Review by David Starkey In order to truly appreciate Emily St. John Mandel’s new novel, a reader should be familiar with her two previous efforts: the groundbreaking pre-Covid pandemic novel,…
Author: David Starkey
The Unwritten Book: An Investigation by Samantha Hunt
Review by Walter Cummins Samantha Hunt subtitles The Unwritten Book an “Investigation.” The connotation of that word suggests a systematic analysis of clues. But what Hunt has really produced is…
Anthem by Noah Hawley
Review by David Starkey Noah Hawley’s new novel Anthem is set in a near, scarcely alternative future. The United States is riven by partisan divide, with the Alt Right on…
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
Review by David Starkey Let’s be honest: after writing two of the best novels of the twenty-first century—The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys—it was going to be hard for…
In Emergency, Break Glass: What Nietzsche Can Teach Us About Joyful Living in a Tech-Saturated World by Nate Anderson
Review by David Starkey At the beginning of In Emergency, Break Glass: What Nietzsche Can Teach Us About Joyful Living in a Tech-Saturated World, Nate Anderson, deputy editor of the…
American Art from the Thyssen Collection by Paloma Alarcó and Alba Campo Rosillo
Review by David Starkey Before visiting Madrid this past February, I must admit that I had no idea that the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum even existed. But exist it does, and…
In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Amy Bloom
Review by David Starkey Those who can remember the grief they felt for young, terminally ill Johnny Gunther when they first read John Gunther’s Death Be Not Proud, will be…
Edvard Munch in Dialogue by Dieter Buchhart, Antonia Hoerschelmann and Klaus Albrecht Schröder
Review by David Starkey “Much is suggested. Little is defined,” writes Margaret Dumas of Norway’s most famous painter. One of the contemporary painters represented in Edvard Munch in Dialogue, Dumas…
The Man Who Tasted Words by Guy Leschziner
Review by Walter Cummins The title case study of neurologist Guy Laschziner’s exploration of “the strange and startling world of our senses” doesn’t appear until the final chapter. James, now…
Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy by Nathaniel Philbrick
Review by David Starkey Nathaniel Philbrick’s greatest successes as an author have come revisiting America’s Revolutionary War-period, where he has explored events like Bunker Hill, Washington’s victory at Yorktown, and…