I don’t know what I was expecting when I requested a reviewer’s copy of Oliver Linton’s Fractals: On the Edge of Chaos. The pocket-sized book, published in February, appeared to […]
BOOK REVIEW
Once Behind Bars, Forever Barred Entry
Reuben Jonathan Miller reckons with America’s ‘carceral system’
Michelle Alexander changed conversations about race-based discrimination in 2010 when she published The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Alexander explained that four in five Black […]
BOOK REVIEW
The Mothers Behind the Civil Rights Movement
Anna Malaika Tubbs gives their story a Black feminist affirmation
It is easy to pan Anna Malaika Tubbs’s The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation, released last month […]
BOOK REVIEW
The Survivors Is Jane Harper at Her Criminal Best
An Aussie mystery with echoes of the Outer Cape
If you are in need of a particularly good escape that requires no travel this pandemic February, look no further than Australian crime writer Jane Harper’s latest whodunit, The Survivors, […]
BOOK REVIEW
The Story of America Through Hand-Crafted Objects
Glenn Adamson’s new history looks at under-represented talents
Perhaps you are turned off by standard American histories, from expensive textbooks to doorstop-sized biographies of Important Men. You might find descriptions of the conflict between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander […]
BOOK REVIEW
Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar Tell It Like It Is
They write of casual racism with candor and humor
Under no circumstances should you crack the covers of Amber Ruffin’s and Lacey Lamar’s You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey in a place you need to be quiet — […]
OP-ED
The Bookworm’s Manifesto
Repairing the world by reading and writing about books
Should I be so lucky as to reach old age, I imagine I will be asked what I did during the pandemic year, when a virus set fire to the […]
BOOK REVIEW
Alexis Pauline Gumbs Reveals Marine Mammals’ Radical Nature
Reclaiming the ocean from the heteropatriarchy
Alexis Pauline Gumbs describes herself as a “queer Black feminist love evangelist and marine mammal apprentice” in Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons From Marine Mammals, published this past November. The description […]
BOOK REVIEW
How to Hold Animals Is a Book to Curl Up With
It offers tips for handling furry, slimy, and scaly creatures
The cover of Toshimitsu Matsuhashi’s How to Hold Animals features an adorable sugar glider, a bug-eyed mouse-like creature, gently cupped between two human hands. Readers might therefore expect the book […]
BOOK REVIEW
The Many Faces of Adrienne Rich
Hilary Holladay’s portrait of a complicated artist
Hilary Holladay’s The Power of Adrienne Rich is an accessible biography of the celebrated American poet. Published last month, it is the first comprehensive exploration of both the person and […]
BOOK REVIEW
In the Ravages of Ebola, Paul Farmer Finds Pandemic Roots
A tireless doctor gives infectious disease a global perspective
Dr. Paul Farmer and three friends toured an Ebola treatment unit (E.T.U.) in Monrovia, Liberia, in October 2014. They watched as two brothers vomited and soiled themselves with diarrhea as […]
BOOK REVIEW
Dolly Parton as a Natural Woman
Sarah Smarsh empowers the country legend’s impoverished roots
Dolly Parton, 74, has been singing and performing as a self-described “backwoods Barbie” for over half a century. With chart-topping hits such as “Jolene,” “I Will Always Love You,” “Here […]
GRAPHIC NOVELS
Journeys of Self-Acceptance, in Words and Pictures
Eleanor Crewes and Allie Brosh render their lives with insight
“We believe we make our choices, but no — they make us,” writes the late Daniel Menaker in his poem, “Last Will and Testament.” Though our choices add up to […]
BOOK REVIEW
Marilynne Robinson’s Prodigal Son Returns
Her latest novel, Jack, explores race, grace, and literature
Jack Boughton, the protagonist of Marilynne Robinson’s much-anticipated novel, Jack, is a thief, a liar, and an alcoholic. He is also exquisitely sensitive, self-deprecatingly funny, and finely attuned to the […]
BOOK REVIEW
Becoming a Teacher: The Perils of Success
Melinda D. Anderson writes of a teacher of color’s conflicts and skills
What is the likely career trajectory of an inventive, gifted Teacher of the Year who is passionate about racial and social justice and who works in an urban public school? […]
