Doubleday Review by George Yatchisin A study of skullduggery and heroism, vainglory and stiff-upper lips, the unbelievable odyssey that is David Gann’s latest nonfiction work The Wager also manages to…
Category: Nonfiction
Dinner with the President: Food, Politics, and a History of Breaking Bread at the White House by Alex Prud’homme
Knopf Review by George Yatchisin Freedom Fries—the bogus re-naming bestowed by right-wingers requiring simple-minded revenge during the Iraq War when France was a hesitant ally to the US—weren’t the first…
Cucina Povera: The Italian Way of Transforming Humble Ingredients into Memorable Meals by Giulia Scarpaleggia
Artisan Review by Linda Lappin September 2023 marks a solemn occasion in Italy, the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Nazi Occupation which devastated Tuscany from September 1943 until…
A Forest Journey: The Role of Trees in the Fate of Civilization by John Perlin
(Patagonia) Review by Brian Tanguay The first edition of John Perlin’s A Forest Journey was published in 1989. Its unique synthesis of history and science quickly marked it as a…
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
(milkweed editions) Essay by Brian Tanguay This June and July were two of the hottest months ever recorded. Wildfires in Canada blanketed a swath of the United States in choking…
Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge, from Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic by Simon Winchester
Harper Collins Review by Walter Cummins While Simon Winchester’s book is an entertaining read because he writes well and tells a good story, a more accurate title might be Knowing…
In Sardinia: An Unexpected Journey by Jeff Biggers
Melville House Review by Linda Lappin Sardinia’s landscapes captivate visitors: pink granite cliffs whipped into weird shapes, massive basalt boulders, tawny hills where tiny wild horses roam, dunes of sparkling…
Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond
(Crown) Review by Brian Tanguay What Bryan Stevenson (author of Just Mercy and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative) is to racial inequality in the criminal justice system in America,…
The Wonder Paradox: Embracing the Weirdness of Existence and the Poetry of Our Lives by Jennifer Michael Hecht
Farrar, Straus & Giroux Review by George Yatchisin It’s not every self-helpish book that asks you to create your own poetry anthology, but The Wonder Paradox is sui generis. As…