Jaimy Gordon must be as passionate about horses and horseracing as the ensemble of characters she has created in "Lord of Misrule". Only a devotee could conjure the insider world of the sport to the equal satisfaction of the uninitiated... Read More

William Kowalski’s "The Way It Works" is a contemporary Horatio Alger tale, featuring a determined young man who succeeds because of his goodness and ingenuity. Walter Davis is biracial, twenty years old, and homeless in New York City.... Read More

Failing schools and racism are topics of interest and concern for all Americans today. In "The Substitute Teacher", Samson Kamara connects these two issues as he presents the experience of an African immigrant in the United States.... Read More

You won’t find the slogan “Hang in there!” or a prominent use of pink in Fran Padgett’s book, Breast Cancer: No One Chose This Journey. These absences are among the strengths of this inspirational book aimed at breast cancer... Read More

Ten plays. Ten decades. This is August Wilson’s legacy. Wilson, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, is considered the greatest American playwright of the last half of the twentieth century. In August Wilson: Completing the Twentieth-Century... Read More

Haunting. Disturbing. Very nearly true. "A Jew Must Die", by Jacques Chessex, is a fictionalized account of the horrific murder of Arthur Bloch, a Jewish livestock dealer in the Swiss village of Payerne. When Bloch is coaxed from Market... Read More