A bullseye that is more than worth your time. This carefully crafted book nails the astonishing personal story and clearly explains layers of U.S. history and movements. For ages 12 to 112.
Molly
What better way to spend a cold, snowy February day reading McCann’s book while listening to the classic album that help define the bossa nova sound of the early 1960s. Part of the terrific 33 1/3 series that explores in depth seminal recordings of many different genres, this volume places the Getz/Gilberto album in social, historical, and musical context along with expert discussions of each composition cut by cut.
Dale
An amazing collection of essays exploring questions of race, beauty, class, and authority from new angles, from a brilliant sociologist (who'll be here on March 1).
Sarah
Abdurraqib catalogs musical history with a mythic, yet personal, reverence, sharing his heroes in a way that makes them accessible while canonizing them as larger-than-life icons. Whether you’re a longtime fan of A Tribe Called Quest or a total initiate, this book holds something fresh for you; this is what all culture writing should aspire to.
Caleb
Such was the ongoing intellectual ferment of the City of Light that even in the squalid Depression decade an extraordinary cast of characters lived singular lives and created exciting things, in spite of - or perhaps stimulated by - the gathering geopolitical dread...
Gary
With a country large and varied as the United States there likely will never be a definitive single-volume history. With These Truths Lepore gives us a largely political history though one informed by the many insights produced by changes in historical methodology over the last few decades. Lepore is always a joy to read. She keeps this book lively and entertaining by focusing on individual lives involved in some of the key dramas that illuminate the how and why of our past.
Dale
Some of the questions posed are very traditional for an advice column, but the responses are all earthy, poetic, and a little sinister. I can easily picture Baba Yaga's claws clacking away as she type up her response. I enjoy the raw, truthfulness of some of the answers, but just a reminder that Baba Yaga is not an actual therapist. (This book was featured on BitchReads' list of "11 Books to Hex the Patriarchy" last October.)
Stacey
Who's job is likely to become automated, A journalist's, a lawyer's, or a pharmacist's? The answer is that all three can and chances are, so can yours.
John
Like the music he writes about, Hanif Abdurraqib's essay collection is by turns novel and nostalgic, euphoric and poignant, contemplative and raw. A moving examination of the way pop culture ties into the current state of our nation--and how it affects us on a personal level.
Kate
Discover another side to Shirley Jackson as she takes on the daily trials of domestic life in a small Vermont town. Laugh-out-loud funny and perfect for Mother's Day.
Katie
