BY IAN MCEWAN NAN A. TALESE/DOUBLEDAY, 2019 333 PP., $26.95 Early on in this novel, the momentous question it raises—what is a human being?—becomes maddeningly opaque, and the anguished vibes that pervade Machines Like Me... Read More

P.E. MOSKOWITZ BOLD TYPE BOOKS, 2019 272 PP.; $28.00 Words like “controversial” and “provocative” are overused. When you read or hear that so-and-so’s stand-up comedy is “controversial,” that’s usually the culture-war commentariat wishing that reaction... Read More

BY ANDREW SEIDEL STERLING, 2019 352 PP.; $24.95 The first thing I’ll say about Andrew Seidel’s The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American is that it’s sad it had to be written. To many... Read More

BY COREY ROBIN HENRY HOLT & CO., 2019 320 PP.; $30.00 Clarence Thomas is the most right-wing justice on the Supreme Court, and one of the most right-wing justices in the last hundred or so... Read More

BY PHIL ZUCKERMAN COUNTERPOINT PRESS, 2019 400 PP.; $28.00 In his new book, What it Means to Be Moral: Why Religion is Not Necessary for Living an Ethical Life, Phil Zuckerman, who is a professor... Read More

BY ADAM GOPNIK BASIC BOOKS, 2019 272 PP., $26.00 The late pundit Irving Kristol, whose career began in left-wing politics and ended in neoconservatism, famously declared, “A neoconservative is a liberal who’s been mugged by... Read More

BY KRIS NEWBY HARPER WAVE, 2019 336 PP.; $28.99 Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons by Kris Newby adds significantly to our understanding of Lyme disease, while oddly seeming to avoid... Read More