"With Friends Like These"

New from Atria/Emily Bestler Books: With Friends Like These: A Novel by Alissa Lee.

About the book, from the publisher:

A group of Harvard alums have played a secret game for decades but as the stakes rise, deadly consequences emerge from old lies. An unputdownable debut thriller for readers of the suspenseful novels of Julia Bartz and Katy Hays.

Harvard promised them everything.

Ambitious futures, peers who pushed each other toward their absolute best, and an education that would open doors for the rest of their lives. And though they started out as roommates, Sara, Bee, Dina, Allie, Wesley, and Claudine soon became family. They had their whole bright lives ahead of them—until their senior year, when a shocking tragedy changed everything.

Twenty years later, five of the roommates still indulge in a secret tradition they’ve kept alive since their campus days: the Circus, a harmless elimination-style “killing” game played across the private rooms and hidden alleys of New York City. The game is a nod to their younger selves and a tribute to the sixth roommate they lost too young. But this year, Sara wants out of the game—until she discovers there is a small fortune awaiting the winner of this final round.

As the Circus unfolds, Sara begins to suspect that the others aren’t playing by the rules, and as the danger turns real and the old friends start pointing fingers, she discovers that even those closest to her harbor secrets of their own…secrets that could kill.

Visit Alissa Lee's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Berserk Violence, Racial Vengeance, and Settler Colonialism in American Writing from Franklin to Melville"

New from Oxford University Press: Berserk Violence, Racial Vengeance, and Settler Colonialism in American Writing from Franklin to Melville by Edward Watts.

About the book, from the publisher:

Berserk Violence, Racial Vengeance, and Settler Colonialism in American Writing from Franklin to Melville studies the literary and cultural tradition of the “Indian Hater” in American writing from the decades between the Revolution and the Civil War. In dozens of short stories, novels, poems, plays, and historical publications, Indian Haters were white settlers on the western frontier who to kill all “Indians” to avenge the deaths of family members at the hands of a few. As they engage their episodes in racial violence, they attain transcendent racial powers based in traditions of historical white barbarism and the powers of the legendary berserker, the crazed Nordic super-warrior. Indian Haters' obsession with genocidal retribution reflected and participated in important conversations in the new nation about race, violence, nation, and masculinity, as well as the role of the emergent mass print culture in the distribution of propaganda, disinformation, and misrepresentation.

At the same time, many authors used Indian Haters to represent the moral failure of the new nation, profoundly critiquing its ambitions and assumptions. Using theories and methods drawn from studies of settler colonialism, nationalism, media, sociology, trauma, and literary history, Edward Watts excavates dozens of long-lost Indian Hater accounts, as well as better known ones from Benjamin Franklin, Charles Brockden Brown, James Hall, Robert Montgomery Bird, and Herman Melville to tell the story of a story, and how that story exposes the complex machinations of the role of print culture's interactions with the violence of settler colonialism.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Reasons to Lie"

Coming February 24 from Thomas & Mercer: Reasons to Lie by Emily Listfield.

About the book, from the publisher:

When a private school field trip ends with one student dead, three mothers must face the darkest secrets lurking beneath their lifestyles, their friendships, their children, and themselves.

In the privileged world of Manhattan’s elite Dearborn Academy, three mothers―Abby, Kara, and Hollis―form an unlikely bond. Until a student is murdered on a class trip their teenagers attended, and every parent has something to hide.

Artistic single mom Abby and career-challenged Kara have always felt like outsiders among Dearborn’s rich, powerful families. When glamorous, enigmatic Hollis arrives with her son and a picture-perfect life, they take her under their wing―despite nagging doubts about her past.

Their friendship only deepens after tragedy strikes on a school retreat. But as a determined detective edges closer to the truth of what happened in the woods that night, cracks begin to show―in their stories, their alliances, and their trust.

Each woman is keeping secrets. And so are their children.

Now, with everything at stake, Abby, Kara, and Hollis must decide how far they’ll go to protect their families―even if it means turning on one another.

Because everyone has a reason to lie.

And someone will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried.

Visit Emily Listfield's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Colonial Caregivers"

New from Cambridge University Press: Colonial Caregivers: Ayahs and the Gendered History of Race and Caste in British India by Satya Shikha Chakraborty.

About the book, from the publisher:

Colonial Caregivers offers a compelling cultural and social history of ayahs (nannies/maids), by exploring domestic intimacy and exploitation in colonial South Asia. Working for British imperial families from the mid-1700s to the mid-1900s, South Asian ayahs, as Chakraborty shows, not only provided domestic labor, but also provided important moral labor for the British Empire. The desexualized racialized ayah archetype upheld British imperial whiteness and sexual purity, and later Indian elite 'upper' caste domestic modernity. Chakraborty argues that the pervasive cultural sentimentalization of the ayah morally legitimized British colonialism, while obscuring the vulnerabilities of caregivers in real-life. Using an archive of petitions and letters from ayahs, fairytales they told to British children, court cases, and vernacular sources, Chakraborty foregrounds the precarious lives, voices, and perspectives of these women. By placing care labor at the center of colonial history, the book decolonizes the history of South Asia and the British Empire.

Visit Satya Shikha Chakraborty's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Hemlock Lane"

Coming soon from Lake Union: Hemlock Lane: A Novel by Marshall Fine.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this riveting story of family bonds and buried truths, a young woman’s homecoming becomes a reckoning as four days together threaten to shatter the comfortable lies that have held her family together.

In the summer of 1967, the Levitsky family convenes for a long weekend at their home in the suburbs―an idyllic holiday for the perfect family.

But Nora has always known better.

Growing up, she learned to tiptoe around her mother Lillian’s explosive temper. Her father did the same. Nora’s sole confidante was their housekeeper, Clara, and their bond has only strengthened through the years. In fact, it’s all that’s keeping Nora together for her homecoming. But under that lifetime of pressure, the facade is beginning to splinter.

Over the next four days, everyone’s secrets are at risk. None more so than what Nora really wants for her life, how Clara has helped her get it…and how they’ve orchestrated it all behind Lillian’s back.

As the family grapples with the complex ties that bind them, Nora discovers that facing the truth―however painful―might be the key to finally breaking free. This weekend, Nora’s bravest act may be in knowing which bonds to cherish and which ones need to be gently set aside, making room for a future of her own choosing.

Follow Marshall Fine on Facebook.

My Book, The Movie: The Autumn of Ruth Winters.

Q&A with Marshall Fine.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Thrill Ride"

New from Penn State University Press: Thrill Ride: The Transformation of Hersheypark by John R. Haddad.

About the book, from the publisher:

More than an amusement park linked to a chocolate empire, Hershey Park in its early years was an extension of industrialist Milton Hershey’s paternalistic capitalism. Hershey sought to avoid the labor strife seen in other industries by giving his workers a better deal. He provided employees with affordable homes, free schools, utility subsidies, and municipal services as well as amenities including a theater, library, and amusement park. In exchange, he expected hard work, loyalty, and no strikes.

Eventually the Hershey Company faced intense market pressure from its competitor Mars and discontinued the services and amenities the community had come to expect. By the 1960s, the park had become so run-down that Hershey officials decided it needed a redesign, and they refashioned it into a Disney-style theme park. What had been an old-fashioned, pay-as-you-go amusement park for chocolate workers, their families, and the community would become a major mid-Atlantic attraction.

Haddad’s engaging and accessible social history explores how this remodel of the park strategically used symbols of the past and future to help the Hershey community cope with change. The new park guided patrons from depictions of the Old World through subsequent eras, culminating in a space exemplifying modernity, with colossal steel structures and sophisticated thrill rides.

Drawing on deep archival work and personal interviews, Haddad charts how memory and feelings are tied to locations and how people respond when change threatens those locations.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Sunshine Man"

New from Viking: The Sunshine Man: A Novel by Emma Stonex.

About the book, from the publisher:

“The week I shot a man clean through the head began like any other . . .”

A taut, electrifying thriller about a woman determined to avenge her sister’s murder—and the killer who must confront his own ghosts

Birdie Keller wakes one freezing January morning to the news she’s been waiting eighteen years to hear. Jimmy Maguire, the man who killed her sister, has been freed from jail. She leaves for London with a pistol and a plan: to find this man and make him pay.

But every story has two sides. Jimmy can sense he’s being hunted. He knew Birdie a long time ago, in a life she’d sooner forget, and he isn’t the only one with something to hide. As the two circle each other in a heart-stopping game of cat and mouse, they plunge into a murky world of family secrets, betrayals, and unsolved mysteries.

A tense, spellbinding page-turner, The Sunshine Man twists its way through the web of lives left shattered after a terrible crime and crafts an unforgettable tale of loss and revenge.

Follow Emma Stonex on Instagram.

Q&A with Emma Stonex.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Looking Down the Tree"

New from Oxford University Press: Looking Down the Tree: The Evolutionary Biology of Human Origins by Mitchell B. Cruzan.

About the book, from the publisher:

We know much about our history from bones and DNA, but these studies do not tell us about the characteristics that are not preserved in the fossil record -- the fleshy parts and behaviors. Evolutionary biologists are more interested in the processes of evolution than the patterns; what caused the changes we see in the fossil record? Looking Down the Tree applies evolutionary principles to understand the history of our species and the pressures of natural selection which led to our unique appearance and behaviors.

Cruzan draws upon evidence from fossils, genomics, phylogenetics, coalescence theory, and the anatomy and physiology of our human ancestors and other animals to arrive at an understanding of the origin of human appearance and behavior. This evidence is discussed in the context of comparative biology, natural and sexual selection, evolutionary constraints, inbreeding and inclusive fitness, and genetic and cultural evolution.

The story of our past that we piece together provides a novel view of how savanna habitats favored a unique set of adaptations including bipedalism and the loss of fur in our early australopithecine ancestors. Other characteristics were outcomes of increasing brain size, which led to the birth of helpless infants that required years of childcare. Cooperation was favored through inbreeding and inclusive fitness in the clans of our ancestors as they struggled to survive through extensive periods of severe drought in eastern Africa. We end this discussion with an evaluation of the increasing importance of cultural evolution, as the transmission of skills and knowledge became ever-more important for human life. Like any other species, we discover that we are the product of the environments that our ancestors experienced.

Visit the Cruzan Lab website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Shiny Happy People"

New from Delacorte Press: Shiny Happy People by Clay McLeod Chapman.

About the book, from the publisher:

A twisted and thrilling sc-fi horror novel that shines a light on the terrors of the U.S. opioid epidemic, Clay McLeod Chapman has written an instant classic about a mysterious new drug plaguing a small town and the haunting side effects.

At sixteen, Kyra is still haunted by the horrors she saw growing up with her drug-addicted mother. She doesn’t feel like she belongs anywhere—and disturbing dreams come to her at night.

When a new party drug makes its way to her high school, Kyra’s life becomes an actual nightmare. A video challenge spreads among the students—and though she doesn’t participate, Kyra can’t escape the inexplicable side effects.

Everyone around her seems to be mysteriously changing, including the people she loves the most. Her brother has a new personality overnight. Her best friend suddenly feels like a stranger. The only other person who seems to notice the eeriness is Logan, the new boy at school. Like Kyra, he has steered clear of the party scene.

When the strangeness begins to feel sinister—or unnatural—Kyra is determined to find out exactly what is behind the mysterious drug. As she and Logan get closer to the truth, the line between Kyra’s past and present blurs . . . and she will need to face the terrors inside herself, or lose everyone she loves.

Visit Clay McLeod Chapman's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Remaking.

The Page 69 Test: The Remaking.

My Book, The Movie: Whisper Down the Lane.

Q&A with Clay McLeod Chapman.

The Page 69 Test: Whisper Down the Lane.

Writers Read: Clay McLeod Chapman (September 2022).

The Page 69 Test: What Kind of Mother.

Writers Read: Clay McLeod Chapman (September 2023).

Writers Read: Clay McLeod Chapman (January 2025).

--Marshal Zeringue

"Mobilising the Australian Army"

New from Cambridge University Press: Mobilising the Australian Army: Contingencies and Compromises Over More than a Century by John Blaxland.

About the book, from the publisher:

Army has always been faced with the questions of what type of war it should aim to prepare for, and in what context it should prepare. Mobilising the Australian Army explores the rich history of the Australian Army, the challenges of preparing armies for war in uncertain times, and the many possibilities for their continuing strength and future success. Comprising research presented at the 2021 Chief of Army History Conference, this collection examines how contingency and compromise are crucial elements for both the historical and the modern-day Army. Key themes include the mobilisation of resources for war in the first half of the twentieth century, the employment of women in the war effort at a time of rapid force expansion, alliance and concurrency pressures in the Cold War and post–Cold War years, utilisation in crisis and war of the reserve forces, and deployment challenges in the 1990s and beyond. Written by leading Australian and international military historians and practitioners, Mobilising the Australian Army will appeal to both casual history enthusiasts and future Army.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Revenge, Served Royal"

New from Minotaur Books: Revenge, Served Royal: A Mystery (Lady Petra Inquires, Volume 3) by Celeste Connally.

About the book, from the publisher:

Bridgerton meets Agatha Christie in this dazzling third instalment to the captivating Regency-era Lady Petra Inquires mystery series.

September, 1815. Autumn is in the air as Lady Petra Forsyth and some of the most illustrious members of the ton descend upon Windsor Castle for a week of royal celebrations, with the highlight being Queen Charlotte’s inaugural patisserie contest for the best bakers employed by England’s finest houses. Not only is Lady Petra’s own cook one of the contestants, but Her Majesty has requested that Petra herself serve as one of the judges.

Petra’s happiness at tasting delicious cakes and biscuits only increases at finding her beloved Aunt Ophelia in attendance at Windsor, as well as Sir Rufus Pomeroy. As England’s most famous former royal chef-turned-cookbook author, Sir Rufus is slated to present his best recipes to the Queen during the festivities, with Petra being granted an early viewing in the royal library.

Yet upon arrival, Petra instead encounters a frantic housemaid pointing to a body of one of Her Majesty’s guests—and to the valet still tugging at the silk ribbon used to strangle the victim. What’s more, the valet turns out to be Oliver Beecham, the ne’er-do-well brother of Petra’s own lady’s maid, Annie. But as Oliver is hauled away to the dungeons, he protests his innocence, claiming the late guest argued with several aristocrats, including the Prince Regent and Petra’s Aunt Ophelia, and boasted about hiding a potentially scandalous document within the vastness of Windsor Castle.

When some poisoned tea meant for Petra is consumed by one of her fellow judges, it’s clear the real killer is still walking the castle’s halls. Indeed, in order to prove the innocence of Annie’s brother and find the incriminating document, Petra will need to act like a lady, eat like a chef, and think like one of Her Majesty’s best spies before a murderer can turn the celebrations from sweet to royally deadly.

Visit Celeste Connally's website.

The Page 69 Test: Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Thunder Cross"

New from the University of Wisconsin Press: Thunder Cross: Fascist Antisemitism in Twentieth-Century Latvia by Paula A. Oppermann.

About the book, from the publisher:

Founded in 1932, Thunder Cross (Pērkonkrusts) was the largest and most prominent right-wing political party in Latvia in the early twentieth century. Its motto—“Latvia for Latvians!”—echoed the ultranationalist rhetoric of similar movements throughout Europe at the time. Unlike the Nazis in Germany or the Fascists in Italy, however, Thunder Cross never succeeded in seizing power. Nevertheless, Holocaust historian Paula A. Oppermann argues, its movement left an indelible mark on the country. The antisemitism at the core of Thunder Cross’s ideology remained a driving force for Latvian fascists throughout the twentieth century, persisting despite shifting historical and political contexts.

Thunder Cross is the most comprehensive study of Latvia’s fascist movement in English to date, and the only work that investigates the often neglected continuities of fascist antisemitism after World War II. Formulated as an empirical case study, this book draws on international and interdisciplinary secondary literature and sources in seven languages to broaden our understanding of fascism, antisemitism, and mass violence from Germany and Italy to the larger European context.

--Marshal Zeringue

"To Kill a Queen"

New from Crooked Lane Books: To Kill a Queen: A Novel by Amie McNee.

About the book, from the publisher:

Enter a shadowy world of crime in Elizabethan London with this twisty historical mystery featuring a queer sleuth and a dash of romance!

When Queen Elizabeth I is nearly assassinated, the rebellious heir to a criminal legacy seizes an opportunity for a better life.

London, 1579. In the treacherous alleyways of London, Jack has left behind the life of petty crime, hoping to atone for the past by rooting out murderers. As the eldest child of a notorious and infamous figure who controls the slums, Jack has no safe place to land and dreams of a future off the streets. When an attempt is made on the Queen’s life, it falls to Jack to catch the would-be assassin and fight for a different future.

With the help of a coroner, Damian; a sultry barmaid with a secret; and the criminal c

onnections from Jack's past, the unlikely investigator dives into the case. But the former thief's informants keep turning up dead, and every lead seems to vanish just when it feels within reach. As Jack follows the trail deeper into danger, the question becomes: Who can truly be trusted?

With the promise of security and redemption hanging overhead, Jack must uncover who orchestrated the assassination attempt before time runs out in this historical mystery, perfect for fans of Tasha Alexander.

Visit Amie McNee's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Hours Are Long, But the Pay Is Low"

New from 3 Fields Books: The Hours Are Long, But the Pay Is Low: A Curious Life in Independent Music by Rob Miller.

About the book, from the publisher:

“The music business is not a meritocracy: it is a crapshoot taking place in a septic tank balanced on the prow of the Titanic, a venal snake pit where innovation, creativity, and honest business practices are actively discouraged.”

Rob Miller arrived in Chicago wanting to escape the music industry. In short order, he co-founded a trailblazing record label revered for its artist-first approach and punk take on country, roots, and so much else. Miller’s gonzo memoir follows a music fan’s odyssey through a singular account of Bloodshot Records, the Chicago scene, and thirty years as part of a community sustaining independent artists and businesses.

Hilarious and hundred-proof, The Hours Are Long, But the Pay Is Low delivers a warm-hearted yet clear-eyed account of loving and living music on the edge, in the trenches, and without apologies.

Visit Rob Miller's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Bleeding Woods"

New from 47North: The Bleeding Woods by Brittany Amara.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this chilling debut horror novel, a young woman discovering dangerous new powers finds herself lost in the Appalachian Mountains with her first love, the sister she betrayed, and an infatuated stranger bound to her telepathically as a string of vicious murders taints the woods red.

Clara Lovecroft didn’t mean to kill her parents. She was fourteen when it happened. Something inside her had awoken, something terrible and dangerous that Clara’s kept at bay with pills ever since. Not that her sister, Jade, will ever forgive her for what happened. Not that Clara will ever forgive herself.

Nearly a decade later, on the anniversary of their parents’ deaths, Clara joins Jade, their childhood friend, Grayson, and his younger brother, Joey, on a weekend getaway to repair their broken relationship. The spontaneous road trip stalls when their car breaks down, stranding them in Blackstone Forest―a place deeper and darker than anyone can imagine. Here, the forest whispers, and within its haunting foliage, a strange man waits for Clara among the trees, their destinies rooted in death.

He would die for Clara. In fact, he would kill for her.

Before the weekend is over, blood will spill in Blackstone Forest. When it does, Clara will have to face the irresistible stranger in all his terrifying glory. She’ll also discover the truth about their shared pasts. Like the forest itself, it’s monstrous.

Visit Brittany Amara's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Domestic Nationalism"

New from Stanford University Press: Domestic Nationalism: Muslim Women, Health, and Modernity in Indonesia by Chiara Formichi.

About the book, from the publisher:

Chiara Formichi argues that Muslim women in Java and Sumatra, from the late 1910s to the 1950s, were central to Indonesia's progress as guardians and promoters of health and piety through gendered activities of care work. While sidelined in the Dutch colonial project of hygienic modernity, women's labor of social reproduction became increasingly visible. Women from all walks of life were called upon to fulfill domestic and motherly roles for the production and socialization of laborers, soldiers, and citizens. The medicalization of cleanliness, intersecting with multiple patriarchal orders, marginalized women's traditional influence and knowledge. However, leveraging the critical importance of infant care, cleanliness, and nutrition, women pushed against the boundaries imposed on them by the colonial and postcolonial state. Largely absent from government archives, their words and acts are evident in vernacular magazines and visual sources drawn from official outreach, news and lifestyle media, and advertisements. Women writers rearticulated scientific mothering, nationalist maternalism, and Islamic ideals of motherhood to create a public voice through gendered care work. Domestic Nationalism proposes that as the modern Indonesian nation-state took shape capitalizing on the public function of mothering, so did homemaking become a crossroads of national and international approaches to development, blurring nonaligned self-reliance and global capitalist interests.

--Marshal Zeringue

"How to Survive in the Woods"

Coming March 10 from Harper: How to Survive in the Woods: A Novel by Kat Rosenfield.

About the book, from the publisher:

Wild meets The Wife Between Us in this page-turning thriller, set in Maine's Hundred Mile Wilderness—the treacherous final stretch of the storied Appalachian Trail—an addictive tale of passion, betrayal, control, and what it means to survive.

Raised by a doomsday prepper and hardened by the startup world, Emma Sharp has learned how to endure—especially in her marriage to Logan Grant, a charismatic tyrant who keeps her under tight control. To Emma, her marriage is a cage: it keeps you in, but it also keeps you safe. Until it doesn't.

When Emma forms an unexpected bond with Logan’s former girlfriend, the two women form a plan to help Emma take her life back. Destination: the punishing final stretch of the Appalachian Trail known as the Hundred Mile Wilderness.

After all, bad things happen in the woods all the time.

As the three venture deeper into Maine’s backcountry, desire and dread curdle into something unpredictable, dark, and deadly. Someone is lying. Someone is watching. And in the remote heart of the forest, someone is about to be lost ... or found.

How to Survive in the Woods is a heart-stopping knockout of a novel, by turns smart, psychologically rich, and deliciously dark. In her masterful hands, Kat Rosenfield asks us to consider what it means to be a survivor—and what, or who, you would sacrifice to stay alive.

Visit Kat Rosenfield's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Freedom for All"

New from Yale University Press: Freedom for All: What a Liberal Society Could Be by Alex Zakaras.

About the book, from the publisher:

A bold vision of liberal society designed to meet the crises of our time

Liberalism is on the defensive almost everywhere. In the past decade, right-wing politicians and intellectuals have staged successful assaults on the most important liberal institutions, including democratic constitutions, independent judiciaries, the free media, and the rule of law. Liberalism’s defenders have struggled to find an adequate response. Many have tried to present liberalism as a humane and reasonable alternative to the chaos and cruelty of the new political right. Political theorist Alex Zakaras argues that this moderate posture is inadequate in our present moment. In the face of rising authoritarianism, rampant inequality, and climate catastrophe, liberals must be willing to demand deep change. Moreover, to compete successfully against charismatic leaders promising dramatic solutions, liberals have to offer a clear and ambitious set of principles and a compelling vision of the future.

Zakaras defends a radical version of liberalism, which is designed to attack the massive inequalities in power, wealth, and status that are pulling the United States apart. At its best, liberalism is an emancipatory political project designed to secure freedom for all. Throughout this book, Zakaras explores what it would mean to implement this project in America today, and what it would demand of its citizens.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Innocence Road"

New from Berkley: Innocence Road by Laura Griffin.

About the book, from the publisher:

Detective Leanne Everhart swore she’d never go back to her hometown near Marfa, Texas—but she returns when her brother needs her, only to find a town in need too, still torn apart by a decades-old crime.

Leanne Everhart knows women have something to fear in her artsy hometown, especially so if they’re not rich, white locals. Returning to town after her father’s death, she sees the ugliest sides of an area that draws people for its severe, untamed natural landscape.

While her department faces mounting backlash over a recent wrongful conviction in the long-ago murder case of a popular local teenager—which is now unsolved—Leanne is called to a fresh crime scene at the edge of the desert. A nameless woman was found murdered, with no clues as to her identity. As Leanne digs into the crime scene evidence, she grows convinced this latest murder case is linked with the local teenager’s murder. And to multiple cold cases, all unnamed female victims, that have all been shelved by her department without leads.

Now, with conflicted loyalties and without allies, Leanne must hunt down a serial killer, one who’s been preying on local women for two decades, growing bolder and more ruthless with every strike.

Visit Laura Griffin's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Work of Music"

New from the University of Wisconsin Press: The Work of Music: Labor and Creativity in Germany's Long Nineteenth Century by Celia Applegate.

About the book, from the publisher:

In The Work of Music, Celia Applegate examines the cultural history of Austro-German music through the lens of labor from the 1648 Peace of Westphalia to the Third Reich. She explores the working world of music and musicians, the various jobs they performed, the work music did in society, the observations and commentaries of contemporaries on the shape and function of musical life, and the work of organizing music making, both amateur and professional. At a time when ideas of absolute music and music-as-leisure were both on the rise, writing about music tended to obscure these practical matters. Here, Applegate reflects on how an intensely musical society organized and understood the ubiquitous activity that underpinned it.

--Marshal Zeringue

"False Witness"

New from Minotaur Books: False Witness: A Novel by Phillip Margolin.

About the book, from the publisher:

A lawyer who was set-up, imprisoned, and disbarred, only to be vindicated and reinstated, is determined to find out who set her up and cover their tracks with a trail of dead bodies

Defense Attorney Karen Wyatt exposed corruption in the police force and the District Attorney's office while getting her client exonerated in court. But in doing so, she put a target on her back and she was set-up on fake drug charge, imprisoned and disbarred until the conspiracy unraveled and her innocence was proven. Now reinstated to the bar, Wyatt is still interested in finding out who ordered her to be set-up - but the key figures were either killed or are in Witness Protection.

In the meantime, Wyatt is a practicing defense attorney, whose current client is either guilty of a heinous murder, or is a too-trusting patsy for an acquaintance set-up for a crime he didn't commit. It will take all of Wyatt's genius to defend her client successfully but that's just one piece of an increasingly complex puzzle.

With a deadly criminal drug gang, a powerful, corrupt figure hiding in the D.A.'s office, and a Congressman who turned up with an unbelievable story after disappearing for days, False Witness is twisty, breathtaking, and unpredictable thriller.

Visit Phillip Margolin's website and Facebook page.

My Book, The Movie: Woman with a Gun.

The Page 69 Test: Woman with a Gun.

The Page 69 Test: Violent Crimes.

My Book, The Movie: Violent Crimes.

My Book, The Movie: The Third Victim.

The Page 69 Test: The Third Victim.

The Page 69 Test: The Perfect Alibi.

The Page 69 Test: A Reasonable Doubt.

My Book, The Movie: A Reasonable Doubt.

The Page 69 Test: Murder at Black Oaks.

The Page 69 Test: Betrayal.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Unchanged Trebles"

New from Rutgers University Press: Unchanged Trebles: What Boy Choirs Teach Us About Motherhood and Masculinity by Rebekah Peeples.

About the book, from the publisher:

Boy choirs are one of the oldest musical traditions in the Western world. While audiences admire boy singers for their distinctive treble notes, boys who sing in soprano voices have to contend with the notion that they’re doing something effeminate, even emasculating, because they sing in a vocal range typically reserved for women and girls. Known as the “unchanged trebles” within choirs, boys who sing in soprano voices defy prevailing norms of traditional masculinity. What do boy choirs represent in a culture that increasingly sees gender as an individual choice rather than a fixed, biological category? And is this tradition, which is rooted in exclusion of girls and women, one worth saving?

In Unchanged Trebles, Rebekah Peeples charts an unexpected, thought-provoking, and deeply personal journey into the peculiar world of contemporary boy choirs, where boys learn to do something together that they’re often embarrassed to do alone: sing in their soprano voices. Considering her experience as the unlikely mother of a boy soprano alongside dozens of interviews with current directors and former choristers, she argues that some of the tools for creating a more gender-inclusive future can be found in an ancient tradition that has long recognized gender fluidity within the pre-pubescent male body. With humor, insight, and the voice of a gifted storyteller, Unchanged Trebles explores a cultural tradition in which singing and expressing emotion are encouraged for boys, showing them a more expansive form of masculinity as they transition from boyhood to manhood.

Visit Rebekah Peeples's Substack.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Murder Made Her Wicked"

New from Crooked Lane Books: Murder Made Her Wicked: A Marigold Manners Mystery by Elizabeth Hobbs.

About the novel, from the publisher:

Bicycle-riding, aspiring archaeologist Marigold Manners is back and ready for adventure in Elizabeth Hobbs’s next mesmerizing historical mystery.

“A humdinger…whose characters bring to mind those of both Emily Brontë and L. M. Montgomery” (Kirkus), this second installment is perfect for fans of Deanna Rayborn.

1894, Boston. Penniless Boston heiress and accomplished modern woman Marigold Manners has put her past to good use, selling the story of the Great Misery Island Murders to earn enough money to resume the life she was always meant to have and return to her studies at Wellesley College. But her carefully laid plans for academic excellence are thrown into disarray when she stumbles across the body of a young woman in the campus lake.

When the peace of the bucolic campus is shattered by the murder, the cloistered world of a women’s college that Marigold finds so comforting proves it is not immune to the malice and wickedness of the world. The closed community becomes a hothouse where disparagement blooms into insult and small slights that have festered for years blossom into academic rivalries that could spill over into something far more sinister. Marigold must use every ounce of her logic and enlist her eccentric, colorful cast of fellow students and found family to identify the girl and find the murderer—before they kill again.

Visit Elizabeth Hobbs's website.

Q&A with Elizabeth Hobbs.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Nourishing Networks"

New from Oxford University Press: Nourishing Networks: The Public Culture of Food in New Orleans by Ashley Rose Young.

About the book, from the publisher:

For much of the Crescent City's history, days began with the cries of roaming street vendors and the percussive thwack of butchers' meat cleavers echoing out from the municipal markets. Generations of New Orleanians--Black and white, enslaved and free, men and women, wealthy and working class--gathered in public to feed the city.

In Nourishing Networks, historian Ashley Rose Young illuminates the central role of food in shaping the vibrant culture of New Orleans. While the city's dynamic culinary scene fostered bonds between some communities, under the surface, groups viciously vied for control over who bought and sold food and where they could do it. Young traces the intricate systems of food vendors and their customers, and how those relationships were affected by race, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. She shows how vendors and customers alike exercised considerable influence over the city's food economy and the laws that regulated it by negotiating prices, shaping taste preferences, liaising with government officials, and even openly defying ordinances they felt were unfair. The power each group gained and lost determined the success of their businesses, the well-being of their families, and their ability to shape food retail and local laws to meet their needs.

Nourishing Networks vividly depicts a city that throughout its history has struggled to feed its population safely and affordably, and in documenting those challenges, it offers lessons for building a better food future.

Visit Ashley Rose Young's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Kidnapping of Alice Ingold"

New from Thomas & Mercer: The Kidnapping of Alice Ingold by Cate Holahan.

About the book, from the publisher:

A harrowing abduction becomes a tantalizing nationwide game in a twisty and ingenious novel of suspense by a USA Today bestselling author.

Alice Ingold has been kidnapped. Call the police. Alert the media. You can’t play this game without all the pieces.

Beautiful, blond, and immensely privileged, Alice Ingold is the perfect victim for a true-crime obsessed culture―and for a masked duo with a singular purpose. Instead of a demand for ransom, her captors have a riddle, and they’re inviting the entire country to solve it.

No one is more invested in the search than Alice’s parents: Catherine, a socialite with obscene generational wealth, and Brian, a visionary AI tech guru. But while Brian turns to machines to solve the problem, Catherine tries to crowdsource the solution, stopping at nothing to bring her daughter home. And America isn’t just watching the story unfold…it’s playing along. The nationwide scavenger hunt for Alice is on.

As an increasingly desperate Catherine strives to understand each new clue, a complex picture of the crime develops. Soon, everyone will see the kidnapping of Alice Ingold for what it is―and Alice won’t be the only one who will need saving.

Visit Cate Holahan's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Cate Holahan & Westley.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Seeking the High Ground"

New from the University of Virginia Press: Seeking the High Ground: Slavery and Political Conflict in the British Atlantic World by Matthew Mason.

About the book, from the publisher:

How American slavery engendered a new political vocabulary used on both sides of the Atlantic

How is it, Samuel Johnson famously asked on the eve of the Revolution, that Americans could so vociferously demand freedom for themselves while so conspicuously continuing to deny it to those they held in slavery? With Seeking the High Ground, Matthew Mason helps answer that piercing question. As he shows, the language of slavery and freedom had long suffused Anglo-American political debates in the eighteenth century, with the Revolution emerging as one particularly hyperdramatic act during which combatants on both sides of the war of words connected the idea of slavery to the headline issues of the day. Mason details how Patriots and Loyalists alike deployed the rhetoric of slavery in their debates about all the crucial questions of the day, including republicanism, taxation and representation, and—by claiming the moral high ground—the nature of the Revolutionary War itself. These debates left complex rhetorical and political legacies for those seeking to abolish and defend slavery in both the new US and the remaining British Empire.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Tortoise's Tale"

New from Simon & Schuster: The Tortoise's Tale by Kendra Coulter.

About the book, from the publisher:

A century of American history unfolds through the eyes of a giant tortoise with a heightened awareness for live music, the location of edible flowers, and the nuances of human behavior in this spellbinding debut novel.

Snatched from her ancestral lands, a giant tortoise finds herself in an exclusive estate in southern California where she becomes an astute observer of societal change. Her journey is one of discovery, as she learns to embrace the music of jazz and the warmth of human connection.

The tortoise’s story is enriched by her bond with Takeo, the estate’s gardener, who sees her as a being with thoughts and feelings, not just a creature to be observed. The tortoise’s mind and heart are further expanded by Lucy, a young girl who names the tortoise Magic and shares a friendship that transcends species. Together, they witness the estate’s transformation into a haven for industry titans, politicians, and rock stars, each leaving their mark on the world and on Magic’s heart.

The tortoise embraces her role as a muse with gusto and witnesses how diverse human harmonies and the mighty winds of social change both uplift people and tear them apart. Over the course of her lifetime, the estate changes ownership, bringing raucous Hollywood parties, and animals both familiar and unexpected. There are also threats, as the estate’s idyll is not immune to the ravages of a damaged planet. Through each era, the tortoise remains a refreshingly honest and endearing narrator whose unique vantage point illuminates the transcendent power of compassion, the unexpected connections that shape how we see ourselves and each other, and the wide-reaching effects of choice—or the lack thereof.

The Tortoise’s Tale is a whimsical yet profound exploration of humanity’s entangled journey, a call to recognize the interconnectedness of all life, and the potential for healing. Kendra Coulter’s debut novel is a moving portrait of resilience and hope, perfect for fans of Shelby Van Pelt’s Remarkably Bright Creatures.

Follow Kendra Coulter on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

The Page 99 Test: Defending Animals.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Mississippi Law"

New from The University of North Carolina Press: Mississippi Law: Policing and Reform in America’s Jim Crow Countryside by Justin Randolph.

About the book, from the publisher:

In the segregated American South, policing was war. Rampant police violence came to the back roads and cattle pastures of America’s rural countryside as ideas of race, property, and belonging reshaped the role of government in everyday life. In Mississippi Law, Justin Randolph explores rural law enforcement to explain US racial authoritarianism between the Civil War and the civil rights movement. In Jim Crow Mississippi, the force behind the police officer’s autocracy carried legacies of empire and slavery into the age of agribusiness and automobiles—from state troops and slave patrols to state troopers and highway patrols. But this is no isolated story of individual barbarism. US military and reform traditions informed ruling-class beliefs in thoughtful police improvement through both the state militia and its inheritor, the state police.

Black Mississippians fought to raise awareness and defend their loved ones against the violence spawned by paramilitary police reform. Some took up arms against police officers; others imagined a legal off-ramp to remake public safety after Jim Crow. Ultimately, the transformation of what one activist called “Mississippi Law” came with more funding and more authority for policing, a key piece of infrastructure for the age of mass incarceration that followed the civil rights revolution. Recounting the works of both famous and forgotten activists, Mississippi Law is a genealogy of Jim Crow rule and dreams of a safety that might have been and might yet be.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Scot's Eggs"

Coming soon from Severn House: Scot's Eggs by Catriona McPherson.

About the novel, from the publisher:

It’s egg-hunt season, but Lexy Campbell is spending Easter hunting a killer!

Not even Cuento’s Easter bonnet parade can distract Lexy Campbell from conception woes and missing tourists Bill and Billie Miller. The Millers’ vintage Mustang has been abandoned, its interior covered in blood.

Is this a double murder, and if so, where are the bodies? Why were the Millers spending the night in their car? Did they pitch up at the Last Ditch Motel only to be turned away? Are they really dead? The Trinity for Trouble are quickly on the case!

As they start to identify the guests staying at the motel the weekend before Easter – including a Goth and a barbershop singer on stilts – disturbing evidence comes to light. Can Lexy see though all the deception to unmask the truth and save the Last Ditch?

Fans of Janet Evanovich and Sarah Strohmeyer will fall head over heels for this addictive mystery that's full of twists and laugh out loud humour.

Visit Catriona McPherson's website.

The Page 69 Test: Go to My Grave.

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (November 2018).

My Book, The Movie: The Turning Tide.

The Page 69 Test: The Turning Tide.

My Book, The Movie: A Gingerbread House.

The Page 69 Test: Hop Scot.

The Page 69 Test: Deep Beneath Us.

Q&A with Catriona McPherson.

The Page 69 Test: The Witching Hour.

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (September 2024).

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (December 2024).

The Page 69 Test: Scotzilla.

My Book, The Movie: Scotzilla.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Master of Contradictions"

New from Yale University Press: The Master of Contradictions: Thomas Mann and the Making of "The Magic Mountain" by Morten Høi Jensen.

About the book, from the publisher:

The arresting story of how Thomas Mann wrote The Magic Mountain as a defeated Germany descended into political chaos

Like many writers of his generation, Thomas Mann (1875–1955) welcomed the outbreak of the First World War. He viewed it as a spiritual necessity, a chance to reassert German cultural dominance over Western ideas of democracy and enlightenment. Then, in 1924, he published The Magic Mountain, a massive novel that culminates in the slaughter of war and foreshadows the Nazi terror to come. One of the central achievements of modernism, The Magic Mountain bears testimony to its author’s dramatic political reorientation as a defender of democracy.

This poignant book is a biography of Mann’s great novel—its evolution from a short story into a two-volume masterpiece and one of the bestselling novels of the Weimar era. Deftly weaving together elements of biography, history, and literary criticism, Morten Høi Jensen reveals how writing The Magic Mountain against a backdrop of world war, revolution, hyperinflation, and rising right-wing terror moved Mann to embrace the democratic and humanistic ideas he once scorned.

One hundred years after The Magic Mountain was first published, at a time when democratic ideas are again under threat, Jensen reveals the universality and timeliness of Mann’s great novel—its still-resonant debates over democracy and tyranny, time and place, illness and death.

Visit Morten Høi Jensen's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Chasing Stardust"

New from Lake Union: Chasing Stardust: A Novel by Erica Lucke Dean.

About the book, from the publisher:

A funny and heartfelt novel about learning who your parents are as people, finding yourself, and falling in love in the strangest places―with a David Bowie soundtrack of a lifetime.

A crazy promise is still a promise. Zoey Jones is spreading her late mother’s ashes along a path her eccentric grandma G-Lo followed in 1972: David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust tour. G-Lo was no ordinary groupie. According to her, Zoey’s mom was conceived somewhere between Memphis and Malibu, and Zoey’s grandpa is the glam rock icon himself. Revving up G-Lo’s old Cutlass, complete with her mother’s journal and a Ziggy Stardust 8-track, Zoey hits the open road.

After breaking down outside Nashville, Zoey is weighing her next move when she makes an immediate connection with Dash Hammond at an all-night diner. Dash is a college graduate fleeing the expectations of his family just as fiercely as Zoey tries to make sense of her own family’s colorful past. He offers to drive Zoey on the remainder of a life-changing road trip, and it’s more epic than Zoey ever dreamed.

What lies ahead is a cross-country journey of self-discovery, first love, glittering revelations, and finding the heart of a rebel that’s been beating inside Zoey the whole time.

Visit Erica Lucke Dean's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Influencer Creep"

New from the University of California Press: Influencer Creep: How Optimization, Authenticity, and Self-Branding Transform Creative Culture by Sophie Bishop.

About the book, from the publisher:

A look at how the rise of influencer culture has changed creative work

A sculptor works while wearing a GoPro camera to capture Instagram content. A painter decides whether to make pieces that she won't be able to share on Instagram, after her account was blocked for sharing "sexualized" content. An artist finds that her portraits of light-skinned women get an algorithmic boost over those featuring dark-skinned models. These creative workers are now using the content-generation skills and promotional strategies pioneered by influencers to compete for visibility online.

Influencer Creep explores what happens when creative workers must go beyond their work to build a comprehensive online presence. Creator studies expert Sophie Bishop delineates how the tactics of professional influencers affect the ways creative workers navigate social media platforms. They must optimize their content to win the favor of opaque algorithms they do not control. They must engage in relentless self-branding, creating a compelling, consistent, and platform-ready image. And that image, in spite of being carefully manufactured, must be perceived as authentic.

Taking seriously the motivations that drive more and more people into the contest for online visibility, Influencer Creep documents a creative workforce nervously conforming to the monopoly power of social media platforms—and occasionally resisting it.

Visit Sophie Bishop's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Desperate Spies"

New from Severn House: Desperate Spies by Mark de Castrique.

About the book, from the publisher:

Badass 75-year-old retired FBI agent Ethel Fiona Crestwater is back—stalking mobsters, dodging bullets, and pulling off Bond-worthy moves as she tracks down missing state secrets in this fun and pacy new installment in the Secret Lives mystery series

For seventy-five-year-old former FBI agent Ethel Fiona Crestwater, her age is nothing but an advantage when it comes to ferreting out secrets. Who's going to notice the little old woman in the corner? Besides, Ethel might be officially retired, but she knows everyone in DC law enforcement—and is smarter than all of them combined.

When a former colleague asks Ethel for help, she agrees without a second thought. But the favor throws Ethel back eighteen years, to the botched sting operation that resulted in the murder of an innocent young woman by a Russian gangster—and nearly ended Ethel’s own life too.

Soon, Ethel and her young tech-whizz sidekick Jesse, her double-first-cousin-twice-removed, find themselves in the crosshairs of some very bad—and very desperate—men who’ll do anything to get their hands on the state secrets they’re seeking. Ethel will have to use all the skills she’s learned during her long career if she’s to save the day, and keep both herself and her beloved cousin alive.

Visit Mark de Castrique's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Sandburg Connection.

Writers Read: Mark de Castrique (October 2011).

Coffee with a Canine: Mark de Castrique & Gracie.

My Book, The Movie: The Sandburg Connection.

The Page 69 Test: The 13th Target.

My Book, The Movie: The 13th Target.

Writers Read: Mark de Castrique (July 2012).

--Marshal Zeringue

"Edward Thomas's Prose"

New from Oxford University Press: Edward Thomas's Prose: Truth, Mystery, and the Natural World by Ralph Pite.

About the book, from the publisher:

Edward Thomas (1878-1917) is a renowned poet. Until recently, his prose writing has, by comparison, been neglected and very often dismissed by critics. Thanks not least to the multi-volume new edition being published by OUP (gen. eds. Guy Cuthbertson and Lucy Newlyn), this body of work is being re-evaluated. This new study by Ralph Pite forms part of that undertaking; it is the first to consider Thomas's prose on its own terms, independently of the poetry that it preceded.

By considering all of Thomas's prose work in its wide variety of genres (nature writing, literary criticism, fiction, autobiography) and by drawing, for the first time, on the whole range of his reviewing, this study transforms understanding of his development. The continuity of his critical perspective emerges; his Celtic loyalties, their nature and their depth, are revealed; both the complexity and the conviction of his politics are brought to light, alongside his receptive alertness to innovative writing and his own originality and daring as a writer. The view of his achievement generated by his interwar reception (itself the outcome of societal mourning and griefwork) is challenged; so is the critical consensus regarding the quality of his prose and the reasons behind its changing styles across Thomas's career. From all of this, it becomes clear, moreover, how powerfully Thomas's work speaks in the contemporary moment of environmental and climate breakdown. Thomas's prose seeks constantly to articulate a relationship of absolute interdependence between human beings and the natural world. His writing is so exploratory and original because Thomas seeks to address the problematic reality that interdependence--this truth of humanity's place in natural world--is perceptible to Western eyes only as mystery.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Seven Deadly Thorns"

New from Bloomsbury USA: Seven Deadly Thorns by Amber Hamilton.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Cruel Prince meets Powerless in this dark academia romantasy that will tattoo itself onto your heart

In the cursed Kingdom of Aragoa, the punishment for magic is death.

Even the students at Vandenberghe Academy aren't spared. When Viola Sinclair's deadly shadow magic is discovered, the queen gives her assassin a new assignment and a new cursed tattoo: seven-thorned rose on his arm for the seven days he has to hunt Viola down and kill her. If he doesn't, he will be the one to die.

The assassin is Roze Roquelart--entitled prince, arrogant fellow student, and the one person Viola hates more than anyone. Roze should revel in the chance to end her life, but he desperately needs something from Viola and her magic. And he's willing to spare her life--and fake their engagement--to get it.

Forced to work together, Viola and Roze must contend with deadly threats, dangerous secrets, and an impossible attraction. Will they give in to their deepest desires, even if it means destroying Aragoa--and risking both their lives?

HER WORST ENEMY. HIS ONLY CHANCE.

Be swept away by the sizzling, irresistible enemies-to-lovers romantasy with magic more destructive than your darkest nightmares.

Visit Amber Hamilton's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Movement Media"

New from Oxford University Press: Movement Media: In Pursuit of Solidarity by Rachel Kuo.

About the book, from the publisher:

From newsletters and zines to hashtags and social media posts, social movements frequently generate and circulate media to define political goals, build solidarity, and articulate theories of change. These acts of media-making play a crucial role in developing relationships rooted in collective political visions across racial differences. Yet, in past and present movements, building solidarity across uneven race, class, and gender differences has often been a tenuous pursuit. How do social movements use media to create and sustain solidarity?

In Movement Media, Rachel Kuo assesses the possibilities and limitations of crafting solidarities across racialized differences through media-making processes and communications practices. Drawing on interviews, archival research, and ethnographic fieldwork, Kuo revisits key movements--Third World feminism, environmental justice, migrant justice, and police and prison abolition--to assess the mundane and less visible forms of movement building that help various groups navigate the politics of difference in theory and in practice. Kuo situates these movements alongside shifts in technological developments and the communication landscape, making the case that building and sustaining solidarity requires time and work to develop shared political analysis and practices.

As contemporary movements organize and struggle against the challenges of NGO-ization, neoliberal identity politics, private technologies, and liberal carceral reform--all of which seek to subsume and manage the efficacy of political organizing--Movement Media tells the important story of how communities build and sustain solidarity through media.

Visit Rachel Kuo's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Deeper than the Ocean"

New from Union Square & Co.: Deeper than the Ocean by Mirta Ojito.

About the book, from the publisher:

A moving multigenerational novel about the enduring power of a mother’s love, the ripple effect of secrets, and the strength of family bonds from a Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

One hundred years after the shipwreck of the Valbanera, known to history as the “poor man’s Titanic,” Mara Denis gets an assignment to report on the Canary Islands, where her ancestors lived before they moved to Cuba. Unexpectedly, she discovers that the grandmother her mother cherished was listed among the dead of the Valbanera, years before Mara’s mother was even born. This fateful twist changes everything Mara thought she knew about her family and herself, and sends her on a quest to find the truth. If her great grandmother is a ghost, who is she and where did she come from?

In spare, beautiful writing, the author transports the reader to the Canary Islands and Cuba in the early part of the twentieth century and New York and Key West in the present. This is an epic tale of a young woman’s passion for her beloved, as well as the redeeming power of family secrets at last uncovered.

This moving, sweeping novel is perfect for fans of Isabel Allende, Julia Alvarez, and Kristin Hannah.

Visit Mirta Ojito's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Power and the Glory"

New from Bold Type Books: The Power and the Glory: The History of the World Cup by Jonathan Wilson.

About the book, from the publisher:

A definitive new history of the world’s most watched sporting event—just in time for the 2026 tournament

Since 1930, the World Cup has become a truly global obsession. It is the most watched sporting event on the planet, and 211 teams competed to make it into the 2022 tournament. From its inception, it has also been a vehicle for far more than soccer. A tool for self-mythologizing and influence-peddling, The World Cup has played a crucial role in nation-building, and continues to, as countries negotiate their positions in a globalized world.

The Power and the Glory is a comprehensive history of the matches and goals, the tales of scandal and triumph, the haggling and skulduggery of the bidding process, and the political and cultural tides behind every tournament. Jonathan Wilson details not merely what happened but why, based on fresh interviews and meticulous research. The book is as much about the legends of the sport, from Pelé to Messi, as it is about the nations that made them, from Mussolini’s Italy to partitioned Germany to controversy-ridden Qatar.

Brimming with politics, heart, and drama, on and off the pitch, The Power and the Glory is the definitive story of the greatest cultural event of our time.

Visit Jonathan Wilson's website.

--Marshal Zeringue