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Whether you are preparing for a long-haul flight that kicks off an Italian getaway or are simply stuck at home lazing around the yard, you probably need a book to accompany you in these last few weeks of summer. This August offers up new books about the 1979 Iranian Revolution, supernatural sisters in 18th-century England and the history of racist arson in 1970s America.
'King of Kings' by Scott Anderson
In a blend of storytelling and reporting, veteran foreign correspondent and author of bestseller "Lawrence in Arabia," Scott Anderson, provides a history lesson on the Iranian Revolution of 1979. The book contends that this event, which famously replaced a "secular, pro-Western shah" with a "radical Islamic cleric," initiated a "seismic geopolitical realignment in the Middle East," said The New York Times. The book also serves as a "cautionary tale" regarding the "gross foreign policy missteps" made by the U.S. that "continue to haunt the country to this day." In everything from the Middle East conflict to the war in Ukraine, the "world is still experiencing the aftershocks of the fall of the shah," said John Simpson at The Guardian — and "it's not over yet." (out now, $27, Amazon; Doubleday)
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'The Hounding' by Xenobe Purvis
Set in 1700s England, "The Hounding" looks to be a blend of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" and Rachel Yoder's novel "Nightbitch." Xenobe Purvis' buzzy debut is about the five Mansfield sisters, who stand accused by their neighbors of transforming into a pack of dogs every night. Similar to Jeffrey Eugenides' "The Virgin Suicides" (and Sofia Coppola's film adaptation of that book), the novel is told through the perspectives of outside men observing the sisters and contemplating their refusal to "honor the etiquette of village life," said Talya Zax at The Atlantic. The book "wants to directly engage the subtext of all witch stories, in which femininity itself is perceived as a menace, and to try to understand why women are often seen as natural conduits for unnatural forces." (out now, $27, Amazon; Holt)
'The Magician of Tiger Castle' by Louis Sachar
Louis Sachar is best known for penning the 1998 Newbery Medal-winning "Holes," a magical realism middle-grade novel that became a modern-day children's classic (and later, a motion picture starring Shia LaBeouf).
Now Sachar has written his first novel for adults, though it still possesses an "air of whimsy throughout" that "mitigates any sense of genuine peril," said Suzi Feay at The Guardian. The plot of this fantasy fable, told from the perspective of a magician, is "like a zany Dungeons & Dragons campaign played with friends," said Donna Edwards at The Associated Press. (out now, $24, Amazon; Ace)
'Born in Flames: The Business of Arson and the Remaking of the American City' by Bench Ansfield
Following a decade of research, historian Bench Ansfield covers a period in the 1970s during which incidents of arson engulfed the Bronx and other American cities. Tens of thousands of housing units in poor communities of color went up in flames and hundreds died as a result. But the vast majority of these fires were not set by residents — as was assumed at the time — but rather by landlords with the intent to collect insurance payouts. In this era, "racist housing and insurance practices made it more profitable to burn buildings in many neighborhoods than to rent them," said the book's official synopsis. (August 19, $27, Amazon; Norton)
'Katabasis' by R.F. Kuang
In Ancient Greek, the word "katabasis" refers to the "story of a hero's descent to the underworld." A new novel from the bestselling author of "Babel" and "Yellowface" makes good on the promise of its title, plunging two graduate students into a descent into Hell to save their professor's soul (and possibly their own thesis projects). "The more academia has broken your heart, the more you'll love R.F. Kuang's new novel," said Beejay Silcox at The Guardian. "'Katabasis' knows how it feels to spend your best thinking years doing grunt work to further someone else's ideas." (August 26, $22, Amazon; Harper Voyager)
