Belshazzar’s Daughter, the first of a series highlighting Inspector Cetin Ikmen in each novel, is a police procedural set in modern-day Istanbul. Just like policemen
Whenever I read a book in translation, I always wonder whether I’m reading exactly what the author intended. Or is the translator getting in the
The eight short stories in Mark Maynard’s collection, Grind, all take place in Reno, Nevada; not the Reno where I live but the other Reno,
Engineers of Victory: The Problem Solvers Who Turned the Tide in the Second World War Disclaimer: I gladly admit to a generally favorable attitude towards
Sometimes, when you open a book and begin reading, you’re totally surprised. Expecting one sort of novel, you discover another. That happened to me when
Empires, Nations & Families: A History of the North American West, 1800-1860 Although my professional life as a historian has been devoted almost exclusively to
The Bohemians: Mark Twain and the San Francisco Writers who Reinvented American Literature Midway through The Bohemians, Ben Tarnoff describes “the seed of California humor”
For Joseph Kanon, 1945 was a pivotal year, a time when world powers were transitioning into what would become the gray shadows of the cold
One Glorious Ambition: The Compassionate Crusade of Dorothea Dix An author of biographical fiction makes a number of critical decisions. The more that is known
Atomic Comics, Cartoonists confront the Nuclear World Atomic Comics is the 2013 winner of the ALAs “Choice Outstanding Academic Title” award. I read it in
Sometimes the title of a book captures its content perfectly. Such is the case with Haven’s Wake, Ladette Randolph’s novel of modern Mennonite life and
Repetitive plots and mythic threads run through many, many novels of the American West. The family ranch or farm, beset by change, barely holds a
Without having Googled Jonathan Crary, all I know about the author, from five brief lines on the inside of the dust jacket, is that he
J.P. Donleavy’s The Ginger Man, the manic/sad antics of Sebastian Dangerfield, has never been out of print since its first publication in Paris, 1955. Now
“My childhood among the Saints was no such thing. In a land built on belonging, I did not.” These first two sentences of Barbara Richardson’s
Atomic Comics: Cartoonists Confront the Nuclear World Although Atomic Comics was reviewed by Sunny earlier on this site, as an old-time comics fan, mostly from the
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