The legacy of feminist author Anzaldúa (1942-2004) looms large. Her groundbreaking book Borderlands/La Frontera (1987) remains a touchstone for generations of scholars and activists. An editorial note explains that Anzaldúa had been developing her “Prieta stories” alongside nonfiction for her whole career. While a few came out during her lifetime, this book represents their first complete publication. […]
George is the author of Ninety Percent of Everything (2013), a revelatory and unexpectedly funny book about the shipping industry. In her latest work, she returns to the sea to focus on the fishing industry, another subject that, despite the prevalence of seafood, most of us know little about. It’s a startling account; much of […]
Today, less than a third of Americans say they believe in the American Dream, and almost 20 percent believe that it never existed. To Libby, this is a tragic commentary on the state of America’s middle class and uninspired political leadership. In this robust volume, the author offers a new “radically moderate” vision for the […]
Working in western France, Slimak, author of The Naked Neanderthal: A New Understanding of the Human Creature, discovered that a group of Homo sapiens had taken up residence in a Neanderthal cave 54,000 years ago and remained for 40 years. Neanderthals themselves did not vanish for another 12,000 years, according to the latest evidence. Also […]
Schmidt packs his story with seemingly tough but emotionally vulnerable males circling orphaned Jupiter, who is 3 years old and a charismatic scene stealer. Eighth grader Jack, her foster brother, is positively head over heels, but so (startlingly) is his cross-country running mentor and erstwhile tormentor, Jay Perkins. Then Jupiter’s birth mom’s parents suddenly show […]
In many of Bellinger’s stories, nothing particularly notable occurs. Or rather, what occurs is commonplace and deeply, tenderly human. These often very brief stories are not concerned with grand, sweeping plots or unexpected twists; instead, they mine the complex, often fraught relationships between characters. In one story, a violinist’s “one-day stand” leads her to reflect […]
The women are friends, all single and childless (though not by choice), and each is a little quirky. By the time Essie’s 11, she’s read a great deal about the world but experienced little. Meeting G.E., a boy who looks just like her, makes her dream of being part of a large family. The two […]
This second visit to the Dogtown animal shelter brings back some familiar furry faces while introducing a new narrative perspective—that of one of the mice residing in the building’s rafters. Mouse enjoys lounging in the basement with the “unadoptable” pups, among them Buster, a “bounceback,” who has been adopted several times but then been returned […]
Graves, who was born in the late 1930s in New Orleans, recalls that his first clear memory was learning about the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Although his parents were distraught that the surprise assault meant that the country was going to war, he remembers his father sprang into action, serving as a neighborhood […]
Tess Rosenbloom hasn’t had much of a life recently. Working the night shift at a Brooklyn hotel helps her manage the chronic insomnia she’s been dealing with ever since a traumatic experience caused her to drop out of grad school. The only escape she’s had through her biggest ups and downs are her favorite vampire […]