The Whale
by Philip Hoare
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Coyote at the Kitchen Door
by Stephen DeStefano
(Harvard, $25)
The rise of coyote populations across suburban America gives hope to wildlife biologist Stephen DeStefano, said The New Yorker. In this “pithy” examination of how human activity affects various species, DeStefano “cites some alarming facts”: A single paved road, for example, “alters the ecosystem for 300 feet on either side of it.” Sprawl has a negative effect on mountain lions, but actually has helped the coyote thrive. Maybe, he suggests, we can all just learn to cohabitate.
The Strong Horse
by Lee Smith
(Doubleday, $26)
This bold new study of the Arab-speaking Middle East “calls into question even the most conventional” of Western beliefs about the region, said Jackson Holahan in The Christian Science Monitor. Author Lee Smith argues that 9/11 was less a rebellion against U.S. hegemony than Osama bin Laden’s attempt to establish his Islamist movement as “the strong horse” in an inter-Arab struggle. Smith’s arguments may anger many, but his succinct, nuanced work is “an important read.”
The Ticking Is the Bomb
by Nick Flynn
(Norton, $24.95)
This “disquieting masterpiece” from memoirist Nick Flynn seems to
pose a simple question, said Steve Almond in the Los Angeles Times. While approaching fatherhood for the first time, the 45-year-old poet becomes obsessed with how Americans came to find torture acceptable. Flynn “writes with fearless precision about the terror and deprivation of his own childhood” and winds up ensnaring the inchoate fears expressed by our decade-long war on terror.
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August 10 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday's political cartoons include a global plastics problem, GOP enthusiasm over tariffs, and more
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5 thin-skinned cartoons about shooting the messengerCartoons Artists take on unfavorable weather, a look in the mirror, and more
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Is Trump's new peacemaking model working in DR Congo?Talking Point Truce brokered by the US president in June is holding, but foundations of a long-term peace have let to be laid
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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.”