The Burglary
by Betty Medsger (Knopf, $30)
Betty Medsger’s important new book serves to remind us that “no government agency should be allowed to function without close oversight,” said Repps Hudson in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. In 1971, when anti-war activists broke into an FBI office to steal files, Medsger was the only reporter who dared publish the burglars’ discoveries. This “very readable” account tells the whole story for first time, detailing how the previously anonymous thieves toppled J. Edgar Hoover’s surveillance empire.
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An Officer and a Spy
by Robert Harris (Knopf, $28)
Though it sticks closely to the historical record, Robert Harris’s novelization of the Dreyfus affair fulfills “every requirement of a first-rate thriller,” said Sherryl Connelly in the New York Daily News. In 1894, when the French military falsely convicted a Jewish officer of treason, the task of proving the suspect’s innocence fell to bigoted but honor-bound Col. Georges Picquart. The truth eventually came to light, but Harris’s retelling reminds us that the path to redemption was “thick with espionage, daring, and cruel turns of fate.”
Stringer
by Anjan Sundaram (Doubleday, $26)
What Anjan Sundaram lacks in common sense, “he makes up for in grit,” said Ted Koppel in NPR.org. The former Yale math major never makes entirely clear why he turned down a job at Goldman Sachs to work as an unsalaried reporter in Congo. Idealism was a factor, though, and it never fully dies as Sundaram confronts poverty, corruption, crime, and a war that’s claimed 5 million lives. This is at heart a coming-of-age tale, “and a wonderful book it is, too.”
Body Counts
by Sean Strub (Scribner, $30)
Sean Strub’s new memoir “beautifully demonstrates how an individual, working with a community, can be a fulcrum of change,” said Michael Bronski in the San Francisco Chronicle. Strub was a gay man in his early 20s when the AIDS epidemic struck, and the crisis impelled him to take action. He became a pioneering fundraiser for LGBT causes, the nation’s first HIV-positive House candidate, and the founder of the magazine Poz. Body Count “presents us with an insider’s view of American political life,” yet somehow inspires.
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Poland downs Russian drones in NATO airspaceSpeed Read Polish airspace was “violated by a huge number of Russian drones,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said
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Judge lets Cook stay at Fed while appealing ousterSpeed Read Trump had attempted to fire Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud
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Israel targets Hamas leaders in Qatar airstrikeSpeed Read Hamas said five low-level leaders were killed in the attack
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Also of interest...in picture books for grown-upsfeature How About Never—Is Never Good for You?; The Undertaking of Lily Chen; Meanwhile, in San Francisco; The Portlandia Activity Book
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Author of the week: Karen Russell
feature Karen Russell could use a rest.
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The Double Life of Paul de Man by Evelyn Barish
feature Evelyn Barish “has an amazing tale to tell” about the Belgian-born intellectual who enthralled a generation of students and academic colleagues.
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Book of the week: Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis
feature Michael Lewis's description of how high-frequency traders use lightning-fast computers to their advantage is “guaranteed to make blood boil.”
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Also of interest...in creative rebellion
feature A Man Called Destruction; Rebel Music; American Fun; The Scarlet Sisters
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Author of the week: Susanna Kaysen
feature For a famous memoirist, Susanna Kaysen is highly ambivalent about sharing details about her life.
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You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood’s Golden Age by Robert Wagner
feature Robert Wagner “seems to have known anybody who was anybody in Hollywood.”
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Book of the week: Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire by Peter Stark
feature The tale of Astoria’s rise and fall turns out to be “as exciting as anything in American history.”