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…
Tag: California Review of Books
Vigil by George Saunders
Random House Review by Walter Cummins It’s the language and telling that makes Vigil such a pleasure to read. While the subject is death and the act of dying, the…
The Society by Karen Winn
Dutton Review by Walter Cummins While reading Karen Winn’s new novel, The Society, a vivid memory of a 1935 James Thurber cartoon kept popping into my head. That one has…
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…
The Lies of the Artists: Essays on Italian Art, 1450-1750 by Ingrid D. Rowland
MIT Press Review by David Starkey The Lies of the Artists is a clever title for a book with the subtitle Essays on Italian Art, 1450-1750, but it seems to…
Railsong: A Novel by Rahul Bhattacharya
Bloomsbury Review by Brian Tanguay Charulata Chitol is an unlikely heroine. The motherless daughter of a railway worker, Charu, as she’s known, lives with her father and brothers in India’s…
When Caesar Was King: How Sid Caesar Reinvented Comedy by David Margolick
Schocken Review by Walter Cummins The hardest I’ve ever laughed took place more than fifty years ago. David Margolick’s book brought it all back in full hysterics, the experience of…
A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction by Elizabeth McCracken
Ecco Review by Walter Cummins When first reading A Long Game, I kept wondering who the book was written for. The title and the author would attract those of us…
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller
Europa Review by Walter Cummins This, Miller’s tenth novel, was a finalist for the 2025 Booker Prize and received two major British awards for historical fiction. The story is historical…