Prepub Alert: The Complete List | November 2023

All the November 2023 Prepub Alerts in one place, plus a downloadable spreadsheet of all titles from every post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are all the November 2023 Prepub Alerts in one place, plus a downloadable spreadsheet of all titles from every post.

Fiction

Literary Fiction

Abdoh, Salar. A Nearby Country Called Love. Viking. Nov. 2023.256p. ISBN 9780593653906. $28. LITERARY

After protests blaze forth when a woman defiantly sets herself on fire in Tehran, Issa throws in his lot with the city’s marginalized residents while facing conflict in his own family; his brother is a leading queer artist in Tehran’s underground, while his traditionalist martial-arts father obsesses over honor and masculinity. Soon Issa discovers that his new comrades are as intolerant as their adversaries. From the author of the LJ-starred, PW best-booked Out of Mesopotamia.

Alderman, Naomi. The Future. S. & S. Nov. 2023. 416p. ISBN 9781668025680. $28.99. CD. LITERARY

Having fled her father’s cult in remote Oregon, Martha Einkorn now works for a power-hungry social media mogul whose companies design things like private weather and covert weaponry. Meanwhile, Lai Zhen, an internet survivalist in Singapore, finds instructions for escaping an assassin mysteriously popping up on her phone. Both women will soon be involved in saving the world. Following the multi-best-booked, Bailey’s-winning The Power.

Blakley-Cartwright, Sarah. Alice Sadie Celine. S. & S. Nov. 2023. 272p. ISBN 9781668021590. $26.99. CD. LITERARY

Down-to-earth Sadie is otherwise engaged on the opening night of freewheeling best friend Alice’s play, a Bay Area basement production of The Winter’s Tale. So she asks her mother, Celine, to attend in her place. Celine, a celebrated professor of women’s and gender studies at Berkeley, immediately falls for her daughter’s best friend. Blakley-Cartwright’s first adult novel, following the No. 1 New York Times best-selling Red Riding Hood.

Bump, Gabriel. The New Naturals. Algonquin: Workman: Hachette. Nov. 2023. 272p. ISBN 9781616208806. $27. Downloadable. LITERARY

After losing their child, a Black Boston woman and her husband relocate to an abandoned restaurant in western Massachusetts, seeking to create a separate Black utopia where they can feel safe. They are joined by others, including two homeless men and a restless journalist, but soon their paradise is as troubled as the world they’ve tried to escape. From the author of the Ernest J. Gaines and Black Caucus ALA–winning Everywhere You Don't Belong.

Clinch, Jon. The General and Julia. Atria. Nov. 2023. 272p. ISBN 9781668009789. $26.99. LITERARY

Clinch reimagines Ulysses S. Grant at the end of his life, battling cancer as he struggles to finish his memoirs so that he can redeem a tarnished reputation and give his family some means of support after his death. Along the way, the narrative clarifies the evolution of Grant’s attitudes toward race and Reconstruction. As evidenced by the multi-best-booked Finn, Clinch has a way with the past.

Davis, Lydia. Our Strangers: Stories. Bookshop. Oct. 2023. 276p. ISBN 9798987717103. $26. SHORT STORIES

In her seventh collection of fiction (she’s also published two essay collections and the novel The End of the Story), MacArthur fellow Davis features intersecting moments, misconstrued conversations, and identity confusion, from a letter thought to be a rare butterfly and toddlers seeing Ping-Pong balls as eggs. By the author’s request, the book is available only at indie bookstores, libraries, and Bookshop.org.

Evison, Jonathan. Again and Again. Dutton. Nov. 2023. 336p. ISBN 9780593184158. $28. LITERARY

Cranky nursing-home resident Geno believes that his dedicated nursing assistant, Angel, just doesn’t understand him, and no surprise. Geno insists that he’s lived many lives, dating back 1,000 years to Seville, Spain, and he’s still searching for the true love he’s met only once. From the award-winning Evison, author most recently of Legends of the North Cascades.

McDermott, Alice. Absolution. Farrar. Nov. 2023. 336p. ISBN 9780374610487. $28. CD/downloadable. LITERARY

In 1963 Saigon, Tricia, the fresh-faced young wife of an oil engineer working with U.S. Navy Intelligence, is shepherded by commanding corporate spouse Charlene, who relentlessly leads other U.S wives on missions of mercy throughout the city. Decades later, Charlene’s daughter contacts a now-widowed Tricia to revisit memories of Saigon and Charlene’s sometimes damaging do-goodism. From the beloved, National Book Award–winning McDermott.

Mystery

Bowen, Rhys. The Proof of the Pudding. Berkley. (Royal Spyness Mystery, Bk. 17). Nov. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9780593437889. $28. MYSTERY/HISTORICAL

Connally, Celeste. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. Nov. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9781250867551. $27. Downloadable. MYSTERY/HISTORICAL

Coyle, Cleo. Bulletproof Barista. Berkley. Nov. 2023. (Coffeehouse Mystery, Bk. 20). 304p. ISBN 9780593197592. $28. MYSTERY/COZY

Kayode, Femi. Gaslight. Mulholland: Little, Brown. (Philip Taiwo Mystery). Nov. 2023. 384p. ISBN 9780316536646. $29. MYSTERY

Khan, Ausma Zehanat. Blood Betrayal. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. (Blackwater Falls, Bk. 2). Nov. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9781250822406. $28. MYSTERY/POLICE PROCEDURAL

Lupica, Mike. Robert B. Parker’s Broken Trust. Putnam. (Spenser, Bk. 51). Nov. 2023. 400p. ISBN 9780593540244. $29. MYSTERY

McCall Smith, Alexander. From a Far and Lovely Country. Pantheon. (No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Bk. 24). Oct. 2023. 240p. ISBN 9780593316993. $28. MYSTERY

Margolin, Philip. Betrayal. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. (Robin Lockwood Novel, Bk. 7). Nov. 2023 336p. ISBN 9781250885791. $29. MYSTERY

Perry, Anne. A Christmas Vanishing. Ballantine. Nov. 2023. 320p. ISBN 9780593359181. $22. MYSTERY/HOLIDAY

Swinson, David. Sweet Thing. Mulholland: Little, Brown. Nov 2023. 336p. ISBN 9780316528610. $29. MYSTERY/POLICE PROCEDURAL

It’s hardly The Proof of the Pudding when Bowen's popular Lady Georgiana Rannoch graciously lends her new chef to a neighbor who’s just purchased a nearby manor with a famed poison garden; one of the guests at the neighbor’s banquet winds up dead—perhaps done in by berries from the garden. In Agatha finalist Connally’s latest, Lady Petra Forsyth, determined never to marry after the death of her fiancé, must Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord when she uses her new-found independence to investigate a friend’s death while in the care of a shady physician (50,000-copy first printing). Coyle’s ever-active Clare Cosi should have had a Bulletproof Barista around when she allowed her century-old coffeehouse, Village Blend, to be used as a set for the hot new streaming show Only Murders in Gotham; there’s been an actual shooting. In Gaslight, Kayode’s follow-up to the CWA Gold Daggerlong-listed Lightseekers, Bishop Dawodu of the megachurch in Ogun State, Nigeria, is accused of murdering his vanished wife, and Det. Philip Taiwo begins digging up secrets that will undermine the church (15,000-copy first printing).In Khan’s Blood Betrayal, even as Det. Inaya Rahman investigates the police killing of a young Black man in Blackwater falls, a drug raid in neighboring Denver ends with the killing of teenager Mateo Ruiz by a police officer whose father begs Inaya to prove his innocence—never mind that he himself was one of her major opponents when she was on the Denver police force (60,000-copy first printing). In Robert B. Parker’s Broken Trust, Lupica’s first outing with the iconic Spenser, the detective digs deep into a billionaire’s background to discover that he might have acted badly on the way to the top—and that the reasons are more morally complex than they first appear. McCall Smith’s From a Far and Lovely Country again finds Mma Ramotswe and her colleagues at the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency gently untangling personal disputes. In Margolin’s Betrayal , fading MMA fighter Mandy Kerrigan is accused of killing the entire Finch family and turns for help to attorney Robin Lockwood, a rising MMA fighter herself—until she was beaten by Mandy (75,000-copy first printing). In the late Perry’s A Christmas Vanishing, Charlotte Pitt’s grandmother, Mariah Ellison, arrives in the charming village of Barton to spend Christmas with friend Winnie and learns from Winnie’s suddenly dismissive husband that Winnie has disappeared and begins investigating. In “Frank Marr” author Swinson’s 1999 Washington, DC–set Sweet Things, a murder investigation turns up a link to Det. Alex Blum’s long-missing informant Arthur, whose gorgeous girlfriend Celeste Alex had tried to save from a life of crime—perhaps not successfully (25,000-copy first printing).

Thrillers

Cameron, Marc. Tom Clancy Command and Control. Putnam. (Jack Ryan Novel, Bk. 23). Nov. 2023. 496p. ISBN 9780593422847. $29.95. lrg. prnt. CD. THRILLER

Connelly, Michael. Resurrection Walk. Little, Brown. Nov. 2023. 400p. ISBN 9780316563765. $30. lrg. prnt. CD/downloadable. THRILLER

Cornwell, Patricia. Unnatural Death. Grand Central. (Kay Scarpetta). Nov. 2023. 400p.ISBN 9781538743164. $30. lrg. prnt. CD/downloadable. THRILLER

Cussler, Dirk. Clive Cussler The Corsican Shadow. Putnam. (Dirk Pitt Adventure, Bk. 27). Nov. 2023. 432p. ISBN 9780593544174. $29.95. lrg. prnt. CD. THRILLER

Deaver, Jeffery. The Watchmaker’s Hand. Putnam. (Lincoln Rhyme, Bk. 16). Nov. 2023. 400p. ISBN 9780593422113. $29. lrg. prnt. CD. THRILLER

Ledwidge, Michael. The Girl in the Vault: A Thriller. Hanover Square: Harlequin. Nov. 2023. 400p. ISBN 9781335455086. $30. CD. THRILLER

Macmillan, Gilly. The Manor House. Morrow. Nov. 2023. 336p. ISBN 9780063074385. $30. lrg. prnt. CD. THRILLER

Patterson, James. Cross Out: An Alex Cross Thriller. Little, Brown. (Alex Cross, Bk. 29). Nov. 2023. 416p. ISBN 9780316402484. $30. lrg. prnt. CD/downloadable. THRILLER

Pitoniak, Anna. The Helsinki Affair. S. & S. Nov. 2023. 368p. ISBN 9781668014745. $27.99. THRILLER

Singh, Nalini. There Should Have Been Eight. Berkley. Nov. 2023. 384p. ISBN 9780593549766. $28. THRILLER

In Cameron’s Tom Clancy Command and Control, a coup erupts when President Jack Ryan flies to Colombia to support its embattled president, and soon the Russians are taking advantage by planning to assassinate Ryan. Asked to represent a woman convicted of killing her husband, a sheriff’s deputy, defense attorney Mickey Haller calls on retired LAPD Detective Harry Bosch for help in Connelly’s Resurrection Walk (750,000-copy first printing). Following a particularly bloody Halloween, Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta investigates not one Unnatural Death but two, and the couple involved were about to be busted for cybercrimes (400,000-copy first printing). Author of Clive Cussler’s The Devil’s Seam and coauthor of eight previous Dirk Pitt adventures, Cussler returns for more adventure with Clive Cussler The Corsican Shadow. In Deaver’s The Watchmaker’s Hand, Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs get busy after a deadly crane collapse in New York City; a political group claims responsibility and threatens further sabotage if their demands go unmet. In The Girl in the Vault, from long-standing Patterson coauthor Ledwidge, Wall Street intern Faye Walker’s dreams come crashing down after a nasty betrayal, but she comes up with a pretty fierce backup plan (50,000-copy first printing). Having won the lottery, childhood sweethearts Nicole and Tom live luxuriously in a custom-built Glass Barn on the grounds of a Gloucestershire Manor House, and all’s well until Tom is found floating dead in the pool; following the New York Times best-selling Macmillan’s The Long Weekend (100,00-copy first printing). When a plane crashes on a DC runway, brought down by a remote-controlled Vietnam War–era machine gun, Dr. Alex Cross and Det. John Sampson are called on to help prevent more violence in Patterson’s Cross Out (500,000-copy first printing). Ignored by CIA high-ups when she warns them about the possible assassination of a U.S. senator, agent Amanda Cole is quickly asked to investigate when the killing actually takes place in Pitoniak’s The Helsinki Affair ; what’s worse, she finds evidence that her agent father might be implicated. Forsaking her New York Times best-selling paranormal romance series to write a third thriller, Singh convenes seven friends in a rundown house with expectations of a confession—because There Should Have Been Eight.

Historical Fiction

Albom, Mitch. The Little Liar. Harper. Nov. 2023. 288p. ISBN 9780062406651. $26.99. lrg. prnt. CD. HISTORICAL

In 1940s Greece, guileless 11-year-old Nico Krispi is persuaded by Nazi officer Udo Graf to tell other Jewish residents of his village that it’s safe to board the waiting trains, realizing too late that he’s condemned those he loves, including his own family, to a terrible fate. Thereafter, he conscientiously becomes a liar. The narrative unfolds his story along with those of brother Sebastian and schoolmate Fannie, death-camp survivors who later married, and of Graf himself. From the mega-best-selling Albom; a million-copy first printing.

Freethy, Sarah. The Porcelain Maker. St. Martin’s. Nov. 2023. 384p. ISBN 9781250289346. $29. Downloadable. HISTORICAL

Jewish architect Max and avant-garde artist Bettina fall in love in Weimar-era Germany, but with the rise of Nazism, Max is sent to Dachau, where his gift for crafting gorgeous porcelain figures protects him from execution. Much later, in the 1993 United States, Bettina’s daughter finally decides to discover who her father really was. TV writer/producer Freethy’s debut novel merits a 100,000-copy first printing.

Howe, Katherine. A True Account: Hannah Masury’s Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates, Written by Herself. Holt. Nov. 2023. 288p. ISBN 9781250304889. $28.99. Downloadable. HISTORICAL

In early 1700s Boston, Hannah Masury decides to hunt down the Caribbean treasure she’s heard about from a gallows-bound pirate and disguises herself as a cabin boy aboard a pirate ship commanded by the ferocious Edward "Ned" Low. In 1930, Professor Marian Beresford cobbles together Hannah’s story, wishing she had Hannah’s freedom. From the New York Times best-selling Howe; with a 60,000-copy first printing.

Lawhon, Ariel. The Frozen River. Doubleday. Nov. 2023. 432p. ISBN 9780385546874. $28. lrg. prnt. HISTORICAL

In 1789 Maine, a dead man is found enshrouded in ice when the Kennebec River freezes over, and midwife/healer Martha, called in to determine the cause of death, knows that the victim participated in a particularly vicious rape several months earlier. The two incidents seem linked, and Martha will soon be witness at the upcoming trial. From the New York Times best-selling Lawhon (Code Name Hélène).

Porter, Michelle. A Grandmother Begins the Story. Algonquin: Workman: Hachette. Nov. 2023. 336p. ISBN 9781643755182. $28. Downloadable. HISTORICAL

A young Métis mother named Carter; her mother, Allie, finally ready to protect Carter from the pain she herself suffered; her grandmother, Lucie; Mamé, who’s in the Afterlife; and Genevieve, still spiritually close to the sister she lost. Five generations of Métis (and bison, too) emerge in this fiction debut from award-winning poet Porter, a member of the Manitoba Métis Federation. With a 25,000-copy first printing.

Steel, Danielle. The Ball at Versailles. Delacorte. Nov. 2023. 320p. ISBN 9780593498347. $28.99. lrg. prnt. CD. HISTORICAL

In summer 1959, at the Palace of Versailles, a handpicked group of U.S. and French debutantes will be presented to international society at an all-night ball. Caroline Taylor, from Hollywood royalty and struggling with heartbreak, and Samantha Walker, haunted by the past, are delighted to have been invited; shy Felicity Smith and Amelia Alexander, with plans for law school, not so much. From the billion-copy best-selling Steel.

Vaz, Katherine. Above the Salt. Flatiron: Macmillan. Nov. 2023. 432p. ISBN 9781250873811. $29.99. Downloadable. HISTORICAL

On the Portuguese island of Madeira, John Alves, son of a Presbyterian martyr, bonds with Mary Freitas, a botanist’s adopted daughter of suspect background, and they flee to the United States when enmity between Catholics and Protestants on their island boils over. Initially separated, they reconnect in Illinois, but unfortunately the Civil War looms. From the Drue Heinz/Prairie Schooner award-winning author of Saudade; with a 75,000-copy first printing.

Pop Fiction

Awad, Amal. Courting Samira. HarperVia. Nov. 2023. 336p. ISBN 9780063317673. pap. $18.99. CD. ROMANCE

Cantor, Jillian. The Fiction Writer. Park Row: Harlequin. Nov. 2023. 292p. ISBN 9780778310839. $30; pap. ISBN 9780778334187. $17.99. lrg. prnt. CD. GOTHIC

Dolan, Naoise. The Happy Couple. Ecco. Nov. 2023. 288p. ISBN 9780063330467. $28.99. CD. FAMILY LIFE

Hennigan, Rosemary. The Favorites. Graydon House: Harlequin. Nov. 2023. 336p. ISBN 9781525805097. $28.99. CD.

Mitchard, Jacquelyn. A Very Inconvenient Scandal. Mira: Harlequin. Nov. 2023. 336p. ISBN 9780778369370. $30. CD. WOMEN

Novak, Brenda. The Talk of Coyote Canyon. Mira: Harlequin. Nov. 2023. 352p. ISBN 9780778305323. $30; pap. ISBN 9780778334286. $9.99. CD. ROMANCE

Nunez, Sigrid. The Vulnerables. Riverhead. Nov. 2023. 256p. ISBN 9780593715512. $28. FRIENDSHIP

Shipman, Viola. The Wishing Bridge. Graydon House: Harlequin. Nov. 2023. 336p. ISBN 9781525812002. $30; pap. ISBN 9781525804861. $18.99. CD. HOLIDAYS

In Awad’s Courting Samira, set in a Muslim community in Sydney, Australia, late-twenties Samira finds herself trapped in a love triangle and contending with a suddenly evasive childhood friend and a promotion she isn’t sure she wants. In Jillian Cantor’s The Fiction Writer, a wealthy man hires the protagonist to discover whether Daphne du Maurier plagiarized Rebecca from his grandmother (75,000-copy paperback and 10,000-copy hardcover first printing). Following her Women’s Prize/Dylan Thomas long-listed Exciting Times, Dolan introduces The Happy Couple—ever-unfaithful Luke and piano-obsessed Celine, about to be married—and the three friends fretting over this relationship (125,000-copy first printing). Hennigan, an award-finalist short story writer, makes her U.S. debut with The Favorites, about a young woman who signs up for a class in search of revenge—she’s convinced the professor caused her sister’s death (75,000-copy first printing). In Mitchard’s A Very Inconvenient Scandal, Frankie returns to Cape Cod, brimming with the joyous news that she’s pregnant and engaged, only to learn that her widowed father is marrying her best friend, Ariel, also pregnant—and that Ariel’s long-gone mother has suddenly, suspiciously reappeared (50,000-copy first printing). Second in a trilogy (after Lulu’s Back in Town), Novak’s The Talk of Coyote Canyon features pierced, tattooed and spiky-haired Ellen Truesdale, working hard to maintain a well-drilling company that competes with her father’s yet falling for her father’s business partner, Hendrix (300,000-copy paperback and 10,000-copy hardcover first printing). From National Book Award–winning Nunez, The Vulnerables features a quietly contained woman narrator reflecting on contemporary life and learning that small acts of kindness can go far. In Shipman’s The Wishing Bridge, a specialist in corporate takeovers fearing for her job heads home to Michigan for the holidays to persuade her parents to sell their world-renowned Christmas store but instead rediscovers the joys of small-town business, life, and love (75,000-paperback and 10,000-copy hardcover first printing).

SF/Fantasy

Doctorow, Cory. The Lost Cause. Tor. Nov. 2023. 368p. ISBN 9781250865939. $29.99. SF

Hamilton, Laurell K. Slay. Berkley. (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Bk. 30). Nov. 2023. 416p. ISBN 9780593637845. $28. FANTASY/PARANORMAL

Johansen, Erika. The Kingdom of Sweets: A Novel of the Nutcracker. Dutton. Nov. 2023. 368p. ISBN 9781524742751. $28. FANTASY/EPIC

Kawaguchi, Toshikazu. Before We Say Goodbye. Hanover Square: Harlequin. (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Bk. 4). Nov. 2023. 320p. tr. from Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot. ISBN 9781335009111. $21.99. CD. MAGIC REALISM

Lares, Mariely. Sun of Blood and Ruin. Harper Voyager. Nov. 2023. 384p. ISBN 9780063254312. $32. CD. FANTASY/HISTORICAL

Marske, Freya. A Power Unbound. Tor.com. (Last Binding, Bk. 3). Nov. 2023. 432p. ISBN 9781250788955. $28.99. Downloadable. FANTASY/GASLAMP

Roberts, Nora. Inheritance. St. Martin’s. (Lost Bride Trilogy, Bk. 1). Nov. 2023. 432p. ISBN 9781250288325. $30. CD/downloadable. FANTASY/ROMANCE

Wells, Martha. System Collapse. Tordotcom. (Murderbot Diaries, Bk. 8). Nov. 2023. 256p. ISBN 9781250826978. $21.99. SF/ACTION & ADVENTURE

Thirty years hence, ameliorating climate change isn’t quite a Lost Cause, with millions participating in disaster relief and helping move whole cities inland, but some old timers hang on to their hatred and their red hats, denying these efforts; Doctorow scores a 100,000-copy first printing. In No. 1 New York Times best-selling Hamilton’s Slay, Anita Blake faces her toughest task ever—introducing her deeply religious family to her fiancé, the newly crowned vampire king of America. Departing from her “Queen of the Tearling” series, Johansen reimagines the beloved Nutcracker tale, with Clara’s scorned sister Natasha finally getting her moment when she travels to The Kingdom of Sweets one Christmas eve and meets the Sugar Plum Fairy, far more powerful than godfather Drosselmeyer and not altogether sugary. Next in Kawaguchi’s internationally best-selling series, Before We Say Goodbye introduces us to new visitors at Café Funiculi Funicula, the Tokyo café that allows customers to travel through time, thus reenvisioning their lives (125,000-copy first printing). In Sun of Blood and Ruin, debuter Lares blends Mesoamerican mythology and Mexican history to reconfigure Zorro as a warrior sorceress, plumbing the Spanish colonization and genocide of the Aztec empire (40,000-copy first printing). Her engagement broken, Sonya MacTavish is stunned to learn that her father had a twin who’s just died and as Inheritance left her a haunted house on the Maine coast complete with a family curse dating from a bride’s murder in 1806; Roberts gets a million-copy first printing. Three-time Aurealis Award short-listed Marske wraps up her “Last Binding” trilogy with A Power Unbound, as Jack Alston, Lord Hawthorn, joins forces with resistant writer/thief Alan Ross to short-circuit a dangerous ritual that threatens all of Britain’s magicians (100,000-copy first printing). In this latest addition to Wells’s million-copy best-selling series, ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are worried that Murderbot is facing a System Collapse —just when they need to protect a newly colonized planet from the Barish-Estranza corporation (300,000-copy first printing).

Final Fiction

Auster, Paul. Baumgartner. Atlantic Monthly. Nov. 2023. 208p. ISBN 9780802161444. $27. LITERARY

In the opening pages of this 18th novel from the sterling Auster, soon-to-retire philosophy professor Sy Baumgartner has just scorched a pot while trying to boil water, as he was dwelling (as he always does) on his beloved late wife, who died nine years previously in a swimming accident. The novel then unfolds Baumgartner’s spiraling memories since 1968.

Burbara, Rawya Jarjoura, ed. East Jerusalem Noir. Akashic. Nov. 2023. 196p. tr. from Arabic by Roger Allen & others. ISBN 9781617759857. pap. $17.95. MYSTERY

Edited by novelist and short story writer Burbura (I Do Not Want To Get Used to You), chief inspector director of Arabic at the Ministry of Education, this new volume in Akashic’s long-standing city-based noir series brings readers to East Jerusalem via newly minted stories by Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, all translated from the Arabic. To be published simultaneously with West Jerusalem Noir.

Eitan, Maayan, ed. West Jerusalem Noir. Akashic. Nov. 2023. 240p. tr. from Hebrew by Yardenne Greenspan. ISBN 9781617752292. pap. $17.95. MYSTERY

Edited by novelist and short story writer Eitan (Love), this new volume in Akashic’s long-standing city-based noir series brings readers to West Jerusalem via newly minted stories by Israeli Jewish writers, all translated from the Hebrew. To be published simultaneously with East Jerusalem Noir.

Freiman, Lexi. The Book of Ayn.Catapult. Nov. 2023. 240p. ISBN 9781646221929. $27. FEMINIST

Following her Miles Franklin/Center for Fiction’s long-listed Inappropriation, Freiman’s latest features Anna, who gets caught up in the philosophy of Ayn Rand after being called out as classist for her recent novel. She hurries to Los Angeles, hoping to make a TV show about Rand, then ends up hopping from New York to Lesbos to find herself.

Jennings, James W. Wings of Red.Soft Skull: Catapult. Nov. 2023. 240p. ISBN 9781593767099. $28.99. BLACK FICTION/URBAN & STREET LIT

In Jennings’s debut, a gifted young Black writer with an MFA degree and a felony record struggles with being unhoused even as he works as a substitute teacher in the New York City educational system. Slowly, he begins to recognize that teaching could be a way forward.

Nonfiction

Current Events

Alberta, Tim. The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism. Harper. Nov. 2023. 400p. ISBN 9780063226883. $35. CD. POLITICAL SCIENCE

Author of the New York Times best-selling American Carnage, Atlantic staffer Alberta is well positioned to plumb the U.S. evangelical movement; he’s a practicing Christian whose father is an evangelical pastor. Alberta considers televangelists, small-town preachers, and ordinary churchgoers to show how the conservative Christian belief that the United States has a unique relationship with God has morphed into right-wing Christian nationalism that fractures U.S. Christianity and threatens the country. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

Austen, Ben. Correction: Parole, Prison, and the Possibility of Change. Flatiron: Macmillan. Nov. 2023. 336p. ISBN 9781250758804. $29.99. Downloadable. SOCIAL SCIENCE/PENOLOGY

Austen, whose High-Risers was best-booked by multiple venues, including the public libraries of Chicago and St. Louis, adds to a growing body of work on penology as he examines the confounding system of parole in this country through the stories of two men while considering larger questions: what parole means to accomplish and who deserves a second chance. With a 45,000-copy first printing.

Horwitz, Jeff. Broken Code: Inside Facebook and the Fight To Expose Its Harmful Secrets. Doubleday. Nov. 2023. 336p. ISBN 9780385549189. $32.50. lrg. prnt. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS/TECHNOLOGY

A technology reporter for the Wall Street Journal, Horwitz draws on internal documents from Facebook to show that after the 2016 election senior management finally realized that its claim to bring people together was naïve, its platforms responsible for facilitating not just hate speech but human trafficking, the drug trade, and more. Yet efforts to address these concerns were diluted as too costly, he explains, and the 2021 Meta rebranding simply skirts the issues. An expansion of his Polk Award–winning “Facebook Files” series.

Karl, Jonathan. Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Old Party. Dutton. Nov. 2023. 384p. ISBN 9780593473986. $29. POLITICAL SCIENCE

Chief Washington correspondent for ABC News and coanchor of This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Karl argues that while Donald Trump’s star faded in the wake of the January 6 insurrection, his various legal issues, and his absence from Twitter, it is starting to reignite dangerously as he becomes increasingly active in the run-up to the consequential 2024 presidential campaign. But can he win?

Marshall, Tim. Astropolitics: How the Competition in Space Will Change Our World. Scribner. Nov. 2023. 320p. ISBN 9781668031643. $28. POLITICAL SCIENCE/GEOPOLITICS

A geopolitics expert who authored the New York Times best-selling Prisoners of Geography, Marshall examines the current space race among (primarily) the United States, Russia, and China and what its impact will likely be in the next half-century. With spy satellites already circulating, space metals looking to be invaluable, and talk of soon landing on Mars not to be dismissed, that impact will be tremendous.

Mezrich, Ben. Breaking Twitter: Elon Musk and the Most Controversial Corporate Takeover in History. Grand Central. Nov. 2023. 288p. ISBN 9781538707593. $30. Downloadable. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS/CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Mega-best-selling author of The Accidental Billionaires and Bringing Down the House, which both inspired hit films, Merzrich takes on Elon Musk, the billionaire threatening to bring down Twitter’s house. What’s his purpose, really? Will he take the company to new heights or new depths? Mezrich checks in with Twitter employees and Musk’s own team to get every angle. With a 100,000-copy first printing.

Schwab, Tim. The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire. Metropolitan: Holt. Nov. 2023. 496p. ISBN 9781250850096. $29.99. Downloadable. SOCIAL SCIENCE

Award-winning journalist Schwab pursues an ambitious project for his first book: he pokes holes in the story of Bill Gates’s reputed transformation from tech villain to admired philanthropist. As Schwab argues, Gates remains a bully intent on controlling whatever field he chooses, and the political power he’s thus accrued is wholly undemocratic. With an 80,000-copy first printing.

Smith, Tracy K. To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul. Knopf. Nov. 2023. 288p. ISBN 9780593534762. $27. SOCIAL SCIENCE/RACE & ETHNIC RELATIONS

In 2020, devastated by continuing violence against Black people, Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Smith began pondering who we are as a nation and who we could become to one another if we tried. To that end, drawing on both the personal and the social, not to mention her own considerable gifts as a poet, she creates a new language for us as she considers the difference between Free and Freed, Time Ago and Soon.

Stelter, Brian. Network of Lies: The Epic Saga of Fox News, Donald Trump, and the Battle for American Democracy. One Signal: Atria. Nov. 2023. 368p. ISBN 9781668046906. $30. POLITICAL SCIENCE

New York Times best-selling author Stelter (Hoax) examines how Fox News refused to accept Joe Biden’s election to the presidency, instead making up lies about voting irregularities and the election’s having been stolen. Now, with the lawsuit leading to Fox’s historic $787 million Dominion settlement, more dirt has emerged that places the network’s fate—and the fate of U.S. democracy—in the balance.

Teixeira, Ruy & John B. Judis. Where Have All the Democrats Gone?: The Soul of the Party in the Age of Extremes. Holt. Nov. 2023. 336p. ISBN 9781250877499. $25.99. POLITICAL SCIENCE

Coauthors of the influential The Emerging Democratic Majority, Teixeira and Judis argue that since the early 1990s, the Democratic Party has fragmented riskily as it steers clear of the political center with policies that ultimately alienate immigrants and working-class voters. It’s a problem, they add, that also applies to the Republicans. With a 70,000-copy first printing.

History

Brands, H.W. Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics. Doubleday. Nov. 2023. 464p. ISBN 9780385549240. $32.50. lrg. prnt. HISTORY

Though the Founding Fathers despised the partisan politics in Britain that contributed to their own woes before the Revolution, they immediately fell into parties once the Revolution was done: Alexander Hamilton’s Federalists, ready to tear up the Articles of Confederation, faced off against Thomas Jefferson’s Antifederalists, forerunner of today’s Republicans. From two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Brands.

Clavin, Tom. The Last Outlaws: The Desperate Final Days of the Dalton Gang. St. Martin’s. Nov. 2023. 288p. ISBN 9781250282385. $30. Downloadable. HISTORY

“The last outlaws”: the Dalton Gang, four brothers and an ever-shifting bunch of cohorts who graduated from horse thieving to robbing banks and trains in a bid to outdo infamous Jesse James. On October 5, 1892, the gang decided on the daytime robbery of two banks simultaneously in Coffeyville, KS, and met a bloody fate when townsfolk fought back. From the No. 1 New York Times best-selling Clavin.

Conway, Ed. Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization. Knopf. Nov. 2023. 496p. ISBN 9780593534342. $35. HISTORY

Never mind all the time we spend working and playing online; we’re still rooted in the material world, having extracted more materials from the earth in 2017 alone than we did throughout all of human history before 1950. Wincott Foundation–winning British journalist Conway reveals how six materials in particular—sand, salt, iron, copper, oil, and lithium—have radically shaped human history.

Daunton, Martin. The Economic Government of the World: 1933–2023. Farrar. Nov. 2023. 1024p. ISBN 9780374146412. $45. HISTORY

Emeritus Professor of Economic History at the University of Cambridge, Daunton assays the global economy in the last nine decades, starting with the Great Depression’s trade and currency warfare, which led to economic nationalism and, finally, war. World War II then spawned a liberal economic order that foundered in the 1970s, to be replaced by neoliberalism and hyper-globalization, with Covid rewriting the rules once again. With a 30,000-copy first printing.

de Hamel, Christopher. The Manuscripts Club: The People Behind a Thousand Years of Medieval Manuscripts. Penguin Pr. Nov. 2023. 624p. ISBN9780525559412. $50. Downloadable. HISTORY

Following the Wolfson and Duff Cooper–winning Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts, this work focuses on the people who created Europe’s gorgeous illuminated manuscripts or helped preserve them over time. Among them: a monk in Normandy, a priest and a prince in France, a Florentine bookseller, connoisseurs and a museum keeper in Britain, a central European rabbi, a Greek forger, a German polymath, and a U.S. woman who built a grand library.

Englund, Peter. November 1942: An Intimate History of the Turning Point of World War II. Knopf.Nov. 2023. 496p. ISBN 9781524733315. $32. HISTORY

In early November 1942, the Axis powers were looking tough to beat. Then came El-Alamein, Guadalcanal, the French North Africa landings, the Japanese retreat in New Guinea, and the Soviet encirclement of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad. Englund, a member of the Swedish Academy, draws on letters, memoirs, and diaries to capture this turning point through the individual stories of soldiers and citizens.

Hale, Grace Elizabeth. In the Pines: A Lynching, a Lie, a Reckoning. Little, Brown. Nov. 2023. 240p. ISBN 9780316564748. $29. Downloadable. HISTORY

University of Virginia professor Hale grew up in Mississippi hearing the family legend of how in 1947, her sheriff grandfather prevented the lynching of a Black man named Versie Johnson, suspected of raping a white woman, only to have the man die a suicide in jail. Later, as a rising scholar of white supremacy, she dove deeply into the story and discovered the truth of what really was lynching. With a 30,000-copy first printing.

Melville, Doug. Invisible Generals: Rediscovering Family Legacy, and a Quest to Honor America’s First Black Generals. Black Privilege: Atria. Nov. 2023. 288p. ISBN 9781668005132. $27.99. HISTORY

Investigating his family’s longtime history of service, Melville learned of Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. and Jr., the first Black U.S. generals, who helped integrate the American military and created the Tuskegee Airmen. As he relates their accomplishments, Melville encourages readers to persevere, advocate for the silenced, and allow their ancestors’ victories to shape their own visions.

Schulman, Daniel. The Money Kings: The Epic Story of the Jewish Immigrants Who Transformed Wall Street and Shaped Modern America. Knopf. Nov. 2023. 592p. ISBN 9780451493545. $35. CD. HISTORY

Goldman, Sachs, Kuhn, Loeb, Warburg, Schiff, Lehman, Seligman. You know their names, now here are the stories of the German Jewish immigrants who launched modern finance, helping to lift the United States from debtor nation to financial giant and capitalizing its industry. They also shaped the fate of the millions of eastern European Jews who reached New York harbor in the early 1900s, among them the New York Times best-selling Schulman’s paternal grandparents.

Snow, Richard. Sailing the Graveyard Sea: The Deathly Voyage of the Somers, the U.S. Navy’s Only Mutiny, and the Trial That Gripped the Nation. Scribner. Nov. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9781982185442. $29. HISTORY

When the USS Somers docked at Brooklyn Harbor on December 16, 1842, after a training session, Commander Alexander Slidell Mackenzie proclaimed that he had foiled a mutiny and hung three of the ringleaders, among them the son of Secretary of War John Spencer. It was soon suspected that there was no attempted mutiny, just crowd hysteria, leaving the public in an uproar and Mackenzie court martialed. From the former editor in chief of American Heritage.

Memoir

Devine, Alexis. I Am Bunny: How a “Talking” Dog Taught Me Everything I Need to Know About Being Human. Morrow. Nov. 2023. 256p. ISBN 9780358674306. $35. CD. MEMOIR

Creator of the viewer-besieged TikTok account @WhatAboutBunny, Devine relates recovering from severe mental health issues while training her sheepadoodle Bunny to communicate using over 100 buttons (e.g., “Love you Mom” and “Ugh why?”). Bunny was named a top creator of 2022 by Forbes magazine, the first animal to be so honored. With a 40,000-copy first printing.

Gadson, Col. Gregory (Ret.) & Terese Schlachter. Finding Waypoints: A Warrior’s Journey Toward Peace and Purpose. Schaffner. Nov. 2023. 320p. ISBN 9781639640249. $28. MEMOIR

A battalion commander and former West Point football player, Gadson lost both legs to an IED attack in 2007 Iraq and emerged to become a spiritual guide and assistant coach to the New York Giants, who then rose from last place to its 2008 Super Bowl championship. He’s since become an actor (Battleship), motivational speaker, and leader of veterans’ and outdoor healing programs. Written with three-time Emmy Award–winning documentarian Schlachter, a longtime friend.

Gonell, Aquilino & Susan Shapiro. American Shield: The Immigrant Sergeant Who Defended Democracy. Counterpoint. Nov. 2023. 240p. ISBN 9781640096288. $28. MEMOIR

Having immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic as a child, Gonell joined the army to pay for college, returned from Iraq with PTSD, and, after working hard to heal, joined the U.S. Capitol Police and rose to the rank of sergeant. The injuries he sustained during the January 6 insurrection ended his law enforcement career, but what truly angers him is hearing those for whom he risked his life deny or dismiss what happened. Written with journalist Shapiro (e.g., the award-winning The Forgiveness Tour and best-selling Unhooked).

Jenkins, Malcolm. What Winners Won’t Tell You: Lessons from a Legendary Defender. S. & S. Nov. 2023. 320p.ISBN 9781668004494. $28.99. CD. MEMOIR

Two-time Super Bowl champion. Three-time Pro Bowler. First-round draft pick. Jim Thorpe Award recipient. And now an entrepreneur, philanthropist (the Malcolm Jenkins Foundation), and the father of two daughters. Former NFL player Jenkins has had great successes and his sorrows, too, which he shares in a memoir that’s also meant to show us how to manage that fine line between victory and defeat.

Land, Stephanie. Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education. One Signal: Atria. Nov. 2023. 288p. ISBN 9781982151393. $28. MEMOIR

Having captured our attention with the New York Times best-selling Maid, which sparked a hit Netflix series, Land revisits her struggles to finish college (and launch a writing career) while living below the poverty line. Along the way, she clambers through a barely navigable loan system, rarely has enough money for food, and faces professors and students oblivious to her plight. She finally got her degree in her mid-thirties.

Li, Fei-Fei. The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI. A Moment of Lift: Flatiron. Nov. 2023. 336p. ISBN 9781250897930. $29.99. Downloadable. MEMOIR

after emigrating with her middle-class family from China to the United States, Li was raised in straitened circumstances but maintained her passion for science. Good news for the rest of us, as she is the creator of ImageNet, a crucial element in modern artificial intelligence (AI). Now she’s a computer science professor at Stanford. With a 150,000-copy first printing.

Rodriguez, Edel. Worm: A Cuban American Odyssey. Metropolitan: Holt. Nov. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9781250753977. $29.99. MEMOIR

A regular contributor to venues like The New Yorker, Cuban American illustrator Rodriguez has exhibited worldwide, created over 200 magazine and book covers, and illustrated 10 children’s books. His first graphic novel recalls his arrival on the Mariel Boatlift (whose passengers Fidel Castro called traitors of the revolution, or worms) and his subsequent coming-of-age, pointing to immigrants as the safeguard of U.S. democracy. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

Vargas, Vincent. Borderline: Defending the Home Front. St. Martin’s. Nov. 2023. 320p. ISBN 9781250285577. $28. Downloadable. CD. MEMOIR

After four years of active duty in the U.S. Army, Vargas became a U.S. Borderesr Patrol agent, working the vast United States–Mexico divide. Eventually, he joined the Border Patrol Search, Trauma, and Rescue Unit; though intent on “defending the home front,” as his subtitle states, he was also aware that the cartels, the human traffickers, and the desert itself posed grievous risks for immigrants. With a 100,000-copy first printing; likely to stir controversy.

Biography

Burns, Jennifer. Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative. Farrar. Nov. 2023. 592p. ISBN 9780374601140. $35. BIOGRAPHY

Copeland, Rob. The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, and the Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend. St. Martin’s. Nov. 2023. 352p. ISBN 9781250276933. $32. CD/downloadable. BIOGRAPHY

Graydon, Samuel. Einstein in Time and Space: A Life in 99 Particles. Scribner. Nov. 2023. 384p. ISBN 9781982185107. $30. BIOGRAPHY

Stansifer, John. No Bullet Got Me Yet: The Relentless Faith of Father Kapaun. Hanover Square: Harlequin. Nov. 2023. 320p. ISBN 9781335006066. $30. BIOGRAPHY

Varon, Elizabeth. Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South. S. & S. Nov. 2023. 516p. ISBN 9781982148270. $35. BIOGRAPHY

In Milton Friedman, Stanford history professor Burns (Goddess of the Market) offers a full-scale biography of the influential economist, showing how his insistence that capitalism and freedom are closely linked created a new view of economics and a new type of U.S. conservatism (30,000-copy first printing). From Copeland, a finance reporter for the New York Times, The Fund analyzes Ray Dalio’s 50-year success story as the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund (350,000-copy first printing). Science editor at the Times Literary Supplement, Graydon emulates Craig Brown’s 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret to offer a different approach to Albert Einstein with Einstein in Time and Place, revealing him in unique moments as slacker student, ladies man, life of the party, and genius neighbor-next-door. Drawing on interviews with veterans, self-published war experiences, and key archival material, screenwriter Stansifer’s No Bullet Got Me Yet chronicles Father Emil Kapaun, the most decorated chaplain in U.S. military history and a candidate for sainthood (40,000-copy first printing). University of Virginia history professor Varon profiles Confederate general James Longstreet, who joined Louisiana’s integrated government and supported Black voting after the war, which brought forth cries from angry white Southerners that he was a traitor to his race.

Arts

Biskind, Peter. Pandora’s Box: The Greed, Lust, and Lies That Upended Television. Morrow. Nov. 2023. 416p. ISBN 9780062991669. $32.50. CD. PERFORMING ARTS

Blige, Mary J. I Want To Be Where the Song Is: A Memoir. Little, Brown. Nov. 2023. 320p. ISBN 9780316568357. $30. CD/downloadable. MUSIC

Elkin, Lauren. Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art. Farrar. Nov. 2023. 368p. ISBN 9780374105952. $35. FINE ARTS

Lopate, Phillip. A Year and a Day. New York Review Books. Nov. 2023. 216p. ISBN 9781681377780. pap. $17.95. LITERATURE/ESSAYS

McDonald, Greg & Marshall Terrill. Elvis and the Colonel: An Insider’s Look at the Most Legendary Partnership in Show Business. St. Martin’s. Nov. 2023. 384p. ISBN 9781250287496. $32. MUSIC

Machado, Carmen Maria & J. Robert Lennon, eds. Critical Hits: Writers Playing Video Games. Graywolf. Nov. 2023. 224p. ISBN 9781644452615. pap. $18. LITERATURE/ESSAYS

Streisand, Barbra. My Name Is Barbra. Viking. Nov. 2023. 1,024p. ISBN 9780525429524. $45. MEMOIR/PERFORMING ARTS

Sycamore, Mattilda Bernstein. Touching the Art. Soft Skull: Catapult. Nov. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9781593767358. $27. MEMOIR/FINE ARTS

Taylor, Benjamin. Chasing Bright Medusas: A Life of Willa Cather. Viking. Nov. 2023. 192p. ISBN 9780593298824. $28.

Yezzi, David. Late Romance: Anthony Hecht—A Poet’s Life. St. Martin’s. Nov. 2023. 480p. ISBN 9781250016584. $40. LITERATURE/BIOGRAPHY

Former editorial bigwig at American Film and Premiere magazines, cultural critic Biskind opens Pandora’s Box to reveal why, when, and how television superseded film as the main form of entertainment for U.S. audiences. Assessing her 34-year career, nine-time Grammy Award–winning singer and songwriter Blige explains I Want To Be Where the Song Is. A good companion to Claire Dederer’s trending Monsters, PEN essay finalist Elkin’s Art Monsters considers feminist art not just as defiance of patriarchy but as an aesthetic with goals of its own (30,000-copy first printing). In 2016, essayist extraordinaire Lopate decided he would write a blog a week about whatever topic emerged on the spot, with the 47 essays in A Year and a Day the result. Having worked for years with Colonel Tom Parker, entertainment producer McDonald offers a revisionist view of Elvis and the Colonel (50,000-copy first printing). With Critical Hits, National Book Award finalist Machado and Discovery Award winner Lennon collect essays examining the cultural impact of video games. At 1,024 pages, Streisand’s My Name Is Barbra is a memoir as big as its author. In Touching the Art, the Lambda Literary Award–winning Sycamore considers artistic impulse and family trauma as she recounts encouragement from an abstract-artist grandmother who turned icy cold and rejecting when Sycamore’s work turned queer. Author of the multi-best-booked Proust, Taylor takes to Chasing Bright Medusas as he revisits the life and work of Willa Cather, arguing that her work should be sought out more vigorously today. With Late Romance, poet/playwright Yezzi offers a thoroughgoing account of the late Pulitzer Prize–winning formalist Hecht on the occasion of his 100th birthday (40,000-copy first printing).

Final Nonfiction

Duncan, Dayton & Ken Burns. Blood Memory: The Tragic Decline and Improbable Resurrection of the American Buffalo. Knopf. Oct. 2023. 352p. ISBN 9780593537343. $40. HISTORY/SCIENCE

Frank, Adam. The Little Book of Aliens. Harper. Nov. 2023. 256p. ISBN 9780063279735. $27.99. CD. SPACE SCIENCE

Galizia, Paul Caruana. A Death in Malta: An Assassination and a Family’s Quest for Justice. Riverhead. Nov. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9780593543733. POLITICAL SCIENCE

Golbeck, Jen & Stacey Colino. The Purest Bond: Understanding the Human-Canine Connection. Atria. Nov. 2023. 256p. ISBN 9781668007846. $28. PETS/DOGS

Graff, Garrett M. UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here—and Out There. Avid Reader: S. & S. Nov. 2023. 368p. ISBN 9781982196776. $30. HISTORY

Karikó, Katalin. Breaking Through: My Life in Science. Crown. Oct. 2023. 336p. ISBN 9780593443163. $28. Downloadable. MEMOIR/MEDICINE

Kurlansky, Mark. The Core of an Onion: Peeling the Rarest Common Food—Featuring More Than 100 Historical Recipes. Bloomsbury. Nov. 2023. 256p. ISBN 9781635575934. $28. COOKING/HISTORY

MacLean, Harry N. Starkweather: The Untold Story of the Killing Spree That Changed America. Counterpoint. Nov. 2023. 432p. ISBN 9781640095410. $30. TRUE CRIME

Renner, Rebecca. Gator Country: Deception, Danger, and Alligators in the Everglades. Flatiron: Macmillan. Nov. 2023. 288p. ISBN 9781250842572. $29.99. NATURE/CONSERVATION

Safina, Carl. Alfie and Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe. Norton. Oct. 2023. 352p. ISBN 9781324065463. $32.50. NATURE/BIRDS

Suleyman, Mustafa with Michael Bhaskar. The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century's Greatest Dilemma. Crown. Sept. 2023. ISBN 9780593593950. $32.50. Downloadable. TECHNOLOGY

Tree, Isabella & Charlie Burrell. The Book of Wilding: A Practical Guide to Rewilding, Big and Small. Bloomsbury. Oct. 2023. 560p. ISBN 9781526659293. $40. NATURE/CONSERVATION

In Blood Memory, Duncan (Out West) joins forces with award-winning producer/director Burns to unfold the story of the buffalo—the Western Hemisphere’s largest land animal—from its prehistoric beginnings to near-extinction owing to white settlers to complicated rescue in recent years (281 four-color photographs). University of Rochester astrophysicist Frank answers all your questions about humanity’s search for extraterrestrial life in The Little Book of Aliens (50,000-copy first printing). In A Death in Malta, multi-award-winning journalist Galizia profiles his journalist mother, Daphne Caruana Galizia, whose efforts to expose corruption in Malta led to her assassination in 2017; also addressed, the family’s struggle to hold someone accountable. A computer science specialist whose social media platform, Golden Ratio, celebrates her many golden retrievers, Golbeck joins with health/psychology journalist Colino to provide scientific evidence that dog companionship—what might be called The Purest Bond —is really good for us. Author of the New York Times best-selling The Only Plane in the Sky, Graff moves from the Cold War to the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program to chronicle the U.S. government’s hunt for life in space. In Breaking Through, biochemist Karikó explains how her research (and longtime perseverance as both a scientist and an immigrant from postwar Hungary) led to the COVID vaccine. As with Cod and Salt, the New York Times best-selling, James Beard Award–winning Kurlansky homes in on something singular—The Core of an Onion—as he runs through every climate and culture worldwide to explain why Julia Child once proclaimed, “It is hard to imagine a civilization without onions.” From the Edgar Award–winning MacLean (Broad Daylight), Starkweather presents new information regarding 19-year-old Charles Starkweather’s rampage through 1958 Kansas, where he dispatched the parents and sister of 14-year-old girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate and others they encountered as they fled. In Gator Country, National Geographic contributor Renner tells the story of Officer Jeff Babauta, who sought to protect nature by infiltrating the underground world of alligator poaching in Florida (150,000-copy first printing). With Alfie and Me, ecologist Safina relates bonding with an injured baby owl he and his wife rescued and what it taught them; now freed, Alfie continues to visit them as she raises her own brood (eight pages of color photos). Cofounder of the AI company DeepMind, Suleyman reflects on the dangers posed by fast-developing technologies—and our complete lack of preparedness—in The Coming Wave. The author of Wilding, which has sold a quarter of a million copies worldwide, Tree joins with ecologist husband Burrell to give us The Book of Wilding—practical advice on helping nature revive by rewilding failing farms, landed estates, allotments, churchyards, urban parks, public spaces, and even window boxes.

 

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