The Road to Woodstock
by Michael Lang
The Week
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Kissinger: 1973, the Crucial Year
by Sir Alistair Horne
(Simon & Schuster, $30)
British historian Alistair Horne is sympathetic to Henry Kissinger’s perspective but does not “give us a hagiography” of the man, said Jacob Heilbrunn in The New York Times. His “penetrating and mostly reliable” assessment of President Nixon’s longtime secretary of state deals even-handedly with Kissinger’s diplomacy during the 1973 Israeli-Arab war. His most “astute” analysis, however, describes how Kissinger’s desire for nuclear détente provoked a “revolt from the Right,” which would be led by upstart Republican Ronald Reagan.
Go Like Hell
by A.J. Baime
(Houghton Mifflin, $26)
Three decades ago, auto racing was a “brawny, bloody affair” and few thought a Ford could compete with a Ferrari at Le Mans in France, said Michael Merschel in The Dallas Morning News. Hard-charging Henry Ford II finally proved them wrong in 1966, and A.J. Baime makes the battle worth revisiting. “A streamlined marvel,” Go Like Hell will “elicit happy grins from anyone who has ever heard music in the squeal of a tire.”
What the Heck Are You Up To, Mr. President?
by Kevin Mattson
(Bloomsbury, $25)
Conventional wisdom holds that Jimmy Carter’s 1979 “malaise” speech “doomed his re-election chances,” said Carlos Lozada in The Washington Post. Historian Kevin Mattson contends that the president’s prescription for solving the economically strapped country’s “crisis of confidence” in fact should be lauded as a prescient and “brave attempt to reimagine the nation.” But the author wrongly blames the press for the perception that Carter had “blown it.” He’d made other erratic decisions, such as firing his Cabinet.
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Disarming Hezbollah: Lebanon's risky missionTalking Point Iran-backed militia has brought 'nothing but war, division and misery', but rooting them out for good is a daunting and dangerous task
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Woof! Britain's love affair with dogsThe Explainer The UK's canine population is booming. What does that mean for man's best friend?
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Crossword: August 31, 2025The Week's daily crossword puzzle
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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.”