"Terra Nova"

New from Yale University Press: Terra Nova: Food, Water, and Work in an Early Atlantic World by Jack Bouchard.

About the book, from the publisher:

A bottom-up story of the fishworkers, whalers, First Nations, merchantwomen, oceans, and animals who together made a new colonial world in the early Atlantic

In the early decades of the sixteenth century, mariners from across Europe forged a vast seasonal fishery along the coasts of the northwest Atlantic. Long before there was Newfoundland or Canada, Europeans called this floating colony Terra Nova, and they laid the foundation for a history of extracting food and fuel that extended into the twentieth century. Once one of the largest European colonies in the Atlantic basin, Terra Nova has never before been considered in its historical entirety or in a wider Atlantic context.

Historian Jack Bouchard tells the story of Terra Nova, showing that its early development was shaped by colonial histories across the Atlantic world. He demonstrates that when we put food production, ocean environments, and maritime labor at the center of the story, we can see the overlooked lives and voices of those who made change in these early years. The result is a new history of the Atlantic world: one where humans migrate in the wake of ice and fish, where Indigenous American and Arctic trade routes are joined to transatlantic exchange, where colonies exist without settlement or empire, and where food production, labor, and maritime landscapes are at the center of our shared history.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Always Carry a Silver Cross"

New from Montlake: Always Carry a Silver Cross by Andrea Robertson.

About the book, from the publisher:

From New York Times bestselling author Andrea Robertson comes a paranormal rom-com full of spirited seduction, sinister secrets, and the sublimely supernatural.

Who knew life could get so…weird? Selene’s best friend is dead, and now she finds herself raising a precocious teen, Allie―though she never even wanted to be a mom. To top it off, they’re living in her deceased friend’s house in a small town that’s one enchanted forest away from belonging in a fairy tale.

Then Allie spills a shocking secret that leaves Selene questioning reality. And maybe her sanity. Suddenly she’s plunged into a bizarre world of moonlit revelries, mystical neighbors, and alluring dangers. But untangling the truth of her new home only brings more peril. Caught up with a mysteriously seductive man who makes her heart palpitate (and spine tingle), she encounters strangers with blood-soaked pasts and bona fide skeletons in their closets.

The deeper Selene spirals into this twisted realm, the more she realizes all is not as it seems. And with temptations too sweet to resist, one wrong move could be her last.

Visit Andrea Robertson's website.

Q&A with Andrea Robertson.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Pink Scar"

New from Penn State University Press: The Pink Scar: How Nazi Persecution Shaped the Struggle for LGBTQ+ Rights by Thomas R. Dunn.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Third Reich subjected some one hundred thousand individuals to a pernicious anti-homosexual campaign that included censorship, surveillance, medical experimentation, and death. Credible scholarship suggests that as many as fifteen thousand were interned in concentration camps, though the actual names and numbers of all those who suffered and died will never be known.

Today, prevailing historical narratives hold that the persecution of homosexuals under Hitler was “discovered” in the 1970s by a post-Stonewall gay and lesbian community, who were the first to use these tragic events―emblematically symbolized by the pink triangle―to advance the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights around the world. The Pink Scar tells a different story. This book shows that Americans had ample opportunity to learn about this persecution before and during the war and explores how activists in the United States made Hitler’s anti-homosexual campaign a central, animating force in their arguments at almost every major turning point in the lesbian and gay struggle since 1934.

Victims of the Nazi regime were among the most important and the most contested symbols in the history of lesbian and gay rights rhetoric―perhaps even more contested than the pink triangle itself. This book shows us how, nearly one hundred years after Hitler came to power, remembering the people persecuted by the Nazi regime is once again essential for defending LGBTQ+ rights in a new age of growing fascism and anti-queer/trans oppression.

--Marshal Zeringue

"I'll Quit When I'm Dead"

New from Mulholland Books: I'll Quit When I'm Dead: A Novel by Luke Smitherd.

About the book, from the publisher:

A young woman at an intensive wellness retreat and a struggling musician vow to turn their lives around—or die trying—in this provocative, “unputdownable” horror story (Josh Malerman).

Madison has seen better days. Reeling from a bad breakup, self-soothing with junk food, and totally consumed by her lack of direction, she’s in need of a big reset. When she runs into an old acquaintance at the gym, Madison is shocked by how fit they’ve suddenly become. The cause? An all-female fitness boot camp led by ex-military guru Ellie Fellowes. The course is characterized by grueling reps and minimal contact with the outside world, and when Madison signs up to experience it herself, something doesn’t feel right. The other students keep acting strangely; Ellie seems almost superhuman, and her intense motivational methods are becoming bizarre, even dangerous. But Madison is getting results. How can she stop now?

Musician Johnny Blake has been struggling with a pain pill addiction after a very public, very bad fall. At the encouragement of loved ones, he retreats to a secluded cottage to detox. But Johnny isn’t alone. Something is lurking in the shadows of his new home—a creature unnatural and hungry, one that traps Johnny in a frightening bargain. If Johnny doesn’t stay off his pills and keep his end of the deal, he will be eaten alive.

As Madison and Johnny’s predicaments spiral into the unthinkable, they will have to look within to find the true and terrifying answer to the age-old question: How badly do you want it?

Nerve-shredding and compulsively readable, I’ll Quit When I’m Dead marks Luke Smitherd as a major voice in horror to watch.

Visit Luke Smitherd's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Embodying the Revolution"

New from Rutgers University Press: Embodying the Revolution: The Hebrew Experience and the Globalization of Modern Sports in Interwar Palestine by Ofer Idels.

About the book, from the publisher:

This original and thought-provoking study offers a fresh perspective on Zionism by exploring Hebrew culture’s ambivalent attitude toward modern sports. Drawing on extensive archival sources and contemporary literary theories, it focuses on Zionism’s surprising anxiety toward sports during the interwar heyday of “muscular Judaism,” revealing an unusual society in which athletes failed to attain national pride and distinction. Addressing themes such as the body, language, space, immigration, internationalism, amateurism, gender, and militarization, Embodying the Revolution presents an innovative reading of Jewish life in Mandate Palestine, linking the marginalization of sports to the meaning and experience of the Zionist Revolution. Idels' compelling interpretation of the appeal of sports, selfhood, and the compromises inherent in radical aspirations—narrated from the periphery of the interwar global rise of sports—challenges contemporary assumptions that dismiss ideology as an elitist myth.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Princess Knight"

New from Harper Voyager: The Princess Knight: A Novel by Cait Jacobs.

About the book, from the publisher:

A princess desperate to win back the prince who broke her heart follows him to his kingdom's prestigious military academy—and in doing so, falls in love, saves the realm, and continues to look fabulous in this delightful debut fantasy.

Domhnall and Clía are an ideal match—or so everyone says. They are prince and princess of neighboring kingdoms. An alliance the gods will smile on. Until Domhnall ruins everything by refusing to propose.

Heartbroken but determined, Clía makes the perfect plan: Follow Domhnall to Caisleán Cósta, the military academy he’s attending. Show she can protect her kingdom. Secure the betrothal. Sure, the castle has a brutal reputation. But how hard can dueling really be?

Warrior Ronan promised himself he’d never lose his focus. He fought and sacrificed for his place at Caisleán Cósta, and he has no time for blonde princesses who waltz into arenas like they’re attending a ball. Even if she and her otter-like pet are…well, cute.

He doesn’t want to be intrigued by Clía. But her hunger to prove herself is something he understands. He tells himself there’s no harm training her. Even if his heart does race around her. Even if Domhnall is his best friend.

But as they say, love is a battlefield—and unfortunately for them all, a very real war is looming on the horizon. It’s a fight that will threaten all their kingdoms…and test all their hearts.

Visit Cait Jacobs's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Africa's Buildings"

New from Princeton University Press: Africa's Buildings: Architecture and the Displacement of Cultural Heritage by Itohan I. Osayimwese.

About the book, from the publisher:

A groundbreaking history of Africa’s looted architectural heritage—and a bold proposal for the repatriation of the continent’s stolen cultural artifacts

Between the nineteenth century and today, colonial officials, collectors, and anthropologists dismembered African buildings and dispersed their parts to museums in Europe and the United States. Most of these artifacts were cataloged as ornamental art objects, which erased their intended functions, and the removal of these objects often had catastrophic consequences for the original structures. Africa’s Buildings traces the history of the collection and distribution of African architectural fragments, documenting the brutality of the colonial regimes that looted Africa’s buildings and addressing the ethical questions surrounding the display of these objects.

Itohan Osayimwese ranges across the whole of Africa, from Egypt in the north to Zimbabwe in the south, and spanning the western, central, and eastern regions of the continent. She describes how collectors employed violent means to remove elements such as columns and door panels from buildings, and how these methods differentiated architectural collecting from conventional collecting. She shows how Western collectors mischaracterized building components as ornament, erasing their architectural character and concealing the evidence of their theft. Osayimwese discusses how the very act of displacing building parts like floor tiles and woven screen walls has resulted in a loss of knowledge about their original function and argues that because of these removals, scholars have yet to fully grasp the variety and character of African architecture.

Richly illustrated, Africa’s Buildings uncovers the vast scale of cultural displacement perpetrated by the West and proposes a new role for museums in this history, one in which they champion the repatriation of Africa’s architectural heritage and restitution for African communities.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Tarot Reader"

New from Crooked Lane Books: The Tarot Reader: A Novel by Finley Turner.

About the book, from the publisher:

A phony psychic vision goes wrong when a woman unexpectedly finds herself involved in a murder investigation, perfect for fans of May Cobb and Catherine McKenzie.

Twenty-five-year-old Jade Crawford spends her days selling crystals, conducting séances, and reading tarot cards in her shop in Winston-Salem, NC. But her connection to the other side is all a facade. After losing their mother to a terrible accident and their father serving jail time, Jade and her younger sister Stevie do what they can to survive. When a local politician goes missing, Jade sees a lucrative opportunity to drum up new clients and inject some much-needed cash into their pockets.

Jade submits a “psychic vision” to the police tipline only to discover that her shot in the dark is chillingly accurate when the police find the politician’s body. Caught in a media whirlwind, Jade revels in her newfound popularity and success, but she quickly finds herself the target of not only a police investigation but of the killer who is still on the loose.

With stunning suspense that is perfect for fans of Samantha M. Bailey, Finley turns the screws tighter into a taut and thrilling read.

Visit Finley Turner's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Engagement Party.

Q&A with Finley Turner.

--Marshal Zeringue

"George Washington: His Quest for Honor and Fame"

New from the University of Virginia Press: George Washington: His Quest for Honor and Fame by Peter R. Henriques.

About the book, from the publisher:

A concise, compelling biography of Washington and the forces that drove him

What drove George Washington to become the preeminent man of his time and to secure a lasting reputation as one of history’s great leaders? In this concise and engaging profile, Peter Henriques—a renowned Washington expert—recounts how Washington possessed a desperate desire to be seen, admired, honored, and above all to be remembered. Over the course of his life, Washington deliberately and self-consciously shaped his public image. Even his decision, dictated in his last will and testament, to emancipate the men and women he had held in slavery during his lifetime related directly to his desire to be perceived as honorable after his death and to safeguard his posthumous reputation. The complicated and controversial question of Washington and slavery is examined in an afterword. Written with a clarity that comes only from deep understanding, this biography goes right to the heart of what made Washington live, and succeed, as the greatest of America's founding fathers.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Last Spirits of Manhattan"

New from Atria Books: The Last Spirits of Manhattan: A Novel by John A McDermott.

About the book, from the publisher:

Based on a true story, this sparkling and witty novel whisks you to 1956 Manhattan, where famed director Alfred Hitchcock is hosting a star-studded party in an allegedly haunted house...only for the soiree to be interrupted by a ghostly party crasher.

After fleeing her mundane life in the Midwest, Carolyn Banks finds herself in her enigmatic great-aunts’ eerie mansion on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Inside its crumbling façade, suspense director Alfred Hitchcock is throwing a party, gleefully informing his celebrity guests that the venue is supposedly haunted. It all seems like a fun gag, but Carolyn knows that the line between reality and the supernatural is dangerously blurred here.

Soon, the paranormal entities are mingling with guests like Charles Addams and Henry Fonda. As Carolyn grapples with romantic entanglements and ghostly encounters, she discovers long-buried family secrets, challenging her understanding of love, loyalty, and legacy. A striking mix of the haunting and the heartwarming, The Last Spirits of Manhattan is an unputdownable novel about a family reunion unlike any other, set against the bewitching backdrop of 1950s New York City.

Visit John A. McDermott's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Surviving Revolution"

New from Cornell University Press: Surviving Revolution: Bourgeois Lives and Letters by Denise Z. Davidson.

About the book, from the publisher:

Surviving Revolution explores how two wealthy and well-connected families with roots in Lyon responded to the French Revolution and the resulting transformations. In building a new political system based on liberty, equality, and fraternity, the French Revolution encouraged both individuals and families to recognize their power to shape the world through political action, rethink their strategies in negotiating intimate relations and family life, and assess both terrifying new risks and enticing opportunities for advancement.

Denise Z. Davidson traces two families' trajectories and weaves together the strategies they employed to survive and hopefully thrive in the decades that followed the Revolution. Their private correspondence shows that affect and interest, intimacy and property, are mutually constitutive, and cannot be "thought" separately. Her analysis reveals what it meant to be bourgeois, how gender played a role in the formation of class identities, and how family and emotional life overlapped with other arenas. These social and cultural themes are woven into the narrative through the stories told in the families' letters.

By viewing dramatic historical events through the eyes of people who lived through them, Surviving Revolution illuminates how the practices of everyday life shaped emerging notions of bourgeois identity.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Death on a Scottish Train"

New from Crooked Lane Books: Death on a Scottish Train: A Scottish Isle Mystery by Lucy Connelly.

About the book, from the publisher:

Dr. Emilia McRoy, an American in Scotland, has a killer in sight in the fourth installment of the Scottish Isle mystery series, perfect for fans of Paige Shelton and Connie Berry.

Summer is coming to a close on beautiful Sea Isle in Scotland, and Dr. Emilia McRoy is celebrating one year since her big move. With a weeklong festival to end the season, the town gathers for a magical ride on the newly refurbished Storyteller’s Train, but the launch’s success is dampened by an unexpected death.

What appears to be a case of deadly allergies is soon revealed as murder. As Emilia, her assistant Abigail, and the local constable Ewan McGregor unravel the mystery, the killer sets their murderous intentions on them.

If they want to survive, they will need the help of all of their friends—before they become the latest victims.

Visit Lucy Connelly's website.

The Page 69 Test: Death at a Scottish Wedding.

Q&A with Lucy Connelly.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Summers Off?"

New from Rutgers University Press: Summers Off?: A History of U.S. Teachers' Other Three Months by Christine A. Ogren.

About the book, from the publisher:

Since the nine-month school year became common in the United States during the 1880s, schoolteachers have never really had summers off. Administrators instructed them to rest, as well as to study and travel, in the interest of creating a compliant workforce. Teachers, however, adapted administrators’ directives to pursue their own version of professionalization and to ensure their financial well-being. Summers Off explores teachers’ summer experiences between the 1880s and 1930s in institutes and association meetings; sessions at teachers colleges, Black colleges, and prestigious universities; work for wages or their family; tourism in the U.S. and Europe; and activities intended to be restful. This heretofore untold history reveals how teachers utilized the geographical and psychological distance from the classroom that summer provided, to enhance not only their teaching skills but also their professional and intellectual independence, their membership in the middle class, and, in the cases of women and Black teachers, their defiance of gender and race hierarchies.

--Mashal Zeringue

"Bog Queen"

New from Bloomsbury USA: Bog Queen by Anna North.

About the book, from the publisher:

The latest from New York Times bestselling novelist Anna North-a monumental discovery sets off a clash of worlds, past and present, over the fate of the land that holds us.

When a body is found in a bog in northwest England, Agnes, an American forensic anthropologist, is called to investigate. But this body is not like any she's ever seen. Though its bones prove it was buried more than two thousand years ago, it is almost completely preserved.

Soon Agnes is drawn into a mystery from the distant past, called to understand and avenge the death of an Iron Age woman more like her than she knows. Along the way, she must contend with peat-cutters who want to profit from the bog and activists who demand that the land be left undisturbed. Then there's the moss itself: a complex repository of artifacts and remains, with its own dark stories to tell.

As Agnes faces the deep history of what she has unearthed, she's also forced to question what she thought she knew about her talent, her self-reliance, and her place in the world. Flashing between the uncertainty of post-Brexit England and the druidic order of Celtic Europe at the dawn of the Roman era, Bog Queen brims with contemporary urgency and ancient wisdom as it connects across time two gifted, farsighted young women learning to harness their strange strengths in a landscape more mysterious and complex than either can imagine.

Visit Anna North's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Life and Death of Sophie Stark.

The Page 69 Test: Outlawed.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Ancient Wisdom for Polarized Times"

New from Yale University Press: Ancient Wisdom for Polarized Times: Why Humanity Needs Herodotus, the Man Who Invented History by Emily Katz Anhalt.

About the book, from the publisher:

How the wisdom of Herodotus can fortify us against political falsehoods and violent extremism

Nearly 2,500 years ago, the Greek writer Herodotus introduced the concept of objective truth derived from factual investigation and empirical deduction. Writing just before the start of the catastrophic Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE), Herodotus addressed an increasingly polarized Greek world. His Histories demonstrates that the capacity for humane moral action depends on the ability to resist unthinking allegiance to authoritative fictions. Herodotus offers an indispensable, nonpartisan approach for countering poisonous ideologies and violent conflict emanating from all extremes of the political kaleidoscope.

Interpreting some of Herodotus’s most compelling stories, Emily Katz Anhalt illuminates this ancient writer’s vital insights concerning sexual violence, deception, foreign ways, political equality, and more. The Histories urges us to value reality, restrain destructive passions, and acknowledge the essential humanity of every human being—crucial guidance for navigating our own divisive and volatile political climate. Inviting us to take responsibility for our own choices and their consequences, Herodotus exposes autocratic leadership and abuses of power as self-defeating. Herodotus guides readers in assembling and assessing information, distinguishing fact from fiction, and making compassionate moral evaluations. The ancient Greeks never achieved an egalitarian, just society. Herodotus equips us to do better.

The Page 99 Test: Enraged.

--Marshal Zeringue