Reaktion Review by David Starkey Before turning to Roberta J.M. Olson’s Audubon as Artist: A New Look at the Birds of America, in a gorgeously reproduced edition by Reaktion Books,…
Category: Genres
Twist by Colum McCann
Random House Review by Walter Cummins Although Colum McCann doesn’t refer to the 1948-49 Shannon-Weaver theory of communication, my remembering it helped me understand his novel Twist, in which the…
No Bars to Manhood: A Powerful, Personal Statement on Radical Confrontation with Contemporary Society by Daniel Berrigan
WIPF & STOCK Review by Brian Tanguay Where does courage come from? Why do certain people sacrifice their liberty, and sometimes their very lives for a principle, while others remain…
Heartwood by Amity Gaige
Simon & Schuster Review by Walter Cummins Valerie Gillis closes the message to her mother that begins the novel Heartwood with this crucial memory: “But for a while, in your…
What Art Does: An Unfinished Theory by Brian Eno and Bette A.
Faber and Faber Review by George Yatchisin At a mere 4.5 by 6.5 inches, only 122 pages long, with a cover that’s bright white and soothing flamingo pink, Brian Eno…
Offshore: Stealth Wealth and the New Colonialism by Brooke Harrington
Norton Review by Brian Tanguay The world of elite and oligarchic money is shrouded in secrecy. A series of leaked documents — the Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, and Pandora Papers…
The Problem You Have by Robert Garner McBrearty
University of New Mexico Press Review by Jack Smith Robert Garner McBrearty’s The Problem You Have is a stunning collection of literary realism, often edgy realism, sometimes bordering on farce,…
The ISMs Series, Edited by Larry Warsh
Princeton University Press Review by David Starkey I first saw one of the ISMs books in a museum bookstore—the Whitney’s, I think. Pale blue, beautifully made and about the size…
Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld
Random House Review by Walter Cummins Variations of similar human tensions unite the twelve stories in this collection. In each, at least one character stands out as mastering one or…
The Strange Case of Jane O. by Karen Thompson Walker
Random House Review by Walter Cummins This case is indeed strange as it is revealed by through the voices of the two people at the center of the complication—Dr. Henry…