Scribner Canada Review by Brian Tanguay By the reckoning of the acclaimed Turkish writer, Ece Temelkuran, there are many ways to become unhomed. Climate change, war, and rising fascism are…
Category: Nonfiction
American Alt: A True Story of Madness and Friendship in a Fractured Country by Chris Lockhart
Bloomsbury Review by Brian Tanguay At various points in this remarkable account of friendship and mental illness, I had to remind myself that I was reading nonfiction. So vivid is…
Talking Classics: The Shock of the Old by Mary Beard
Chicago Review by David Starkey If you thought the Greek and Roman classics were stuffy but serious and timeless guides to the Good, the Beautiful, and the Wise, Mary Beard…
The Family Man: Blood and Betrayal in the House of Murdaugh by James Lasdun
Norton Review by Walter Cummins Of course, I had heard of Alex Murdaugh. It would have been difficult not to if you followed the news after 2019. How could the…
Children of Radium: A Buried Inheritance by Joe Dunthorne
Scribner Review by Walter Cummins We imagine writers doing research as individuals behind a computer screen or in a library carrel surrounded by piles of books and documents, perhaps also…
The Danger to Be Sane: Creativity and the Eccentric Mind by Rosa Montero, translated by Lindsey Ford
Europa Review by Walter Cummins Novelist Rosa Montero opens this book with an admission that “I’ve always known something in the head didn’t work right,” then illustrates with her age…
Winning The Earthquake: How Jeannette Rankin Defied All Odds To Become The First Woman In Congress by Lorissa Rinehart
St. Martin’s Press Review by Brian Tanguay Barbara Lee, a Black Congresswoman from California, cast the sole vote opposing the Authorization for the Use of Military Force after the 9/11…
Traumatized: The New Politics of Public Suffering by Catherine Liu
Verso Review by Brian Tanguay Catherine Liu doesn’t write like your typical academic. This is what I noticed first about her latest book, Traumatized, a slender volume that delivers in…
Tin Can Coast: A History of Industry, Greed, and Fishing in the Golden State by Joseph Ogilvy
Bloomsbury Review by Brian Tanguay What do sea otters, abalone and sardines have to do with the settling and development of California? What can these creatures reveal about the age-old…
Cults Like Us: Why Doomsday Thinking Drives America by Jane Borden
One Signal Review by Brian Tanguay I met Jane Borden at the inaugural Santa Barbara Literary Festival. As I listened to her talk about her book, Cults Like Us, I…