Gerald Posner is the author of Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11. His other best-sellers include Case Closed, on the J.F.K. assassination, and Motown: Money, Power, Sex and Music.
The Warburgs by Ron Chernow (Vintage, $21). Forget about the Kennedys, this is a captivating soap opera revolving around a family every bit as anointed with great fortune, and intersecting the crossroads of fate and history. The fascinating anecdotes in this sometimes dark saga are worth revisiting time and again.
Other Powers by Barbara Goldsmith (Perennial, $16). Goldsmith’s talents for scrupulous research and vivid writing have never been better displayed than in this seductive biography of Victoria Woodhull, magnetic healer and clairvoyant. Goldsmith artfully weaves the politics of feminism in Victorian America against the raging spiritualist movement that swept the country.
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The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer (Simon & Schuster, $25). It is now popular to criticize Shirer’s work as falling short in one area or another, but no single book has so effectively captured Nazi Germany’s broad historical sweep. It also benefits from Shirer’s own fine journalistic eye and his 1930s posting to Berlin.
The War Against the Jews by Lucy Dawidowicz (Bantam, $19). This seminal historical study is a benchmark in a field about which so much has been written. Dawidowicz successfully explores the lasting puzzle of how “decent” and sophisticated Germany embarked on history’s unparalleled war of annihilation. Every time I read this book, I want to trade in our VW Beetle.
The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro (Random House, $22). This doorstop of a book (almost 1,400 pages) thoroughly illuminates both Robert Moses the man and his startling accumulation of power, and also provides one of the most intimate and lively histories of New York ever printed.
Alice in Wonderland
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How are Americans bracing for the end of SNAP?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION Millions depend on supplemental federal food funds that are set to expire this month, as the government shutdown begins to be acutely felt
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Book review: ‘Joyride: A Memoir’Feature A journalist’s story of how she chased and accomplished her dreams
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Gilbert King’s 6 favorite books about the search for justiceFeature The journalist recommends works by Bryan Stevenson, David Grann, and more
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Nathan Harris’ 6 favorite books that turn adventures into revelationsFeature The author recommends works by Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McGuire, and more
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Elizabeth Gilbert’s favorite books about women overcoming difficultiesFeature The author recommends works by Tove Jansson, Lauren Groff, and more
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Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imaginationFeature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
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Jessica Francis Kane's 6 favorite books that prove less is moreFeature The author recommends works by Penelope Fitzgerald, Marie-Helene Bertino, and more
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Keith McNally's 6 favorite books that have ambitious charactersFeature The London-born restaurateur recommends works by Leo Tolstoy, John le Carré, and more
