Books

• 
• 4-16-14
  

  Review of Robert K. Musil’s "Rachel Carson and Her Sisters: Extraordinary Women Who Have Shaped America’s Environment"

  by Lawrence S. Wittner

  Despite the central role of women in the environmental movement, surprisingly little is known about them.

• 
• 4-3-14
  

  Review of Randall Balmer’s “Redeemer: The Life of Jimmy Carter”

  by Murray Polner

  As Rodney Dangerfield might have put it, “Jimmy Carter gets no respect.”

• 

• Review of Phillip Deery's "Red Apple: Communism and McCarthyism in Cold War New York"

  by Andrew Feffer

  This is an extremely well documented, lucidly written study, using personal correspondence, Party records and other archival sources amplified by newly declassified FBI files.

• 

• Review of Seth Davis's "John Wooden: A Coach's Life"

  by Luther Spoehr

  The driving force behind all those NCAA basketball championships.

• 
• 3-31-14
  

  Review of "Stokely: A Life"

  by Ron Briley

  Peniel E. Joseph's new biography restores the voice of Carmichael to the history of the civil rights movement.

• 

• Review of Andrew L. Erdman's "Queen of Vaudeville"

  by Richard Canedo

  Why we should care about the "Queen of Vaudeville."

• 
• 3-10-14
  

  Review of Seth Lipsky’s “The Rise of Abraham Cahan”

  by Robert Parmet

  Abraham Cahan's story is the quintessential American success story.

• 
• 3-3-14
  

  Review of Rex Bowman and Carlos Santos's "Rot, Riot, and Rebellion"

  by Luther Spoehr

  Mr. Jefferson's University made "Animal House" look tame.

• 
• 2-24-14
  

  Review of Jon K. Lauck's "The Lost Region"

  by Ron Briley

  Towards a revival of Midwestern history.

• 
• 2-21-14
  

  What They're Reading: Elena Schneider

  by Victoria Torres

  Schneider is a scholar of Latin American history, but that's not what she reads in her spare time.

• 
• 2-17-14
  

  Review of Michael J. Kramer's "The Republic of Rock"

  by Ron Briley

  How hippie music became a bastion of "hip capitalism."

• 
• 2-17-14
  

  Review of Luke Harding's "The Snowden Files"

  by Murray Polner

  The first of no doubt many dissections of the Edward Snowden saga.

• 
• 2-10-14
  

  Review of James Tobin's "The Man He Became"

  by Bernard von Bothmer

  The greatest comeback in American political history?

• 
• 2-10-14
  

  Review of Samuel G. Freedman's "Breaking the Line"

  by Luther Spoehr

  Black college football, civil rights -- and publisher's hype.

• 
• 1-27-14
  

  Review of Betty Medsger's "The Burglary"

  by Murray Polner

  A strikingly relevant book for the modern age.

• 
• 1-20-14
  

  Review of Dean Starkman's "The Watchdog That Didn’t Bark"

  by Jim Sleeper

  Reporting for the republic.

• 
• 1-20-14
  

  Review of Jack Cheever's "Act of War"

  by Murray Polner

  A riveting account of the 1968 spy ship capture that nearly brought the U.S. and North Korea to the brink of war.

• 
• 1-13-14
  

  Review of Jesse Norman's "Edmund Burke: The First Conservative"

  by Luther Spoehr

  (Re)introducing a founder of conservatism.

• 
• 12-30-13
  

  Review of Stephen Kinzer's "The Brothers"

  by Jeremy Kuzmarov

  Inside the narrow, dogmatic world of the Dulles brothers, the architects of America's Cold War.

• 
• 12-30-13
  

  Review of Gabriel Miller's "William Wyler"

  by Ron Briley

  Why isn't William Wyler mentioned in the same breath as Alfred Hitchcock or John Ford?