New Books in Biography & Memoir
Episodes
Harvard S. Heath, "Confidence Amid Change: The Presidential Diaries of David O. McKay, 1951-1970" (Signature Books, 2019)
12 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The diaries of the ninth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are a collaboration between David O. McKay and his long-time sec...
Dannel Jones, "An African in Imperial London: The Indomitable Life of A.B.C. Merriman-Labor" (Hurst, 2018)
12 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In 1919 a man named Ohlohr Maigi died of tuberculosis in London, in deep poverty. He had arrived over a decade before in the imperial capital bearing ...
Brian Cremins, "Captain Marvel and the Art of Nostalgia" (UP of Mississippi, 2017)
11 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Brian Cremins' book Captain Marvel and the Art of Nostalgia (University Press of Mississippi, 2017) explores the history of Billy Batson, a boy who me...
John West, "Dryden and Enthusiasm: Literature, Religion and Politics in Restoration England" (Oxford UP, 2018)
06 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
John Dryden is often regarded as one of the most conservative writers in later seventeenth-century England, a time-serving “trimmer” who abandoned...
Barbara K. Gold, "Perpetua: Athlete of God" (Oxford UP, 2018)
29 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
One of the first and most famous of Christian martyrs was Perpetua, who died in Carthage in the early 3rd century CE. Though there is no record of her...
Erika Dyck, "Psychedelic Prophets: The Letters of Aldous Huxley and Humphry Osmond" (McGill-Queen's UP, 2018)
29 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Today I talked with historian Erika Dyck about Aldous Huxley, Humphry Osmond and their correspondence over a ten year period. Psychedelic Prophets: Th...
Linda M. Grasso, "Equal under the Sky: Georgia O’Keeffe and Twentieth-Century Feminism" (U New Mexico Press, 2017)
27 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Linda M. Grasso's Equal under the Sky: Georgia O’Keeffe & Twentieth-Century Feminism (University of New Mexico Press, 2017) provides an in-depth loo...
Quincy D. Newell, "Your Sister in the Gospel: The Life of Jane Manning James, a Nineteenth-Century Black Mormon" (Oxford UP, 2019)
21 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"Dear Brother," Jane Manning James wrote to Joseph F. Smith in 1903, "I take this opportunity of writing to ask you if I can get my endowments and als...
Stephen Fritz, "The First Soldier: Hitler as a Military Leader" (Yale UP, 2018)
21 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In his new book, The First Soldier: Hitler as a Military Leader (Yale University Press, 2018), Stephen Fritz professor of history at East Tennessee St...
John W. Tweeddale, "John Owen and Hebrews: The Foundation of Biblical Interpretation" (T and T Clark, 2019)
20 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
John Owen is one of the most significant seventeenth-century Protestant theologians. He is often discussed by historians of politics and religion in t...
Nico Slate, "Gandhi’s Search for the Perfect Diet: Eating with the World in Mind" (U Washington Press, 2019)
17 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this this interview, Carrie Tippen talks with Nico Slate, professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University, about the intersections between diet,...
Matthew W. King, "Ocean of Milk, Ocean of Blood: A Mongolian Monk in the Ruins of the Qing Empire" (Columbia UP, 2019)
16 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
After the fall of the Qing empire, amid nationalist and socialist upheaval, Buddhist monks in the Mongolian frontiers of the Soviet Union and Republic...
Peter B. Josephson and R. Ward Holder, "Reinhold Niebuhr in Theory and Practice: Christian Realism and Democracy in America in the Twenty-First Century" (Lexington Books, 2018)
15 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Peter Josephson and Ward Holder collaborated on their second book on theologian and political theorist Reinhold Niebuhr in producing this new book, sp...
Harold J. Cook, "The Young Descartes: Nobility, Rumor, and War" (U Chicago Press, 2018)
15 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Harold J. Cook talks about the travels and trials of the young Descartes, a man who spent as much time traveling and fighting as he did studying philo...
William Poole, "Milton and the Making of Paradise Lost" (Harvard UP, 2017)
02 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
John Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667) is widely recognised as the greatest epic poem in the English language – and it is buried in the commentary of ...
Nikolai Krementsov, "With and Without Galton: Vasilii Florinskii and the Fate of Eugenics in Russia" (Open Book Publishers, 2018)
02 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
With and Without Galton: Vasilii Florinskii and the Fate of Eugenics in Russia (Open Book Publishers, 2018), Professor Nikolai Krementsov’s recent h...
Joan Watts, "The Collected Letters of Alan Watts" (New World Library, 2017)
01 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Alan Watts (1915-1973) was one of the first to interpret Eastern wisdom for a Western audience. Joan Watts, Alan's eldest daughter, is the co-editor (...
Jeffrey S. McDonald, "John Gerstner and the Renewal of Presbyterian and Reformed Evangelicalism in Modern America" (Pickwick, 2017)
29 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most important trends within evangelicalism over the last half-century has been a renewal of Reformed theology. In this important new book,...
Anne Watts, "The Collected Letters of Alan Watts" (New World Library, 2017)
25 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Anne Watts is one of the co-editors of the new book, The Collected letters of Alan Watts, released in January 2018 from New World Library. Anne Watts ...
Kenneth I. Helphand, "Lawrence Halprin" (Library of American Landscape History, 2017)
24 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
During a career spanning six decades, Lawrence Halprin (1916–2009) became one of the most prolific and outspoken landscape architects of his generat...
Pu Wang, "The Translatability of Revolution: Guo Moruo and Twentieth-Century Chinese Culture" (Harvard Asia Center, 2018)
23 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
With questions over how ideas are translated across borders and between languages as acute as ever today, it is sometimes easy to forget that our effo...
René Weis, "The Real Traviata: The Song of Marie Duplessis" (Oxford UP, 2015)
22 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Though she died in 1847 at a young age, Marie Duplessis inspired one of the greatest operas ever composed. In The Real Traviata: The Song of Marie Dup...
Harold Holzer, "Monument Man: The Life and Art of Daniel Chester French" (Princeton Architectural Press, 2019)
19 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Harold Holzer has written a biography of one of America’s greatest public artists of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, Daniel Chester Fren...
Anand Prahlad, "The Secret Life of a Black Aspie: A Memoir" (U Alaska Press, 2017)
17 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Anand Prahlad was born on a former plantation in Virginia in 1954. This memoir, vividly internal, powerfully lyric, and brilliantly impressionistic, i...
Robert Matzen, "Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II" (GoodKnight Books, 2019)
16 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Audrey Hepburn was justly known for her long acting career, yet her early life is largely unknown. In his book, Robert Matzen describes how she lived ...
Margaret Leslie Davis , "The Lost Gutenberg: The Astounding Story of One Book's Five-Hundred-Year Odyssey" (TarcherPerigee, 2019)
15 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Of the millions of books that have been published, few are as renowned or as coveted today by collectors as the famous Bible printed in the 15th centu...
Kelly J. Beard, "An Imperfect Rapture" (Zone 3 Press, 2018)
15 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Many of you listening to this now probably recall growing up in a household of faith. You may have fond memories of the familiar rituals, the holidays...
Mickey and Dick Flacks, "Making History/Making Blintzes: How Two Red Diaper Babies Found Each Other and Discovered America" (Rutgers UP, 2018)
10 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Mickey and Dick Flacks' new book Making History/Making Blintzes: How Two Red Diaper Babies Found Each Other and Discovered America (Rutgers UP, 2018) ...
Patrick Sharma, "Robert McNamara’s Other War: The World Bank and International Development" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2017)
08 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Robert McNamara is best remembered today for his momentous term as Secretary of Defense in the 1960s. Often overlooked because of this is his even lon...
Bruce Van Orden, "We’ll Sing and We’ll Shout: The Life and Times of W. W. Phelps" (BYU, 2018)
29 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re a Latter Day Saint, you’ve probably heard of W. W. Phelps, and no doubt, you’ve probably sung some of his hymns. But did you know that...
Joseph Vogel, "James Baldwin and the 1980s: Witnessing the Reagan Era" (U Illinois Press, 2018)
28 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
By the 1980s, critics and the public alike considered James Baldwin irrelevant. Yet Baldwin remained an important, prolific writer until his death in ...
Kurt Raaflaub, "The Landmark Julius Caesar: The Complete Works" (Pantheon, 2017)
26 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
That the Roman leader Gaius Julius Caesar is so well remembered today for his achievements as a general is largely due to his skills as a writer. In T...
Discussion of Massive Online Peer Review and Open Access Publishing
19 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In the information age, knowledge is power. Hence, facilitating the access to knowledge to wider publics empowers citizens and makes societies more de...
Kent Blansett, "A Journey to Freedom: Richard Oakes, Alcatraz, and Red Power" (Yale UP, 2018)
15 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Richard Oakes was a natural born leader whom people followed seemingly on instinct. Thus when he dove into the icy San Francisco Bay in the fall of 19...
Richard Drake, "Charles Austin Beard: The Return of the Master Historian of American Imperialism" (Cornell UP, 2018)
12 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
During the first half of the 20th century the American historian Charles Austin Beard enjoyed both professional success and a national prominence that...
Susan Carlile, "Charlotte Lennox: An Independent Mind" (U Toronto Press, 2018)
06 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Though not as well known today as some of her literary contemporaries, Charlotte Lennox wrote numerous works during the mid-18th century that won her ...
Ronald L. Lewis and Robert L. Zangrando, "Walter F. White: The NAACP’s Ambassador for Racial Justice" (West Virginia UP, 2019)
01 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Though overshadowed today by more celebrated figures, Walter Francis White was one of the most prominent campaigners for civil rights in mid-20th-cent...
Robin Wallace, "Hearing Beethoven: A Story of Musical Loss and Discovery" (UChicago Press, 2018)
07 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Music lovers and researchers alike have long been fascinated by the story of Ludwig van Beethoven who became profoundly deaf as an adult and could not...
Mark T. Calhoun, "General Lesley J. McNair: Unsung Architect of the U.S. Army" (UP of Kansas, 2018)
18 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Even now, eighty years after its beginning in Europe, the Second World War continues to exert tremendous cultural and social influence on American his...
Julian Jackson, "De Gaulle" (Harvard UP, 2018)
16 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Charles de Gaulle is one of the greatest figures of twentieth century history. If Sir Winston Churchill was (in the words of Harold Macmillan) the "gr...
Andrew R. Murphy, "William Penn: A Life" (Oxford UP, 2018)
14 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
While William Penn’s name is one familiar to many Americans thanks to his founding of the Pennsylvania colony, this accomplishment can overshadow bo...
David Dayen, "Fat Cat: The Steve Mnuchin Story" (Strong Arm Press, 2018)
14 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How did a Wall Street executive and “foreclosure king” like Steve Mnuchin become the Treasury Secretary for a populist like Donald Trump, and what...
Nicholas Bauch, "Geography of Digestion: Biotechnology and the Kellogg Enterprise" (U California Press, 2017)
11 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
While most people in the US are familiar with the ubiquitous Kellogg cereal brand, few know how it relates to US geography, science and technology aro...
Joe Jackson, "Black Elk: The Life of an American Visionary" (Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 2016)
11 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Black Elk witnessed some of the most monumental moments in the history of the Lakota and the Northern Great Plains: Red Cloud’s War, the Battle of t...
Lindsey Fitzharris, "The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine" (Scientific American, 2017)
07 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Joseph Lister changed the world of medicine. In her book The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medici...
Andrew S. Curran, "Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely" (Other Press, 2019)
02 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Denis Diderot has long been regarded as one of the leading figures of the French Enlightenment, thanks to his editorship of the influential multi-volu...
R. David Cox, "The Religious Life of Robert E. Lee" (Eerdmans, 2017)
14 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most recent additions to the well-known and highly regarded Eerdmans series, the Library of Religious Biography, is The Religious Life of R...
James R. Rush, "Hamka's Great Story: A Master Writer’s Vision of Islam for Modern Indonesia" (U Wisconsin Press, 2016)
13 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
From Indonesia’s declaration of independence in 1945 up until today, the relationship between Indonesian nationalism, Islam, and modernity has been ...
Patricia O'Toole, "The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made" (Simon and Schuster, 2018)
10 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Whether you love him or hate him, it is indisputable that few, if any, other 20th-century American presidents were as historically consequential as Wo...
Andrew Roberts, "Churchill: Walking With Destiny" (Viking, 2018)
10 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
For all of the books written about Winston Churchill, much remains to be said about his extensive life and career. In Churchill: Walking With Destiny(...
McKenzie Wark, "General Intellects: Twenty-One Thinkers for the Twenty-First Century" (Verso, 2017)
06 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
McKenzie Wark’s new book offers 21 focused studies of thinkers working in a wide range of fields who are worth your attention. The chapters of Gener...
Diarmaid MacCulloch, "Thomas Cromwell: A Revolutionary Life" (Viking, 2018)
29 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Despite ranking among the most influential people in English history, Thomas Cromwell has long eluded biographers and historians. In Thomas Cromwell: ...
Alec Nevala-Lee, "Astounding" (Dey Street Books, 2018)
29 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Alec Nevala-Lee’s Astounding is the first comprehensive biography of John W. Campbell, who, as a writer and magazine editor, wielded enormous influe...
Peter Zinoman, “Vietnamese Colonial Republican: The Political Vision of Vu Trong Phung” (U California Press, 2013)
19 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Over the course of the 1930s, Vietnamese author Vũ Trọng Phụng published eight novels, hundreds of works of narrative nonfiction, stories, plays,...
Jonathon Earle, “Colonial Buganda and the End of Empire: Political Thought and Historical Imagination in Africa” (Cambridge UP, 2017)
13 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In his book Colonial Buganda and the End of Empire: Political Thought and Historical Imagination in Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2017), Dr. J...
Howard W. Rosenberg, “Ty Cobb Unleashed: The Definitive Counter-Biography of the Chastened Racist” (Tile Books, 2018)
09 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today we are joined by Howard W. Rosenberg, author of Ty Cobb Unleashed: The Definitive Counter-Biography of the Chastened Racist (Tile Books, 2018). ...
Patrick Fuliang Shan, “Yuan Shikai: A Reappraisal” (UBC Press, 2018)
07 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When he was elected president of China in 1912, Yuan Shikai was hailed as his nation’s George Washington, yet four years later he would die as the l...
Sue Prideaux, “I Am Dynamite!: A Life of Nietzsche” (Tim Duggan Books, 2018)
24 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Like most philosophers, Friedrich Nietzsche is better known for his ideas than for the life he led. In I Am Dynamite!: A Life of Nietzsche (Tim Dugg...
Roland Philipps, “A Spy Named Orphan: the Enigma of Donald Maclean” (W.W. Norton, 2018)
23 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Maclean was one of the most treacherous and productive – for Moscow spies of the Cold War era and a key member of the infamous “Cambridge F...
Kathryn Fuller-Seeley, “Jack Benny and the Golden Age of American Radio Comedy” (U California Press, 2017)
19 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Jack Benny was one of the first crossover stars in broadcast comedy, rising from the vaudeville circuit to star in radio, film, and television. Kathry...
David Pietrusza, “TR’s Last War: Theodore Roosevelt, the Great War, and a Journey of Triumph and Tragedy” (Lyons Press, 2018)
17 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Teddy Roosevelt had one of the most colorful lives in the American history, but few have deeply explored his final years. Historian David Pietrusza do...
Paul Bjerk, “Julius Nyerere” (Ohio University Press, 2017)
05 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Bjerk’s compact biography Julius Nyerere, published as part of the Ohio Short Histories of Africa series follows closely on the heels of his m...
David Stuttard, “Nemesis: Alcibiades and the Fall of Athens” (Harvard UP, 2018)
05 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Among the many personages associated with the Peloponnesian War, none are as colorful as the Athenian general Alcibiades. In Nemesis: Alcibiades and t...
Ruth Gamble, “Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism: The Third Karmapa and the Invention of a Tradition” (Oxford UP, 2018)
21 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Ruth Gamble’s Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism: The Third Karmapa and the Invention of a Tradition (Oxford University Press, 2018) is a thorough a...
William Anthony Hay, “Lord Liverpool: A Political Life” (Boydell Press, 2018)
20 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
If Lord Derby was the ‘forgotten Prime Minister’ and Andrew Bonar-Law was the ‘Unknown Prime Minister’ then Robert Banks Jenkinson (1770-1828)...
Brian D. Laslie, “Architect of Air Power: General Laurence S. Kuter and the Birth of the U.S. Air Force” (UP of Kentucky, 2017.
14 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We have all seen pictures of the “Big Three” (Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin) at their historic meeting Yalta in February 1945. The three leaders co...
Jonathan W. White, “Lincoln on Law, Leadership, and Life” (Cumberland House, 2015)
13 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Jonathan W. White, an associate professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University, is the author of Lincoln on Law, Leadership, and Life...
Seymour M. Hersh, “Reporter: A Memoir” (Knopf, 2018)
10 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In about 1978, I found myself in my high school library. I don’t know why I was there except to say I was probably on detention; I didn’t do a lot...
Marc Leeds, “The Vonnegut Encyclopedia” (Delacorte Press, 2016)
05 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Originally published in 1994, Marc Leeds’ The Vonnegut Encyclopedia (Delacorte Press, 2016) was initially conceived of as a comprehensive A-Z guid...
Richard A. Billows, “Before and After Alexander: The Legend and Legacy of Alexander the Great” (The Overlook Press, 2018)
23 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The achievements of the Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great are often presented as primarily the work of a singular genius. As Richard A. Billow...
Brian Abrams, “Obama: An Oral History, 2009-2017” (Little A, 2018)
21 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Brian Abrams interviewed more than 100 people – Democrats, Republicans, cabinet officials, White House aides, campaign operatives, congresspeople an...
Jenny Hale Pulispher, “Swindler Sachem: The American Indian Who Sold His Birthright, Dropped Out of Harvard, and Conned the King of England” (Yale UP, 2018)
20 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In Swindler Sachem: The American Indian Who Sold His Birthright, Dropped Out of Harvard, and Conned the King of England (Yale University Press, 2018...
Bob Brody, “Playing Catch with Strangers: A Family Guy (Reluctantly) Comes of Age” (Heliotrope Books, 2017)
16 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
There comes a time in every man’s life when he’s got to grow up. Personally, I found growing up very hard. I went to college and fell in love with...
Duane W. Roller, “Cleopatra’s Daughter: And Other Royal Women of the Augustan Era” (Oxford UP, 2018)
10 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
For the most part women in the classical world have suffered from what Duane W. Roller terms “near-invisibility,” obscuring the consequential role...
Vanessa Valdés, “Diasporic Blackness: The Life and Times of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg” (SUNY Press, 2018)
03 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
As every scholar of African Americans knows, Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is an essential resource for black history. But...
Joanna M. Williams, “Manchester’s Radical Mayor: Abel Heywood, The Man Who Built the Town Hall” (The History Press, 2017)
31 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today, the Neo-Gothic Manchester Town Hall stands as one of the notable architectural features of England’s second city. It also serves, however, as...
Mirjam Zadoff, “Werner Scholem: A German Life” (U Penn Press, 2018)
23 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In Werner Scholem: A German Life (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018), Mirjam Zadoff, Director of the Munich Documentation Centre for the Histor...
John Mackay, “The Bonanza King: John Mackay and the Battle Over the Greatest Riches in the American West” (Scribner, 2018)
20 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
John Mackay’s life began humbly, immigrating as a child from an impoverished Irish household to New York City where he worked selling newspapers in ...
Phil Proctor and Brad Shreiber, “Where’s my Fortune Cookie?” (Blurb, 2017)
13 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Firesign Theatre co-founder Phil Proctor shares stories from his life and career in his new memoir, Where’s My Fortune Cookie? (Blurb, 2017) co-wri...
Robert Dallek, “Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life” (Viking, 2017)
12 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Although commonly regarded as one of the three or four greatest Presidents and certainly the greatest of the 20th century, Franklin Delano Roosevelt h...
Frank L. Holt, “The Treasures of Alexander the Great: How One Man’s Wealth Shaped the World” (Oxford UP, 2016)
11 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Most studies of the Macedonian conqueror Alexander III focus on the military aspects of his life and reign. Yet Alexander’s campaigns would not have...
Roger Biles, “Mayor Harold Washington: Champion of Race and Reform in Chicago” (U Illinois Press, 2018)
05 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Harold Washington’s election as mayor of Chicago in 1983 sent a shockwave through the politics of America’s third largest city, one that reverbera...
Simon Kerry, “Lansdowne: The Last Great Whig” (Unicorn Publishing Group, 2018).
27 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Despite having been Foreign Secretary, Secretary of State for War, Governor-General of Canada and Viceroy of India, Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaur...
Denise Von Glahn, “Libby Larsen: Composing an American Life” (U Illinois Press,
26 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
There are few living American classical composers for whom an academic biography has been published, but Libby Larsen deserves this type of study. At ...
Natalie Robins, “The Untold Journey: The Life of Diana Trilling” (Columbia UP, 2017)
22 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In her new book, The Untold Journey: The Life of Diana Trilling (Columbia University Press, 2017), Natalie Robins examines the life of writer and soci...
Victor Li, “Nixon in New York: How Wall Street Helped Richard Nixon Win the White House” (Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 2018)
20 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In 1962 Richard Nixon suffered a humiliating defeat in the California gubernatorial election, one that led him to declare an end to his career in poli...
Hans-Lukas Kieser, “Talaat Pasha: Father of Modern Turkey, Architect of Genocide” (Princeton UP, 2018)
19 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
As a graduate student, I spent quite a bit of time explaining to people how we needed to pay much more attention to the history of World War One in th...
Jacqueline Jones, “Goddess of Anarchy: The Life and Times of Lucy Parsons, American Radical” (Basic Books, 2017)
18 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The award-winning author Jacqueline Jones is the Ellen C. Temple Chair in Women’s History at the University of Texas. Goddess of Anarchy: The Life a...
William E. Ellis, “Irvin S. Cobb: The Rise and Fall of an American Humorist” (UP of Kentucky, 2017)
13 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today Irvin S. Cobb is remembered primarily as an author of humorous tales about life in Kentucky. Yet as William E. Ellis describes in his book Irvin...
Lisa Walters, “Margaret Cavendish: Gender, Science, and Politics” (Cambridge UP, 2014)
12 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
As a 17th-century noblewoman who became the first duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the writer and philosopher Margaret Cavendish has often been viewed ...
Ronald P. Loftus, “The Turn Against the Modern: The Critical Essays of Taoka Reiun (1870-1912)” (Association for Asian Studies, 2017)
08 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Taoka Reiun (1870-1912) was a literary critic and thinker who was active from the early 1890s in Meiji period Japan. Not satisfied with the meaning of...
Albert Gurganus, “Kurt Eisner: A Modern Life” (Camden House, 2018)
06 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Though Germany was convulsed by violent unrest in the weeks following the end of the First World War, one of the few places where a new republican gov...
Halifu Osumare, “Dancing in Blackness: A Memoir” (UP of Florida, 2018)
04 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Combining memoir with auto-ethnography, historical study and sociocultural analysis, Halifu Osumare draws on her decades of experience to explore the ...
Mark I. Lurie, “Galantière: The Lost Generation’s Forgotten Man” (Overlook Press, 2018)
30 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Though he never enjoyed the publishing success and fame of such friends as Sherwood Anderson and Ernest Hemingway, Lewis Galantière made a considerab...
Jonathan Boff, “Haig’s Enemy: Crown Prince Rupprecht and Germany’s War on the Western Front” (Oxford UP, 2018)
28 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
There has been historiographical revolution in the literature of the war on the Western Front in the past thirty years. In Haig’s Enemy: Crown Princ...
Jenny Coleman, “Polly Plum: A Firm and Earnest Woman’s Advocate, Mary Ann Colclough, 1836–1885” (Otago UP, 2017)
25 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In her new book, Polly Plum: A Firm and Earnest Woman’s Advocate, Mary Ann Colclough, 1836–1885 (Otago University Press, 2017), Jenny Coleman, ...
Ethan L. Menchinger, “The First of the Modern Ottomans: The Intellectual History of Ahmed Vasif” (Cambridge UP, 2017)
22 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Ethan L. Menchinger‘s The First of the Modern Ottomans: The Intellectual History of Ahmed Vasif (Cambridge University Press, 2017) traces the life...
Gillian B. Fleming, “Juana I: Legitimacy and Conflict in Sixteenth-Century Castile” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018)
17 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Labeled in history as “mad,” Juana of Castile was in fact a complex figure whose sometimes emotional nature was exploited by the men around her as...
Colin G. Calloway, “The Indian World of George Washington” (Oxford UP, 2018)
07 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this sweeping new biography, Colin G. Calloway, John Kimball Jr. 1943 Professor of History and Native American Studies at Dartmouth College, uses t...
Jason Linkins, “Schoolhouse Wreck: The Betsy DeVos Story” (Strong Arm Press, 2018)
07 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In Schoolhouse Wreck: The Betsy DeVos Story (Strong Arm Press, 2018), Jason Linkins delivers a searing critique of controversial Trump administration...