'Lords of Finance'
Liaquat Ahamed’s book is supposed to be an economic history of World War I and the Great Depression. But there is terrific prescience to be found in its portrait of times past.
Newly Released Books
If the publishing business were given to proclamations, January would be first-novel month, as many houses bring out books they didn’t want to launch into the holiday flood of brand-name authors.
A Madoff Cookbook Has a Secret, Too
A food and wine expert said that she was paid to write a cookbook that was published listing Ruth Madoff as a co-author.
Hortense Calisher, Author, Dies at 97
Miss Calisher’s unpredictable turns of phrase, intellectually challenging fictional situations and complex plots captivated and puzzled readers for a half-century.
W.D. Snodgrass, 83, a Poet of Intensely Autobiographical Themes, Is Dead
Mr. Snodgrass found the stuff of poetry in the raw material of his emotional life and forged a bold, self-analytical poetic style in postwar America.
'Somewhere Towards the End'
Diana Athill, 91, catalogs the insults (and joys) of old age in her second memoir.
'The Inheritance'
In his new book Mr. Sanger delivers a withering indictment of his longtime subject: President Bush’s foreign policy.
Hedge Fund Executive to Lead Borders
The Borders Group book chain plans to name a hedge fund executive as its chairman as part of its effort to stay afloat, a person with knowledge of the announcement said.
Book Is Rallying Resistance to the Antivaccine Crusade
Paul A. Offit sees a fiery debate on autism as being hijacked by vaccine opponents peddling false hope.
- Health Guide: Autism | Vaccination
- Read an Excerpt of 'Autism's False Prophets'
A New Chief for Simon & Schuster’s Children’s Division
A little more than a month after the departure of its publisher, the company has appointed Jon Anderson of Running Press to fill the post.
Following That Fast Cash
Niall Ferguson moves at whirlwind speed in “The Ascent of Money,” a somewhat frustrating PBS documentary based on his recent book of the same title.
Fiction Reading Increases for Adults
The National Endowment for the Arts says in a report that it believes a quarter-century of precipitous decline in fiction reading has reversed.
'Elsewhere, U.S.A.'
Dalton Conley shows himself to be a much more acute observer than analyst in his book on techno-distraction.
Inger Christensen, Scandinavian Poet, Is Dead at 73
Ms. Christensen was a distinguished Danish poet whose work was a cornerstone of modern Scandinavian poetry.
Religion Writer Who Copied Work Draws Support of Readers
Many fans of Neale Donald Walsch, the author of the best-selling series “Conversations With God,” rallied around him and begged him not to quit blogging.
'The Sky Below'
It’s hard not to be seduced by Stacey D’Erasmo’s selfish hero, an artist whose hunger for expression, for a father and for a home embodies a sense of entrapment that could make anyone behave badly.
'The Uncrowned King'
A biography of the young William Randolph Hearst is also a story about the rising power of the press in the late 19th century.
Allen Ginsberg's Letters
Two collections of letters by Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder, both edited by Bill Morgan, illuminate the poets’ careers and emotional life.
'The Journey'
This newly translated novel, written in the 1950s, uses the tools of literary modernism to depict the dislocations of spirit and consciousness caused by the Holocaust.
'Beat the Reaper'
In this novel, Pietro Brnwa, contract killer, becomes Dr. Peter Brown.
'The Shadow Factory'
James Bamford brings his narrative of the National Security Agency into the post-9/11 era.
'A Country Called Home'
In this novel, an idealistic Connecticut couple flee to a new life in the rural West, but things soon go awry.
Picture Books About Math
What makes a child come to love numbers? These three books might help.
'What to Do About Alice?'
A picture-book biography of Alice Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt’s free-spirited daughter.
'The Runaway Dolls'
In the third book of the Doll People series, toys come alive and venture outside the house while their owners are on vacation.
Best Sellers
Children of the Left, Unite!
A new anthology of radical children’s literature shows that Marxist principles have been dripping steadily into the minds of American youth for more than a century.
Revenge Theory
New crime fiction reviewed: “Nemesis,” by Jo Nesbo; “Runner,” by Thomas Perry; “Calling Mr. Lonely Hearts,” by Laura Benedict -- plus three reissued classics.
Telling the Holocaust Like It Wasn’t
A burst of films and books that spin a narrative of redemption out of genocide.
In His Home, a Reflection of His Career as a Novelist
Nelson DeMille, the author of a mountain of commercial fiction, connects to his inner squire.
Hapless Boy Wins Eager Friends
Children are impatiently counting the days until the release of the fourth installment of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” a story about the unlucky adventures of a stick figure named Greg.
The Critics
‘The Fire Gospel,’ by Michel Faber
‘The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death,’ by Charlie Huston
‘The Black Girl Next Door,’ by Jennifer Baszile
‘Appetite for Self-Destruction,’ by Steve Knopper
Book Review Podcast
This week: Stacey D’Erasmo discusses her new novel, “The Sky Below”; Motoko Rich has Notes From the Field; Bill Morgan talks about the letters of Allen Ginsberg; and Jennifer Schuessler has best-seller news. Sam Tanenhaus is the host.
The Girl in the Green Raincoat
Last chapter: Whitney found herself with Don Epstein in the makeshift cemetery where he had buried two of his wives. And Tess finally got to meet the girl in the green raincoat.
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- Books of The Times: Cataloging the Insults (and Joys) of Old Age
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- Fiction Reading Increases for Adults
- Newly Released Books
- Unvarnished Conclusions After Covering, and Uncovering, the White House
- First Chapter: ‘Somewhere Towards the End’
- Essay: Children of the Left, Unite!
- ‘Lords of Finance’
- Children's Books: Numbers, Big and Small
- Harvey Ginsberg, Editor of Saul Bellow and John Irving, Dies at 78
- Fiction Reading Increases for Adults
- Children of the Left, Unite!
- The Surveillance-Industrial Complex
- Telling the Holocaust Like It Wasn't
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