Reflections from the Shadow of Los Angeles: A Very Brief Memoir by Byron Schneider

Impervious Press Review by Brian Tanguay My only regret about Reflections from the Shadow of Los Angeles is, as the subtitle suggests, that it is very brief. I wanted to…

Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan

Random House Review by Brian Tanguay “I recently sent a letter to a terrorist I used to know.”  When considered in the context of everything that befalls its author and…

Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment by Allen C. Guelzo

Knopf Review by Brian Tanguay Abraham Lincoln believed that democracy was the single greatest achievement in human history. How Lincoln came to this belief is less well known than other…

An Ordinary Youth by Walter Kempowski, Translated by Michael Lipton

New York Review of Books Review by Brian Tanguay In November 1944 Walter Kempowski was called up for mandatory service by the German government, and detailed to go from house…

Fascism in America: Past and Present, Edited by Gavriel D. Rosenfeld and Janet Ward

Cambridge University Press Review by Brian Tanguay One of the animating questions in the essays that comprise Fascism in America is whether or not our national political arrangement has reached…

The Three Ages of Water: Prehistoric, Past, Imperiled Present, and a Hope for the Future by Peter Gleick

Public Affairs Water Always Wins: Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge by Erica Gies Chicago Press Water for All: Global Solutions for a Changing Climate by David Sedlak…

The Suicide Museum by Ariel Dorfman

Other Press Review by Brian Tanguay In what he refers to as a “sort of epilogue” to his colossal novel, The Suicide Museum, Ariel Dorfman thanks the Spanish author Javier…

By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah

Riverhead Books Review by Brian Tanguay The first time I became aware of Abdulrazak Gurnah was on this website when I read fellow contributor Walter Cummins’ review of The Last…

A Splendid Intelligence: The Life of Elizabeth Hardwick by Cathy Curtis

Norton Review by Brian Tanguay “There is simply no accounting for her gifts. She was a unicorn, born among horses.”  So wrote author and cultural critic William Deresiewicz in “The…

Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

Grove Press Essay by Brian Tanguay I first read Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller thirty years ago. I kept coming across references to Miller in the books I was…