Vermeer’s Hat
by Timothy Brook (Bloomsbury, $28)
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God’s Crucible
by David Levering Lewis (Norton, $30)
David Levering Lewis’ history of Islam in pre-1215 Europe is “remarkably old-fashioned,” said Adam Kirsch in The New York Sun. “Crammed to the margins with names and dates,” it serves as a useful primer on Mohammed and his early followers, as well as the Muslim conquest of Spain. It’s so busy, though, readers almost forget its questionable thesis: that Europe would have been better off had Christian armies not turned back the Muslim advance.
The Mighty Wurlitzer
by Hugh Wilford (Harvard, $28)
A “surprising collection” of well-known American cultural figures was receiving CIA funding in the first two decades of the Cold War, said Nathan Glazer in The New York Times. Hugh Wilford’s “remarkably detailed” account of this secret propaganda effort fleshes out a story that’s been known for about 40 years. Though Wilford isn’t always “in full command” of his material, he deserves credit for bringing all the strands together.
The Cure Within
by Anne Harrington (Norton, $26)
Don’t expect Harvard professor Anne Harrington to tell you whether the mind really has the power to cure illness, said Juliet Lapidos in The New York Observer. Her “admirable” and “highly original” new book mainly explores how various popular ideas about the mind-body connection developed. She is as noncommittal about the credibility of the laughing cure as she is about neuropsychology.
Where Have All the Soldiers Gone?
by James J. Sheehan (Houghton Mifflin, $26)
James Sheehan’s “timely, first-rate” new work reminds us how remarkable it is that once-militaristic Western Europe has endured no major wars since 1945, said Jonathan Yardley in The Washington Post. Many would argue that European disarmament couldn’t have happened if America hadn’t accepted policing responsibilities. But Sheehan makes a strong case that the shock of World War II ended the continent’s love affair with fighting once and for all.
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August 23 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday's political cartoons include deficit dimness, steamroller-in-chief, and more
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5 museum-grade cartoons about Trump's Smithsonian purgeCartoons Artists take on institutional rebranding, exhibit interpretation, and more
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Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
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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.”