Karl Marx, historian Hartman writes, was fascinated by the U.S. as “the nation most committed to the economic and social systems formed by capitalism.” He had fleeting hope that his concept of freedom as encompassing economic independence would find a home in the U.S., even as Abraham Lincoln—who, casual readers might not know, was the […]
Industrialization has ravaged Earth, and the Concerns (i.e., corporations) that govern the planet are desperate for resources and locations to colonize. Everyone or everything must be of use to the Concerns, or they’ll be discarded. So the scientific team in orbit around Shroud, a moon with an extraordinary amount of electromagnetic radiation and what actually […]
Rocco Vittori, a fallen star of Formula 1, is desperate to reclaim his place on the podium. Nico Angelini, a fiercely talented and trailblazing driver, is determined to rise to the top of a sport that’s long shut out women like her. The pair’s rivalry kicks off in the public arena of social media and […]
An unseen narrator reminds Alpaca to “pack-a a snack-a.” Then Alpaca and Mom walk to the bus stop and wait. (Mom will be fine while Alpaca’s at school, the narrator reassures readers.) At school, the sounds of footsteps going “click-clack-a” reverberate through the hallways; Principal Quack-awelcomes everyone. Alpaca’s a bit worried—will the teacher, Miss Yak-a, […]
Holt, a journalist who has written several books about overlooked women in history, here turns her attention to an odd gap in the world of natural history—namely, the lack of any formal record of the giant panda, “whose whereabouts, habitat, and behavior were still unknown” other than by anecdote outside China. Indeed, when Kermit and […]
The first entry, “A Gringo Died Today,” kicks things off in a village in Guatemala. As the title suggests, the dead body of a foreigner is discovered on a beach; the story of how that dead body came to be there is one that lands a local in some serious trouble. In “The Eagle of […]
Aye-Shan City has already been reduced to ashes, its few remaining survivors sent scattering in the opening pages of Hong Kong brothers Chi-Ho (the author) and Chi-Kit (the illustrator) Kwong’s sweeping and kinetic saga about the nature of war. Aye-Shan City may have been destroyed by the dastardly Zhehe people, but that just means that […]
Jacques the dragon summons Christopher Forrester back to the Archipelago from the human world: Dragons are dying, and no one knows why. Meanwhile, on the island of Dousha, Princess Anya’s grandfather, King Halam, has been murdered, and her father accused—though she knows he’s innocent. When Christopher and Anya take refuge on the islet of Glimt, […]
Poe is everywhere. The Raven’s “nevermore” echoes as a memory and a meme. His arch detectives invite us to see the weird behind the everyday. Police procedurals and horror tales would not exist today without his work. Poe’s name has become shorthand for a personal universe. This book by Leland, who leads a Poe walking […]
Wallace, professor of history at John Jay College and author and contributor to previous volumes in this series, points out that two national leaders entered and left office during these years: Hitler and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. This is social history, so the Depression, war, politics, and these two men, although rarely absent from the pages, […]