Pantheon Review by Walter Cummins The image of Alfred Tennyson I’ve carried for decades goes back to the childhood card game of Authors that depicts him with a stately continence…
Category: Nonfiction
Stay Alive: Berlin, 1939-1945 by Ian Buruma
Penguin Review by Walter Cummins While I was reading Stay Alive, bombs—many more powerful than those of World War II, others delivered by drones—were falling on a number of cities—Kyiv,…
Billionaire Backlash: The Age of Corporate Scandal and How It Could Save Democracy by Pepper Culpepper and Taeku Lee
Bloomsbury Review by Brian Tanguay A fundamental political question lies at the heart of Billionaire Backlash by Pepper Culpepper and Taeku Lee: who makes the rules? Is it individual billionaires…
The ABCs of California’s Native Bees by Krystle Hickman
Heyday Review by Brian Tanguay I always enjoy learning new facts about my home state. Prior to reading The ABCs of California’s Native Bees, I had no idea that California…
California Rewritten: A Journey Through the Golden State’s New Literature by John Freeman
Heyday Review by David Starkey When we at the California Review of Books heard there was a new collection of book reviews about California writers, we were interested in learning…
Mexico Between Feast and Famine: Food, Corporate Power, and Inequality by Enrique C. Ochoa
University of Arizona Press Review by Brian Tanguay Mexico has a well-earned reputation for culinary excellence, and foodies all over the world recognize its local and regional food cultures. But…
The Coroner’s Silence: Death Records and the Hidden Victims of Police Violence by Terence Keel
Beacon Press Review by Brian Tanguay When I think of people who died while in state custody the first name that comes to mind is Sandra Bland, the 28-year-old Black…
A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness by Michael Pollan
Penguin Review by Walter Cummin In A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness, Michael Pollan makes an offhand reference to Plato’s cave, “where artificial agents are confined and forced to…
The Great Contradiction: The Tragic Side of the American Founding by Joseph J. Ellis
Knopf Review by David Starkey There’s something depressing about the fact that renowned historian Joseph J. Ellis felt the need to write The Great Contradiction: The Tragic Side of the…
The Secret War Against Hate: American Resistance to Antisemitism and White Supremacy by Steven J. Ross
Bloomsbury Review by Brian Tanguay I read The Secret War Against Hate when federal immigration agents were terrorizing the citizens of Minneapolis, which made the experience eerie and chilling. Steven…