In 1988, in rural Illinois, the decapitated body of a man was found in a field not far from several parking lots known to be frequented by gay men. Richard Nitz, a local man with a prison record, a violent past, and a documented hatred... Read More

In Geauga County, Ohio, cows do indeed learn Dutch. So do horses and dogs and pigs. In this Amish settlement, the fourth largest in the U.S. and Canada, more than 1,800 households speak Pennsylvania Dutch, at home and on the farm. The... Read More

Growing up a music junkie in the 1970s, Kennedy faithfully dressed up as a member of the band Kiss every Halloween. After a handful of piteous musical attempts on his own, he landed in New York City, a self-identified slacker with no... Read More

Rejecting Luddite anguish about the negative effects of the digital age, "Digital Dharma" is not just another guidebook for turning off the Internet or tossing the television out the window. Vedro has written an intellectually rigorous... Read More

Jim Harrison reminds readers frequently of the scent of lilacs in "Returning to Earth"; it is the kind of small detail he deftly weaves into a narrative that addresses the very largest of human experiences. Donald is dying. He begins the... Read More

A chilly fog-shrouded Sweden, where the locals drink plenty of coffee, provides the backdrop for Henning Mankell’s latest mystery featuring Kurt Wallander, the Swedish police detective. The book begins with an off-the-wall killing,... Read More

This series of essays goes further than the usual sex, dating, and “you and your cat” writing that readers might expect from a book about being single women. Mapes arranges the short essays, by thirty different authors, in seven... Read More

The author, a former Republican Senator from Missouri, begins his discussion on faith in American politics by describing a weekly event now all but extinct: the formerly non-political Senate prayer breakfast. Once, according to Danforth,... Read More