The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison
EDITED BY JOHN F. CALLAHAN AND MARC C. CONNER RANDOM HOUSE, 2019 1060 PP.; $50.00 Reviewing a collection of letters by a writer can be a tricky business. The style, themes, and insights that distinguish... Read More
Outgrowing God: A Beginner’s Guide
BY RICHARD DAWKINS RANDOM HOUSE, 2019 304PP., $27.00 Richard Dawkins was raised Christian, attended Christian schools, and was confirmed in the Church of England when he was thirteen years old. Yet, by the age of... Read More
Antisocial: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation
BY ANDREW MARANTZ VIKING, 2019 400PP.; $28.00 What happened when New Yorker staff writer Andrew Marantz investigated some of the most sinister inhabitants of the internet underworld and, alas, our real world? What didn’t happen... Read More
The History of Philosophy
BY A.C. GRAYLING PENGUIN PRESS, 2019 704PP.; $35.00 If A.C. Grayling’s The History of Philosophy were a river, it would be shallow with a strong current. Traveling down it, you’d have little to see and... Read More
Book Review: Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman
BY ABBY CHAVA STEIN SEAL PRESS, 2019 272 PP.; $28.OO The dedication of Abby Chava Stein’s autobiographical book, Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman reads: “To my dear son, the love... Read More
Book Review: Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators
BY RONAN FARROW LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY, 2019 414 PP.; $30.00 "It's a big club, and you ain't in it." So goes the punchline to an old George Carlin bit on our ruling elite that... Read More
The Testaments
BY MARGARET ATWOOD NAN A. TALESE, 2019 432 PP.; $28.95 [Mild spoiler alert: this review contains plot details of the book.] During the torture session conducted by the Big Brother interrogator O’Brien in George Orwell’s... Read More