Mackay's story of Pinkerton (1819-1884), founder of the famous Pinkerton Detective Agency is much more than a biography. It is a colorful history of 19th-century America that is told through the Continue reading »
This biography of Michael Collins (1890-1922) is the first since Tim Pat Coogan's definitive Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland in 1992, and admirers of Collins will find verification here for Continue reading »
In this probing memoir, New Yorker correspondent Hessler (Strange Stones) recaps his experience teaching English composition at China’s Sichuan University from 2019 to 2021 and Continue reading »
The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum: The Rise and Fall of an American Organized-Crime Boss
Margalit Fox
Journalist Fox (The Confidence Men) pieces together a captivating biography of Fredericka Mandelbaum (1825–1894), who oversaw one of America’s first large-scale criminal Continue reading »
Ruin Their Crops on the Ground: The Politics of Food in the United States, from the Trail of Tears to School Lunch
Andrea Freeman
In a sweeping tour of American history, Freeman (Skimmed), a professor at Southwestern Law School, surveys food policy from the colonial era to today. She argues that Continue reading »
Into the Clear Blue Sky: The Path to Restoring Our Atmosphere
Rob Jackson
“The cheapest, safest, and only sure path to a safe climate starts with slashing emissions,” according to this invigorating report. Jackson (The Earth Remains Forever), an Continue reading »