can sell directly through American bookstores, Tilted Axis is bringing out a mix of new books and older works that never landed a U.S. publisher."
72featherbear
Henry Oliver & Sam Khan. The Common Reader, 02/14/2025: AI and the future of literature: A debate with Sam Khan.
73featherbear
Boston Review Feb 2025
Samuel Hayim Brody. 02/19/2025: The Reality of Settler Colonialism. Review of: On Settler Colonialism: Ideology, Violence, and Justice / Adam Kirsch.
James D. Reich. 02/24/2025: There’s a Word for That. Review of: Words for the Heart: A Treasury of Emotions from Classical India / Maria Heim.
Emmett Rensin. 02/26/2025: Ugly Truths: The politics of the mad memoir.
Samuel Hayim Brody. 02/19/2025: The Reality of Settler Colonialism. Review of: On Settler Colonialism: Ideology, Violence, and Justice / Adam Kirsch.
James D. Reich. 02/24/2025: There’s a Word for That. Review of: Words for the Heart: A Treasury of Emotions from Classical India / Maria Heim.
Emmett Rensin. 02/26/2025: Ugly Truths: The politics of the mad memoir.
74featherbear
TLS February 21, 2025|No. 6360
Featured
Jenann T. Ismael. Solving the big puzzles: The unrelenting creativity of Roger Penrose. Review of: THE IMPOSSIBLE MAN: Roger Penrose and the cost of genius / Patchen Barss.
Stuart Walton. ‘Kultur’ and Culture: Theodor W. Adorno’s public lectures on aesthetics and democracy. Review of: LECTURES 1949-1968: Volume 1: Music, literature and the arts -- Volume 2: Social theory and politics / Theodor W. Adorno; translated by Nicholas Walker and Wieland Hoban -- FIGHTING ANTISEMITISM TODAY: A lecture / Theodor W. Adorno; translated by Wieland Hoban (Polity). TLS apparent gaffe linked to a 2018 Letters to the Editor with "Kultur" in the header so I'm guessing the Walton review was the intended link.
Emily Jones. Techno challenger: The Chinese company that competes with the West’s best. Review of: HOUSE OF HUAWEI: Inside the secret world of China’s most powerful company / Eva Dou (Abacus).
Edith Hall. Greek lessons: Two very different productions of classic ancient tragedies. Review of: Sophocles' OEDIPUS, Old Vic, London, until March 29 -- ELEKTRA, Duke of York’s Theatre, London, until April 12.
Mary Beard (from the current issue landing page): The Niemeyer effect.
Literature & Bibliography
Ross Wilson. The British mission: Epic poetry in the age of the Romantics. Review of: ROMANTIC EPICS AND THE MISSION OF EMPIRE / Matthew Leporati.
Janet Todd. Child of Dissent: A crusading critic of her times. Review of: THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD Volume Four: Essays and discourses / Anna Letitia Barbauld; edited by Scott Krawczyk, William McCarthy and Lisa Vargo (Oxford University Press).
Kevin Brazil. So much colour: A murder mystery in the art world. Review of: THE VIOLET HOUR / James Cahill.
Randy Boyagoda. Bored with luxury hotels?: A celebrated corporate architect falls from grace. Review of: MAY OUR JOY ENDURE / Kev Lambert; translated by Donald Winkler (Pushkin).
Toby Lichtig. Everybody hates a tourist: A contemporary Berlin novel takes on the legacy of Georges Perec. Review of: PERFECTION / Vincenzo Latronico; translated by Sophie Hughes.
Ian Sansom. The voices inside: The enduring power of “injurious speech.” (Essay)
In Brief Review of: THE FATE OF MARY ROSE / Caroline Blackwood (Virago Press reissue of the 1981 novel).
In Brief Review of: COMMISSION OF TEARS / António Lobo Antunes; translated by Elizabeth Lowe (novel, Dalkey Archive Press).
In Brief Review of: LIBRARY LIVES: A constellation of books and objects from the Rylands / Stella Halkyard.
In Brief Review of: MONEY TO BURN / Asta Olivia Nordenhof; translated by Caroline Waight ("the first in a projected seven-novel series"
Arts
James Keaveney. Fictional history: Thomases More and Cromwell on stage again. Review of Robert Bolt's play A Man for All Seasons, On tour until March 15.
Philosophy
Nikhil Krishnan. From Marx to Mrs T: Iris Murdoch’s political progress. Review of: IRIS MURDOCH AND THE POLITICAL / Gary Browning.
Science & Technology
Andrew H. Knoll. They came from outer space: A history of rocks that fall to Planet Earth. Review of: THE METEORITES: Encounters with outer space and deep time / Helen Gordon.
John Arlidge. Golden Gates: The making of the Microsoft man. Review of: SOURCE CODE: My beginnings / Bill Gates.
In Brief Review of: WILD CHOCOLATE: Across the Americas in search of cacao's soul / Rowan Jacobsen.
Religion
Jonathan Egid. Out of the realms of fantasy: Christian Ethiopia’s contacts with Rome. Review of: TRANSLATING FAITH: Ethiopian pilgrims in Renaissance Rome / Samantha Kelly.
In Brief Review of: THE MUSEUM OF LOST AND FRAGILE THINGS: A year of salvage / Suzanne Joinson (life in the Divine Light cult).
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
Barnaby Phillips. Scramble through Africa: A story of imperial ‘folly and hubris.’ Review of: A TRAINING SCHOOL FOR ELEPHANTS / Sophy Roberts.
Roy Gibson. Grubby but gripping: Suetonius’s scandalous account of the first Caesars. Review of: THE LIVES OF THE CAESARS / Suetonius; translated by Tom Holland (Penguin Classics).
Fernando Cervantes. The other story: What the Aztecs had to say about themselves. Review of: THE AZTEC MYTHS: A guide to the ancient stories and legends / Camilla Townsend -- AZTEC LATIN: Renaissance learning and Nahuatl traditions in early colonial Mexico / Andrew Laird.
Jonathan Sperber. The fall of the Second Reich: How imperial Germany struggled with modernity. Review of: THE GERMAN EMPIRE, 1871–1918 / Roger Chickering.
T.G. Otte. Authors of apocalypse: Who was responsible for the First World War? Review of: DISPUTING DISASTER: A sextet on the Great War / Perry Anderson -- STEALING HORSES TO GREAT APPLAUSE: The origins of the First World War reconsidered / Paul W. Schroeder.
Ken Worpole. The lost world of childhood: Teaching an old-fashioned view of England. (Essay)
Crispin Sartwell. ‘Leviathan’ is back big time: The end of the distinction between state and market. Review of: THE SPECTRE OF STATE CAPITALISM / Ilias Alami and Adam D. Dixon.
Featured
Jenann T. Ismael. Solving the big puzzles: The unrelenting creativity of Roger Penrose. Review of: THE IMPOSSIBLE MAN: Roger Penrose and the cost of genius / Patchen Barss.
Stuart Walton. ‘Kultur’ and Culture: Theodor W. Adorno’s public lectures on aesthetics and democracy. Review of: LECTURES 1949-1968: Volume 1: Music, literature and the arts -- Volume 2: Social theory and politics / Theodor W. Adorno; translated by Nicholas Walker and Wieland Hoban -- FIGHTING ANTISEMITISM TODAY: A lecture / Theodor W. Adorno; translated by Wieland Hoban (Polity). TLS apparent gaffe linked to a 2018 Letters to the Editor with "Kultur" in the header so I'm guessing the Walton review was the intended link.
Emily Jones. Techno challenger: The Chinese company that competes with the West’s best. Review of: HOUSE OF HUAWEI: Inside the secret world of China’s most powerful company / Eva Dou (Abacus).
Edith Hall. Greek lessons: Two very different productions of classic ancient tragedies. Review of: Sophocles' OEDIPUS, Old Vic, London, until March 29 -- ELEKTRA, Duke of York’s Theatre, London, until April 12.
Mary Beard (from the current issue landing page): The Niemeyer effect.
Literature & Bibliography
Ross Wilson. The British mission: Epic poetry in the age of the Romantics. Review of: ROMANTIC EPICS AND THE MISSION OF EMPIRE / Matthew Leporati.
Janet Todd. Child of Dissent: A crusading critic of her times. Review of: THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD Volume Four: Essays and discourses / Anna Letitia Barbauld; edited by Scott Krawczyk, William McCarthy and Lisa Vargo (Oxford University Press).
Kevin Brazil. So much colour: A murder mystery in the art world. Review of: THE VIOLET HOUR / James Cahill.
Randy Boyagoda. Bored with luxury hotels?: A celebrated corporate architect falls from grace. Review of: MAY OUR JOY ENDURE / Kev Lambert; translated by Donald Winkler (Pushkin).
Toby Lichtig. Everybody hates a tourist: A contemporary Berlin novel takes on the legacy of Georges Perec. Review of: PERFECTION / Vincenzo Latronico; translated by Sophie Hughes.
Ian Sansom. The voices inside: The enduring power of “injurious speech.” (Essay)
In Brief Review of: THE FATE OF MARY ROSE / Caroline Blackwood (Virago Press reissue of the 1981 novel).
In Brief Review of: COMMISSION OF TEARS / António Lobo Antunes; translated by Elizabeth Lowe (novel, Dalkey Archive Press).
In Brief Review of: LIBRARY LIVES: A constellation of books and objects from the Rylands / Stella Halkyard.
In Brief Review of: MONEY TO BURN / Asta Olivia Nordenhof; translated by Caroline Waight ("the first in a projected seven-novel series"
Arts
James Keaveney. Fictional history: Thomases More and Cromwell on stage again. Review of Robert Bolt's play A Man for All Seasons, On tour until March 15.
Philosophy
Nikhil Krishnan. From Marx to Mrs T: Iris Murdoch’s political progress. Review of: IRIS MURDOCH AND THE POLITICAL / Gary Browning.
Science & Technology
Andrew H. Knoll. They came from outer space: A history of rocks that fall to Planet Earth. Review of: THE METEORITES: Encounters with outer space and deep time / Helen Gordon.
John Arlidge. Golden Gates: The making of the Microsoft man. Review of: SOURCE CODE: My beginnings / Bill Gates.
In Brief Review of: WILD CHOCOLATE: Across the Americas in search of cacao's soul / Rowan Jacobsen.
Religion
Jonathan Egid. Out of the realms of fantasy: Christian Ethiopia’s contacts with Rome. Review of: TRANSLATING FAITH: Ethiopian pilgrims in Renaissance Rome / Samantha Kelly.
In Brief Review of: THE MUSEUM OF LOST AND FRAGILE THINGS: A year of salvage / Suzanne Joinson (life in the Divine Light cult).
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
Barnaby Phillips. Scramble through Africa: A story of imperial ‘folly and hubris.’ Review of: A TRAINING SCHOOL FOR ELEPHANTS / Sophy Roberts.
Roy Gibson. Grubby but gripping: Suetonius’s scandalous account of the first Caesars. Review of: THE LIVES OF THE CAESARS / Suetonius; translated by Tom Holland (Penguin Classics).
Fernando Cervantes. The other story: What the Aztecs had to say about themselves. Review of: THE AZTEC MYTHS: A guide to the ancient stories and legends / Camilla Townsend -- AZTEC LATIN: Renaissance learning and Nahuatl traditions in early colonial Mexico / Andrew Laird.
Jonathan Sperber. The fall of the Second Reich: How imperial Germany struggled with modernity. Review of: THE GERMAN EMPIRE, 1871–1918 / Roger Chickering.
T.G. Otte. Authors of apocalypse: Who was responsible for the First World War? Review of: DISPUTING DISASTER: A sextet on the Great War / Perry Anderson -- STEALING HORSES TO GREAT APPLAUSE: The origins of the First World War reconsidered / Paul W. Schroeder.
Ken Worpole. The lost world of childhood: Teaching an old-fashioned view of England. (Essay)
Crispin Sartwell. ‘Leviathan’ is back big time: The end of the distinction between state and market. Review of: THE SPECTRE OF STATE CAPITALISM / Ilias Alami and Adam D. Dixon.
75featherbear
Footnote to TLS February 21, 2025|No. 6360 >74 featherbear: from the NB column. I've been a semi-fan of Russ since I picked up an Ace paperback of her Picnic on Paradise on a newsstand in my early New Haven days; I now own a copy of the LOA American Science Fiction: Four Classic Novels 1968-1969 which includes that novel.
"Readers interested in science fiction will recall some correspondence in the TLS, a few years back, about Joanna Russ. First, Roz Kaveney suggested in a review that Russ’s work had fallen into “comparative neglect” (October 11, 2019); subsequently published letters from Michèle Roberts and John Clute showed that Russ still very much matters to some. While Roberts emphasized the support that Russ had received from Sarah LeFanu at the Women’s Press, Clute pointed out that his wife, the artist Judith, had supplied the cover image for the Women’s Press edition of what remains Russ’s most popular novel, The Female Man (1975).
"A modest Russ renaissance now appears to have taken place. Her works have been ceremonially entombed in a hardback volume of the Library of America series; her non-SF novel On Strike against God (1980) was reissued last year by the Feminist Press in New York.
"Last week, on an excursion to the admirable Bookmongers, a second-hand bookshop on Coldharbour Lane in Brixton, we were pleased to make the acquaintance of two of Russ’s collections of short stories. (A tip for patrons of Bookmongers: look up. As had to be pointed out to us, there are a couple of shelves of paperbacks running along a ceiling beam.) One is the American paperback edition of The Zanzibar Cat (not published in the UK, so far as we know). The other is the UK edition of The Hidden Side of the Moon, pictured above. The cover image is supplied once more by Judith Clute; her husband supplies, via the New York Times Book Review, some choice words for the back cover: “To call these stories feminist is not to reduce them … However hilarious, the pointed urgency of /Russ’s/ anger can scathe”.
"Most “hilarious”, as far as we have read, is a story called “The Clichés from Outer Space”. It delves into the SF slush pile of an editor who is “overworked, underpaid, and suffering from schlock- fever … a disease editors get from reading too many stories submitted by the general public”: “If I get one more story about weird ways of becoming pregnant –”. Examples are then given of what that poor editor has to put up with. “Eegh! Argh! Argh! Eegh! cried Sheila Sue Hateman in uncontrollable ecstasy as the giant alien male orchid arched over her …” You get the (scathing) idea."
"Readers interested in science fiction will recall some correspondence in the TLS, a few years back, about Joanna Russ. First, Roz Kaveney suggested in a review that Russ’s work had fallen into “comparative neglect” (October 11, 2019); subsequently published letters from Michèle Roberts and John Clute showed that Russ still very much matters to some. While Roberts emphasized the support that Russ had received from Sarah LeFanu at the Women’s Press, Clute pointed out that his wife, the artist Judith, had supplied the cover image for the Women’s Press edition of what remains Russ’s most popular novel, The Female Man (1975).
"A modest Russ renaissance now appears to have taken place. Her works have been ceremonially entombed in a hardback volume of the Library of America series; her non-SF novel On Strike against God (1980) was reissued last year by the Feminist Press in New York.
"Last week, on an excursion to the admirable Bookmongers, a second-hand bookshop on Coldharbour Lane in Brixton, we were pleased to make the acquaintance of two of Russ’s collections of short stories. (A tip for patrons of Bookmongers: look up. As had to be pointed out to us, there are a couple of shelves of paperbacks running along a ceiling beam.) One is the American paperback edition of The Zanzibar Cat (not published in the UK, so far as we know). The other is the UK edition of The Hidden Side of the Moon, pictured above. The cover image is supplied once more by Judith Clute; her husband supplies, via the New York Times Book Review, some choice words for the back cover: “To call these stories feminist is not to reduce them … However hilarious, the pointed urgency of /Russ’s/ anger can scathe”.
"Most “hilarious”, as far as we have read, is a story called “The Clichés from Outer Space”. It delves into the SF slush pile of an editor who is “overworked, underpaid, and suffering from schlock- fever … a disease editors get from reading too many stories submitted by the general public”: “If I get one more story about weird ways of becoming pregnant –”. Examples are then given of what that poor editor has to put up with. “Eegh! Argh! Argh! Eegh! cried Sheila Sue Hateman in uncontrollable ecstasy as the giant alien male orchid arched over her …” You get the (scathing) idea."
76featherbear
Noor Anand Chadwa. JSTOR Daily, 02/19/2025: The Sociopolitical Impact of A Passage to India. "E. M. Forster’s novel captured not only the tensions between colonizers and colonized but also the fraught internal politics that shaped India’s fight for independence." Touchstone link: A Passage to India / E.M. Forster.
77featherbear
Chris Kraus. N+1 (Online only), 02/18/2025: On Airless Spaces: There are rules to observe if you want to get out of the hospital. Regarding the Semiotexte reissue of Airless Spaces / Shulamith Firestone.
78featherbear
Wes Browne. crimereads.com, 02/20/2024: The Scoundrels We Love. Crime fiction recommendations with villains you sort of root for.
"There are people out there who can’t enjoy a book without someone virtuous to root for. There are also people who only go to restaurants that serve chicken fingers. In each case, you would hope those people are all children, but they aren’t."
"There are people out there who can’t enjoy a book without someone virtuous to root for. There are also people who only go to restaurants that serve chicken fingers. In each case, you would hope those people are all children, but they aren’t."
79featherbear
March 2025 Index (Jan index >38 featherbear: Feb index >39 featherbear:
Aeon >104 featherbear:
Atlantic >102 featherbear:
Boston Review >96 featherbear:
Commonweal >124 featherbear:
The Critic >108 featherbear:
fivebooks.com >114 featherbear:
Guardian >92 featherbear: >113 featherbear:
Hedgehog Review >83 featherbear:
Jacobin >110 featherbear:
LARB >100 featherbear:
Literary Review >91 featherbear:
New Yorker >80 featherbear:
NYRB Mar 13 >81 featherbear: Mar 27 >107 featherbear:
NYT >89 featherbear:
Paris Review >122 featherbear:
Public Books >109 featherbear:
Quillette >105 featherbear:
Slate >86 featherbear:
TLS Mar 7 >101 featherbear: Mar 14 >111 featherbear: Mar 21 >121 featherbear: Mar 28 >123 featherbear:
Washington Monthly >85 featherbear:
WaPo >99 featherbear:
Yale Review >97 featherbear:
Aeon >104 featherbear:
Atlantic >102 featherbear:
Boston Review >96 featherbear:
Commonweal >124 featherbear:
The Critic >108 featherbear:
fivebooks.com >114 featherbear:
Guardian >92 featherbear: >113 featherbear:
Hedgehog Review >83 featherbear:
Jacobin >110 featherbear:
LARB >100 featherbear:
Literary Review >91 featherbear:
New Yorker >80 featherbear:
NYRB Mar 13 >81 featherbear: Mar 27 >107 featherbear:
NYT >89 featherbear:
Paris Review >122 featherbear:
Public Books >109 featherbear:
Quillette >105 featherbear:
Slate >86 featherbear:
TLS Mar 7 >101 featherbear: Mar 14 >111 featherbear: Mar 21 >121 featherbear: Mar 28 >123 featherbear:
Washington Monthly >85 featherbear:
WaPo >99 featherbear:
Yale Review >97 featherbear:
80featherbear
New Yorker March 2025
James Verini. 03/01/2025: The Imperialist Philosopher Who Demanded the Ukraine War. "For decades, Alexander Dugin argued that Russia had a messianic mission, and that destroying an independent Ukraine was necessary to fulfilling it."
Rebecca Mead. 03/03/2025: Menopause Is Having a Moment. Discussing various books on the topic: Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause / Naomi Watts -- How to Menopause: Take Charge of Your Health, Reclaim Your Life, and Feel Even Better than Before / Tamsen Fadal -- Menopause Is Hot: Everything You Need to Know to Thrive / Mariella Frostrup, Alice Smellie -- The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change with Purpose, Power, and Facts / Mary Claire Haver -- The Menopause Brain: New Science Empowers Women to Navigate the Pivotal Transition with Knowledge and Confidence / Mary Claire Haver -- The Estrogen Elixir: A History of Hormone Replacement Therapy in America / Elizabeth Siegel Watkins -- Hot and Bothered: Women, Medicine, and Menopause in Modern America / Judith A. Houck -- Women Coming of Age / Jane Fonda -- Feminine Forever / Robert A. Wilson.
Anthony Lane. 03/03/2025: The Classic Mystery That Prefigured the Los Angeles Wildfires. "Ross Macdonald’s “The Underground Man” is exquisitely attuned to the Californian landscape—how it rises, falls, smells, and, most indelible of all, how it burns."
Margaret Talbot. 03/04/2025: Elon Musk Also Has a Problem with Wikipedia. "Lately, Musk’s beef has merged with a general conviction on the right that the site is biased against conservatives."
Anahid Nersessian. 03/05/2025: A Poet’s Contemporary Twist on the Bildungsroman. Review of: Good Girl: A Novel / Aria Aber. (Growing up Turkish in Germany)
Rachel Aviv. 03/06/2025: Agnes Callard’s Marriage of the Minds. "The philosopher, who lives with her husband and her ex-husband, searches for what one human can be to another human."
Fintan O'Toole. 03/10/2025: What Made the Irish Famine So Deadly. Review of: Rot: An Imperial History of the Irish Famine / Padraic X. Scanlan.
Beverly Gage. 03/10/2025: How the Red Scare Reshaped American Politics. Review of: Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America / Clay Risen.
S.C. Cornell. 03/12/2025: The Two-Thousand-Year-Old Virgins. Review of: Lower than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity / Diarmaid MacCulloch (release date April 15) -- Vile Bodies: The Body in Christian Teaching, Faith and Practice / Adrian Thatcher -- Immaculate Forms: A History of the Female Body in Four Parts / Helen King -- Love Tenderly: Sacred Stories of Lesbian and Queer Religious / Grace Surdovel IHM. (Link via Twitter/X)
Callie Holtermann. NYT, 03/12/2025: The New Yorker Embraces (Some) Modern Language. "An update to the magazine’s style guide did away with anachronisms like “Web site” and “in-box.” But it was limited to what the staff felt were “lasting” changes."
Nathan Heller. 03/15/2025: Graydon Carter’s Wild Ride Through a Golden Age of Magazines. Review of: When the Going Was Good: An Editor’s Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines / Graydon Carter, with James Fox.
Alice Gregory. 03/17/2025: “Perfection” Is the Perfect Novel for an Age of Aimless Aspiration. Review of: Perfection / Vincenzo Latronico; translator Sophie Hughes.
David S. Wallace. 03/19/2025: The Ecstatic Intimacies of Joe Brainard. On the occasion of the publication of Love, Joe: The Selected Letters of Joe Brainard / Joe Brainard, editor Daniel Kane.
Laurie Santos. 03/19/2025: Laurie Santos’s Pursuit of Happiness. "Yale’s resident well-being expert talks about what it means to live a good life and shares some books that might help us get within reach of one": Stumbling on Happiness / Dan Gilbert -- The Power of Fun / Catherine Price -- The Book of Delights / Ross Gay -- The Stoic Challenge / William B. Irvine -- Four Thousand Weeks / Oliver Burkeman. link via Twitter/X
Graciela Mochkofsky. 03/18/2025: Pedro Lemebel, a Radical Voice for Calamitous Times. With reference to A Last Supper of Queer Apostles: Selected Essays (Penguin Classics) / Pedro Lemebel.
Adam Kirsch. 03/21/2025: The Resurrection of a Lost Yiddish Novel. On SONS AND DAUGHTERS: a novel / Chaim Grade.
Molly Fischer. 03/24/2025: Who Gets to Define Divorce: The battle for custody of a contested institution. Review of: No Fault: A Memoir of Romance and Divorce / Haley Mlotek (with reference to other books on the topic).
Daniel Mendelsohh. 03/31/2025: Why Catullus Continues to Seduce Us. With reference to Catullus: Selected Poems / translator, Stephen Mitchell (Yale University Press) & Switch: The Complete Catullus (Carcanet Classics) / Isobel Williams ("illustrated with bondage drawings by the translator herself").
James Verini. 03/01/2025: The Imperialist Philosopher Who Demanded the Ukraine War. "For decades, Alexander Dugin argued that Russia had a messianic mission, and that destroying an independent Ukraine was necessary to fulfilling it."
Rebecca Mead. 03/03/2025: Menopause Is Having a Moment. Discussing various books on the topic: Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause / Naomi Watts -- How to Menopause: Take Charge of Your Health, Reclaim Your Life, and Feel Even Better than Before / Tamsen Fadal -- Menopause Is Hot: Everything You Need to Know to Thrive / Mariella Frostrup, Alice Smellie -- The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change with Purpose, Power, and Facts / Mary Claire Haver -- The Menopause Brain: New Science Empowers Women to Navigate the Pivotal Transition with Knowledge and Confidence / Mary Claire Haver -- The Estrogen Elixir: A History of Hormone Replacement Therapy in America / Elizabeth Siegel Watkins -- Hot and Bothered: Women, Medicine, and Menopause in Modern America / Judith A. Houck -- Women Coming of Age / Jane Fonda -- Feminine Forever / Robert A. Wilson.
Anthony Lane. 03/03/2025: The Classic Mystery That Prefigured the Los Angeles Wildfires. "Ross Macdonald’s “The Underground Man” is exquisitely attuned to the Californian landscape—how it rises, falls, smells, and, most indelible of all, how it burns."
Margaret Talbot. 03/04/2025: Elon Musk Also Has a Problem with Wikipedia. "Lately, Musk’s beef has merged with a general conviction on the right that the site is biased against conservatives."
Anahid Nersessian. 03/05/2025: A Poet’s Contemporary Twist on the Bildungsroman. Review of: Good Girl: A Novel / Aria Aber. (Growing up Turkish in Germany)
Rachel Aviv. 03/06/2025: Agnes Callard’s Marriage of the Minds. "The philosopher, who lives with her husband and her ex-husband, searches for what one human can be to another human."
Fintan O'Toole. 03/10/2025: What Made the Irish Famine So Deadly. Review of: Rot: An Imperial History of the Irish Famine / Padraic X. Scanlan.
Beverly Gage. 03/10/2025: How the Red Scare Reshaped American Politics. Review of: Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America / Clay Risen.
S.C. Cornell. 03/12/2025: The Two-Thousand-Year-Old Virgins. Review of: Lower than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity / Diarmaid MacCulloch (release date April 15) -- Vile Bodies: The Body in Christian Teaching, Faith and Practice / Adrian Thatcher -- Immaculate Forms: A History of the Female Body in Four Parts / Helen King -- Love Tenderly: Sacred Stories of Lesbian and Queer Religious / Grace Surdovel IHM. (Link via Twitter/X)
Callie Holtermann. NYT, 03/12/2025: The New Yorker Embraces (Some) Modern Language. "An update to the magazine’s style guide did away with anachronisms like “Web site” and “in-box.” But it was limited to what the staff felt were “lasting” changes."
Nathan Heller. 03/15/2025: Graydon Carter’s Wild Ride Through a Golden Age of Magazines. Review of: When the Going Was Good: An Editor’s Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines / Graydon Carter, with James Fox.
Alice Gregory. 03/17/2025: “Perfection” Is the Perfect Novel for an Age of Aimless Aspiration. Review of: Perfection / Vincenzo Latronico; translator Sophie Hughes.
David S. Wallace. 03/19/2025: The Ecstatic Intimacies of Joe Brainard. On the occasion of the publication of Love, Joe: The Selected Letters of Joe Brainard / Joe Brainard, editor Daniel Kane.
Laurie Santos. 03/19/2025: Laurie Santos’s Pursuit of Happiness. "Yale’s resident well-being expert talks about what it means to live a good life and shares some books that might help us get within reach of one": Stumbling on Happiness / Dan Gilbert -- The Power of Fun / Catherine Price -- The Book of Delights / Ross Gay -- The Stoic Challenge / William B. Irvine -- Four Thousand Weeks / Oliver Burkeman. link via Twitter/X
Graciela Mochkofsky. 03/18/2025: Pedro Lemebel, a Radical Voice for Calamitous Times. With reference to A Last Supper of Queer Apostles: Selected Essays (Penguin Classics) / Pedro Lemebel.
Adam Kirsch. 03/21/2025: The Resurrection of a Lost Yiddish Novel. On SONS AND DAUGHTERS: a novel / Chaim Grade.
Molly Fischer. 03/24/2025: Who Gets to Define Divorce: The battle for custody of a contested institution. Review of: No Fault: A Memoir of Romance and Divorce / Haley Mlotek (with reference to other books on the topic).
Daniel Mendelsohh. 03/31/2025: Why Catullus Continues to Seduce Us. With reference to Catullus: Selected Poems / translator, Stephen Mitchell (Yale University Press) & Switch: The Complete Catullus (Carcanet Classics) / Isobel Williams ("illustrated with bondage drawings by the translator herself").
81featherbear
NYRB Online, 03/13/2025
Literature
Mark Ford. Poetry After Flossenbürg. Review of: Anthony Hecht: Collected Poems / edited by Philip Hoy -- Late Romance: Anthony Hecht—A Poet’s Life / David Yezzi.
James Walton. Centrist Dads Unreformed. Review of: Caledonian Road / Andrew O’Hagan.
Arts
Ingrid D. Rowland. Caravaggio Lost and Found. Review of: Caravaggio: The Ecce Homo Unveiled, an exhibition at the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, May 28, 2024–February 23, 2025.
Catalog of the exhibition edited by Keith Christiansen, Gianni Papi, Giuseppe Porzio, and Maria Cristina Terzaghi -- Caravaggio: The Portrait Unveiled, an exhibition at the Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini, Rome, November 23, 2024–February 23, 2025 -- Caravaggio, la Natività di Palermo: Nascita e scomparsa di un capolavoro = Caravaggio, the Palermo Nativity: Birth and Disappearance of a Masterpiece / Michele Cuppone (Campisano Editore).
Colin Grant. Hiding in the Front Room. Review of Mr Loverman a television series directed by Hong Khaou. "The BBC series Mr Loverman, about a closeted West Indian grandfather and his family, explores the submerged emotional lives of the Windrush generation in Britain."
Celia Paul. Painting Myself. "I want the self-portraits I make to convey a sort of security, to transform the reflected “she” in the mirror into the real “I.”"
History, Politics, & Society
Suzy Hansen. The Price of American ‘Safety.’ Review of: Twenty Years: Hope, War, and the Betrayal of an Afghan Generation / Sune Engel Rasmussen -- How to Lose a War: The Story of America’s Intervention in Afghanistan / Amin Saikal.
Diane Ravitch. Selling Out Our Public Schools. Review of: The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers / Josh Cowen.
David Cole. The Wrong War on the War on Drugs. Review of: The Constitution of the War on Drugs / David Pozen.
Nicholas Lemann. Henrietta Szold & the Return to Zion. Review of: To Repair a Broken World: The Life of Henrietta Szold, Founder of Hadassah / Dvora Hacohen -- Henrietta Szold: Hadassah and the Zionist Dream / Francine Klagsbrun -- The Money Kings: The Epic Story of the Jewish Immigrants Who Transformed Wall Street and Shaped Modern America / Daniel Schulman.
Joy Neumeyer. Russia: Letters from the Opposition. (Article: "Correspondence by imprisoned Russian civilians accused of resisting the war in Ukraine reveals the severity of their punishments.")
Martin Filler. Eden on Fire. (Article: "The terrible fires in January were another reminder that urban planning in Los Angeles has long failed to protect the city from the natural disasters that repeatedly threaten the region.")
Fintan O'Toole. From Comedy to Brutality. (Article: "With his designs on Greenland and Gaza, Trump has signaled that his first term’s outlandish gestures are the second term’s savage demands.")
Literature
Mark Ford. Poetry After Flossenbürg. Review of: Anthony Hecht: Collected Poems / edited by Philip Hoy -- Late Romance: Anthony Hecht—A Poet’s Life / David Yezzi.
James Walton. Centrist Dads Unreformed. Review of: Caledonian Road / Andrew O’Hagan.
Arts
Ingrid D. Rowland. Caravaggio Lost and Found. Review of: Caravaggio: The Ecce Homo Unveiled, an exhibition at the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, May 28, 2024–February 23, 2025.
Catalog of the exhibition edited by Keith Christiansen, Gianni Papi, Giuseppe Porzio, and Maria Cristina Terzaghi -- Caravaggio: The Portrait Unveiled, an exhibition at the Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini, Rome, November 23, 2024–February 23, 2025 -- Caravaggio, la Natività di Palermo: Nascita e scomparsa di un capolavoro = Caravaggio, the Palermo Nativity: Birth and Disappearance of a Masterpiece / Michele Cuppone (Campisano Editore).
Colin Grant. Hiding in the Front Room. Review of Mr Loverman a television series directed by Hong Khaou. "The BBC series Mr Loverman, about a closeted West Indian grandfather and his family, explores the submerged emotional lives of the Windrush generation in Britain."
Celia Paul. Painting Myself. "I want the self-portraits I make to convey a sort of security, to transform the reflected “she” in the mirror into the real “I.”"
History, Politics, & Society
Suzy Hansen. The Price of American ‘Safety.’ Review of: Twenty Years: Hope, War, and the Betrayal of an Afghan Generation / Sune Engel Rasmussen -- How to Lose a War: The Story of America’s Intervention in Afghanistan / Amin Saikal.
Diane Ravitch. Selling Out Our Public Schools. Review of: The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers / Josh Cowen.
David Cole. The Wrong War on the War on Drugs. Review of: The Constitution of the War on Drugs / David Pozen.
Nicholas Lemann. Henrietta Szold & the Return to Zion. Review of: To Repair a Broken World: The Life of Henrietta Szold, Founder of Hadassah / Dvora Hacohen -- Henrietta Szold: Hadassah and the Zionist Dream / Francine Klagsbrun -- The Money Kings: The Epic Story of the Jewish Immigrants Who Transformed Wall Street and Shaped Modern America / Daniel Schulman.
Joy Neumeyer. Russia: Letters from the Opposition. (Article: "Correspondence by imprisoned Russian civilians accused of resisting the war in Ukraine reveals the severity of their punishments.")
Martin Filler. Eden on Fire. (Article: "The terrible fires in January were another reminder that urban planning in Los Angeles has long failed to protect the city from the natural disasters that repeatedly threaten the region.")
Fintan O'Toole. From Comedy to Brutality. (Article: "With his designs on Greenland and Gaza, Trump has signaled that his first term’s outlandish gestures are the second term’s savage demands.")
82featherbear
Alvin Poussaint, 1934-2025
Clay Risen. NYT, 02/24/2025: Alvin F. Poussaint, Pioneering Expert on Black Mental Health, Dies at 90. "A psychiatrist at Harvard and an adviser to Jesse Jackson and Bill Cosby, he challenged Black Americans to stand up to systemic racism."
"Dr. Poussaint, who spent most of his career as a professor and associate dean at Harvard Medical School, first came to public prominence in the late 1970s, as the energy and optimism of the civil rights movement were giving way to white backlash and a skepticism about the possibility of Black progress in a white-dominated society.
"In books like “Why Blacks Kill Blacks” (1972) and “Black Child Care” (1975)*, he walked a line between those on the left who blamed persistent racism for the ills confronting Black America and those on the right who said that, after the civil rights era, it was up to Black people to take responsibility for their own lives.
*(with James Comer)
"... reportedly the model for Dr. Cliff Huxtable on Mr. Cosby’s sitcom “The Cosby Show.”
"He repeatedly denied being Mr. Cosby’s inspiration, but he certainly was Mr. Cosby’s guiding light. He read almost every script as a consultant for the show, he said, sending notes about how to avoid stereotypes or deepen a story line and advising writers before they tackled a particularly thorny theme.
"Dr. Poussaint consulted for both “The Cosby Show,” which ran from 1984 to 1992, and its spinoff, “A Different World,” which aired from 1987 to 1993. He wrote the introduction and afterword to Mr. Cosby’s 1986 best seller, “Fatherhood”; the two then co-wrote “Come On, People: On the Path From Victims to Victors” (2007).
"With the journalist Amy Alexander, he wrote “Lay My Burden Down: Suicide and the Mental Health Crisis Among African-Americans” (2000), and during the 2000s he took multiple tours around the country with Mr. Cosby, interviewing Black men and families."
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/poussaintalvinf
Clay Risen. NYT, 02/24/2025: Alvin F. Poussaint, Pioneering Expert on Black Mental Health, Dies at 90. "A psychiatrist at Harvard and an adviser to Jesse Jackson and Bill Cosby, he challenged Black Americans to stand up to systemic racism."
"Dr. Poussaint, who spent most of his career as a professor and associate dean at Harvard Medical School, first came to public prominence in the late 1970s, as the energy and optimism of the civil rights movement were giving way to white backlash and a skepticism about the possibility of Black progress in a white-dominated society.
"In books like “Why Blacks Kill Blacks” (1972) and “Black Child Care” (1975)*, he walked a line between those on the left who blamed persistent racism for the ills confronting Black America and those on the right who said that, after the civil rights era, it was up to Black people to take responsibility for their own lives.
*(with James Comer)
"... reportedly the model for Dr. Cliff Huxtable on Mr. Cosby’s sitcom “The Cosby Show.”
"He repeatedly denied being Mr. Cosby’s inspiration, but he certainly was Mr. Cosby’s guiding light. He read almost every script as a consultant for the show, he said, sending notes about how to avoid stereotypes or deepen a story line and advising writers before they tackled a particularly thorny theme.
"Dr. Poussaint consulted for both “The Cosby Show,” which ran from 1984 to 1992, and its spinoff, “A Different World,” which aired from 1987 to 1993. He wrote the introduction and afterword to Mr. Cosby’s 1986 best seller, “Fatherhood”; the two then co-wrote “Come On, People: On the Path From Victims to Victors” (2007).
"With the journalist Amy Alexander, he wrote “Lay My Burden Down: Suicide and the Mental Health Crisis Among African-Americans” (2000), and during the 2000s he took multiple tours around the country with Mr. Cosby, interviewing Black men and families."
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/poussaintalvinf
83featherbear
Alan Jacobs. Hedgehog Review, 02/18/2025: All the Distant Mirrors: Can we please kick the habit of relevance-mongering?.
84featherbear
TLS February 28, 2025|No. 6361
Featured
Emma Garland. Playing it as it lays: Three new books complicate Joan Didion’s image as the ‘archpriestess of cool.’ Review of: THE UPTOWN LOCAL: Joy, death, and Joan Didion / Cory Leadbeater -- THE FRIDAY AFTERNOON CLUB: A family memoir / Griffin Dunne -- DIDION AND BABITZ / Lili Anolik.
Regina Rini. Cog in the machine: The government worker's moral dilemma. (Essay)
D.J. Taylor. Limits of liberalism: The History Man at fifty. (Essay: Touchstone link: The History Man / Malcolm Bradbury).
David Annand. Club loyalties: Tackling the problem of the football novel. Review of: SEASON / George Harrison (Eye) -- GREATEST OF ALL TIME / Alex Allison (Dialogue) -- ANFIELD ROAD / Chris Shepherd.
Mary Beard (from the current issue landing page): The politics of meaning what you say.
Literature
Rosemary Ashton. Led by the nose: How three great English novelists flattered their readers’ intelligence. Review of: IMAGINING OTHERWISE: How readers help to write nineteenth-century novels / Debra Gettelman (Princeton University Press).
Huw Nesbitt. Perverse pleasures: The decadent novelist who inspired Oscar Wilde. Review of: J.–K. HUYSMANS / Ruth Antosh.
Colin Kidd. A tease that went sour: Which academic inspired The History Man? (Essay)
Suzy Feay. A label on a whirlwind: A nameless narrator writes ‘back to Woolf.’ Review of: THEORY AND PRACTICE / Michelle de Kretser.
Alice Jolly. ‘The whole teenage comedy’: The aftermath of a tragedy in a small town in 1980s England. Review of: DARK LIKE UNDER / Alice Chadwick (Daunt).
Matilda Sykes. Chance operations: Charles Simic’s poems of experience. Review of: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS: 1962–2012 / Charles Simic.
Cynthia Haven. Your world is on the line: A poet’s progress from Poland to the United States. Review of: POET IN THE NEW WORLD: Poems, 1946–1953 / Czesław Miłosz; translated and edited by Robert Hass and David Frick.
In Brief Review of: MONSIEUR TESTE / Paul Valéry; translated by Charlotte Mandell, introduction by Ryan Ruby (NYRB Classics).
In Brief Review of: LA NOVELA OLVIDADA EN LA CASA DEL INGENIERO / Soledad Puértolas.
In Brief Review of: ASK ME AGAIN / Clare Sestanovich.
Arts
Orlando Whitfield. Is it awfully communist: Gilbert and George, a pair of conformist rebels in Moscow. Review of: GILBERT AND GEORGE AND THE COMMUNISTS / James Birch.
Mary Hitchman. Divining interventions: Chickens, spiders, video games: how we try to know more about our lives. Review of: the exhibition ORACLES, OMENS AND ANSWERS, Weston Library, Oxford, until April 27 -- the catalog (?) DIVINATION, ORACLES AND OMENS / Edited by Michelle Aroney and David Zeitlyn (Bodleian Libraries).
Muriel Zagha. Ghosts from a vanished life: Walter Salles’s naturalistic political drama of Brazil in the 1970s. Review of the film I'M STILL HERE.
Guy Dammann. Fragments of families: Mark-Anthony Turnage turns Dogme into opera. Review of Mark-Anthony Turnage's opera FESTEN, Royal Opera House, London; "based on "Thomas Vinterberg’s acclaimed film Festen (1998; distributed in English as The Celebration").
In Brief Review of: THE LOST MUSIC OF THE HOLOCAUST / Francesco Lotoro; translated by Katherine Gregor (Headline).
Philosophy
In Brief Review of: HOW TO TALK ABOUT LOVE / Plato; translated with commentary by Armand D'Angour (translation of The Symposium w/Greek on facing pages).
Religion
Guy Stagg. On the right road: A history of nineteen different shrines of all faiths. Review of: HOLY PLACES: How pilgrimage changed the world / Kathryn Hurlock (Profile).
Nat Segnit. A singing stillness: The solace of secular retreat. Review of: LEARNING FROM SILENCE: Lessons from more than 100 retreats / Pico Iyer (Cornerstone Press).
Science & Technology
Helen Bynum. The turnover of life: How new species came to exist. Review of: LIVING ON EARTH: Life, consciousness and the making of the natural world / Peter Godfrey-Smith.
Tom Simpson. Rivers run through it: How states rationalize waterscapes. Review of: IN PRAISE OF FLOODS: The untamed river and the life it brings / James C. Scott.
History, Politics, & Society
Corinna Treitel. Killing ‘incurables’: Tracing the long history of Nazi crimes against the disabled. Review of: THE QUESTION OF UNWORTHY LIFE: Eugenics and Germany’s twentieth century / Dagmar Herzog (Princeton University Press).
Bryan Cheyette. Massacre and Jewish resistance: A story from the ‘Holocaust by bullets.’ Review of: NO ROAD LEADING BACK: An improbable escape from the Nazis and the tangled way we tell the story of the Holocaust / Chris Heath.
Zoe Guttenplan. New York, New York!: Celebrating the rats, mobsters and little people of the Big City. Review of: A TOWN WITHOUT TIME: Gay Talese’s New York / Gay Talese -- NEW YORK SKETCHES / E.B. White.
In Brief Review of: FLAME, ASH, FEATHER: A dozen eggs from Lockerbie / Catherine Swire (Eyeware Publishing). Coping with the death of her sister in the Lockerbie bombing.
In Brief Review of: PEPYSIAN PERCEPTIONS OF THE CAPE 1798-1828: Selections from the Western Cape diaries of Samuel Eusebius Hudson / Edward Hudson, editor (Historical Publications South Africa).
Featured
Emma Garland. Playing it as it lays: Three new books complicate Joan Didion’s image as the ‘archpriestess of cool.’ Review of: THE UPTOWN LOCAL: Joy, death, and Joan Didion / Cory Leadbeater -- THE FRIDAY AFTERNOON CLUB: A family memoir / Griffin Dunne -- DIDION AND BABITZ / Lili Anolik.
Regina Rini. Cog in the machine: The government worker's moral dilemma. (Essay)
D.J. Taylor. Limits of liberalism: The History Man at fifty. (Essay: Touchstone link: The History Man / Malcolm Bradbury).
David Annand. Club loyalties: Tackling the problem of the football novel. Review of: SEASON / George Harrison (Eye) -- GREATEST OF ALL TIME / Alex Allison (Dialogue) -- ANFIELD ROAD / Chris Shepherd.
Mary Beard (from the current issue landing page): The politics of meaning what you say.
Literature
Rosemary Ashton. Led by the nose: How three great English novelists flattered their readers’ intelligence. Review of: IMAGINING OTHERWISE: How readers help to write nineteenth-century novels / Debra Gettelman (Princeton University Press).
Huw Nesbitt. Perverse pleasures: The decadent novelist who inspired Oscar Wilde. Review of: J.–K. HUYSMANS / Ruth Antosh.
Colin Kidd. A tease that went sour: Which academic inspired The History Man? (Essay)
Suzy Feay. A label on a whirlwind: A nameless narrator writes ‘back to Woolf.’ Review of: THEORY AND PRACTICE / Michelle de Kretser.
Alice Jolly. ‘The whole teenage comedy’: The aftermath of a tragedy in a small town in 1980s England. Review of: DARK LIKE UNDER / Alice Chadwick (Daunt).
Matilda Sykes. Chance operations: Charles Simic’s poems of experience. Review of: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS: 1962–2012 / Charles Simic.
Cynthia Haven. Your world is on the line: A poet’s progress from Poland to the United States. Review of: POET IN THE NEW WORLD: Poems, 1946–1953 / Czesław Miłosz; translated and edited by Robert Hass and David Frick.
In Brief Review of: MONSIEUR TESTE / Paul Valéry; translated by Charlotte Mandell, introduction by Ryan Ruby (NYRB Classics).
In Brief Review of: LA NOVELA OLVIDADA EN LA CASA DEL INGENIERO / Soledad Puértolas.
In Brief Review of: ASK ME AGAIN / Clare Sestanovich.
Arts
Orlando Whitfield. Is it awfully communist: Gilbert and George, a pair of conformist rebels in Moscow. Review of: GILBERT AND GEORGE AND THE COMMUNISTS / James Birch.
Mary Hitchman. Divining interventions: Chickens, spiders, video games: how we try to know more about our lives. Review of: the exhibition ORACLES, OMENS AND ANSWERS, Weston Library, Oxford, until April 27 -- the catalog (?) DIVINATION, ORACLES AND OMENS / Edited by Michelle Aroney and David Zeitlyn (Bodleian Libraries).
Muriel Zagha. Ghosts from a vanished life: Walter Salles’s naturalistic political drama of Brazil in the 1970s. Review of the film I'M STILL HERE.
Guy Dammann. Fragments of families: Mark-Anthony Turnage turns Dogme into opera. Review of Mark-Anthony Turnage's opera FESTEN, Royal Opera House, London; "based on "Thomas Vinterberg’s acclaimed film Festen (1998; distributed in English as The Celebration").
In Brief Review of: THE LOST MUSIC OF THE HOLOCAUST / Francesco Lotoro; translated by Katherine Gregor (Headline).
Philosophy
In Brief Review of: HOW TO TALK ABOUT LOVE / Plato; translated with commentary by Armand D'Angour (translation of The Symposium w/Greek on facing pages).
Religion
Guy Stagg. On the right road: A history of nineteen different shrines of all faiths. Review of: HOLY PLACES: How pilgrimage changed the world / Kathryn Hurlock (Profile).
Nat Segnit. A singing stillness: The solace of secular retreat. Review of: LEARNING FROM SILENCE: Lessons from more than 100 retreats / Pico Iyer (Cornerstone Press).
Science & Technology
Helen Bynum. The turnover of life: How new species came to exist. Review of: LIVING ON EARTH: Life, consciousness and the making of the natural world / Peter Godfrey-Smith.
Tom Simpson. Rivers run through it: How states rationalize waterscapes. Review of: IN PRAISE OF FLOODS: The untamed river and the life it brings / James C. Scott.
History, Politics, & Society
Corinna Treitel. Killing ‘incurables’: Tracing the long history of Nazi crimes against the disabled. Review of: THE QUESTION OF UNWORTHY LIFE: Eugenics and Germany’s twentieth century / Dagmar Herzog (Princeton University Press).
Bryan Cheyette. Massacre and Jewish resistance: A story from the ‘Holocaust by bullets.’ Review of: NO ROAD LEADING BACK: An improbable escape from the Nazis and the tangled way we tell the story of the Holocaust / Chris Heath.
Zoe Guttenplan. New York, New York!: Celebrating the rats, mobsters and little people of the Big City. Review of: A TOWN WITHOUT TIME: Gay Talese’s New York / Gay Talese -- NEW YORK SKETCHES / E.B. White.
In Brief Review of: FLAME, ASH, FEATHER: A dozen eggs from Lockerbie / Catherine Swire (Eyeware Publishing). Coping with the death of her sister in the Lockerbie bombing.
In Brief Review of: PEPYSIAN PERCEPTIONS OF THE CAPE 1798-1828: Selections from the Western Cape diaries of Samuel Eusebius Hudson / Edward Hudson, editor (Historical Publications South Africa).
85featherbear
Kathleen DeLaski, interviewer Ben Wildavsky. Washington Monthly, 02/20/2025: Who Needs College Anymore? "Kathleen deLaski asks that question in a new book that asks how to make higher ed not only more accessible but applicable to Americans’ real lives." Discussing: Who Needs College Anymore?: Imagining a Future Where Degrees Won’t Matter / Kathleen deLaski (Work and Learning Series, Harvard Education Press).
86featherbear
Dan Kois. Slate, 02/26/2025: What Was A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Touchstone: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius / Dave Eggers.
87featherbear
Antonine Maillet, 1929-2025
Adam Nossiter. NYT, 02/28/2025: Antonine Maillet, Writer Who Celebrated Her Native Acadia, Dies at 95. "She gave voice to an overlooked French-speaking population in Canada, adapting an archaic language that had survived through oral tradition."
"Antonine Maillet, a Canadian writer who shaped a new literary language for an isolated French-speaking minority, becoming the first non-European to win France’s most prestigious literary prize, died on Feb. 17 at her home in Montreal, on a street named after her. She was 95.
"In novels, short stories and plays, Ms. Maillet gave voice to the overlooked French-speaking populations in the historic region of Acadia — perhaps half a million people spread across the Anglophone Maritime Provinces of Canada.
"“I was perfectly aware that if I wanted to succeed in life, I had to become English-speaking, because the Acadian was looked down on for what he was,” she told Le Monde.
"Instead, she celebrated the language she had grown up with; she refused as early as the age of 12 to write a school paper in English, as her teacher insisted.
"“Pélagie-la-Charrette,” one of her few works to be translated into English, crackles and snaps with the earthy rhythms of rough-hewed peasant French. The idiom is deliberately unrefined, yet it does not come across as stagy.
"The character of Pélagie assumed an independent existence of her own, as Henry Giniger, a New York Times correspondent, wrote after he visited Ms. Maillet in 1979: “A new Canadian heroine, Pélagie‐la‐Charrette, has emerged as a symbol and champion of the French‐speaking minority’s determination to survive on an English‐speaking continent.”
"Her success was often resented in the cultural center of Francophone Canada, Quebec, as The Globe and Mail recently recalled: “Perhaps the most vicious reaction came from Quebec novelist Victor-Lévy Beaulieu, who wrote in the Montreal newspaper Le Devoir that Quebec literature had been turned into a ‘barnyard’ where writers from ‘arriviste Acadia’ had the nerve to ‘arrogantly collect all the marbles,’ an apparent reference to Ms. Maillet’s literary awards.”
Her LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/mailletantonine
Adam Nossiter. NYT, 02/28/2025: Antonine Maillet, Writer Who Celebrated Her Native Acadia, Dies at 95. "She gave voice to an overlooked French-speaking population in Canada, adapting an archaic language that had survived through oral tradition."
"Antonine Maillet, a Canadian writer who shaped a new literary language for an isolated French-speaking minority, becoming the first non-European to win France’s most prestigious literary prize, died on Feb. 17 at her home in Montreal, on a street named after her. She was 95.
"In novels, short stories and plays, Ms. Maillet gave voice to the overlooked French-speaking populations in the historic region of Acadia — perhaps half a million people spread across the Anglophone Maritime Provinces of Canada.
"“I was perfectly aware that if I wanted to succeed in life, I had to become English-speaking, because the Acadian was looked down on for what he was,” she told Le Monde.
"Instead, she celebrated the language she had grown up with; she refused as early as the age of 12 to write a school paper in English, as her teacher insisted.
"“Pélagie-la-Charrette,” one of her few works to be translated into English, crackles and snaps with the earthy rhythms of rough-hewed peasant French. The idiom is deliberately unrefined, yet it does not come across as stagy.
"The character of Pélagie assumed an independent existence of her own, as Henry Giniger, a New York Times correspondent, wrote after he visited Ms. Maillet in 1979: “A new Canadian heroine, Pélagie‐la‐Charrette, has emerged as a symbol and champion of the French‐speaking minority’s determination to survive on an English‐speaking continent.”
"Her success was often resented in the cultural center of Francophone Canada, Quebec, as The Globe and Mail recently recalled: “Perhaps the most vicious reaction came from Quebec novelist Victor-Lévy Beaulieu, who wrote in the Montreal newspaper Le Devoir that Quebec literature had been turned into a ‘barnyard’ where writers from ‘arriviste Acadia’ had the nerve to ‘arrogantly collect all the marbles,’ an apparent reference to Ms. Maillet’s literary awards.”
Her LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/mailletantonine
88featherbear
This message has been deleted by its author.
89featherbear
NYT books March 2025
J.D. Biersdorfter. 03/01/2025: The Tiny Brown Hare Who Taught One Woman to Slow Down. Review of: RAISING HARE: A Memoir / Chloe Dalton.
Elizabeth Egan. 03/01/2025: How Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Wrote Her Way Through Loss. Regarding: Dream Count: A Novel / Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Alexandra Jacobs. 03/02/2025: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Aims to ‘Write a Wrong’ in ‘Dream Count.’ Review of: Dream Count / Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. "In her first novel since “Americanah,” she draws on a real-life assault as she follows the lives of three Nigerian women and one of their former housekeepers."
Laura van den Berg. 03/04/2025: Inside a Sadistic Sisterhood at the End of the World. Review of: THE UNWORTHY / Agustina Bazterrica; translated by Sarah Moses.
Kerri K. Greenidge. 03/04/2025: The Archives Tried to Erase Her Family. She Tells Their Story. Review of: THE TROUBLE OF COLOR: An American Family Memoir / Martha S. Jones.
Jennifer Szalai. 03/05/2025: Trump Is Changing America From the Top. These Groups Did It From the Bottom. Review of: SEVEN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS THAT CHANGED AMERICA / Linda Gordon.
Carlene Bauer. 03/05/2025: This Writer Isn’t Afraid to Get Weird. Review of: NO LESS STRANGE OR WONDERFUL: Essays in Curiosity / A. Kendra Greene (Tin House).
Megan Marshall. 03/07/2025: How Do You Like Your History? With Imaginative Leaps or Grounded in Fact? "Novelized accounts of historical figures’ lives are hugely popular. But do we really want to draw back the curtain on history and find people talking and acting the way we do?" TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED
Alexandra Alter. 03/07/2025: The Author of ‘The Help’ Wrote a Second Novel. Yes, Following Up Was Daunting. "Fifteen years ago, Kathryn Stockett’s debut novel became a best seller, but was also heavily criticized for its portrayal of Black characters. Now, she has written second novel, “The Calamity Club.”" The Help / Kathryn Stockett. "Set in 1933 in Oxford, Miss., “The Calamity Club” centers on a group of women whose lives intersect as they struggle to get by during the Depression. It will be published in April 2026 by the independent press Spiegel & Grau."
Robert Sullivan. 03/08/2025: Take a Deep Breath. If You Dare. Review of: AIR-BORNE: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe / Carl Zimmer
Jennifer Szalai. 03/10/2025: A Facebook Insider’s Exposé Alleges Bad Behavior at the Top. Review of: CARELESS PEOPLE: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism / Sarah Wynn-Williams.
Dwight Garner. 03/10/2025: A Melancholy Yiddish Classic That Also Happens to Be Hilarious. Review of: SONS AND DAUGHTERS: a novel / Chaim Grade; translated by Rose Waldman.
Victor LaValle. 03/12/2025: Amid a Dust Storm and a Depression, 5 Pioneers Reap What They’ve Sown. Review of: THE ANTIDOTE / Karen Russell.
Joshua David Stein. 03/13/2025: 2 Memoirs by Women of the Bad Boy Chef Era Leave a Bittersweet Taste. Review of: CARE AND FEEDING: A Memoir / Laurie Woolever -- CELLAR RAT: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly / Hannah Selinger.
Lauren Christensen. 03/13/2025: Sick or Neurotic? This Writer Will Be the Judge. Review of: HYPOCHONDRIA / Will Rees.
Kevin Peraino. 03/14/2025: Making America Red-Scared Again. Review of: RED SCARE: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America / Clay Risen.
Elisabeth Egan. 03/15/2025: He Dreamed Up Bosch and the Lincoln Lawyer. It All Started With L.A. "For almost four decades, Michael Connelly has set his characters loose in a city of big dreams and lucky breaks. Now they’re facing an altered landscape. So is he." TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED
Randy Boyagoda. 03/15/2025: He’s ‘the Worst Dream America Ever Had,’ and He’s Out for Revenge. Review of: THE BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER / Stephen Graham Jones.
Sylvia Brownrigg. 03/15/2025: She Survived Horror, and Then She Went to Space. Review of: SAVING FIVE: A Memoir of Hope / Amanda Nguyen.
Alexandra McKenzie. 03/17/2025: While Her Body Struggles to Stay Alive, Her Brain Writes Porn. Review of: HUNCHBACK / Saou Ichikawa; translated by Polly Barton.
Jennifer Schuessler. 03/17/2025: Book About Yellowstone Wins American History Prize. "The New York Historical honor goes to Randall K. Wilson, whose “A Place Called Yellowstone” chronicles a landscape “capable of bridging ideological divides.”
Amy Bloom. 03/17/2025: From Welcoming New Life to Mourning Its Loss, in 22 Weeks. Review of: FIRSTBORN: A Memoir / Lauren Christensen.
Jennifer Harlan. 03/18/2025: A Propulsive, Brutal ‘Hunger Games’ Prequel Is Here. And It’s Great. Review of: SUNRISE ON THE REAPING / Suzanne Collins.
Alexandra Alter. 03/21/2025: Aleksei Navalny Among National Book Critics Circle Award Winners. (The winners; TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED)
Sarah Weinman. 03/21/2025: Classic Private-Eye Detective Novels: A Starter Pack. "Our crime columnist recommends books starring hard-boiled investigators who are ready to travel down the meanest streets to root out the darkest truths." TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED.
Kate Zernike. 03/23/2025: What if We Select Ourselves Out of Existence? Review of: THE SOCIAL GENOME: The New Science of Nature and Nurture / Dalton Conley -- THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE HUMAN EMPIRE: Why Our Species Is on the Edge of Extinction / Henry Gee.
Alexandra Alter. 03/23/2025: A Hare, a Fox, an Owl, a Snail: Animal Memoirs Are Going Wild. "Books about writers’ dogs and cats are a literary staple. Now there’s a booming subset of memoirs about writers’ relationships with less domestic creatures."
Alexandra Jacobs. 03/23/2025: Yoko Ono, Demonized No Longer. Review of: YOKO: The Biography / David Sheff.
Jennifer Wright. 03/25/2025: In This 1910 True Crime Story, the Victim Finally Gets Some Respect. Review of: STORY OF A MURDER: The Wives, the Mistress, and Dr. Crippen / Hallie Rubenhold.
A.O. Scott. 03/27/2025: It’s Gatsby’s World, We Just Live in It. "F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel turns 100 this year. What does its hero tell us about how we see ourselves?" TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED.
Silvia Moreno Garcia. 03/30/2025: The Essential Tanith Lee. "The eclectic, prolific author wrote more than 90 novels — primarily fantasy and science fiction, but also horror, erotica, mysteries and historical fiction. If you’ve never read her work, here’s where to start."
Marisa Meltzer. 03/30/2025: Wife, Tigress, Influencer, Accountant, Nurse, Muse, Mystery. Review of: SURREAL: The Extraordinary Life of Gala Dalí / Michèle Gerber Klein.
J.D. Biersdorfter. 03/01/2025: The Tiny Brown Hare Who Taught One Woman to Slow Down. Review of: RAISING HARE: A Memoir / Chloe Dalton.
Elizabeth Egan. 03/01/2025: How Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Wrote Her Way Through Loss. Regarding: Dream Count: A Novel / Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Alexandra Jacobs. 03/02/2025: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Aims to ‘Write a Wrong’ in ‘Dream Count.’ Review of: Dream Count / Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. "In her first novel since “Americanah,” she draws on a real-life assault as she follows the lives of three Nigerian women and one of their former housekeepers."
Laura van den Berg. 03/04/2025: Inside a Sadistic Sisterhood at the End of the World. Review of: THE UNWORTHY / Agustina Bazterrica; translated by Sarah Moses.
Kerri K. Greenidge. 03/04/2025: The Archives Tried to Erase Her Family. She Tells Their Story. Review of: THE TROUBLE OF COLOR: An American Family Memoir / Martha S. Jones.
Jennifer Szalai. 03/05/2025: Trump Is Changing America From the Top. These Groups Did It From the Bottom. Review of: SEVEN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS THAT CHANGED AMERICA / Linda Gordon.
Carlene Bauer. 03/05/2025: This Writer Isn’t Afraid to Get Weird. Review of: NO LESS STRANGE OR WONDERFUL: Essays in Curiosity / A. Kendra Greene (Tin House).
Megan Marshall. 03/07/2025: How Do You Like Your History? With Imaginative Leaps or Grounded in Fact? "Novelized accounts of historical figures’ lives are hugely popular. But do we really want to draw back the curtain on history and find people talking and acting the way we do?" TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED
Alexandra Alter. 03/07/2025: The Author of ‘The Help’ Wrote a Second Novel. Yes, Following Up Was Daunting. "Fifteen years ago, Kathryn Stockett’s debut novel became a best seller, but was also heavily criticized for its portrayal of Black characters. Now, she has written second novel, “The Calamity Club.”" The Help / Kathryn Stockett. "Set in 1933 in Oxford, Miss., “The Calamity Club” centers on a group of women whose lives intersect as they struggle to get by during the Depression. It will be published in April 2026 by the independent press Spiegel & Grau."
Robert Sullivan. 03/08/2025: Take a Deep Breath. If You Dare. Review of: AIR-BORNE: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe / Carl Zimmer
Jennifer Szalai. 03/10/2025: A Facebook Insider’s Exposé Alleges Bad Behavior at the Top. Review of: CARELESS PEOPLE: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism / Sarah Wynn-Williams.
Dwight Garner. 03/10/2025: A Melancholy Yiddish Classic That Also Happens to Be Hilarious. Review of: SONS AND DAUGHTERS: a novel / Chaim Grade; translated by Rose Waldman.
Victor LaValle. 03/12/2025: Amid a Dust Storm and a Depression, 5 Pioneers Reap What They’ve Sown. Review of: THE ANTIDOTE / Karen Russell.
Joshua David Stein. 03/13/2025: 2 Memoirs by Women of the Bad Boy Chef Era Leave a Bittersweet Taste. Review of: CARE AND FEEDING: A Memoir / Laurie Woolever -- CELLAR RAT: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly / Hannah Selinger.
Lauren Christensen. 03/13/2025: Sick or Neurotic? This Writer Will Be the Judge. Review of: HYPOCHONDRIA / Will Rees.
Kevin Peraino. 03/14/2025: Making America Red-Scared Again. Review of: RED SCARE: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America / Clay Risen.
Elisabeth Egan. 03/15/2025: He Dreamed Up Bosch and the Lincoln Lawyer. It All Started With L.A. "For almost four decades, Michael Connelly has set his characters loose in a city of big dreams and lucky breaks. Now they’re facing an altered landscape. So is he." TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED
Randy Boyagoda. 03/15/2025: He’s ‘the Worst Dream America Ever Had,’ and He’s Out for Revenge. Review of: THE BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER / Stephen Graham Jones.
Sylvia Brownrigg. 03/15/2025: She Survived Horror, and Then She Went to Space. Review of: SAVING FIVE: A Memoir of Hope / Amanda Nguyen.
Alexandra McKenzie. 03/17/2025: While Her Body Struggles to Stay Alive, Her Brain Writes Porn. Review of: HUNCHBACK / Saou Ichikawa; translated by Polly Barton.
Jennifer Schuessler. 03/17/2025: Book About Yellowstone Wins American History Prize. "The New York Historical honor goes to Randall K. Wilson, whose “A Place Called Yellowstone” chronicles a landscape “capable of bridging ideological divides.”
Amy Bloom. 03/17/2025: From Welcoming New Life to Mourning Its Loss, in 22 Weeks. Review of: FIRSTBORN: A Memoir / Lauren Christensen.
Jennifer Harlan. 03/18/2025: A Propulsive, Brutal ‘Hunger Games’ Prequel Is Here. And It’s Great. Review of: SUNRISE ON THE REAPING / Suzanne Collins.
Alexandra Alter. 03/21/2025: Aleksei Navalny Among National Book Critics Circle Award Winners. (The winners; TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED)
Sarah Weinman. 03/21/2025: Classic Private-Eye Detective Novels: A Starter Pack. "Our crime columnist recommends books starring hard-boiled investigators who are ready to travel down the meanest streets to root out the darkest truths." TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED.
Kate Zernike. 03/23/2025: What if We Select Ourselves Out of Existence? Review of: THE SOCIAL GENOME: The New Science of Nature and Nurture / Dalton Conley -- THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE HUMAN EMPIRE: Why Our Species Is on the Edge of Extinction / Henry Gee.
Alexandra Alter. 03/23/2025: A Hare, a Fox, an Owl, a Snail: Animal Memoirs Are Going Wild. "Books about writers’ dogs and cats are a literary staple. Now there’s a booming subset of memoirs about writers’ relationships with less domestic creatures."
Alexandra Jacobs. 03/23/2025: Yoko Ono, Demonized No Longer. Review of: YOKO: The Biography / David Sheff.
Jennifer Wright. 03/25/2025: In This 1910 True Crime Story, the Victim Finally Gets Some Respect. Review of: STORY OF A MURDER: The Wives, the Mistress, and Dr. Crippen / Hallie Rubenhold.
A.O. Scott. 03/27/2025: It’s Gatsby’s World, We Just Live in It. "F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel turns 100 this year. What does its hero tell us about how we see ourselves?" TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED.
Silvia Moreno Garcia. 03/30/2025: The Essential Tanith Lee. "The eclectic, prolific author wrote more than 90 novels — primarily fantasy and science fiction, but also horror, erotica, mysteries and historical fiction. If you’ve never read her work, here’s where to start."
Marisa Meltzer. 03/30/2025: Wife, Tigress, Influencer, Accountant, Nurse, Muse, Mystery. Review of: SURREAL: The Extraordinary Life of Gala Dalí / Michèle Gerber Klein.
90featherbear
Joseph Wambaugh, 1937-2025
Brian Murphy. WaPo, 03/01/2025: Joseph Wambaugh, author who knew gritty reality of cop life, dies at 88. TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED".
"In Mr. Wambaugh’s more than 20 novels and nonfiction works — many of which were adapted for the screen — the lines between law enforcement and lawbreakers often become blurred. Beat cops and detectives struggle with their own demons as much as they grapple with their cases amid a backdrop of grifters, informants and bars where people drink to get drunk."
Robert D. McFadden. NYT, 02/28/2025: Joseph Wambaugh, Author With a Cop’s-Eye View, Is Dead at 88.
"In a prolific four-decade career that overlapped with, and often drew upon, the obscenities and violence of his 14 years with the Los Angeles Police Department, Mr. Wambaugh wrote 16 novels and five nonfiction books. He also created two TV series, “Police Story” (1973-78) and “The Blue Knight” (1975-76), and wrote the screenplays for the movie versions of “The Onion Field” (1979) and “The Black Marble” (1980), as well as a CBS mini-series, “Echoes in the Darkness” (1987), and an NBC film, “Fugitive Nights: Danger in the Desert” (1993), both also based on his books."
Author of, among others: The New Centurions -- The Onion Field
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/wambaughjoseph
Brian Murphy. WaPo, 03/01/2025: Joseph Wambaugh, author who knew gritty reality of cop life, dies at 88. TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED".
"In Mr. Wambaugh’s more than 20 novels and nonfiction works — many of which were adapted for the screen — the lines between law enforcement and lawbreakers often become blurred. Beat cops and detectives struggle with their own demons as much as they grapple with their cases amid a backdrop of grifters, informants and bars where people drink to get drunk."
Robert D. McFadden. NYT, 02/28/2025: Joseph Wambaugh, Author With a Cop’s-Eye View, Is Dead at 88.
"In a prolific four-decade career that overlapped with, and often drew upon, the obscenities and violence of his 14 years with the Los Angeles Police Department, Mr. Wambaugh wrote 16 novels and five nonfiction books. He also created two TV series, “Police Story” (1973-78) and “The Blue Knight” (1975-76), and wrote the screenplays for the movie versions of “The Onion Field” (1979) and “The Black Marble” (1980), as well as a CBS mini-series, “Echoes in the Darkness” (1987), and an NBC film, “Fugitive Nights: Danger in the Desert” (1993), both also based on his books."
Author of, among others: The New Centurions -- The Onion Field
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/wambaughjoseph
91featherbear
Literary Review (UK, March 2025)
Peter Marshall. Down with the Ox Tax! Review of: Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants’ War / Lyndal Roper.
Philip Snow. Death from the Clouds. Review of: Rain of Ruin: Tokyo, Hiroshima, and the Surrender of Japan / Richard Overy.
Jonathan Sumption. War of Words. Review of: What is Free Speech? The History of a Dangerous Idea / Fara Dabhoiwala.
Maria Margaronis. Women’s Hour. Review of: Dream Count / Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Owen Matthews. Sea of Troubles. Review of: Baltic: The Future of Europe / Oliver Moody (John Murray).
Stephen Smith. From Russia with Lucre. Review of: Gilbert & George and the Communists / James Birch.
Joanna Kavenna. Do Not Disturb. (Essay: though Coleridge's "Man from Porlock" as an explanation for his unfinished Kubla Khan is the starting point)
Peter Marshall. Down with the Ox Tax! Review of: Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants’ War / Lyndal Roper.
Philip Snow. Death from the Clouds. Review of: Rain of Ruin: Tokyo, Hiroshima, and the Surrender of Japan / Richard Overy.
Jonathan Sumption. War of Words. Review of: What is Free Speech? The History of a Dangerous Idea / Fara Dabhoiwala.
Maria Margaronis. Women’s Hour. Review of: Dream Count / Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Owen Matthews. Sea of Troubles. Review of: Baltic: The Future of Europe / Oliver Moody (John Murray).
Stephen Smith. From Russia with Lucre. Review of: Gilbert & George and the Communists / James Birch.
Joanna Kavenna. Do Not Disturb. (Essay: though Coleridge's "Man from Porlock" as an explanation for his unfinished Kubla Khan is the starting point)
92featherbear
The Guardian March books:
Peter Conrad. 03/02/2025: ‘He contains the whole of literature’: is Dickens better than Shakespeare? "After rereading the entire works of the great Victorian novelist during the pandemic, Peter Conrad became convinced – whisper it – that Dickens is an even greater writer than that other British literary giant, the Bard." Perhaps Conrad is promoting his book Dickens the Enchanter: Inside the Explosive Imagination of the Great Storyteller (Bloomsbury Continuum).
And related:
Killian Fox. 03/02/2025: Who is better, Dickens or Shakespeare? We asked nine prominent writers.
Anthony Cummins. 03/02/2025: Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie review – candid conversations with friends. Touchstone link: Dream Count: A Novel / Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. "The author’s first novel since 2013 – a stately sisterhood saga about a group of women whose lives haven’t turned out quite as planned – continually reframes our understanding of the quartet, practically offering four books for the price of one."
Lucy Knight. 03/04/2025: Unseen Harper Lee stories set in New York and Alabama to be published. "Eight unpublished stories by the To Kill a Mockingbird author will be issued later this year as The Land of Sweet Forever.
Gloria Oladipo. 03/04/2025: ‘The blue blues have never left us’: a new book examines the color’s spanning ties to Black culture. "Imani Perry’s Black in Blues traces the ways blue is woven through Black history, from Miles Davis to Toni Morrison."
Alex Clark. 03/08/2025: ‘AI will become very good at manipulating emotions’: Kazuo Ishiguro on the future of fiction and truth. "On the 20th anniversary of Never Let Me Go, the Nobel prize-winning novelist talks about the role of the author in a post-truth world – and why he’s ‘not a great writer of prose’"
03/15/2025: ‘Much darker than Pride and Prejudice!’: authors pick their favourite Jane Austen novel. "Colm Tóibín, Katherine Rundell, Rebecca Kuang and other leading novelists celebrate the author in her 250th year."
Donna Ferguson. 03/15/2025: Unearthed notebooks shed light on Victorian genius who inspired Einstein. "Michael Faraday’s illustrated notes that show how radical scientist began his theories at London’s Royal Institution to go online."
Julian Barnes. 03/16/2025: ‘We remember as true things that never even happened’: Julian Barnes on memory and changing his mind. "The Booker-prize winning novelist reflects on the times in his life when recollection and imagination have intertwined, and wonders whether we can ever rely on our brains to provide us with the truth." "... extract from Changing My Mind by Julian Barnes" to be published 18 March.
Lloyd Green. 03/16/2025: Murder the Truth by David Enrich review – disturbing read on effort to undo free speech in US. Review of: Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful / David Enrich.
Phil Tinline. 03/16/2025: The ‘Iron Mountain’ hoax: how anti-Vietnam war satire sparked today’s conspiracy theories. Regarding: Report From Iron Mountain: on the possibility and desirability of peace / with introductory material by Leonard Lewin.
Stephanie Merritt. 03/16/2025: Maternity Service by Emma Barnett review – a tour of duty in early motherhood. Review of: Maternity Service: A Love Letter to Mothers from the Front Line of Maternity Leave / Emma Barnett (publisher Fig Tree).
Philip Womack. 03/18/2025: Second Hunger Games prequel is not for the faint-hearted. Review of: Sunrise on the Reaping / Suzanne Collins.
Anthony Cummins. 03/18/2025: A masterclass in quicksilver storytelling. Review of: Theft: a novel / Abdulrazak Gurnah.
J. Oliver Conroy. 03/28/2025: What is ‘abundance’ liberalism, and why are people arguing about it? Regarding Abundance / Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson.
Lloyd Green. 03/30/2025: A luridly fascinating smorgasbord of Trump’s score settling. Review of: Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump's Return to Power / Alex Eisenstadt.
Peter Conrad. 03/02/2025: ‘He contains the whole of literature’: is Dickens better than Shakespeare? "After rereading the entire works of the great Victorian novelist during the pandemic, Peter Conrad became convinced – whisper it – that Dickens is an even greater writer than that other British literary giant, the Bard." Perhaps Conrad is promoting his book Dickens the Enchanter: Inside the Explosive Imagination of the Great Storyteller (Bloomsbury Continuum).
And related:
Killian Fox. 03/02/2025: Who is better, Dickens or Shakespeare? We asked nine prominent writers.
Anthony Cummins. 03/02/2025: Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie review – candid conversations with friends. Touchstone link: Dream Count: A Novel / Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. "The author’s first novel since 2013 – a stately sisterhood saga about a group of women whose lives haven’t turned out quite as planned – continually reframes our understanding of the quartet, practically offering four books for the price of one."
Lucy Knight. 03/04/2025: Unseen Harper Lee stories set in New York and Alabama to be published. "Eight unpublished stories by the To Kill a Mockingbird author will be issued later this year as The Land of Sweet Forever.
Gloria Oladipo. 03/04/2025: ‘The blue blues have never left us’: a new book examines the color’s spanning ties to Black culture. "Imani Perry’s Black in Blues traces the ways blue is woven through Black history, from Miles Davis to Toni Morrison."
Alex Clark. 03/08/2025: ‘AI will become very good at manipulating emotions’: Kazuo Ishiguro on the future of fiction and truth. "On the 20th anniversary of Never Let Me Go, the Nobel prize-winning novelist talks about the role of the author in a post-truth world – and why he’s ‘not a great writer of prose’"
03/15/2025: ‘Much darker than Pride and Prejudice!’: authors pick their favourite Jane Austen novel. "Colm Tóibín, Katherine Rundell, Rebecca Kuang and other leading novelists celebrate the author in her 250th year."
Donna Ferguson. 03/15/2025: Unearthed notebooks shed light on Victorian genius who inspired Einstein. "Michael Faraday’s illustrated notes that show how radical scientist began his theories at London’s Royal Institution to go online."
Julian Barnes. 03/16/2025: ‘We remember as true things that never even happened’: Julian Barnes on memory and changing his mind. "The Booker-prize winning novelist reflects on the times in his life when recollection and imagination have intertwined, and wonders whether we can ever rely on our brains to provide us with the truth." "... extract from Changing My Mind by Julian Barnes" to be published 18 March.
Lloyd Green. 03/16/2025: Murder the Truth by David Enrich review – disturbing read on effort to undo free speech in US. Review of: Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful / David Enrich.
Phil Tinline. 03/16/2025: The ‘Iron Mountain’ hoax: how anti-Vietnam war satire sparked today’s conspiracy theories. Regarding: Report From Iron Mountain: on the possibility and desirability of peace / with introductory material by Leonard Lewin.
Stephanie Merritt. 03/16/2025: Maternity Service by Emma Barnett review – a tour of duty in early motherhood. Review of: Maternity Service: A Love Letter to Mothers from the Front Line of Maternity Leave / Emma Barnett (publisher Fig Tree).
Philip Womack. 03/18/2025: Second Hunger Games prequel is not for the faint-hearted. Review of: Sunrise on the Reaping / Suzanne Collins.
Anthony Cummins. 03/18/2025: A masterclass in quicksilver storytelling. Review of: Theft: a novel / Abdulrazak Gurnah.
J. Oliver Conroy. 03/28/2025: What is ‘abundance’ liberalism, and why are people arguing about it? Regarding Abundance / Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson.
Lloyd Green. 03/30/2025: A luridly fascinating smorgasbord of Trump’s score settling. Review of: Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump's Return to Power / Alex Eisenstadt.
93featherbear
Martin E. Marty, 1928-2025
Sam Roberts. NYT, 03/02/2025: Martin E. Marty, Influential Religious Historian, Dies at 97.
"In more than 60 books, thousands of articles and as what he described as a “peregrinating lecturer,” Dr. Marty promoted what he called public theology, or the confluence of fundamental cultural and religious conventions for the common good.
"He disdained extremism and fundamentalism, both by Islamist terrorists and right-wing Protestants. And he warned, in “The One and the Many: America’s Struggle for the Common Good” (1997), that the culture wars had undermined the ideals of e pluribus unum and challenged Americans’ shared heritage.
"The nation had fractured, he wrote, between “totalists,” who felt left behind and belittled, and “tribalists,” whose individual pride in race, religion, ethnicity and gender circumscribed their vision of the American mosaic.
"“Nothing is more important than to keep the richness of our pluralism alive,” Dr. Marty once wrote. “To be aware of many different people and different ways, and deal with it.”
"In a review of Dr. Marty’s 1991 book, “Modern American Religion, Volume Two,” the Stanford historian David M. Kennedy wrote that “For all the raucous contention he chronicles, Mr. Marty remains an optimist. It is, he concludes in an eloquent peroration, with a nod to James Madison, precisely the plurality of religious voices that has insured the integrity of the social fabric by preventing the lasting dominance of any single group.”
"Among his other books were “A Short History of Christianity” (1959), “A Cry of Absence” (1983), “Pilgrims in Their Own Land: Five Hundred Years of Religion in America” (1984), and “A Short History of American Catholicism” (1995).
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/martymartine
Sam Roberts. NYT, 03/02/2025: Martin E. Marty, Influential Religious Historian, Dies at 97.
"In more than 60 books, thousands of articles and as what he described as a “peregrinating lecturer,” Dr. Marty promoted what he called public theology, or the confluence of fundamental cultural and religious conventions for the common good.
"He disdained extremism and fundamentalism, both by Islamist terrorists and right-wing Protestants. And he warned, in “The One and the Many: America’s Struggle for the Common Good” (1997), that the culture wars had undermined the ideals of e pluribus unum and challenged Americans’ shared heritage.
"The nation had fractured, he wrote, between “totalists,” who felt left behind and belittled, and “tribalists,” whose individual pride in race, religion, ethnicity and gender circumscribed their vision of the American mosaic.
"“Nothing is more important than to keep the richness of our pluralism alive,” Dr. Marty once wrote. “To be aware of many different people and different ways, and deal with it.”
"In a review of Dr. Marty’s 1991 book, “Modern American Religion, Volume Two,” the Stanford historian David M. Kennedy wrote that “For all the raucous contention he chronicles, Mr. Marty remains an optimist. It is, he concludes in an eloquent peroration, with a nod to James Madison, precisely the plurality of religious voices that has insured the integrity of the social fabric by preventing the lasting dominance of any single group.”
"Among his other books were “A Short History of Christianity” (1959), “A Cry of Absence” (1983), “Pilgrims in Their Own Land: Five Hundred Years of Religion in America” (1984), and “A Short History of American Catholicism” (1995).
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/martymartine
94featherbear
Tom L. Beauchamp, 1939-2025
Brian Murphy. WaPo, 02/27/2025: Tom Beauchamp, scholar who helped define modern bioethics, dies at 85: " a philosopher and ethicist who helped codify boundaries on medical research involving human trials and sought to strengthen protocols on animal testing to recognize moral concerns such as pain and cognition."
Among his publications: Principles of Animal Research Ethics (2020, with David deGrazia) -- The Human Use of Animals: Case Studies in Ethical Choice (1998, with Barbara Orlans & Rebecca Dresser) -- Hume and the Problem of Causation (1981 w/Alexander Rosenberg) --Intending Death: The Ethics of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia (1995)
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/beauchamptoml
Brian Murphy. WaPo, 02/27/2025: Tom Beauchamp, scholar who helped define modern bioethics, dies at 85: " a philosopher and ethicist who helped codify boundaries on medical research involving human trials and sought to strengthen protocols on animal testing to recognize moral concerns such as pain and cognition."
Among his publications: Principles of Animal Research Ethics (2020, with David deGrazia) -- The Human Use of Animals: Case Studies in Ethical Choice (1998, with Barbara Orlans & Rebecca Dresser) -- Hume and the Problem of Causation (1981 w/Alexander Rosenberg) --Intending Death: The Ethics of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia (1995)
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/beauchamptoml
95featherbear
Laura Sessions Stepp, 1951-2025
Emily Langer. WaPo, 02/28/2025: Laura Sessions Stepp, writer who explored adolescent life, dies at 73. "... a former Washington Post journalist who sensitively explored the inner lives of adolescents and wrote a best-selling book examining the consequences of “hookup culture” for young women and girls ..."
"She had two stepdaughters in addition to her son and, as a reporter, showed a remarkable ability to earn the trust of young people — especially girls — and illuminate their world for readers of the newspaper.
“Girls would tell her the most incredibly private secrets,” Henry Allen, one of her editors at The Post, recalled in an interview."
Michael S. Rosenwald. 02/03/2025: Laura Sessions Stepp, Who Reported on Teenage Sex, Dies at 73.
Her books include: Unhooked: How Young Women Pursue Sex, Delay Love and Lose at Both -- Our Last Best Shot: Guiding Our Children Through Early Adolescence
Her LT page is https://www.librarything.com/author/stepplaurasessions
Emily Langer. WaPo, 02/28/2025: Laura Sessions Stepp, writer who explored adolescent life, dies at 73. "... a former Washington Post journalist who sensitively explored the inner lives of adolescents and wrote a best-selling book examining the consequences of “hookup culture” for young women and girls ..."
"She had two stepdaughters in addition to her son and, as a reporter, showed a remarkable ability to earn the trust of young people — especially girls — and illuminate their world for readers of the newspaper.
“Girls would tell her the most incredibly private secrets,” Henry Allen, one of her editors at The Post, recalled in an interview."
Michael S. Rosenwald. 02/03/2025: Laura Sessions Stepp, Who Reported on Teenage Sex, Dies at 73.
Her books include: Unhooked: How Young Women Pursue Sex, Delay Love and Lose at Both -- Our Last Best Shot: Guiding Our Children Through Early Adolescence
Her LT page is https://www.librarything.com/author/stepplaurasessions
96featherbear
Boston Review books March 2025
Udi Greenberg. 03/04/2025: Small Wasn’t Beautiful. Review of: The Solidarity Economy: Nonprofits and the Making of Neoliberalism after Empire / Tehila Sasson.
Emily Baughan. 03/26/2025: Lost Liverpool. Review of: Liverpool and the Unmaking of Britain / Sam Wetherell (Apollo).
Udi Greenberg. 03/04/2025: Small Wasn’t Beautiful. Review of: The Solidarity Economy: Nonprofits and the Making of Neoliberalism after Empire / Tehila Sasson.
Emily Baughan. 03/26/2025: Lost Liverpool. Review of: Liverpool and the Unmaking of Britain / Sam Wetherell (Apollo).
97featherbear
Yale Review books March 2025
James Surowiecki. 03/04/2025: Chaos Agent in Chief: What Michael Wolff’s Trump quartet tells us about the next four years. Review of: All or Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America / Michael Wolff.
Isabella Hammad. 03/11/2025: Reading During a Genocide: How Etel Adnan taught me to bear witness to the unbearable. "A few years ago, I taught the Lebanese American writer and artist Etel Adnan’s short novel, Sitt Marie-Rose (1978), as part of an undergraduate literature class in the Occupied West Bank. ..."
Tiana Reid. 03/11/2025: Zora Neale Hurston’s Rediscovered Novel: A new publication obscures the canonical writer. Regarding The Life of Herod the Great: A Novel / Zora Neale Hurston.
Bryan Burrough. 03/14/2025: Vanity Fair’s Heyday: I was once paid six figures to write an article—now what? Review of: When the Going Was Good: An Editor’s Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines / Graydon Carter.
James Surowiecki. 03/04/2025: Chaos Agent in Chief: What Michael Wolff’s Trump quartet tells us about the next four years. Review of: All or Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America / Michael Wolff.
Isabella Hammad. 03/11/2025: Reading During a Genocide: How Etel Adnan taught me to bear witness to the unbearable. "A few years ago, I taught the Lebanese American writer and artist Etel Adnan’s short novel, Sitt Marie-Rose (1978), as part of an undergraduate literature class in the Occupied West Bank. ..."
Tiana Reid. 03/11/2025: Zora Neale Hurston’s Rediscovered Novel: A new publication obscures the canonical writer. Regarding The Life of Herod the Great: A Novel / Zora Neale Hurston.
Bryan Burrough. 03/14/2025: Vanity Fair’s Heyday: I was once paid six figures to write an article—now what? Review of: When the Going Was Good: An Editor’s Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines / Graydon Carter.
98featherbear
John Casey, 1939-2025
Clay Risen. 03/03/205: John Casey, Novelist of Salty, Rough-Hewn Characters, Dies at 86. "He won a National Book Award for “Spartina,” beating out novels by Amy Tan and E.L. Doctorow. A longtime professor, he lived for a time without electricity on an island."
Harrison Smith. 03/04/2025: John Casey, prize-winning novelist of ‘Spartina,’ dies at 86. "He won the 1989 National Book Award for his novel, which one reviewer called “possibly the best American novel about going fishing since ‘The Old Man and the Sea.’” TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED.
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/caseyjohn-1
Clay Risen. 03/03/205: John Casey, Novelist of Salty, Rough-Hewn Characters, Dies at 86. "He won a National Book Award for “Spartina,” beating out novels by Amy Tan and E.L. Doctorow. A longtime professor, he lived for a time without electricity on an island."
Harrison Smith. 03/04/2025: John Casey, prize-winning novelist of ‘Spartina,’ dies at 86. "He won the 1989 National Book Award for his novel, which one reviewer called “possibly the best American novel about going fishing since ‘The Old Man and the Sea.’” TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED.
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/caseyjohn-1
99featherbear
WaPo books March 2025
Meredith Maran. 03/04/2025: ‘Woodworking’ is a funny, convincing takedown of American prejudice. Review of: Woodworking / Emily St. James. "Emily St. James explores the complexities of gender dysphoria in a small town, through the eyes of a trans girl and her teacher."
Ron Charles. 03/06/2025: Karen Russell’s ‘The Antidote’ is a dazzlingly original American epic. Touchstone link: The Antidote: a novel / Karen Russell. "Russell’s first novel since “Swamplandia!” takes place on a vast historical canvas and is shot through with elements of magic."
Geoff Edgers. 03/07/2025: Rock forgot one of its wildest front men. He’s got a story to tell. Regarding: Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses / Peter Wolf. (Mar 11 release) TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED
Matthew Spektor. 03/11/2025: What Hollywood meant to Joan Didion. Review of: We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine / Alissa Wilkinson.
Louis Bayard. 03/13/2025: Edgar Allan Poe’s life was a mess. But his work was in his command. Review of: Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography / Richard Kopley (University of Virginia).
Bryn Stole. 03/13/2025: ‘Naples 1944’ captures a liberated but desperate and collapsing city. Review of: Naples 1944: The Devil’s Paradise at War / Keith Lowe.
Dennis Duncan. 03/13/2025: An eloquent reminder of an act we take for granted. Review of: On Breathing: Care in a Time of Catastrophe / Jamieson Webster.
Quinta Jurecic. 03/14/2025: ‘Murder the Truth’ explores the campaign against the First Amendment. Review of: Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful / David Enrich.
Ron Charles. 03/14/2025: A Nobel Prize winner offers a compassionate view of the world. Review of: Theft / Abdulrazak Gurnah.
Becca Rothfeld. 03/14/2025: The price of standing out in Xi Jinping’s China. Review of: Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping’s China / Emily Feng.
Marin Cogan. 03/14/2025: A famous chef’s autopsy tells the story of his career. Review of: The Death and Life of August Sweeney / Samuel Ashworth (SFWP). A novel, by the way; TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED
Emily Tamkin. 03/18/2025: Chuck Schumer’s book might offer another reason to get mad at him. Review of: Antisemitism in America: A Warning / Senator Chuck Schumer.
Kathryn Rhett. 03/19/2025: In ‘Firstborn,’ an author recalls the dream, and loss, of her daughter. Review of: Firstborn: A Memoir / Lauren Christensen.
Garrett M. Graff. 03/20/2025: An ode to the remarkable people who make up the federal government. Review of: Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service / Michael Lewis, editor.
Judith Warner. 03/20/2025: She stopped taking her psych meds. Now she helps others do the same. Review of: Unshrunk: A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance / Laura Delano.
Becca Rothfeld. 03/20/2025: A classic of nature writing finds constant renewal in the mountains. Review of the reissue of: The Living Mountain / Nan Shepherd, with an introduction by Robert McFarland.
Jess Keiser. 03/20/2025: This 25-year-old horror novel captured the terrors of the internet. Revisiting House of Leaves / Mark Z. Danielewski.
Naomi Nix. 03/22/2025: Meta scrambled to silence a tell-all book. Now it’s a bestseller. Regarding Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism / Sarah Wynn-Williams. See also >113 featherbear:
Sophia Nguyen. 03/26/2025: An intimate look at Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne’s papers. "The glamorous literary couple’s archives, housed at the New York Public Library, are now open to the public."
Ariella Garmaise. 03/27/2025: She’s on a quest to become ‘the greatest girlfriend of all time.’ Review of: Paradise Logic / Sophie Kemp.
Becca Rothfeld. 03/28/2025: This Pulitzer winner’s sentences are beautiful. Her thinking can be confused. Review of: Authority: Essays / Andrea Long Chu.
Philip Kennicott. 03/29/2025: There’s a reason this celebrated librarian’s life was not an open book. "The Morgan Library & Museum surveys the astonishing life and career of its founding director, Belle da Costa Greene." Note: Belle da Costa Greene is the subject of the historical novel The Personal Librarian / Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray. The exhibition Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy continues through May 4 at the Morgan Library & Museum, www.themorgan.org.
Meredith Maran. 03/04/2025: ‘Woodworking’ is a funny, convincing takedown of American prejudice. Review of: Woodworking / Emily St. James. "Emily St. James explores the complexities of gender dysphoria in a small town, through the eyes of a trans girl and her teacher."
Ron Charles. 03/06/2025: Karen Russell’s ‘The Antidote’ is a dazzlingly original American epic. Touchstone link: The Antidote: a novel / Karen Russell. "Russell’s first novel since “Swamplandia!” takes place on a vast historical canvas and is shot through with elements of magic."
Geoff Edgers. 03/07/2025: Rock forgot one of its wildest front men. He’s got a story to tell. Regarding: Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses / Peter Wolf. (Mar 11 release) TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED
Matthew Spektor. 03/11/2025: What Hollywood meant to Joan Didion. Review of: We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine / Alissa Wilkinson.
Louis Bayard. 03/13/2025: Edgar Allan Poe’s life was a mess. But his work was in his command. Review of: Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography / Richard Kopley (University of Virginia).
Bryn Stole. 03/13/2025: ‘Naples 1944’ captures a liberated but desperate and collapsing city. Review of: Naples 1944: The Devil’s Paradise at War / Keith Lowe.
Dennis Duncan. 03/13/2025: An eloquent reminder of an act we take for granted. Review of: On Breathing: Care in a Time of Catastrophe / Jamieson Webster.
Quinta Jurecic. 03/14/2025: ‘Murder the Truth’ explores the campaign against the First Amendment. Review of: Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful / David Enrich.
Ron Charles. 03/14/2025: A Nobel Prize winner offers a compassionate view of the world. Review of: Theft / Abdulrazak Gurnah.
Becca Rothfeld. 03/14/2025: The price of standing out in Xi Jinping’s China. Review of: Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping’s China / Emily Feng.
Marin Cogan. 03/14/2025: A famous chef’s autopsy tells the story of his career. Review of: The Death and Life of August Sweeney / Samuel Ashworth (SFWP). A novel, by the way; TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED
Emily Tamkin. 03/18/2025: Chuck Schumer’s book might offer another reason to get mad at him. Review of: Antisemitism in America: A Warning / Senator Chuck Schumer.
Kathryn Rhett. 03/19/2025: In ‘Firstborn,’ an author recalls the dream, and loss, of her daughter. Review of: Firstborn: A Memoir / Lauren Christensen.
Garrett M. Graff. 03/20/2025: An ode to the remarkable people who make up the federal government. Review of: Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service / Michael Lewis, editor.
Judith Warner. 03/20/2025: She stopped taking her psych meds. Now she helps others do the same. Review of: Unshrunk: A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance / Laura Delano.
Becca Rothfeld. 03/20/2025: A classic of nature writing finds constant renewal in the mountains. Review of the reissue of: The Living Mountain / Nan Shepherd, with an introduction by Robert McFarland.
Jess Keiser. 03/20/2025: This 25-year-old horror novel captured the terrors of the internet. Revisiting House of Leaves / Mark Z. Danielewski.
Naomi Nix. 03/22/2025: Meta scrambled to silence a tell-all book. Now it’s a bestseller. Regarding Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism / Sarah Wynn-Williams. See also >113 featherbear:
Sophia Nguyen. 03/26/2025: An intimate look at Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne’s papers. "The glamorous literary couple’s archives, housed at the New York Public Library, are now open to the public."
Ariella Garmaise. 03/27/2025: She’s on a quest to become ‘the greatest girlfriend of all time.’ Review of: Paradise Logic / Sophie Kemp.
Becca Rothfeld. 03/28/2025: This Pulitzer winner’s sentences are beautiful. Her thinking can be confused. Review of: Authority: Essays / Andrea Long Chu.
Philip Kennicott. 03/29/2025: There’s a reason this celebrated librarian’s life was not an open book. "The Morgan Library & Museum surveys the astonishing life and career of its founding director, Belle da Costa Greene." Note: Belle da Costa Greene is the subject of the historical novel The Personal Librarian / Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray. The exhibition Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy continues through May 4 at the Morgan Library & Museum, www.themorgan.org.
100featherbear
LARB books March 2025:
Akanksha Singh. 03/04/2025: Passing in Black-and-White. Review of: Love, Queenie: Merle Oberon, Hollywood’s First South Asian Star / Mayukh Sen.
Cory Oldweiler. 03/06/2025: These Words Contain My Pulse. Review of: The Unworthy: a novel / Agustina Bazterrica.
Spencer J. Weinreich. 03/07/2025: The Man Who Knew the Price. Review of: Patriot: a memoir / Alexei Navalny. Translated by Arch Tait and Stephen Dalziel.
Andrew Tonkovich. 03/09/2025: This Is What Democracy Looks Like! Review of: The Young Person’s Illustrated Guide to American Fascism / Sue Coe and Stephen F. Eisenman (OR Books).
Helena Aeberli. 03/11/2025: We Are Never Well, nor Can Be So. Review of: A Body Made of Glass: A Cultural History of Hypochondria / Caroline Crampton.
Jonathan Alexander. 03/12/2025: Unknown Structures. Review of: The Use of Photography / Marc Marie and Annie Ernaux. Translated by Alison L. Strayer -- Suzanne and Louise / Hervé Guibert.
Michał Choiński. 03/13/2025: William Faulkner’s Polish Afterlife. "... the sudden popularity of new translations of William Faulkner’s novels in Poland."
Irene Katz Connelly. 03/15/2025: Morbid Symptoms Par Excellence. Review of: Theory & Practice / Michelle de Kretser.
Josh Billings. 03/17/2025: All My Small Things. Review of: How to End a Story: Collected Diaries, 1978–1998 / Helen Garner.
Eileen G’Sell. 03/18/2025: The Poetry of Grief. Review of: Requiem / Virginia Konchan (Carnegie Mellon) -- Your Dazzling Death / Cass Donish.
David E. Cooper. 03/22/2025: Eloquent Silence. Review of: Aflame: Learning from Silence / Pico Iyer.
Robert Zaretsky & Michael Barnes. 03/23/2025: It’s All Greek and yet Frighteningly Comprehensible. Regarding History of the Peloponnesian War / Thucydides.
Dan Turello. 03/26/2025: But Why Would You Want to Self-Transcend Through Mysticism? Review of: Dreaming Reality: How Neuroscience and Mysticism Can Unlock the Secrets of Consciousness / Vladimir Miskovic and Steven Jay Lynn.
Mitchell Abidor. 03/26/2025: Dissidence and Resistance. Review of: The Aesthetics of Resistance, Volume III / Peter Weiss. Translated by Joel Scott.
David Toomey. 03/27/2025: Embrangled Banks. Review of: Botany of Empire: Plant Worlds and the Scientific Legacies of Colonialism / Banu Subramaniam.
Walter Benjamin, commentary Robert Pogue Harrison. 03/29/2025: The Destructive Character: A Cover. "Robert Pogue Harrison offers a recasting of Walter Benjamin’s 1931 essay for our own time."
James Davison Hunter. 03/30/2025: Not an Enlightened Age. Review of: Some New World: Myths of Supernatural Belief in a Secular Age / Peter Harrison.
Michael Knapp. 03/31/2025: Unparalleled Processing. Review of: Why So Serious? The Untold Story of NBA Champion Nikola Jokic / Mike Singer.
Akanksha Singh. 03/04/2025: Passing in Black-and-White. Review of: Love, Queenie: Merle Oberon, Hollywood’s First South Asian Star / Mayukh Sen.
Cory Oldweiler. 03/06/2025: These Words Contain My Pulse. Review of: The Unworthy: a novel / Agustina Bazterrica.
Spencer J. Weinreich. 03/07/2025: The Man Who Knew the Price. Review of: Patriot: a memoir / Alexei Navalny. Translated by Arch Tait and Stephen Dalziel.
Andrew Tonkovich. 03/09/2025: This Is What Democracy Looks Like! Review of: The Young Person’s Illustrated Guide to American Fascism / Sue Coe and Stephen F. Eisenman (OR Books).
Helena Aeberli. 03/11/2025: We Are Never Well, nor Can Be So. Review of: A Body Made of Glass: A Cultural History of Hypochondria / Caroline Crampton.
Jonathan Alexander. 03/12/2025: Unknown Structures. Review of: The Use of Photography / Marc Marie and Annie Ernaux. Translated by Alison L. Strayer -- Suzanne and Louise / Hervé Guibert.
Michał Choiński. 03/13/2025: William Faulkner’s Polish Afterlife. "... the sudden popularity of new translations of William Faulkner’s novels in Poland."
Irene Katz Connelly. 03/15/2025: Morbid Symptoms Par Excellence. Review of: Theory & Practice / Michelle de Kretser.
Josh Billings. 03/17/2025: All My Small Things. Review of: How to End a Story: Collected Diaries, 1978–1998 / Helen Garner.
Eileen G’Sell. 03/18/2025: The Poetry of Grief. Review of: Requiem / Virginia Konchan (Carnegie Mellon) -- Your Dazzling Death / Cass Donish.
David E. Cooper. 03/22/2025: Eloquent Silence. Review of: Aflame: Learning from Silence / Pico Iyer.
Robert Zaretsky & Michael Barnes. 03/23/2025: It’s All Greek and yet Frighteningly Comprehensible. Regarding History of the Peloponnesian War / Thucydides.
Dan Turello. 03/26/2025: But Why Would You Want to Self-Transcend Through Mysticism? Review of: Dreaming Reality: How Neuroscience and Mysticism Can Unlock the Secrets of Consciousness / Vladimir Miskovic and Steven Jay Lynn.
Mitchell Abidor. 03/26/2025: Dissidence and Resistance. Review of: The Aesthetics of Resistance, Volume III / Peter Weiss. Translated by Joel Scott.
David Toomey. 03/27/2025: Embrangled Banks. Review of: Botany of Empire: Plant Worlds and the Scientific Legacies of Colonialism / Banu Subramaniam.
Walter Benjamin, commentary Robert Pogue Harrison. 03/29/2025: The Destructive Character: A Cover. "Robert Pogue Harrison offers a recasting of Walter Benjamin’s 1931 essay for our own time."
James Davison Hunter. 03/30/2025: Not an Enlightened Age. Review of: Some New World: Myths of Supernatural Belief in a Secular Age / Peter Harrison.
Michael Knapp. 03/31/2025: Unparalleled Processing. Review of: Why So Serious? The Untold Story of NBA Champion Nikola Jokic / Mike Singer.
101featherbear
TLS March 7, 2025|No. 6362
Featured
John Fuller. A fresh classical sunlight: Revisiting W. H. Auden’s postwar poetry collection The Shield of Achilles. (Essay)
Andrew Scull. Awakening: The inner life of Oliver Sacks, as revealed by his letters. Review of: Letters / Oliver Sacks; editor Kate Edgar (Picador).
Kate Hext. A lovesome thing: The mysterious world of an unusual English garden. (Essay)
Paul Quinn. Of dogs and dogmas: Jonathan Meades’s sprawling, labyrinthine novel. Review of: EMPTY WIGS / Jonathan Meades.
Mary Beard (TLS landing page). The Museum of the Bible.
Literature
Seamus Perry. A larger life: How poetry can tell higher truths. Review of: COSMIC CONNECTIONS: Poetry in the age of disenchantment / Charles Taylor.
Chistopher Shrimpton. Red in tooth, claw and antler: As the bills mount, two brothers undertake a poaching expedition. Review of: BEARTOOTH / Callan Wink.
Andrew van der Vlies. Not yet men, no longer boys: Coming of age in rural Malaysia. Review of: THE SOUTH: a novel / Tash Aw.
In Brief Review of: AGUAFUERTES / Jesús del Campo ("a collection of short fictional narratives inspired by the delicate technique of engraving, which became popular from the sixteenth century onwards. The texts are not stories as such, but a series of forty-six numbered vignettes featuring fictional characters from different European nationalities and backgrounds.") (Acantilado)
In Brief Review of: MEMORIES OF COLONISATION IN MEDIEVAL AND MODERN CASTILE: Rereading and refashioning al-Andalus / Rebecca de Souza ("Drawing on postcolonial theory and memory studies, Memories of Colonisation in Medieval and Modern Castile homes in on a series of neomedievalist works of prose, poetry and drama that take up the legend of the Seven Princes of Lara.") (Oxford University Press)
In Brief Review of: THE EDGES / Angelo Tijssens; translated by Michel Hutchinson.
Arts
Emily May. Brownian motion: Three works from a pioneering dance company. Review of the Trisha Brown Dance Company's IN THE FALL / WORKING TITLE, Sadler’s Wells, March 12-13.
Sophie Oliver. ‘I shall never fit in any school’: Light, energy and joy: the work of Dora Carrington. Review of the exhibition DORA CARRINGTON: Beyond Bloomsbury, Pallant House Gallery, until April 27.
Religion
David Arnold. India for Hindus?: A pluralist or nationalist faith. Review of: GODS, GUNS AND MISSIONARIES: The making of the modern Hindu identity / Manu S. Pillai.
Irina Dumitrescu. Anglo-Saxon attitudes: The example of Saint Leoba. (Essay)
Science and Technology
Ann Kennedy Smith. The most beautiful heart: A transplant, and the many people who made it possible. Review of: THE STORY OF A HEART / Rachel Clarke.
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
Norma Clarke. When in Rome: What eighteenth-century travellers in Europe thought worthy of record. Review of: TRAVELLERS IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY EUROPE: The sexes abroad / Julie Peakman, editor (Pen and Sword).
Brian Holden Reid. Continental rifts: Canada and Mexico in the history of American civil wars. Review of: AMERICAN CIVIL WARS: A continental history, 1850–1873 / Alan Taylor.
Krishan Kumar. Nations and nationalism: Democratic communities or ethnic states? Review of: NATIONALISM: A world history / Eric Storm.
Tim Kirk. Not just groupthink: A complex portrait of Nazism. Review of: THE NAZI MIND: Twelve warnings from history / Laurence Rees.
Kathryn Hughes. Piecemeal progress: Honouring the woman who ushered in female emancipation. Review of: MILLICENT GARRETT FAWCETT: The fight for votes for women / Tessa Blackstone (Biteback Publishing).
James Robins. Revolution postponed: Tariq Ali laments the ‘decline of the street-fighting left.’ Review of: YOU CAN’T PLEASE ALL: Memoirs 1980-2024 / Tariq Ali.
Katja Haustein. Fly in the face of fear: The writer behind the captivating beauty. Review of: REBEL ANGEL: The life and times of Annemarie Schwarzenbach / Padraig Rooney (Polity).
Roger Atwood. Market forces: Global protest movements as a response to capitalism. Review of: FROM THE ASHES: Grief and revolution in a world on fire / Sarah Jaffe.
Michael Hall. At home with the Forsytes: A sumptuous vision of moneyed living, from the late-Victorian era to the interwar years. Review of: LONDON LOST INTERIORS / Steven Brindle.
In Brief Review of: THE CANCEL CULTURE PANIC: How an American obsession went global / Adrian Daub.
In Brief Review of: MY DEAR KABUL: A year in the life of an Afghan women’s writing group / Untold Narratives CIC (Coronet).
In Brief Review of: BATHILD OF FRANCIA: Anglo-Saxon slave, Merovingian queen, and abolitionist saint / Isabel Moreira (Oxford University Press).
In Brief Review of: LADY ANNE BACON: A woman of learning at the Tudor Court / Deborah Spring (Hertfordshire Publications).
Featured
John Fuller. A fresh classical sunlight: Revisiting W. H. Auden’s postwar poetry collection The Shield of Achilles. (Essay)
Andrew Scull. Awakening: The inner life of Oliver Sacks, as revealed by his letters. Review of: Letters / Oliver Sacks; editor Kate Edgar (Picador).
Kate Hext. A lovesome thing: The mysterious world of an unusual English garden. (Essay)
Paul Quinn. Of dogs and dogmas: Jonathan Meades’s sprawling, labyrinthine novel. Review of: EMPTY WIGS / Jonathan Meades.
Mary Beard (TLS landing page). The Museum of the Bible.
Literature
Seamus Perry. A larger life: How poetry can tell higher truths. Review of: COSMIC CONNECTIONS: Poetry in the age of disenchantment / Charles Taylor.
Chistopher Shrimpton. Red in tooth, claw and antler: As the bills mount, two brothers undertake a poaching expedition. Review of: BEARTOOTH / Callan Wink.
Andrew van der Vlies. Not yet men, no longer boys: Coming of age in rural Malaysia. Review of: THE SOUTH: a novel / Tash Aw.
In Brief Review of: AGUAFUERTES / Jesús del Campo ("a collection of short fictional narratives inspired by the delicate technique of engraving, which became popular from the sixteenth century onwards. The texts are not stories as such, but a series of forty-six numbered vignettes featuring fictional characters from different European nationalities and backgrounds.") (Acantilado)
In Brief Review of: MEMORIES OF COLONISATION IN MEDIEVAL AND MODERN CASTILE: Rereading and refashioning al-Andalus / Rebecca de Souza ("Drawing on postcolonial theory and memory studies, Memories of Colonisation in Medieval and Modern Castile homes in on a series of neomedievalist works of prose, poetry and drama that take up the legend of the Seven Princes of Lara.") (Oxford University Press)
In Brief Review of: THE EDGES / Angelo Tijssens; translated by Michel Hutchinson.
Arts
Emily May. Brownian motion: Three works from a pioneering dance company. Review of the Trisha Brown Dance Company's IN THE FALL / WORKING TITLE, Sadler’s Wells, March 12-13.
Sophie Oliver. ‘I shall never fit in any school’: Light, energy and joy: the work of Dora Carrington. Review of the exhibition DORA CARRINGTON: Beyond Bloomsbury, Pallant House Gallery, until April 27.
Religion
David Arnold. India for Hindus?: A pluralist or nationalist faith. Review of: GODS, GUNS AND MISSIONARIES: The making of the modern Hindu identity / Manu S. Pillai.
Irina Dumitrescu. Anglo-Saxon attitudes: The example of Saint Leoba. (Essay)
Science and Technology
Ann Kennedy Smith. The most beautiful heart: A transplant, and the many people who made it possible. Review of: THE STORY OF A HEART / Rachel Clarke.
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
Norma Clarke. When in Rome: What eighteenth-century travellers in Europe thought worthy of record. Review of: TRAVELLERS IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY EUROPE: The sexes abroad / Julie Peakman, editor (Pen and Sword).
Brian Holden Reid. Continental rifts: Canada and Mexico in the history of American civil wars. Review of: AMERICAN CIVIL WARS: A continental history, 1850–1873 / Alan Taylor.
Krishan Kumar. Nations and nationalism: Democratic communities or ethnic states? Review of: NATIONALISM: A world history / Eric Storm.
Tim Kirk. Not just groupthink: A complex portrait of Nazism. Review of: THE NAZI MIND: Twelve warnings from history / Laurence Rees.
Kathryn Hughes. Piecemeal progress: Honouring the woman who ushered in female emancipation. Review of: MILLICENT GARRETT FAWCETT: The fight for votes for women / Tessa Blackstone (Biteback Publishing).
James Robins. Revolution postponed: Tariq Ali laments the ‘decline of the street-fighting left.’ Review of: YOU CAN’T PLEASE ALL: Memoirs 1980-2024 / Tariq Ali.
Katja Haustein. Fly in the face of fear: The writer behind the captivating beauty. Review of: REBEL ANGEL: The life and times of Annemarie Schwarzenbach / Padraig Rooney (Polity).
Roger Atwood. Market forces: Global protest movements as a response to capitalism. Review of: FROM THE ASHES: Grief and revolution in a world on fire / Sarah Jaffe.
Michael Hall. At home with the Forsytes: A sumptuous vision of moneyed living, from the late-Victorian era to the interwar years. Review of: LONDON LOST INTERIORS / Steven Brindle.
In Brief Review of: THE CANCEL CULTURE PANIC: How an American obsession went global / Adrian Daub.
In Brief Review of: MY DEAR KABUL: A year in the life of an Afghan women’s writing group / Untold Narratives CIC (Coronet).
In Brief Review of: BATHILD OF FRANCIA: Anglo-Saxon slave, Merovingian queen, and abolitionist saint / Isabel Moreira (Oxford University Press).
In Brief Review of: LADY ANNE BACON: A woman of learning at the Tudor Court / Deborah Spring (Hertfordshire Publications).
102featherbear
Atlantic books March 2025
Tyler Austin Harper. 03/05/2025: Chimamanda Adichie’s Fiction Has Shed Its Optimism. Regarding Dream Count: a novel / Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Arthur C. Brooks. 03/06/2025: The Ultimate German Philosophy for a Happier Life. Chill & read Hegel.
Nicolás Medina Mora. 03/13/2025: An Unabashedly Intellectual Murder Mystery. Review of: Death Takes Me: A Novel / Cristina Rivera Garza; translators Robin Myers & Sarah Booker.
Hillary Kelly. 03/14/2025: An All-Female Society, Pushed to Extremes. Review of: The Unworthy: A Novel / Agustina Bazterrica; translator Sarah Moses.
Judith Shulevitz. 03/16/2025: The Last Great Yiddish Novel. Review of: Sons and Daughters: A Novel / Chaim Grade; translator Rose Waldman.
Justin Driver. 03/16/2025: The Rise of the Brown v. Board of Education Skeptics. Review of: Integrated: How American Schools Failed Black Children / Noliwe Rooks. Note: trying out Atlantic's share link.
Kieran Setiya. 03/17/2025: It’s Hard to Change Your Mind. A New Book Asks If You Should Even Try. Review of: Changing My Mind / Julian Barnes (Notting Hill Editions).
Sam Fentress. 03/27/2025: Susan Sontag’s Vision. "The prospect of a journey to China turned the writer’s gaze toward her own family."
03/27/2025: The Best American Poetry of the 21st Century (So Far). "The 25 most consequential collections from the past 25 years." Temporarily (?) Unlocked
Tyler Austin Harper. 03/05/2025: Chimamanda Adichie’s Fiction Has Shed Its Optimism. Regarding Dream Count: a novel / Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Arthur C. Brooks. 03/06/2025: The Ultimate German Philosophy for a Happier Life. Chill & read Hegel.
Nicolás Medina Mora. 03/13/2025: An Unabashedly Intellectual Murder Mystery. Review of: Death Takes Me: A Novel / Cristina Rivera Garza; translators Robin Myers & Sarah Booker.
Hillary Kelly. 03/14/2025: An All-Female Society, Pushed to Extremes. Review of: The Unworthy: A Novel / Agustina Bazterrica; translator Sarah Moses.
Judith Shulevitz. 03/16/2025: The Last Great Yiddish Novel. Review of: Sons and Daughters: A Novel / Chaim Grade; translator Rose Waldman.
Justin Driver. 03/16/2025: The Rise of the Brown v. Board of Education Skeptics. Review of: Integrated: How American Schools Failed Black Children / Noliwe Rooks. Note: trying out Atlantic's share link.
Kieran Setiya. 03/17/2025: It’s Hard to Change Your Mind. A New Book Asks If You Should Even Try. Review of: Changing My Mind / Julian Barnes (Notting Hill Editions).
Sam Fentress. 03/27/2025: Susan Sontag’s Vision. "The prospect of a journey to China turned the writer’s gaze toward her own family."
03/27/2025: The Best American Poetry of the 21st Century (So Far). "The 25 most consequential collections from the past 25 years." Temporarily (?) Unlocked
103featherbear
Pierre Joris, 1946-2025
Adam Nossiter. NYT, 03/05/2025: Pierre Joris, Translator of the ‘Impossible’ Paul Celan, Dies at 78.
"Mr. Joris was the author of dozens of volumes of his own poetry and prose. But much of his life’s work was spent grappling with the poetry of Celan, whom many critics considered, in the words of one scholar, “arguably the greatest European poet in the postwar period.”
"In eight books of translations published over more than 50 years, beginning when he was an undergraduate at Bard College in 1967, Mr. Joris sought to render in English Celan’s experiment with language: to transmit what can’t be rendered in words — the Holocaust and its many aftermaths, physical and psychological — by creating an open-ended poetry of multiple possible meanings.
"... he tried to recreate Celan’s many startling neologisms in English, as the Princeton critic Michael Wood noted, citing, among many other examples, “starred-over,” “ensummered,” “night-cradled,” “day-removed,” “worlddownward" and “more heartnear.”
"Mr. Joris, raised in Luxembourg, the tiny duchy caught between the French- and German-speaking worlds, identified with the linguistic confusion of Celan’s own upbringing in German and Romanian. Mr. Joris grew up speaking the local Germanic dialect, Luxembourgish, as well as German and French. (He called French the “language of the bourgeoisie.”)
“There are some words that I’m still looking for, that I haven’t found yet,” Mr. Joris told the writer Paul Auster in a public dialogue at Deutsches Haus in New York in 2020. “Fearful polysemy.”"
Joris LT page (though not a very good guide to the Celan translations): https://www.librarything.com/author/jorispierre
The Celan translations are Breathturn (collected later poems) & Memory Rose Into Threshold Speech (collected early poems)
Adam Nossiter. NYT, 03/05/2025: Pierre Joris, Translator of the ‘Impossible’ Paul Celan, Dies at 78.
"Mr. Joris was the author of dozens of volumes of his own poetry and prose. But much of his life’s work was spent grappling with the poetry of Celan, whom many critics considered, in the words of one scholar, “arguably the greatest European poet in the postwar period.”
"In eight books of translations published over more than 50 years, beginning when he was an undergraduate at Bard College in 1967, Mr. Joris sought to render in English Celan’s experiment with language: to transmit what can’t be rendered in words — the Holocaust and its many aftermaths, physical and psychological — by creating an open-ended poetry of multiple possible meanings.
"... he tried to recreate Celan’s many startling neologisms in English, as the Princeton critic Michael Wood noted, citing, among many other examples, “starred-over,” “ensummered,” “night-cradled,” “day-removed,” “worlddownward" and “more heartnear.”
"Mr. Joris, raised in Luxembourg, the tiny duchy caught between the French- and German-speaking worlds, identified with the linguistic confusion of Celan’s own upbringing in German and Romanian. Mr. Joris grew up speaking the local Germanic dialect, Luxembourgish, as well as German and French. (He called French the “language of the bourgeoisie.”)
“There are some words that I’m still looking for, that I haven’t found yet,” Mr. Joris told the writer Paul Auster in a public dialogue at Deutsches Haus in New York in 2020. “Fearful polysemy.”"
Joris LT page (though not a very good guide to the Celan translations): https://www.librarything.com/author/jorispierre
The Celan translations are Breathturn (collected later poems) & Memory Rose Into Threshold Speech (collected early poems)
104featherbear
Aeon March 2025
Brandon Robshaw. 03/07/2025: The necessity of Nussbaum. "Martha Nussbaum’s philosophy is dynamic and challenging, but also elegant and lucidly written: she is the thinker of our time."
Brandon Robshaw. 03/07/2025: The necessity of Nussbaum. "Martha Nussbaum’s philosophy is dynamic and challenging, but also elegant and lucidly written: she is the thinker of our time."
105featherbear
Quillette March 2025
Jonathan Kay. 03/06/2025: Nicholas II, Aššurbanipal, and Marco Polo Walk into a Bookstore… Review of: The Last Tsar: The Abdication of Nicholas II and the Fall of the Romanovs / Tsuyoshi Hasegawa -- The Assyrians: Lost Civilizations / Paul Collins -- Marco Polo and His World (Medieval Lives) / Sharon Kinoshita.
Jonathan Kay. 03/06/2025: Nicholas II, Aššurbanipal, and Marco Polo Walk into a Bookstore… Review of: The Last Tsar: The Abdication of Nicholas II and the Fall of the Romanovs / Tsuyoshi Hasegawa -- The Assyrians: Lost Civilizations / Paul Collins -- Marco Polo and His World (Medieval Lives) / Sharon Kinoshita.
106featherbear
Athol Fugard, 1932-2025
Bruce Weber. NYT, 03/09/2025: Athol Fugard, South African Playwright Who Dissected Apartheid, Dies at 92.
"Viscerally powerful for audiences, their roles written with the muscle and idiosyncrasy that are candy to actors, Mr. Fugard’s more than 30 plays were presented widely in the United States and around the world. Six have appeared on Broadway, and in 2011, Mr. Fugard received a Tony Award for lifetime achievement.
"He was often thought of as a political playwright, but politics only occasionally figured overtly in his work, and if his plays sometimes functioned as agitprop, it was true as well that the intense personal dramas he created resonated into the wider world.
“The situation in South Africa is so highly politicized that the notion of South African stories without political consequence or resonance is a contradiction in terms,” he said in a 1990 interview with American Theatre magazine.
"... among other works, “Boesman and Lena” (1968) in which a mixed race couple, homeless and adrift, are reduced to expressions of primal need. Then came two plays created with the Black South African actors John Kani and Winston Ntshona: “Sizwe Banzi Is Dead” (1972), about a worker who takes on the identity of a dead man to qualify for a work permit, and “The Island” (1973), about cellmates rehearsing to perform “Antigone” in front of other prisoners on Robben Island, the notorious penal institution that held Nelson Mandela.
"Mr. Kani and Mr. Ntshona won Tonys for their performances when the two plays were performed in repertory on Broadway in 1974. They reprised their roles for New York audiences at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2003 (“The Island”) and 2008 (“Sizwe”).
"In “A Lesson From Aloes” (1978), Mr. Fugard wrote about three former dissidents, two white and one Black, and the costs of their activism. And in the painfully autobiographical “‘Master Harold’ … and the Boys,” he examined the relationship between a teenage white boy and the two Black men who work for his mother in a tea shop.
"In none of these plays, however, is apartheid the addressed subject. Rather, it is the saturating reality of the plays, the societally sanctioned philosophy — like American capitalism in Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” — that informs the lives of the characters.
"In 1982, “Master Harold” opened at the Yale Repertory Theater in New Haven, the first of Mr. Fugard’s plays to have its premiere outside South Africa. With Mr. Fugard directing Danny Glover, Zakes Mokae and Lonny Price, the play went on to run for nearly a year on Broadway.
"The play included one of theater history’s most memorable shocks. At the play’s climax, in a fit of angry confusion, Hally, the young white stand-in for the playwright, spits in the face of Sam (played by Mr. Mokae, who won a Tony in the role), who has been Hally’s fond friend and at times even a surrogate father. Gasp-inducing on the stage, it was an episode drawn from real life, Mr. Fugard confessed."
Fred A. Bernstein. WaPo, 03/09/2025: Athol Fugard, trenchant South African playwright, dies at 92.
Athol Fugard's LT page is https://www.librarything.com/author/fugardathol
Bruce Weber. NYT, 03/09/2025: Athol Fugard, South African Playwright Who Dissected Apartheid, Dies at 92.
"Viscerally powerful for audiences, their roles written with the muscle and idiosyncrasy that are candy to actors, Mr. Fugard’s more than 30 plays were presented widely in the United States and around the world. Six have appeared on Broadway, and in 2011, Mr. Fugard received a Tony Award for lifetime achievement.
"He was often thought of as a political playwright, but politics only occasionally figured overtly in his work, and if his plays sometimes functioned as agitprop, it was true as well that the intense personal dramas he created resonated into the wider world.
“The situation in South Africa is so highly politicized that the notion of South African stories without political consequence or resonance is a contradiction in terms,” he said in a 1990 interview with American Theatre magazine.
"... among other works, “Boesman and Lena” (1968) in which a mixed race couple, homeless and adrift, are reduced to expressions of primal need. Then came two plays created with the Black South African actors John Kani and Winston Ntshona: “Sizwe Banzi Is Dead” (1972), about a worker who takes on the identity of a dead man to qualify for a work permit, and “The Island” (1973), about cellmates rehearsing to perform “Antigone” in front of other prisoners on Robben Island, the notorious penal institution that held Nelson Mandela.
"Mr. Kani and Mr. Ntshona won Tonys for their performances when the two plays were performed in repertory on Broadway in 1974. They reprised their roles for New York audiences at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2003 (“The Island”) and 2008 (“Sizwe”).
"In “A Lesson From Aloes” (1978), Mr. Fugard wrote about three former dissidents, two white and one Black, and the costs of their activism. And in the painfully autobiographical “‘Master Harold’ … and the Boys,” he examined the relationship between a teenage white boy and the two Black men who work for his mother in a tea shop.
"In none of these plays, however, is apartheid the addressed subject. Rather, it is the saturating reality of the plays, the societally sanctioned philosophy — like American capitalism in Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” — that informs the lives of the characters.
"In 1982, “Master Harold” opened at the Yale Repertory Theater in New Haven, the first of Mr. Fugard’s plays to have its premiere outside South Africa. With Mr. Fugard directing Danny Glover, Zakes Mokae and Lonny Price, the play went on to run for nearly a year on Broadway.
"The play included one of theater history’s most memorable shocks. At the play’s climax, in a fit of angry confusion, Hally, the young white stand-in for the playwright, spits in the face of Sam (played by Mr. Mokae, who won a Tony in the role), who has been Hally’s fond friend and at times even a surrogate father. Gasp-inducing on the stage, it was an episode drawn from real life, Mr. Fugard confessed."
Fred A. Bernstein. WaPo, 03/09/2025: Athol Fugard, trenchant South African playwright, dies at 92.
Athol Fugard's LT page is https://www.librarything.com/author/fugardathol
107featherbear
NYRB Online March 27 2025
Literature
Catherine Nicholson. A Milton for All Seasons. Review of: What in Me Is Dark: The Revolutionary Afterlife of Paradise Lost / by Orlando Reade.
Michael Dirda. The Chronicler of Unhappiness. Review of: Ford Madox Ford (Critical Lives) / by Max Saunders (Reaktion Press).
Arts & Sports
Jed Perl. Echoes of Eternity. (Essay: "The critic Arlene Croce found in classical ballet timeless values in a timely form, but she looked to modern dance for the reverse: timely values taking on a timeless form.")
Sally Rooney. Angles of Approach. Review of: Unbreakable / Ronnie O’Sullivan -- Ronnie O’Sullivan: The Edge of Everything, a documentary film directed by Sam Blair: "Ronnie O’Sullivan is the greatest snooker player in history—what he can do, no one has ever been able to do. And no one can even explain how he does it."
Architecture etc.
Martin Filler. Build, Britannia! Review of: Interwar: British Architecture, 1919–39 / Gavin Stamp, with a foreword by Rosemary Hill.
Clare Bucknell. Studies for His Mind. Review of: John Soane’s Cabinet of Curiosities: Reflections on an Architect and His Collection / Bruce Boucher.
Science & Technology
Ben Tarnoff. The Labor Theory of AI. Review of: The Eye of the Master: A Social History of Artificial Intelligence / Matteo Pasquinelli.
Laura Marsh. A Self Divided. Review of: The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource / Chris Hayes.
David Oshinsky. Vaccines at Warp Speed. Review of: The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life’s Deepest Secrets / Thomas R. Cech.
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
Nicole Eustace. An Expanding Vision of America. Review of: Native Nations: A Millennium in North America / Kathleen DuVal -- Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America / Pekka Hämäläinen -- The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of US History / Ned Blackhawk (Yale University Press).
Nell Ervin Painter. ‘This Land Is Yours.’ Review of: The Black Woods: Pursuing Racial Justice on the Adirondack Frontier / Amy Godine -- A Hudson Valley Reckoning: Discovering the Forgotten History of Slaveholding in My Dutch American Family / Debra Bruno, with an afterword by Eleanor C. Mire.
Neal Ascherson. Ordinary Germans. Review of: Hitler’s People: The Faces of the Third Reich / Richard J. Evans.
Jacob Weisberg. The Lucky One. Review of: Reagan: His Life and Legend / Max Boot.
Jeffrey Toobin. Cases Closed. Review of: Interference: The Inside Story of Trump, Russia, and the Mueller Investigation / Aaron Zebley, James Quarles, and Andrew Goldstein, with a preface by Robert S. Mueller III.
Online Articles
Naomi Cohen. 03/10/2025: Turkey: The Buried and the Dead. "In the aftermath of devastating earthquakes in 2023, survivors looking for the missing have been trapped in a legal and bureaucratic labyrinth."
David Cole. 03/10/2025: Profiles in Self-Censorship. "Under pressure from the Trump administration, many universities are preemptively scaling back their DEI programs—even though no law requires them to."
Literature
Catherine Nicholson. A Milton for All Seasons. Review of: What in Me Is Dark: The Revolutionary Afterlife of Paradise Lost / by Orlando Reade.
Michael Dirda. The Chronicler of Unhappiness. Review of: Ford Madox Ford (Critical Lives) / by Max Saunders (Reaktion Press).
Arts & Sports
Jed Perl. Echoes of Eternity. (Essay: "The critic Arlene Croce found in classical ballet timeless values in a timely form, but she looked to modern dance for the reverse: timely values taking on a timeless form.")
Sally Rooney. Angles of Approach. Review of: Unbreakable / Ronnie O’Sullivan -- Ronnie O’Sullivan: The Edge of Everything, a documentary film directed by Sam Blair: "Ronnie O’Sullivan is the greatest snooker player in history—what he can do, no one has ever been able to do. And no one can even explain how he does it."
Architecture etc.
Martin Filler. Build, Britannia! Review of: Interwar: British Architecture, 1919–39 / Gavin Stamp, with a foreword by Rosemary Hill.
Clare Bucknell. Studies for His Mind. Review of: John Soane’s Cabinet of Curiosities: Reflections on an Architect and His Collection / Bruce Boucher.
Science & Technology
Ben Tarnoff. The Labor Theory of AI. Review of: The Eye of the Master: A Social History of Artificial Intelligence / Matteo Pasquinelli.
Laura Marsh. A Self Divided. Review of: The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource / Chris Hayes.
David Oshinsky. Vaccines at Warp Speed. Review of: The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life’s Deepest Secrets / Thomas R. Cech.
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
Nicole Eustace. An Expanding Vision of America. Review of: Native Nations: A Millennium in North America / Kathleen DuVal -- Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America / Pekka Hämäläinen -- The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of US History / Ned Blackhawk (Yale University Press).
Nell Ervin Painter. ‘This Land Is Yours.’ Review of: The Black Woods: Pursuing Racial Justice on the Adirondack Frontier / Amy Godine -- A Hudson Valley Reckoning: Discovering the Forgotten History of Slaveholding in My Dutch American Family / Debra Bruno, with an afterword by Eleanor C. Mire.
Neal Ascherson. Ordinary Germans. Review of: Hitler’s People: The Faces of the Third Reich / Richard J. Evans.
Jacob Weisberg. The Lucky One. Review of: Reagan: His Life and Legend / Max Boot.
Jeffrey Toobin. Cases Closed. Review of: Interference: The Inside Story of Trump, Russia, and the Mueller Investigation / Aaron Zebley, James Quarles, and Andrew Goldstein, with a preface by Robert S. Mueller III.
Online Articles
Naomi Cohen. 03/10/2025: Turkey: The Buried and the Dead. "In the aftermath of devastating earthquakes in 2023, survivors looking for the missing have been trapped in a legal and bureaucratic labyrinth."
David Cole. 03/10/2025: Profiles in Self-Censorship. "Under pressure from the Trump administration, many universities are preemptively scaling back their DEI programs—even though no law requires them to."
108featherbear
The Critic (UK) March 2025
Richard Holledge. 03/11/2025: Novelist, Nobel laureate and Nazi. On Knut Hamsun.
Jaspreet Singh Boparai. 03/12/2025: Standing side by side with angels. Review of: The Grammar of Angels: A Search for the Magical Powers of Sublime Language / Edward Wilson-Lee (William Collins) -- Angels and Monotheism / Michael D. Hurley (Cambridge University Press).
Daisy Dunn. 03/13/2025: The mercurial master of magic and misery. Review of: Dickens the Enchanter: Inside the Explosive Imagination of the Great Storyteller / Peter Conrad.
Jeffrey Meyers. The Critic (UK), 03/15/2025: Anatomy of a British screen classic. Review of: The Third Man: The Official Story of the Film / John Walsh.
Sebastian Milbank. 03/15/2025: Treading the path of enlightenment: Plotinus and the perfection of unity. Review of: Travels with Plotinus: A Journey in Search of Unity / Moin Mir.
Daniel Johnson. 03/16/2025: The regime that set the stage for Nazism. Review of: The German Empire, 1871–1918 / Roger Chickering.
John Ritzema. 03/16/2025: Thoughts on a crisis. Review of: The Challenges of Democracy And The Rule of Law / Jonathan Sumption.
James Stevens Curl. 03/16/2025: A mysterious garden. Review of: The Origins and History of the Order of Free Gardeners / Robert L.D. Cooper. Stevens Curl is the author of: Freemasonry & the Enlightenment: Architecture, Symbols, & Influences.
John Self. 03/17/2025: Snapshots of a strong and silent type. Review of: Flesh: a novel / David Szalay.
Jack Chisnall. 03/17/2025: How not to find God. Review of: Don’t Forget, We’re Here Forever / Lamorna Ash (Bloomsbury).
Sarah Moorhouse. 03/17/2025: Publishing’s heyday. Review of: A Life in Fifty Books: A Publisher’s Memoir / Anthony Cheetham (Apollo).
Megan Dent. 03/18/2025: The unsettling cant of settler colonial studies. Review of: On Settler Colonialism: Ideology, Violence, and Justice / Adam Kirsch.
Yuan Yi Zhu. 03/26/2025: Free thinking: Is true liberty a matter of independence or non-interference?. Review of: Liberty as Independence: The Making and Unmaking of a Political Ideal / Quentin Skinner.
Alexander Lee. 03/26/2025: A writer unsure who he wanted to be. Review of: Émile Zola: A Determined Life / Robert Lethbridge.
Richard Holledge. 03/11/2025: Novelist, Nobel laureate and Nazi. On Knut Hamsun.
Jaspreet Singh Boparai. 03/12/2025: Standing side by side with angels. Review of: The Grammar of Angels: A Search for the Magical Powers of Sublime Language / Edward Wilson-Lee (William Collins) -- Angels and Monotheism / Michael D. Hurley (Cambridge University Press).
Daisy Dunn. 03/13/2025: The mercurial master of magic and misery. Review of: Dickens the Enchanter: Inside the Explosive Imagination of the Great Storyteller / Peter Conrad.
Jeffrey Meyers. The Critic (UK), 03/15/2025: Anatomy of a British screen classic. Review of: The Third Man: The Official Story of the Film / John Walsh.
Sebastian Milbank. 03/15/2025: Treading the path of enlightenment: Plotinus and the perfection of unity. Review of: Travels with Plotinus: A Journey in Search of Unity / Moin Mir.
Daniel Johnson. 03/16/2025: The regime that set the stage for Nazism. Review of: The German Empire, 1871–1918 / Roger Chickering.
John Ritzema. 03/16/2025: Thoughts on a crisis. Review of: The Challenges of Democracy And The Rule of Law / Jonathan Sumption.
James Stevens Curl. 03/16/2025: A mysterious garden. Review of: The Origins and History of the Order of Free Gardeners / Robert L.D. Cooper. Stevens Curl is the author of: Freemasonry & the Enlightenment: Architecture, Symbols, & Influences.
John Self. 03/17/2025: Snapshots of a strong and silent type. Review of: Flesh: a novel / David Szalay.
Jack Chisnall. 03/17/2025: How not to find God. Review of: Don’t Forget, We’re Here Forever / Lamorna Ash (Bloomsbury).
Sarah Moorhouse. 03/17/2025: Publishing’s heyday. Review of: A Life in Fifty Books: A Publisher’s Memoir / Anthony Cheetham (Apollo).
Megan Dent. 03/18/2025: The unsettling cant of settler colonial studies. Review of: On Settler Colonialism: Ideology, Violence, and Justice / Adam Kirsch.
Yuan Yi Zhu. 03/26/2025: Free thinking: Is true liberty a matter of independence or non-interference?. Review of: Liberty as Independence: The Making and Unmaking of a Political Ideal / Quentin Skinner.
Alexander Lee. 03/26/2025: A writer unsure who he wanted to be. Review of: Émile Zola: A Determined Life / Robert Lethbridge.
109featherbear
Public Books March 2025
Catherine S. Ramírez. 03/11/2025: Humor and Fear, Kings and Soldiers: Jason De León on the Untold Story of Human Smugglers. Review of: Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling / Jason de León.
Devin Griffiths & Zak Breckenridge. 03/13/2025: B-Sides: “Under the Sea-Wind” by Rachel Carson. Review of: Under the Sea-Wind / Rachel L. Carson.
Nathan Kalman-Lamb & Derek Silva. 03/26/2025: “It’s Just Scary”: Abuse and Power in College Football. The authors talk about their The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game (University of North Carolina Press, 2024).
Public Books editorial staff. 03/27/2025: On Our Nightstands: March 2025. "Here we bring you, in our own words, a behind-the-scenes look at what we have been reading this month."
Catherine S. Ramírez. 03/11/2025: Humor and Fear, Kings and Soldiers: Jason De León on the Untold Story of Human Smugglers. Review of: Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling / Jason de León.
Devin Griffiths & Zak Breckenridge. 03/13/2025: B-Sides: “Under the Sea-Wind” by Rachel Carson. Review of: Under the Sea-Wind / Rachel L. Carson.
Nathan Kalman-Lamb & Derek Silva. 03/26/2025: “It’s Just Scary”: Abuse and Power in College Football. The authors talk about their The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game (University of North Carolina Press, 2024).
Public Books editorial staff. 03/27/2025: On Our Nightstands: March 2025. "Here we bring you, in our own words, a behind-the-scenes look at what we have been reading this month."
110featherbear
Jacobin March 2025
Amanda Crocker. 03/11/2025: The Far Right Is a Lucrative Market for Book Publishers.
Amanda Crocker. 03/11/2025: The Far Right Is a Lucrative Market for Book Publishers.
111featherbear
TLS March 14, 2025|No. 6363
Featured
Cal Revely-Calder. Go on, go on, go on: Samuel Beckett’s three influential novels from the 1950s, reissued. Review of: MOLLOY / Samuel Beckett; with an introduction by Colm Toíbín -- MALONE DIES / Samuel Beckett; with an introduction by Claire-Louise Bennett -- THE UNNAMABLE / Samuel Beckett; with an introduction by Eimear McBride.
Kieran Setiya. Cold comfort farm: Hope, despair and retreat in an unquiet age. Review of: PESSIMISM, QUIETISM AND NATURE AS REFUGE / David E. Cooper (Princeton University Press) -- HOPEFUL PESSIMISM / Mara Van Der Lugt.
Henry Hitchings. My Mongoose Civique: Cars, from the Ford Model T to computers on wheels. Review of: THE DRIVING MACHINE: A design history of the car / Witold Rybczynski.
Carol J. Oja. Ebony and ivory: Black classical music in Chicago. Review of: SOUTH SIDE IMPRESARIOS: How race women transformed Chicago’s classical music scene / Samantha Ege.
Mary Beard (from the current issue landing page). Two Roman tales for our times.
Literature
Anna Reid. Truth Hound: The last words of a Ukrainian novelist and poet. Review of: LOOKING AT WOMEN LOOKING AT WAR: A war and justice diary / Victoria Amelina.
David Abulafia. Taking up the cross: The crusades in the English literary imagination. Review of: MONSTROUS FANTASIES: England’s crusading imaginary and the romance of recovery, 1300–1500 / Leila K. Norako -- ENGLISH LITERATURE AND THE CRUSADES: Anxieties of Holy War, 1291–1453 / Marcel Elias (Cambridge University Press).
Robert Rubsam. Cosmic detective: A fantastical sea voyage written during the time of Vichy. Review of: FRAGMENTS OF A PARADISE / Jean Giono; translated by Paul Eprile.
Alberto Manguel. Coming down from the trees: A Darwinian novel about the Garden of Eden by a Portuguese master. Review of: ADAM AND EVE IN PARADISE / José Maria de Eça de Queirós; translated by Margaret Jull Costa.
Dinah Birch. Call her Ishmaelle: A modern retelling of Moby-Dick. Review of: CALL ME ISHMAELLE / Xiaolu Guo.
Karen Leeder. Viennese whirl: A collection of ‘lost souls’ in postwar Austria. Review of: THE CAFÉ WITH NO NAME / Robert Seethaler; translated by Katy Derbyshire.
Kate McLoughlin. Under the patriarchy: Sixty years of turmoil in Egypt. Review of: THE DISSENTERS / Youssef Rakha.
Tim Parks. Sublimating envy: In praise of Christopher Ricks. (Essay)
In Brief Review of: SCHOLARSHIP AND CONTROVERSY: Centenary essays on the life and work of Sir Kenneth Dover / Stephen Halliwell and Christopher Stray, editors (Bloomsbury Academic).
In Brief Review of: FRAGMENTS AGAINST MY RUIN: A life / Farrukh Dhondy.
In Brief Review of: THE ISLAND IN THE SOUND / Niall Campbell.
Arts
Simon Morrison. Chained melody: Music and Soviet power under Stalin. Review of: THE SOUND OF UTOPIA: Musicians in the time of Stalin / Michel Krielaars; translated by Jonathan Reeder (Pushkin Press).
D.J. Taylor. Trashcan Sinatras: Indie music after the money ran out. Review of: BEHIND THE MOON: The Sundays, the Fatima Mansions, Prefab Sprout, the Apartments and Trashcan Sinatras / Tim Blanchard (Crackle + Hiss).
Larry Wolff. In the heart of the sea: Melville’s oceanic epic at the Metropolitan Opera House. Review of Jake Heggie's opera MOBY-DICK, Metropolitan Opera, New York, until March 29.
Elizabeth Lowry. Everybody’s talking: A new production – and translation – of Chekhov’s everyday masterpiece. Review of Anton Chekhov's THREE SISTERS / translated by Rory Mullarkey; Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London, until April 19.
In Brief Review of: TERRENCE MALICK AND THE EXAMINED LIFE / Martin Woessner.
Science & Technology
In Brief Review of: ENDS OF THE EARTH: Journeys to the polar regions in search of life, the cosmos and our future / Neil Shubin.
History, Politics, Social & Cultural Studies
Justine Firnhaber-Baker. Not just a man’s war: The role of women in crusading history. Review of: WOMEN AND THE CRUSADES / Helen J. Nicholson -- LAYWOMEN AND THE CRUSADE IN ENGLAND / Gordon M. Reynolds (Boydell and Brewer).
Lucy Lethbridge. Shaped by contradictions: The many lives of a notorious murderer and his victims. Review of: STORY OF A MURDER: The wives, the mistress and Doctor Crippen / Hallie Rubenhold (Doubleday).
Timothy Brook. Art of the deal: Museums acquired most of their treasures through negotiation, not plunder. Review of: PLUNDER?: How museums got their treasures / Justin M. Jacobs.
Lawrence Douglas. The real enemies of the people: Threats to the West’s great liberal democratic project. Review of: THE CHALLENGES OF DEMOCRACY: And the rule of law / Jonathan Sumption (Profile).
Travis Elborough. Keep away, friendly bombs: Finally, someone has a good word to say about Croydon. Review of: CROYDONOPOLIS: A journey to the greatest city that never was / Will Noble.
Joe Moran. You’ll always walk alone: Liverpool’s battle against obsolescence. Review of: LIVERPOOL AND THE UNMAKING OF BRITAIN / Sam Wetherell (Apollo).
In Brief Review of: APOCALYPTIC ECOLOGIES: From creation to doom in Middle English literature / Shannon Gayk (University of Chicago Press).
In Brief Review of: A MAN OF FEW WORDS: The bricklayer of Auschwitz who saved Primo Levi / Carlo Greppi; translated by Howard Curtis.
Featured
Cal Revely-Calder. Go on, go on, go on: Samuel Beckett’s three influential novels from the 1950s, reissued. Review of: MOLLOY / Samuel Beckett; with an introduction by Colm Toíbín -- MALONE DIES / Samuel Beckett; with an introduction by Claire-Louise Bennett -- THE UNNAMABLE / Samuel Beckett; with an introduction by Eimear McBride.
Kieran Setiya. Cold comfort farm: Hope, despair and retreat in an unquiet age. Review of: PESSIMISM, QUIETISM AND NATURE AS REFUGE / David E. Cooper (Princeton University Press) -- HOPEFUL PESSIMISM / Mara Van Der Lugt.
Henry Hitchings. My Mongoose Civique: Cars, from the Ford Model T to computers on wheels. Review of: THE DRIVING MACHINE: A design history of the car / Witold Rybczynski.
Carol J. Oja. Ebony and ivory: Black classical music in Chicago. Review of: SOUTH SIDE IMPRESARIOS: How race women transformed Chicago’s classical music scene / Samantha Ege.
Mary Beard (from the current issue landing page). Two Roman tales for our times.
Literature
Anna Reid. Truth Hound: The last words of a Ukrainian novelist and poet. Review of: LOOKING AT WOMEN LOOKING AT WAR: A war and justice diary / Victoria Amelina.
David Abulafia. Taking up the cross: The crusades in the English literary imagination. Review of: MONSTROUS FANTASIES: England’s crusading imaginary and the romance of recovery, 1300–1500 / Leila K. Norako -- ENGLISH LITERATURE AND THE CRUSADES: Anxieties of Holy War, 1291–1453 / Marcel Elias (Cambridge University Press).
Robert Rubsam. Cosmic detective: A fantastical sea voyage written during the time of Vichy. Review of: FRAGMENTS OF A PARADISE / Jean Giono; translated by Paul Eprile.
Alberto Manguel. Coming down from the trees: A Darwinian novel about the Garden of Eden by a Portuguese master. Review of: ADAM AND EVE IN PARADISE / José Maria de Eça de Queirós; translated by Margaret Jull Costa.
Dinah Birch. Call her Ishmaelle: A modern retelling of Moby-Dick. Review of: CALL ME ISHMAELLE / Xiaolu Guo.
Karen Leeder. Viennese whirl: A collection of ‘lost souls’ in postwar Austria. Review of: THE CAFÉ WITH NO NAME / Robert Seethaler; translated by Katy Derbyshire.
Kate McLoughlin. Under the patriarchy: Sixty years of turmoil in Egypt. Review of: THE DISSENTERS / Youssef Rakha.
Tim Parks. Sublimating envy: In praise of Christopher Ricks. (Essay)
In Brief Review of: SCHOLARSHIP AND CONTROVERSY: Centenary essays on the life and work of Sir Kenneth Dover / Stephen Halliwell and Christopher Stray, editors (Bloomsbury Academic).
In Brief Review of: FRAGMENTS AGAINST MY RUIN: A life / Farrukh Dhondy.
In Brief Review of: THE ISLAND IN THE SOUND / Niall Campbell.
Arts
Simon Morrison. Chained melody: Music and Soviet power under Stalin. Review of: THE SOUND OF UTOPIA: Musicians in the time of Stalin / Michel Krielaars; translated by Jonathan Reeder (Pushkin Press).
D.J. Taylor. Trashcan Sinatras: Indie music after the money ran out. Review of: BEHIND THE MOON: The Sundays, the Fatima Mansions, Prefab Sprout, the Apartments and Trashcan Sinatras / Tim Blanchard (Crackle + Hiss).
Larry Wolff. In the heart of the sea: Melville’s oceanic epic at the Metropolitan Opera House. Review of Jake Heggie's opera MOBY-DICK, Metropolitan Opera, New York, until March 29.
Elizabeth Lowry. Everybody’s talking: A new production – and translation – of Chekhov’s everyday masterpiece. Review of Anton Chekhov's THREE SISTERS / translated by Rory Mullarkey; Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London, until April 19.
In Brief Review of: TERRENCE MALICK AND THE EXAMINED LIFE / Martin Woessner.
Science & Technology
In Brief Review of: ENDS OF THE EARTH: Journeys to the polar regions in search of life, the cosmos and our future / Neil Shubin.
History, Politics, Social & Cultural Studies
Justine Firnhaber-Baker. Not just a man’s war: The role of women in crusading history. Review of: WOMEN AND THE CRUSADES / Helen J. Nicholson -- LAYWOMEN AND THE CRUSADE IN ENGLAND / Gordon M. Reynolds (Boydell and Brewer).
Lucy Lethbridge. Shaped by contradictions: The many lives of a notorious murderer and his victims. Review of: STORY OF A MURDER: The wives, the mistress and Doctor Crippen / Hallie Rubenhold (Doubleday).
Timothy Brook. Art of the deal: Museums acquired most of their treasures through negotiation, not plunder. Review of: PLUNDER?: How museums got their treasures / Justin M. Jacobs.
Lawrence Douglas. The real enemies of the people: Threats to the West’s great liberal democratic project. Review of: THE CHALLENGES OF DEMOCRACY: And the rule of law / Jonathan Sumption (Profile).
Travis Elborough. Keep away, friendly bombs: Finally, someone has a good word to say about Croydon. Review of: CROYDONOPOLIS: A journey to the greatest city that never was / Will Noble.
Joe Moran. You’ll always walk alone: Liverpool’s battle against obsolescence. Review of: LIVERPOOL AND THE UNMAKING OF BRITAIN / Sam Wetherell (Apollo).
In Brief Review of: APOCALYPTIC ECOLOGIES: From creation to doom in Middle English literature / Shannon Gayk (University of Chicago Press).
In Brief Review of: A MAN OF FEW WORDS: The bricklayer of Auschwitz who saved Primo Levi / Carlo Greppi; translated by Howard Curtis.
112featherbear
John Feinstein, 1956-2025
Matt Schudel & Brian Murphy. WaPo, 03/13/2025: John Feinstein, sports commentator and best-selling author, dies at 69. "He had a long affiliation with The Washington Post and wrote books including “A Season on the Brink,” about Indiana University men’s basketball coach Bob Knight."
"He wrote books about baseball, football, tennis, golf and the Olympics, as well as novels for young readers, but he was perhaps best known for his coverage of college basketball. Known for an indefatigable work ethic, Mr. Feinstein filed a day before his death a column for The Post on Michigan State men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo."
Richard Sandomir. NYT, 03/13/2025: John Feinstein, Who Wrote ‘A Season on the Brink,’ Dies at 69.
Fuller obits expected.
Prolific author of books on sports. Other titles include: A Good Walk Spoiled: Days and Nights on the PGA Tour (1995) -- A Civil War: Army Vs. Navy a Year Inside College Football's Purest Rivalry (1996) -- The Majors: In Pursuit of Golf's Holy Grail (1990) -- The Ancient Eight: College Football’s Ivy League and the Game They Play Today (2024)
John Feinstein's LT page is https://www.librarything.com/author/feinsteinjohn
Matt Schudel & Brian Murphy. WaPo, 03/13/2025: John Feinstein, sports commentator and best-selling author, dies at 69. "He had a long affiliation with The Washington Post and wrote books including “A Season on the Brink,” about Indiana University men’s basketball coach Bob Knight."
"He wrote books about baseball, football, tennis, golf and the Olympics, as well as novels for young readers, but he was perhaps best known for his coverage of college basketball. Known for an indefatigable work ethic, Mr. Feinstein filed a day before his death a column for The Post on Michigan State men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo."
Richard Sandomir. NYT, 03/13/2025: John Feinstein, Who Wrote ‘A Season on the Brink,’ Dies at 69.
Fuller obits expected.
Prolific author of books on sports. Other titles include: A Good Walk Spoiled: Days and Nights on the PGA Tour (1995) -- A Civil War: Army Vs. Navy a Year Inside College Football's Purest Rivalry (1996) -- The Majors: In Pursuit of Golf's Holy Grail (1990) -- The Ancient Eight: College Football’s Ivy League and the Game They Play Today (2024)
John Feinstein's LT page is https://www.librarything.com/author/feinsteinjohn
113featherbear
Reuters & Guardian Staff. Guardian, 03/13/2025: Meta puts stop on promotion of tell-all book by former employee. Regarding Careless People: a cautionary tale of power, greed, and lost idealism / Sarah Wynn-Williams.
Marina Hyde. Guardian, 03/14/2025: Amazing: of all the books in all the world Mr Free Speech Zuckerberg wants to ban, it’s the one about him. "Whether the Meta boss and his ex-lieutenant Sheryl Sandberg are truly beyond awful is neither here nor there. I thought he was done with factchecking."
James Folta. LitHub, 03/14/2025: Macmillan is defending its new tech memoir, Careless People, against Meta’s claims.
Stuart Jeffries. Guardian, 03/16/2025: Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work by Sarah Wynn-Williams review – a former disciple unfriends Facebook. "This account of working life at Mark Zuckerberg’s tech giant organisation describes a ‘diabolical cult’ able to swing elections and profit at the expense of the world’s vulnerable."
Marina Hyde. Guardian, 03/14/2025: Amazing: of all the books in all the world Mr Free Speech Zuckerberg wants to ban, it’s the one about him. "Whether the Meta boss and his ex-lieutenant Sheryl Sandberg are truly beyond awful is neither here nor there. I thought he was done with factchecking."
James Folta. LitHub, 03/14/2025: Macmillan is defending its new tech memoir, Careless People, against Meta’s claims.
Stuart Jeffries. Guardian, 03/16/2025: Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work by Sarah Wynn-Williams review – a former disciple unfriends Facebook. "This account of working life at Mark Zuckerberg’s tech giant organisation describes a ‘diabolical cult’ able to swing elections and profit at the expense of the world’s vulnerable."
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fivebooks.com March 2025
May-Lee Chai, interviewer Cal Flynn. 03/13/2025: The Best Memoirs: The 2025 NBCC Autobiography Shortlist:
The Last Fire Season: A Personal and Pyronatural History / Manjula Martin -- Little Seed / Wei Tchou -- The Minotaur at Calle Lanza / Zito Madu -- Mother Archive: A Dominican Family Memoir / Erika Morillo -- Patriot: A Memoir* / Alexei Navalny.
Mary Ann Gwinn, interviewer Cal Flynn. 03/20/2025: The Best Biographies: The 2025 NBCC Shortlist:
Candida Royalle and the Sexual Revolution: A History from Below / Jane Kamensky -- Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar* / Cynthia Carr -- Family Romance: John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers / Jean Strouse -- Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People (Significations) / Tiya Miles -- The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker / Amy Reading.
*National Book Critics Circle award
Charles Beaumont, interviewer Sophie Roell. 03/27/2025: Spy Novels Based on Real Events. Observations on: The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale (Penguin Classics) / Joseph Conrad -- The Looking Glass War: A George Smiley Novel / John le Carré -- The Human Factor (Penguin Classics) / Graham Greene -- Agents of Innocence: A Novel / David Ignatius -- The Company: A Novel of the CIA / Robert Littell. Bonus: Beaumont talks about 2 of his novels, A Spy Alone & A Spy At War.
May-Lee Chai, interviewer Cal Flynn. 03/13/2025: The Best Memoirs: The 2025 NBCC Autobiography Shortlist:
The Last Fire Season: A Personal and Pyronatural History / Manjula Martin -- Little Seed / Wei Tchou -- The Minotaur at Calle Lanza / Zito Madu -- Mother Archive: A Dominican Family Memoir / Erika Morillo -- Patriot: A Memoir* / Alexei Navalny.
Mary Ann Gwinn, interviewer Cal Flynn. 03/20/2025: The Best Biographies: The 2025 NBCC Shortlist:
Candida Royalle and the Sexual Revolution: A History from Below / Jane Kamensky -- Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar* / Cynthia Carr -- Family Romance: John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers / Jean Strouse -- Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People (Significations) / Tiya Miles -- The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker / Amy Reading.
*National Book Critics Circle award
Charles Beaumont, interviewer Sophie Roell. 03/27/2025: Spy Novels Based on Real Events. Observations on: The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale (Penguin Classics) / Joseph Conrad -- The Looking Glass War: A George Smiley Novel / John le Carré -- The Human Factor (Penguin Classics) / Graham Greene -- Agents of Innocence: A Novel / David Ignatius -- The Company: A Novel of the CIA / Robert Littell. Bonus: Beaumont talks about 2 of his novels, A Spy Alone & A Spy At War.
115featherbear
Melody Beattie, 1948-2025
Richard Sandomir. NYT, 03/07/2025; upd 3/14/2025: Melody Beattie, Author of a Self-Help Best Seller, Dies at 76. "Her “Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself,” a guide to shedding toxic relationships, has sold more than seven million copies."
Her LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/beattiemelody
Richard Sandomir. NYT, 03/07/2025; upd 3/14/2025: Melody Beattie, Author of a Self-Help Best Seller, Dies at 76. "Her “Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself,” a guide to shedding toxic relationships, has sold more than seven million copies."
Her LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/beattiemelody
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Herman Graf, 1933-2025
Richard Sandomir. NYT, 03/14/2025: Herman Graf, Who Helped Sell ‘Tropic of Cancer,’ Dies at 91. "A major figure in independent publishing, he promoted Henry Miller’s once-banned book and helped make “A Confederacy of Dunces” a best seller after the author’s death."
"A raconteur with a booming voice, Mr. Graf was a bibliophile who loved the works of Stendhal and Thomas Mann. His apartment in Queens was filled with books, many of them first editions. And he was a relentless, and boisterous, salesman for Grove Press, where he spent the better part of two decades, and Carroll & Graf, the publishing house he later founded with Kent Carroll."
"During one break from Grove, Mr. Graf formed Herman Graf Associates and, in partnership with Dell, acquired the rights to publish “The Senate Watergate Report,” written by the committee that had investigated the Watergate break-in and cover-up, which led to President Richard M. Nixon’s resignation on Aug. 9, 1974. The report, as a two-volume paperback, was released in July."
Richard Sandomir. NYT, 03/14/2025: Herman Graf, Who Helped Sell ‘Tropic of Cancer,’ Dies at 91. "A major figure in independent publishing, he promoted Henry Miller’s once-banned book and helped make “A Confederacy of Dunces” a best seller after the author’s death."
"A raconteur with a booming voice, Mr. Graf was a bibliophile who loved the works of Stendhal and Thomas Mann. His apartment in Queens was filled with books, many of them first editions. And he was a relentless, and boisterous, salesman for Grove Press, where he spent the better part of two decades, and Carroll & Graf, the publishing house he later founded with Kent Carroll."
"During one break from Grove, Mr. Graf formed Herman Graf Associates and, in partnership with Dell, acquired the rights to publish “The Senate Watergate Report,” written by the committee that had investigated the Watergate break-in and cover-up, which led to President Richard M. Nixon’s resignation on Aug. 9, 1974. The report, as a two-volume paperback, was released in July."
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Felice Picano, 1944-2025
Fred Bernstein. NYT, 03/13/2025: Felice Picano, Champion of Gay Literature, Is Dead at 81. "At a time when, in his words, “nobody was writing about gay life,” he produced groundbreaking novels and memoirs and published books by Harvey Fierstein and others."
"Mr. Picano often wrote about difficult subjects, including his own early life. His 1985 memoir, “Ambidextrous: The Secret Lives of Children,” described a teacher who brutalized him for writing with both hands. It also described Mr. Picano’s sexual encounters with both boys and girls, starting at age 11. When the young Mr. Picano wrote a story about his experiences, having concealed identities and removed the most lurid details, his teachers insisted he had made it up.
"When he published “Ambidextrous” almost 30 years later, some reviewers had the same reaction: that children don’t have sex. Mr. Picano referred them to the definition of “memoir.”
"He was the author with Charles Silverstein of “The New Joy of Gay Sex” (1992) and “The Joy of Gay Sex: Fully Revised and Expanded Third Edition” (2003). Dr. Silverstein, who had written the original “The Joy of Gay Sex” with Edmund White in 1977, asked Mr. Picano to help produce a second edition that might convince gay men to have sex safely. Less than a decade later, the advent of effective AIDS treatments, and societal changes including the rise of internet dating and hookup sites, led to the third edition, which includes entries on having children, growing old, bisexuality and homophobia. Like the other two volumes, it was arranged alphabetically. The B section, for example, began with barebacking, bars, baths and bears.
"He established Sea Horse Press in 1977 to publish the work of other gay writers. In 1981, he teamed up with two other publishers to form Gay Presses of New York. Together, he said, the presses lasted 18 years and published 78 books (including three of his own). Those that have stood the test of time include Harvey Fierstein’s “Torch Song Trilogy,” Dennis Cooper’s “Safe” and “Closer,” Brad Gooch’s “Jailbait and Other Stories” and books based on the Rev. Boyd McDonald’s Straight to Hell magazines. The companies also reissued important older works. As a publisher, the novelist Catherine Texier wrote in The Times Book Review in 2007, Mr. Picano was both “prominent and prescient.” She added, “Promoting those new gay voices, at the time, was nothing short of revolutionary.”
He wrote a number of novels, including The Lure, "a story about a straight man who has to go undercover in the gay world to help solve a murder."
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/picanofelice
Fred Bernstein. NYT, 03/13/2025: Felice Picano, Champion of Gay Literature, Is Dead at 81. "At a time when, in his words, “nobody was writing about gay life,” he produced groundbreaking novels and memoirs and published books by Harvey Fierstein and others."
"Mr. Picano often wrote about difficult subjects, including his own early life. His 1985 memoir, “Ambidextrous: The Secret Lives of Children,” described a teacher who brutalized him for writing with both hands. It also described Mr. Picano’s sexual encounters with both boys and girls, starting at age 11. When the young Mr. Picano wrote a story about his experiences, having concealed identities and removed the most lurid details, his teachers insisted he had made it up.
"When he published “Ambidextrous” almost 30 years later, some reviewers had the same reaction: that children don’t have sex. Mr. Picano referred them to the definition of “memoir.”
"He was the author with Charles Silverstein of “The New Joy of Gay Sex” (1992) and “The Joy of Gay Sex: Fully Revised and Expanded Third Edition” (2003). Dr. Silverstein, who had written the original “The Joy of Gay Sex” with Edmund White in 1977, asked Mr. Picano to help produce a second edition that might convince gay men to have sex safely. Less than a decade later, the advent of effective AIDS treatments, and societal changes including the rise of internet dating and hookup sites, led to the third edition, which includes entries on having children, growing old, bisexuality and homophobia. Like the other two volumes, it was arranged alphabetically. The B section, for example, began with barebacking, bars, baths and bears.
"He established Sea Horse Press in 1977 to publish the work of other gay writers. In 1981, he teamed up with two other publishers to form Gay Presses of New York. Together, he said, the presses lasted 18 years and published 78 books (including three of his own). Those that have stood the test of time include Harvey Fierstein’s “Torch Song Trilogy,” Dennis Cooper’s “Safe” and “Closer,” Brad Gooch’s “Jailbait and Other Stories” and books based on the Rev. Boyd McDonald’s Straight to Hell magazines. The companies also reissued important older works. As a publisher, the novelist Catherine Texier wrote in The Times Book Review in 2007, Mr. Picano was both “prominent and prescient.” She added, “Promoting those new gay voices, at the time, was nothing short of revolutionary.”
He wrote a number of novels, including The Lure, "a story about a straight man who has to go undercover in the gay world to help solve a murder."
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/picanofelice
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James Reason, 1938-2025
Michael S. Rosenwald. NYT, 03/13/2025: James Reason, Who Used Swiss Cheese to Explain Human Error, Dies at 86.
"By analyzing hundreds of accidents in aviation, railway travel, medicine and nuclear power, Professor Reason concluded that human errors were usually the byproduct of circumstances ... rather than being caused by careless or malicious behavior.
"That was how he arrived at his Swiss cheese model of failure, a metaphor for analyzing and preventing accidents that envisions situations in which multiple vulnerabilities in safety measures — the holes in the cheese — align to create a recipe for tragedy."
Author of A Life in Error: from little slips to big disasters.
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/reasonjames
Michael S. Rosenwald. NYT, 03/13/2025: James Reason, Who Used Swiss Cheese to Explain Human Error, Dies at 86.
"By analyzing hundreds of accidents in aviation, railway travel, medicine and nuclear power, Professor Reason concluded that human errors were usually the byproduct of circumstances ... rather than being caused by careless or malicious behavior.
"That was how he arrived at his Swiss cheese model of failure, a metaphor for analyzing and preventing accidents that envisions situations in which multiple vulnerabilities in safety measures — the holes in the cheese — align to create a recipe for tragedy."
Author of A Life in Error: from little slips to big disasters.
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/reasonjames
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Jennifer Johnston, 1930-2025
Adam Nossiter. NYT, 03/13/2025: Jennifer Johnston, 95, Novelist Who Probed Ireland’s Fault Lines, Dies.
"Ms. Johnston’s specialty was depicting the wounds of memory and the frustrations and disappointments beneath an apparently genteel coexistence of the social classes and within families, especially in the Protestant Anglo-Irish upper strata — hurts that sometimes boiled over into violence. She was herself born into a Protestant family.
"Perhaps her most enduring novel is “How Many Miles to Babylon?” (1974), which looks at a forbidden friendship across the class divide set against upper-class unease during World War I. “Fool’s Sanctuary” (1987) explores what can go wrong beneath the gilded surfaces of the big country house.
" ... Ms. Johnston was better known and appreciated in her native Ireland and in the United Kingdom than in America.
"Her fellow Irish writers cherished her. At a memorial service for her in Dublin’s Trinity Theater, the novelist Roddy Doyle called her “Ireland’s greatest writer.” She won Britain’s prestigious Whitbread Book Award for the novel “The Old Jest” in 1979, and she had been shortlisted for the even more noteworthy Booker Prize two years earlier, for “Shadows on Our Skin.”
"Ms. Johnston’s writing sometimes exasperated critics in the United States.
"Reviewing her novel about a spinsterish, unsuccessful Irish writer who meets a Jewish pianist and Holocaust survivor on holiday in Italy, Anatole Broyard wrote in The New York Times in 1982: “It won’t do any harm for me to give away some of the plot of ‘The Christmas Tree,’ because there are no surprises in it anyway. She hasn’t shown us a surprise, a quirk, a style all her own, a moment that sticks in the mind.”
Her LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/johnstonjennifer-1
Adam Nossiter. NYT, 03/13/2025: Jennifer Johnston, 95, Novelist Who Probed Ireland’s Fault Lines, Dies.
"Ms. Johnston’s specialty was depicting the wounds of memory and the frustrations and disappointments beneath an apparently genteel coexistence of the social classes and within families, especially in the Protestant Anglo-Irish upper strata — hurts that sometimes boiled over into violence. She was herself born into a Protestant family.
"Perhaps her most enduring novel is “How Many Miles to Babylon?” (1974), which looks at a forbidden friendship across the class divide set against upper-class unease during World War I. “Fool’s Sanctuary” (1987) explores what can go wrong beneath the gilded surfaces of the big country house.
" ... Ms. Johnston was better known and appreciated in her native Ireland and in the United Kingdom than in America.
"Her fellow Irish writers cherished her. At a memorial service for her in Dublin’s Trinity Theater, the novelist Roddy Doyle called her “Ireland’s greatest writer.” She won Britain’s prestigious Whitbread Book Award for the novel “The Old Jest” in 1979, and she had been shortlisted for the even more noteworthy Booker Prize two years earlier, for “Shadows on Our Skin.”
"Ms. Johnston’s writing sometimes exasperated critics in the United States.
"Reviewing her novel about a spinsterish, unsuccessful Irish writer who meets a Jewish pianist and Holocaust survivor on holiday in Italy, Anatole Broyard wrote in The New York Times in 1982: “It won’t do any harm for me to give away some of the plot of ‘The Christmas Tree,’ because there are no surprises in it anyway. She hasn’t shown us a surprise, a quirk, a style all her own, a moment that sticks in the mind.”
Her LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/johnstonjennifer-1
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Geoff Nicholson, 1953-2025
Trip Gabriel. 03/09/2025: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/09/books/geoff-nicholson-dead.html.
"In novels with far-fetched plots, characters who often flirted with the cartoonish and stylized, noirish dialogue, Mr. Nicholson wrote with verve and biting wit, and he attracted a dedicated, if not large, readership for his prolific output.
Michiko Kakutani compared him to Kingsley Amis for "“Bleeding London,” which was on the shortlist for the Whitbread Award, three protagonists are variously obsessed with mapping the city."
"Maps were a recurring theme of Mr. Nicholson’s. In his novel “The City Under the Skin” (2014), a kind of cartographic thriller, women are abducted and their backs tattooed with crude maps, before being freed into an unnamed dystopian city. One character is a clerk in a map store.
"Emily Nussbaum wrote in a Times review: “He’s such an appealing writer that you want him to succeed. Sadly, Nicholson’s chosen territory turns out to be surprisingly unsexy.” (Regarding his “"Footsucker” (1995), a murder mystery starring an unapologetic foot fetishist, and “Sex Collectors” (2006), a nonfiction work about connoisseurs and accumulators of pornography.") He also fancied VW bugs.
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/nicholsongeoff
Trip Gabriel. 03/09/2025: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/09/books/geoff-nicholson-dead.html.
"In novels with far-fetched plots, characters who often flirted with the cartoonish and stylized, noirish dialogue, Mr. Nicholson wrote with verve and biting wit, and he attracted a dedicated, if not large, readership for his prolific output.
Michiko Kakutani compared him to Kingsley Amis for "“Bleeding London,” which was on the shortlist for the Whitbread Award, three protagonists are variously obsessed with mapping the city."
"Maps were a recurring theme of Mr. Nicholson’s. In his novel “The City Under the Skin” (2014), a kind of cartographic thriller, women are abducted and their backs tattooed with crude maps, before being freed into an unnamed dystopian city. One character is a clerk in a map store.
"Emily Nussbaum wrote in a Times review: “He’s such an appealing writer that you want him to succeed. Sadly, Nicholson’s chosen territory turns out to be surprisingly unsexy.” (Regarding his “"Footsucker” (1995), a murder mystery starring an unapologetic foot fetishist, and “Sex Collectors” (2006), a nonfiction work about connoisseurs and accumulators of pornography.") He also fancied VW bugs.
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/nicholsongeoff
121featherbear
TLS March 21, 2025|No. 6364
Featured
Mary Beard (from the TLS landing page). Does Virgil make you fall off your chair?
Damon Galgut. Rough, rude and raw: The playwright who captured South Africa in the apartheid years. (Essay on the late Athol Fugard)
Michael Caines. Your Mental State level is rising: The Danish prince, on stage and in San Andreas. Review of: GRAND THEFT HAMLET on MUBI -- Hamlet, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, until March 29.
Emily Wilson. Behind closed doors: The daughter of Gisèle Pelicot on the family’s ordeal. Review of: I’LL NEVER CALL HIM DAD AGAIN: Turning our family trauma of chemical submission into a collective fight / Caroline Darian; translated by Stephen Brown (Leap).
Claire Lowdon. All that glitters: A Hungarian ex-offender is catapulted into the world of the English super-rich. Review of: FLESH: a novel / David Szalay
Literature
Sophie Oliver. Oddities, migrants and exiles: Djuna Barnes’s moral satires have a modern sensibility. Review of: I AM ALIEN TO LIFE: Selected stories / Djuna Barnes -- RYDER / Djuna Barnes.
Douglas Field. Herod, the truly great: The Biblical tyrant recast as an ideal ruler. Review of: THE LIFE OF HEROD THE GREAT / Zora Neale Hurston.
Frances Wilson. How much feeling?: A philosophical novel set between two holidays in Greece. Review of: ONE BOAT / Jonathan Buckley.
Jude Cook. Portrait of the artists: The relationship between a novelist and a documentary film-maker. Review of: IN A DEEP BLUE HOUR / Peter Stamm; translated by Michael Hofmann (Other Press).
Ian Sansom. When gentle doves cry: The importance of pet projects. (Essay on Barbara Pym & pets)
In Brief Review of: LESSONS IN CRIME: Academic mysteries / Martin Edwards, editor.
In Brief Review of the reissue (1st publ 1999) of: JOSÉ MARTÍ READER: Writings on the Americas / José Martí; introduction by Ivan Schulman.
In Brief Review of: OUTSIDE PARADISE / Bernardo Atxaha; translated by Margaret Jull Costa (Francis Boutle). ("potpourri of a book, a mixture of stories, poetry and accounts of Bernardo Atxaga’s readings, in prisons across France and Spain, and in two French villages")
Arts
Adam Mars-Jones. Him against him: Struggles for survival in Bong Joon-ho’s new film. Review of the film Mickey 17.
Alice Blackhurst. On the crest of a wave: The ‘irreverent, infectiously eccentric’ director who revolutionized cinema. Review of: A COMPLICATED PASSION: The life and work of Agnès Varda / Carrie Rickey.
Anton Bitel. Magical thinking: Cult cinema inspired by Lacanian psychoanalysis. Review of: ALEJANDRO JODOROWSKY: Filmmaker and philosopher / William Egginton (Bloomsbury Academic).
Lesley Chamberlain. Wandering above the fog: Caspar David Friedrich captured the spirit of German Romanticism in paint. Review of: THE MAGIC OF SILENCE: Caspar David Friedrich’s journey through time / Florian Illies; translated by Tony Crawford.
Science & Technology
Kathryn Harkup. Mineral into animal, vegetable: How phosphorus provides the elixir of life. Review of: WHITE LIGHT: The essential element / Jack Lohmann (Oneworld).
Louise Fabiani. Forging the nations: A history of metal working and humanity. Review of: UNDER A METAL SKY: A journey through minerals, greed and wonder / Philip Marsden.
Mark Nayler. The Big Nothing: Intrepid expeditions to the empty North Pole. Review of: THE NORTH POLE: The history of an obsession / Erling Kagge (Viking).
In Brief Review of: BIRDS, BEASTS AND BEDLAM: Turning my farm into an ark for lost species / Derek Gow.
In Brief Review of: THE WORLD ATLAS OF HONEY / C. Marina Marchese.
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
Len Scales. Luther’s unruly disciples: The contested history of the German Peasants’ War. Review of: SUMMER OF FIRE AND BLOOD: The German Peasants’ War / Lyndal Roper.
James Corke Webster. Rags to riches: Dame Averil Cameron’s hard climb to the summit of academe. Review of: TRANSITIONS: A historian’s memoir / Averil Cameron (Brepols).
Richard Davenport-Hines. A Stalinist chump at Oxford: The Civil War historian who misjudged his own times. Review of: CHRISTOPHER HILL: The life of a radical historian / Michael Braddick.
Will Tosh. Inside the college hothouse: A century of queer life at King’s College, Cambridge. Review of: QUEER CAMBRIDGE: An alternative history / Simon Goldhill.
Nicholas Stargardt. Hitler’s royal helpers: How the Kaiser’s family lent respectability to the Nazis. Review of: THE HOHENZOLLERNS AND THE NAZIS: A history of collaboration / Stephan Malinowski; translated by Jefferson Chase (Allen Lane).
Guy Stevenson. Shoot on sight: A classic account of a US army massacre in the Vietnam War. Review of the NYRB Classics reissue of: THE VILLAGE OF BEN SUC / Jonathan Schell.
Thomas De Waal. Blood feud: The ethnic cleansing of an Armenian population. Review of: ASHES OF OUR FATHERS: Inside the fall of Nagorno-Karabakh / Gabriel Gavin.
In Brief Review of: THE MANY LIVES OF ANNE FRANK / Ruth Franklin.
In Brief Review of: BRITISH SPORTING RELATIONS WITH APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA: The politics of racism and anti-racism, 1948-1994 / Matthew P. Llewelyn and Toby C. Rider (Oxford University Press).
Featured
Mary Beard (from the TLS landing page). Does Virgil make you fall off your chair?
Damon Galgut. Rough, rude and raw: The playwright who captured South Africa in the apartheid years. (Essay on the late Athol Fugard)
Michael Caines. Your Mental State level is rising: The Danish prince, on stage and in San Andreas. Review of: GRAND THEFT HAMLET on MUBI -- Hamlet, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, until March 29.
Emily Wilson. Behind closed doors: The daughter of Gisèle Pelicot on the family’s ordeal. Review of: I’LL NEVER CALL HIM DAD AGAIN: Turning our family trauma of chemical submission into a collective fight / Caroline Darian; translated by Stephen Brown (Leap).
Claire Lowdon. All that glitters: A Hungarian ex-offender is catapulted into the world of the English super-rich. Review of: FLESH: a novel / David Szalay
Literature
Sophie Oliver. Oddities, migrants and exiles: Djuna Barnes’s moral satires have a modern sensibility. Review of: I AM ALIEN TO LIFE: Selected stories / Djuna Barnes -- RYDER / Djuna Barnes.
Douglas Field. Herod, the truly great: The Biblical tyrant recast as an ideal ruler. Review of: THE LIFE OF HEROD THE GREAT / Zora Neale Hurston.
Frances Wilson. How much feeling?: A philosophical novel set between two holidays in Greece. Review of: ONE BOAT / Jonathan Buckley.
Jude Cook. Portrait of the artists: The relationship between a novelist and a documentary film-maker. Review of: IN A DEEP BLUE HOUR / Peter Stamm; translated by Michael Hofmann (Other Press).
Ian Sansom. When gentle doves cry: The importance of pet projects. (Essay on Barbara Pym & pets)
In Brief Review of: LESSONS IN CRIME: Academic mysteries / Martin Edwards, editor.
In Brief Review of the reissue (1st publ 1999) of: JOSÉ MARTÍ READER: Writings on the Americas / José Martí; introduction by Ivan Schulman.
In Brief Review of: OUTSIDE PARADISE / Bernardo Atxaha; translated by Margaret Jull Costa (Francis Boutle). ("potpourri of a book, a mixture of stories, poetry and accounts of Bernardo Atxaga’s readings, in prisons across France and Spain, and in two French villages")
Arts
Adam Mars-Jones. Him against him: Struggles for survival in Bong Joon-ho’s new film. Review of the film Mickey 17.
Alice Blackhurst. On the crest of a wave: The ‘irreverent, infectiously eccentric’ director who revolutionized cinema. Review of: A COMPLICATED PASSION: The life and work of Agnès Varda / Carrie Rickey.
Anton Bitel. Magical thinking: Cult cinema inspired by Lacanian psychoanalysis. Review of: ALEJANDRO JODOROWSKY: Filmmaker and philosopher / William Egginton (Bloomsbury Academic).
Lesley Chamberlain. Wandering above the fog: Caspar David Friedrich captured the spirit of German Romanticism in paint. Review of: THE MAGIC OF SILENCE: Caspar David Friedrich’s journey through time / Florian Illies; translated by Tony Crawford.
Science & Technology
Kathryn Harkup. Mineral into animal, vegetable: How phosphorus provides the elixir of life. Review of: WHITE LIGHT: The essential element / Jack Lohmann (Oneworld).
Louise Fabiani. Forging the nations: A history of metal working and humanity. Review of: UNDER A METAL SKY: A journey through minerals, greed and wonder / Philip Marsden.
Mark Nayler. The Big Nothing: Intrepid expeditions to the empty North Pole. Review of: THE NORTH POLE: The history of an obsession / Erling Kagge (Viking).
In Brief Review of: BIRDS, BEASTS AND BEDLAM: Turning my farm into an ark for lost species / Derek Gow.
In Brief Review of: THE WORLD ATLAS OF HONEY / C. Marina Marchese.
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
Len Scales. Luther’s unruly disciples: The contested history of the German Peasants’ War. Review of: SUMMER OF FIRE AND BLOOD: The German Peasants’ War / Lyndal Roper.
James Corke Webster. Rags to riches: Dame Averil Cameron’s hard climb to the summit of academe. Review of: TRANSITIONS: A historian’s memoir / Averil Cameron (Brepols).
Richard Davenport-Hines. A Stalinist chump at Oxford: The Civil War historian who misjudged his own times. Review of: CHRISTOPHER HILL: The life of a radical historian / Michael Braddick.
Will Tosh. Inside the college hothouse: A century of queer life at King’s College, Cambridge. Review of: QUEER CAMBRIDGE: An alternative history / Simon Goldhill.
Nicholas Stargardt. Hitler’s royal helpers: How the Kaiser’s family lent respectability to the Nazis. Review of: THE HOHENZOLLERNS AND THE NAZIS: A history of collaboration / Stephan Malinowski; translated by Jefferson Chase (Allen Lane).
Guy Stevenson. Shoot on sight: A classic account of a US army massacre in the Vietnam War. Review of the NYRB Classics reissue of: THE VILLAGE OF BEN SUC / Jonathan Schell.
Thomas De Waal. Blood feud: The ethnic cleansing of an Armenian population. Review of: ASHES OF OUR FATHERS: Inside the fall of Nagorno-Karabakh / Gabriel Gavin.
In Brief Review of: THE MANY LIVES OF ANNE FRANK / Ruth Franklin.
In Brief Review of: BRITISH SPORTING RELATIONS WITH APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA: The politics of racism and anti-racism, 1948-1994 / Matthew P. Llewelyn and Toby C. Rider (Oxford University Press).
122featherbear
Paris Review March 2025
Jessica Laser. 03/17/2025: Is Robert Frost Even a Good Poet? Interviewing Adam Plunkett, author of Love and Need: The Life of Robert Frost’s Poetry.
Jessica Laser. 03/17/2025: Is Robert Frost Even a Good Poet? Interviewing Adam Plunkett, author of Love and Need: The Life of Robert Frost’s Poetry.
123featherbear
TLS March 28, 2025|No. 6365
Featured
Ben Hutchinson. The Panther in his cage: Rilke’s elegies and sonnets made him the pre-eminent German lyric poet. Review of: RILKE: Dichter der Angst – Eine Biographie / Manfred Koch (C.H. Beck) -- RAINER MARIA RILKE, oder Das offene Leben – Eine Biographie / Sandra Richter (Insel).
Andrew Motion. All this family business: A humble retainer in Tanzania is accused of stealing. Review of: THEFT / Abdulrazak Gurnah.
Jennifer Higgie. Dreaming leaps: The occult imagination of Ithell Colquhoun. Review of the exhibition ITHELL COLQUHOUN: Between worlds, Tate St Ives, until May 5.
Sam Freedman. The rise of the guru: Why the prime minister is no longer the most important person in politics. Review of: GET IN: The inside story of Labour / Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund.
Mary Beard (from the current TLS landing page). The terror of the ludicrous. Memories of the Stasi Museum.
Literature & Bibliography
Toby Lichtig. Glimpses of Camelot: A storyteller steeped in the ‘psychic life of the land.’ Review of: THE LIVING STONES / Ithell Colquhoun -- GOOSE OF HERMOGENES / Ithell Colquhoun.
Lily Herd. Spores and dust: A London rental flat is demonically possessed. Review of: I WANT TO GO HOME BUT I’M ALREADY THERE / Róisín Lanigan.
Catherine Taylor. Another fool’s gold: A satire on money, media and the culture wars. Review of: UNIVERSALITY: a novel / Natasha Brown.
A.S.G. Edwards. Catalogue of success: Ordering the University of Oxford’s literary treasure troves. Review of: ESSAYS TO MARK THE CENTENARY OF THE OXFORD BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, 1922–2022 / David Rundle and H. R. Woudhuysen, editors.
Henry Hitchings. A passport to roam: The memoirs of a titan of British publishing. Review of: A LIFE IN FIFTY BOOKS: A publisher’s memoir / Anthony Cheetham (Apollo).
Mark Glanville. ‘This cruel, life’: The correspondence of Paul Celan and his wife, Gisèle Lestrange. Review of: LETTERS TO GISÈLE / Paul Celan; edited by Bertrand Badiou; adapted and translated by Jason Kavett.
Sheena Joughin. Diary of despair: The posthumous notebooks of a Swedish novelist and poet. Review of: AND THE WALLS BECAME THE WORLD ALL AROUND / Johanna Ekström and Sigrid Rausing; translated by Sigrid Rausing.
In Brief Review of: SHE SPEAKS!: What Shakespeare's women might have said / Harriet Walter.
In Brief Review of: TWIST: a novel / Colum McCann
In Brief Review of: WARTE IM SCHNEE VOR DEINER TÜR: Tagebücher und Notizen für Elias Canetti / Friedl Benedikt; Fanny Esterházy and Ernst Strouhal, editors (Zsolnay). ("The literary relationship between Friedl Benedikt and Elias Canetti")
In Brief Review of: MODERATE TO POOR, OCCASIONALLY GOOD / Eley Williams. (short stories)
Religion
Rowan Williams. Gathering in the nations: The extraordinary diversity of early Christian communities. Review of: ANCIENT CHRISTIANITIES: The first five hundred years / Paula Fredriksen.
Science, Tech, & Medicine
Helen Scales. Name that tuna: The significance of sounds beneath the sea. Review of: SING LIKE FISH: How sound rules life under water / Amorina Kingdon. (Reviewer's surname is a double pun!)
Simone Gubler. Hercules unchained: What legal rights has a chimpanzee? Review of: MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS: Humans and the rights of other animals / Raffael N. Fasel (Oxford University Press).
Kathleen Taylor. Trials and error: Searching for a cure for Alzheimer’s. Review of: VALLEY OF FORGETTING: Alzheimer’s families and the search for a cure / Jennie Erin Smith -- DOCTORED: Fraud, arrogance, and tragedy in the quest to cure Alzheimer’s / Charles Piller.
Regina Rini. Swimming with Cybertrucks: Immanuel Kant and Elon Musk. (Essay: despite the title, mostly about Elon Musk & his contributions to technology)
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
Edith Hall. The Greek experience: How a complex civilization changed our mental landscape. Review of: OUT OF ONE, MANY: Ancient Greek ways of thought and culture / Jennifer T. Roberts.
Christopher B. Krebs. The limits of friendship: Cicero drew the line at support for Caesar. Review of: SOUVENIRS OF CICERO: Shaping memory in the Epistulae ad Familiares / Francesca K. A. Martelli -- LAELIUS DE AMICITIA / Cicero; edited by Katharina Volk and James E. G. Zetzel.
Caroline Moorehead. An orchestra in hell: How was it possible to play for people on their way to the gas chambers? Review of: THE WOMEN’S ORCHESTRA OF AUSCHWITZ: A story of survival / Anne Sebba (Weidenfeld and Nicolson).
Lawrence Douglas. Germany’s first Nazi hunter: Fritz Bauer forced his reluctant countrymen to face up to the past. Review of: THE PROSECUTOR: One man’s battle to bring the Nazis to justice / Jack Fairweather.
Michael Taube. Etched with vinegar: The first-ever political cartoonist on a British daily newspaper. Review of: THE PICTURE POLITICS OF SIR FRANCIS CARRUTHERS GOULD: Britain’s pioneering political cartoonist / Colin Seymour-Ure; edited by Mark Bryant (Manchester University Press).
Thomas Small. Riddle of the sands: Two opposing views of Saudi modernization. Review of: SAUDI ARABIA: A modern history / David Commins (Yale University Press) -- UNHOLY KINGDOM: Religion, corruption and violence in Saudi Arabia / Malise Ruthven.
In Brief Review of: SOLDIERS AND KINGS: Survival and hope in the world of human smuggling / Jason De León.
In Brief Review of: THOMAS BECKET AND HIS WORLD / Michael Staunton.
In Brief Review of: RICHER AND MORE EQUAL: A new history of wealth in the West / Daniel Waldenström.
Featured
Ben Hutchinson. The Panther in his cage: Rilke’s elegies and sonnets made him the pre-eminent German lyric poet. Review of: RILKE: Dichter der Angst – Eine Biographie / Manfred Koch (C.H. Beck) -- RAINER MARIA RILKE, oder Das offene Leben – Eine Biographie / Sandra Richter (Insel).
Andrew Motion. All this family business: A humble retainer in Tanzania is accused of stealing. Review of: THEFT / Abdulrazak Gurnah.
Jennifer Higgie. Dreaming leaps: The occult imagination of Ithell Colquhoun. Review of the exhibition ITHELL COLQUHOUN: Between worlds, Tate St Ives, until May 5.
Sam Freedman. The rise of the guru: Why the prime minister is no longer the most important person in politics. Review of: GET IN: The inside story of Labour / Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund.
Mary Beard (from the current TLS landing page). The terror of the ludicrous. Memories of the Stasi Museum.
Literature & Bibliography
Toby Lichtig. Glimpses of Camelot: A storyteller steeped in the ‘psychic life of the land.’ Review of: THE LIVING STONES / Ithell Colquhoun -- GOOSE OF HERMOGENES / Ithell Colquhoun.
Lily Herd. Spores and dust: A London rental flat is demonically possessed. Review of: I WANT TO GO HOME BUT I’M ALREADY THERE / Róisín Lanigan.
Catherine Taylor. Another fool’s gold: A satire on money, media and the culture wars. Review of: UNIVERSALITY: a novel / Natasha Brown.
A.S.G. Edwards. Catalogue of success: Ordering the University of Oxford’s literary treasure troves. Review of: ESSAYS TO MARK THE CENTENARY OF THE OXFORD BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, 1922–2022 / David Rundle and H. R. Woudhuysen, editors.
Henry Hitchings. A passport to roam: The memoirs of a titan of British publishing. Review of: A LIFE IN FIFTY BOOKS: A publisher’s memoir / Anthony Cheetham (Apollo).
Mark Glanville. ‘This cruel, life’: The correspondence of Paul Celan and his wife, Gisèle Lestrange. Review of: LETTERS TO GISÈLE / Paul Celan; edited by Bertrand Badiou; adapted and translated by Jason Kavett.
Sheena Joughin. Diary of despair: The posthumous notebooks of a Swedish novelist and poet. Review of: AND THE WALLS BECAME THE WORLD ALL AROUND / Johanna Ekström and Sigrid Rausing; translated by Sigrid Rausing.
In Brief Review of: SHE SPEAKS!: What Shakespeare's women might have said / Harriet Walter.
In Brief Review of: TWIST: a novel / Colum McCann
In Brief Review of: WARTE IM SCHNEE VOR DEINER TÜR: Tagebücher und Notizen für Elias Canetti / Friedl Benedikt; Fanny Esterházy and Ernst Strouhal, editors (Zsolnay). ("The literary relationship between Friedl Benedikt and Elias Canetti")
In Brief Review of: MODERATE TO POOR, OCCASIONALLY GOOD / Eley Williams. (short stories)
Religion
Rowan Williams. Gathering in the nations: The extraordinary diversity of early Christian communities. Review of: ANCIENT CHRISTIANITIES: The first five hundred years / Paula Fredriksen.
Science, Tech, & Medicine
Helen Scales. Name that tuna: The significance of sounds beneath the sea. Review of: SING LIKE FISH: How sound rules life under water / Amorina Kingdon. (Reviewer's surname is a double pun!)
Simone Gubler. Hercules unchained: What legal rights has a chimpanzee? Review of: MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS: Humans and the rights of other animals / Raffael N. Fasel (Oxford University Press).
Kathleen Taylor. Trials and error: Searching for a cure for Alzheimer’s. Review of: VALLEY OF FORGETTING: Alzheimer’s families and the search for a cure / Jennie Erin Smith -- DOCTORED: Fraud, arrogance, and tragedy in the quest to cure Alzheimer’s / Charles Piller.
Regina Rini. Swimming with Cybertrucks: Immanuel Kant and Elon Musk. (Essay: despite the title, mostly about Elon Musk & his contributions to technology)
History, Politics, Society, & Culture
Edith Hall. The Greek experience: How a complex civilization changed our mental landscape. Review of: OUT OF ONE, MANY: Ancient Greek ways of thought and culture / Jennifer T. Roberts.
Christopher B. Krebs. The limits of friendship: Cicero drew the line at support for Caesar. Review of: SOUVENIRS OF CICERO: Shaping memory in the Epistulae ad Familiares / Francesca K. A. Martelli -- LAELIUS DE AMICITIA / Cicero; edited by Katharina Volk and James E. G. Zetzel.
Caroline Moorehead. An orchestra in hell: How was it possible to play for people on their way to the gas chambers? Review of: THE WOMEN’S ORCHESTRA OF AUSCHWITZ: A story of survival / Anne Sebba (Weidenfeld and Nicolson).
Lawrence Douglas. Germany’s first Nazi hunter: Fritz Bauer forced his reluctant countrymen to face up to the past. Review of: THE PROSECUTOR: One man’s battle to bring the Nazis to justice / Jack Fairweather.
Michael Taube. Etched with vinegar: The first-ever political cartoonist on a British daily newspaper. Review of: THE PICTURE POLITICS OF SIR FRANCIS CARRUTHERS GOULD: Britain’s pioneering political cartoonist / Colin Seymour-Ure; edited by Mark Bryant (Manchester University Press).
Thomas Small. Riddle of the sands: Two opposing views of Saudi modernization. Review of: SAUDI ARABIA: A modern history / David Commins (Yale University Press) -- UNHOLY KINGDOM: Religion, corruption and violence in Saudi Arabia / Malise Ruthven.
In Brief Review of: SOLDIERS AND KINGS: Survival and hope in the world of human smuggling / Jason De León.
In Brief Review of: THOMAS BECKET AND HIS WORLD / Michael Staunton.
In Brief Review of: RICHER AND MORE EQUAL: A new history of wealth in the West / Daniel Waldenström.
124featherbear
Commonweal March 2025
Helen Rouner. 03/14/2025: Long Horizons: Bruce Chatwin’s apocalyptic imagination.
Helen Rouner. 03/14/2025: Long Horizons: Bruce Chatwin’s apocalyptic imagination.
125featherbear
Johnny Lyons. Dublin Review of Books Feb 2025: Talkin’ about a Revolution. Review of: Hegel’s World Revolutions / Richard Bourke.
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L.J. Smith, 1958-2025
Jeré Longman. NYT, 03/26/2025: L.J. Smith, Author of ‘Vampire Diaries’ Book Series, Dies at 66. "She wrote seven books in a series that went on to be a hit TV show. After she was replaced by ghostwriters, she reclaimed her characters online in fan fiction."
On LT, she is under Lisa Jane Smith: https://www.librarything.com/author/smithlisajane
Jeré Longman. NYT, 03/26/2025: L.J. Smith, Author of ‘Vampire Diaries’ Book Series, Dies at 66. "She wrote seven books in a series that went on to be a hit TV show. After she was replaced by ghostwriters, she reclaimed her characters online in fan fiction."
On LT, she is under Lisa Jane Smith: https://www.librarything.com/author/smithlisajane
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Dag Solstad 1941-2025
Adam Nossiter. NYT, 03/24/2025: Dag Solstad, 83, Dies; His Novels of Alienation Delighted Norwegians.
"In summing up his career in 2015, the leading Norwegian critic Ane Farsethas called Mr. Solstad “a literary provocateur” who was known for “frequently sparking debates with both literary experiments and essays.” She acknowledged that he was largely unfamiliar to readers outside Norway, though he and his books were prominently discussed in European and American publications like Le Monde, The New Yorker, The Paris Review and The New York Times. (A headline in The Times Book Review in 2018 asked, “Does the Name Dag Solstad Mean Anything to You? It Should.”)"
Philip Oltermann. Guardian, 03/17/2025: Norwegian writer Dag Solstad dies aged 83. "A hugely influential novelist and critic, Solstad won the Norwegian Critics prize three times, and his work was translated by Haruki Murakami."
"... US author Lydia Davis taught herself Norwegian by reading his 400-page “Telemark novel” (full title: The Insoluble Epic Element in Telemark in the Years 1592–1896).
"Karl Ove Knausgård admired his “old-fashioned elegance”; Per Petterson called him “Norway’s bravest, most intelligent novelist”. In an essay for the Paris Review, Damion Searls likened Solstad to the John Lennon of Norwegian letters: “the experimentalist, the ideas man.”
"The core concerns of his 18 novels, stories, plays and essays, however, were more personal, frequently featuring difficult father-son relationships. In a Guardian review, British writer Geoff Dyer likened his characters as living “as Philip Larkin might have done if he’d got a job in Telemark instead of Hull”."
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/solstaddag
Adam Nossiter. NYT, 03/24/2025: Dag Solstad, 83, Dies; His Novels of Alienation Delighted Norwegians.
"In summing up his career in 2015, the leading Norwegian critic Ane Farsethas called Mr. Solstad “a literary provocateur” who was known for “frequently sparking debates with both literary experiments and essays.” She acknowledged that he was largely unfamiliar to readers outside Norway, though he and his books were prominently discussed in European and American publications like Le Monde, The New Yorker, The Paris Review and The New York Times. (A headline in The Times Book Review in 2018 asked, “Does the Name Dag Solstad Mean Anything to You? It Should.”)"
Philip Oltermann. Guardian, 03/17/2025: Norwegian writer Dag Solstad dies aged 83. "A hugely influential novelist and critic, Solstad won the Norwegian Critics prize three times, and his work was translated by Haruki Murakami."
"... US author Lydia Davis taught herself Norwegian by reading his 400-page “Telemark novel” (full title: The Insoluble Epic Element in Telemark in the Years 1592–1896).
"Karl Ove Knausgård admired his “old-fashioned elegance”; Per Petterson called him “Norway’s bravest, most intelligent novelist”. In an essay for the Paris Review, Damion Searls likened Solstad to the John Lennon of Norwegian letters: “the experimentalist, the ideas man.”
"The core concerns of his 18 novels, stories, plays and essays, however, were more personal, frequently featuring difficult father-son relationships. In a Guardian review, British writer Geoff Dyer likened his characters as living “as Philip Larkin might have done if he’d got a job in Telemark instead of Hull”."
His LT page: https://www.librarything.com/author/solstaddag
128featherbear
Index of notable deaths posted during the Jan-Mar 2025 period
Melody Beattie >115 featherbear:
Tom L. Beauchamp >94 featherbear:
John Casey >98 featherbear:
Jules Feiffer >27 featherbear:
John Feinstein >112 featherbear:
Athol Fugard >106 featherbear:
Herman Graf >116 featherbear:
Richard B. Hays >14 featherbear:
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston >23 featherbear:
Christopher Jencks >67 featherbear:
Jennifer Johnston >119 featherbear:
Pierre Joris >103 featherbear:
William Leuchtenberg >31 featherbear:
David Lodge >3 featherbear:
Michael Longley >69 featherbear:
Antonine Maillet >87 featherbear:
Martin E. Marty >93 featherbear:
Geoff Nicholson >120 featherbear:
Felice Picano >117 featherbear:
Alvin Poussaint >82 featherbear:
Karen Pryor >45 featherbear:
Anson Rabinbach >57 featherbear:
James Reason >118 featherbear:
Tom Robbins >59 featherbear:
L.J. Smith >126 featherbear:
Dag Solstad >127 featherbear:
Laura Sessions Stepp >95 featherbear:
Joseph Wambaugh >90 featherbear:
Melody Beattie >115 featherbear:
Tom L. Beauchamp >94 featherbear:
John Casey >98 featherbear:
Jules Feiffer >27 featherbear:
John Feinstein >112 featherbear:
Athol Fugard >106 featherbear:
Herman Graf >116 featherbear:
Richard B. Hays >14 featherbear:
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston >23 featherbear:
Christopher Jencks >67 featherbear:
Jennifer Johnston >119 featherbear:
Pierre Joris >103 featherbear:
William Leuchtenberg >31 featherbear:
David Lodge >3 featherbear:
Michael Longley >69 featherbear:
Antonine Maillet >87 featherbear:
Martin E. Marty >93 featherbear:
Geoff Nicholson >120 featherbear:
Felice Picano >117 featherbear:
Alvin Poussaint >82 featherbear:
Karen Pryor >45 featherbear:
Anson Rabinbach >57 featherbear:
James Reason >118 featherbear:
Tom Robbins >59 featherbear:
L.J. Smith >126 featherbear:
Dag Solstad >127 featherbear:
Laura Sessions Stepp >95 featherbear:
Joseph Wambaugh >90 featherbear:
129featherbear
Continuation of book related postings for the next quarter: Exploring Books Through Articles, Reviews, Announcements, & Lists 2025-02 Apr-June.
(Late breaking Jan-Mar book news will be posted there as well)
Indexes for Jan-Mar:
Jan 2025 >38 featherbear:
Feb 2025 >39 featherbear:
March 2025 >79 featherbear:
(Late breaking Jan-Mar book news will be posted there as well)
Indexes for Jan-Mar:
Jan 2025 >38 featherbear:
Feb 2025 >39 featherbear:
March 2025 >79 featherbear:
