In this handsomely produced volume, Lindesay achieves a five-strike success. He provides a concise account of the when, whys, and wheres of wall building, dispatching the still-enduring myths of a single wall, built at a single time or... Read More

Mesdames Lago, Hughes, and Walls, in their excellently edited volume of E.M. Forster’s radio-talk scripts, take us back to a golden age of low-key, quietly thoughtful, and gently mind-broadening book talks: no celebrity-driven ratings... Read More

The first sentence of Silliman’s forty-years-in-the-making opus, “If the function of writing is to ‘express the world,’” is unfinished to a strict grammarian. But Silliman goes on to do just that, and the world he expresses... Read More

Schoonover tells a hilarious story: the Abwehr sought the best but in Heinz Lüning got the worst. It needed an agent in Havana: given naval routes and schedules, U-boats could wreak even greater havoc on ships carrying war materiel... Read More

The prolonged visit to Europe was a rite of passage for well-educated and well-to-do Americans, and the numbers undertaking it swelled after the Civil War. A voluminous literature of reportage resulted. After Louisa, then thirty-eight... Read More

Bold entrepreneurs, big visions, daring engineering, great scenery, a huge new economy, and sweeping social change are among the elements that Carlos Schwantes and James Ronda masterfully describe in their exuberant and lavishly... Read More

Anyone fearful of death by bite, sting, or simple contact with nature in the wild should prepare to be a great deal more fearful. Biologist Steve Backshall introduces us to venomous creatures great and small, familiar or little known,... Read More

Jouvet, a scientist specializing in sleep and dreams, presents the papers of Hugues la Scève, happily found in a chest bought at auction. In the papers, la Scève, an amateur scientist, records his investigations into the genesis and... Read More