"Prizefighter"

New from the University of Virginia Press: Prizefighter: Yankee Sullivan and the Hands That Built the Modern World by Patrick Griffin.

About the book, from the publisher:

The globetrotting champion of the oppressed who shook his fist at the world in an era of profound change

Prizefighter is the extraordinary saga of James “Yankee” Sullivan, who, in the first half of the nineteenth century, traveled the globe as a refugee, convict, laborer, and pugilist―and helped bring our modern world into being. Sullivan was born as Francis Ambrose in Ireland in 1813, ventured to London as a boy, was arrested for thieving and shipped to Australia (where he learned to box), escaped from New Zealand on a whaler, won his first match out of Liverpool, reigned as a prizefighter and leading political figure in New York City in the 1840s, moved to Gold Rush California, coached the king of Hawaii in boxing, and spent his last days in a jail cell in San Francisco in 1856. But Sullivan’s life story is much more than a tale of adventure. He helped tie together a world being redefined by free trade, mass migration, industrialization, and democracy, becoming both a champion in the ring and a champion of the people. In this first era of globalization, as the life of Yankee Sullivan attests, prizefighters were world-makers.

The Page 69 Test: American Leviathan: Empire, Nation, and Revolutionary Frontier.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Killer Abyss"

Coming November 24 from Kensington: Killer Abyss (An FBI K-9 Novel) by Sara Driscoll.

About the book, from the publisher:

For FBI handler Meg Jennings and her K-9 partner, Hawk, the search for a missing girl leads to the underground caves of Kentucky—ones darker than she ever fathomed.

No descent into the unknown has ever been too treacherous for Meg Jennings and her colleagues in the FBI K-9 unit. They are prepared for anything. But when 14-year old Larissa Whorlow disappears on her way home from school in Nashville, Tennessee, Meg may be proved wrong.

Their only hope is a tracker tag on Larissa’s shoe, worn at her protective mother’s insistence. Unfortunately, the trail stops dead at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. Meg and her black Labrador, Hawk, are among four teams scrambling to solve a kidnapping that has crossed state lines. All Meg can do is follow Hawk, who’s on the scent of the missing girl—right through a narrow break in a limestone rise and straight into a cavernous labyrinth.

With all communication cut off and miles of undiscovered passages and subterranean rivers to navigate, Meg’s search gets deeper and darker with every uncertain move forward. Then, at the edge of a dangerous abyss, Meg makes a shocking discovery and realizes that Larissa’s vanishing was no random snatch and grab. It’s the work of a serial killer who’s pulling Meg into a terrifying game of hide-and-seek. And the only way out is through the blackness below.

Visit Sara Driscoll's website.

The Page 69 Test: Lone Wolf.

The Page 69 Test: Storm Rising.

The Page 69 Test: No Man's Land.

The Page 69 Test: Leave No Trace.

The Page 69 Test: That Others May Live.

The Page 69 Test: Echoes of Memory.

The Page 69 Test: Deadly Trade.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Die Your Own Death"

New from Princeton University Press: Die Your Own Death: Walt Whitman’s Existential Democracy by Jack Turner.

About the book, from the publisher:

Humans fantasize about immortality. Billionaires dabble in cryonics, politicians build monuments to themselves, and writers donate their papers to libraries. In Die Your Own Death, Jack Turner argues that the quest for immortality—literal or symbolic—is politically destructive. He does so through a meditation on the work of Walt Whitman. Whitman held that democracy prepares individuals to “die their own deaths”—free of fear, resentment, and illusion. In Whitman’s “existential democracy,” accepting death strengthens freedom and equality. And yet, Turner finds, Whitman only half succeeded in forging a democratic philosophy of death. As Whitman’s thought evolved in response to changing ideas about nation, race, and empire, he encouraged citizens to seek immortality through racial imperialism—the expansion of white empire from North America to the Pacific Islands—as a monument to American greatness.

Turner explores the poetics of death in Leaves of Grass and its relationship to Whitman’s democratic theory (“I exist as I am, that is enough”). Through a close analysis of Drum-Taps and Memoranda During the War, Turner shows that Whitman sought to redeem the mass slaughter of the Civil War by cloaking it in poetic and national glory. And in Whitman’s greatest prose work, Democratic Vistas, Turner argues, Whitman envisioned an antidemocratic national immortalism that ignored Native sovereignty and Black equality. Turner exposes the dark side of Whitman’s philosophy of death, but he also reveals how that philosophy can still be a resource in the ongoing struggle for freedom and equality.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Star Swindler"

Coming November 17 from Orbit Books: Star Swindler: A Snarky, High-Stakes Space Opera (Blackjack Interstellar, 2) by A. Zaykova.

About the novel, from the publisher:

Incorrigible con artist Levi and whiz programmer Vera meet their greatest challenge yet in this fast-paced, galaxy-spanning continuation of the Blackjack Interstellar series.

After reluctantly saving the galaxy, former con artist Levi Adder could’ve had it all―if only holding down an honest job didn’t prove so soul-crushing. His latest grift is meant to be a one-off financial fix, but ghosts of his past are waiting at every turn. And they’re hungry for retribution.

When a visit to his girlfriend Vera’s government workplace ends with Levi’s arrest for stealing a data card he’s never seen before, Vera wants nothing more to do with him. Fed up and betrayed, she takes an assignment at a remote military base, not realizing she’s about to be framed for treason.

With political tension between humans and Jaemlens continuing to escalate, the threat of war looms, thrusting Vera – the only person Levi’s grown to care about – into the line of fire. Levi could choose himself, as he always does, or try to pull his most reckless con yet to protect the woman who despises him.

Visit A. Zaykova's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"George Washington and His World"

New from Oxford University Press: George Washington and His World: Enslaver, Revolutionary, President by Denver Brunsman.

About the book, from the publisher:

Enslaver and revolutionary, destroyer of Native American communities and father of American liberty, Washington filled numerous roles in the Founding Era.

Following his death in December 1799, writers, artists, and eulogists hailed George Washington as if he were a god. It was all too much for Abigail Adams, who contended that "Simple Truth is his best, his greatest Eulogy." The plea sounds easy enough, but capturing the truth about Washington has never been straightforward. Since his death, individuals and groups have projected their values and aspirations for the United States onto Washington's memory―a process that has obscured the actual person.

George Washington and His World takes simple truth as its charge. In this compelling, fresh portrait of America's indispensable founder, the canvas is broadened to include not only Washington, but his world and surroundings, so readers might better understand his legacy. Combining the latest historical findings with original primary research, award-winning historian Denver Brunsman provides new understanding of Washington's rise and influence by focusing on the people and society who made the first president's accomplishments possible. Enslaver and revolutionary, destroyer of Native American communities and father of American liberty, Washington filled numerous roles in the Founding Era. Rather than shy away from these contradictions, Brunsman embraces them to explain Washington to a twenty-first century audience. What emerges is a study in human complexity that neither celebrates nor vilifies but aims to better understand this remarkable American life.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Every Pretty Thing"

New from Lake Union: Every Pretty Thing: A Novel by Elizabeth Klehfoth.

About the book, from the publisher:

From the author of The Lost Heiress comes a twisty, emotional novel about the fragility of memory, the long arc of betrayal, and the blind spots we protect for love and survival.

Eleanor “Elle” Collins has gone to great lengths to distance herself from the tragedy that reshaped her life as a teenager. Now thirty and struggling to salvage her stalled acting career, she’s given one last chance at her dream when director Jace Wilder asks her to cowrite and star in his next film. But there’s a catch: The movie is about the infamous Hancock Park murders―the tragedy Elle has spent half her life running from.

Then

At fifteen, Eleanor is sent to live with her wealthy relatives in Hancock Park. There, she falls under the thrall of her cousin Liam and his popular friend group at the prestigious Brearly School. But dangerous secrets will lead to a devastating end.

Now

As Elle works with Jace on the film, her growing feelings for him complicate everything―and what she thought was the truth begins to shift.

What really happened that fateful night?

And can she survive it a second time?

Visit Elizabeth Klehfoth's website.

Writers Read: Elizabeth Klehfoth (July 2018).

--Marshal Zeringue

"How Americans Enforce the Law"

New from Stanford University Press: How Americans Enforce the Law by Diego Zambrano.

About the book, from the publisher:

In most countries, bureaucratic agencies handle regulatory enforcement. But the United States does things differently. Embedded in statutes governing consumer protection, antitrust, employment, civil rights, and the environment are more than 10,000 "private rights of action"―legal provisions that empower ordinary citizens and their lawyers to enforce the law through lawsuits. This is how Americans regulate everything from wage theft to air pollution to corporate fraud.

How Americans Enforce the Law tells the story of this distinctively American approach to governance. Diego Zambrano reveals that private enforcement is not a modern innovation but an inherited tradition dating to medieval English "penal statutes" that colonial America adopted and intensified. The book traces how this system evolved through critical junctures and was boosted by twentieth-century procedural innovations like broad discovery rules and class actions that transformed scattered statutory clauses into a mass-litigation engine.

This is the first comprehensive account of private enforcement's origins, operations, and future. Offering both celebration and critique, Zambrano shows why private enforcement works well in employment law, for instance, but has been weaponized in environmental law. He creates a framework for determining when this uniquely American form of governance serves the public interest, and when it can be used to undermine democracy.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Now That We Don't Talk"

New from Berkley: Now That We Don't Talk by Rachel Pologe.

About the novel, from the publisher:

A commitment-phobe finds herself stuck spending Hanukkah with her childhood best friend turned nemesis, only for holiday chaos to ensue and complicated feelings to resurface, in this emotionally resonant debut romance.

Norah Gold is a bolter. She avoids emotional situations at all costs, doesn’t do meaningful relationships, and when things get a little too real, she runs. She hasn’t let herself fall in love in nearly a decade, not since her whole world fell apart when her dad suddenly passed away. Desperate to escape a friends-with-benefits situation gone clingy, she returns home to Chicago for the holidays. Her one goal? Avoid Henry Cole, the boy who blew up her life and broke her heart back in high school. Easier said than done when she discovers that their mothers are dating and insist on celebrating the holidays together.

A decade later, Henry Cole is all custom suits and condescension. He is order to her chaos and absolutely insufferable about it. When Norah and Henry get snowed in together and learn just how serious their moms’ relationship is, they call a truce to make it through all eight nights of Hanukkah without setting each other on fire. As they begin to rediscover the foundation that made them so close growing up, Norah is desperate to keep her distance—the last thing she can handle is reopening decade-old emotional wounds. But even though they’ve tried to escape the past, Norah and Henry have unfinished business too pressing to ignore. Can Norah shake off her deep-seated impulse to bolt, or are they destined to flame out just like they did as teenagers?

Visit Rachel Pologe's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Mothering for Capital"

New from Vanderbilt University Press: Mothering for Capital: Labor, Race, and Child "Value" in Neoliberalism by Maria Kromidas.

About the book, from the publisher:

Mothering for Capital offers a bold new interpretation about the crisis of motherhood in neoliberalism. It documents how the drive of capital stealthily subsumes mothering, tethering women’s work, care, and socialization of children, as well as their wishes, fears, and understandings of themselves as mothers, to the imperatives of value accumulation. Through the framework of “good” parenting that maximizes the odds of a child’s “success” in a precarious future, capital orients mothers to cultivate a set of specific cognitive, social, emotional, and psychological traits that shape children as future labor power, the ideal manageable yet self-managed subject. The child is the site of capital’s most audacious aspirations―to flatten and empty human life of all that is superfluous or dangerous to capital. What is ultimately at stake, Kromidas argues, is the subordination or emancipation of the human subject, and Mothering for Capital tracks this hidden terrain of struggle.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Ghost Orchid"

New from Lake Union: Ghost Orchid: A Novel by Dani Cessna.

About the novel, from the publisher:

Deep in the swamps of Florida, a grieving park ranger forms a friendship with a mysterious recluse―and uncovers long-rumored secrets about a plant that raises the dead.

Once ambitious and spontaneous, all park ranger Miranda wants after losing her best friend is stillness. Her new job at Everglades National Park and the rekindled connection with an old flame offer some stability and comfort. But everything changes after a rash decision brings her face-to-face with the so-called swamp witch.

In Estelle, Miranda finds an unexpected friendship. The old woman is feisty, independent, and extraordinarily green-thumbed. Plants, Estelle tells her, have a language of their own. Miranda learns to listen to the whispers of peace lilies and desert roses, and witnesses their uncanny power to heal or reveal hidden truths.

But a hurricane brews off the coast, and tensions rise. Rumors spread about Estelle’s abilities, including her knowledge of the rare ghost orchid said to resurrect the dead―bringing the most dangerous kind of grief to Estelle’s doorstep.

In the lush Everglades, the swamp can grow, transform―or destroy. Miranda discovers that true growth means releasing the grief that keeps us rootbound. And somewhere, in the tangled heart of the swamp, the ghost orchid waits.

Visit Dani Cessna's website.

--Marshal Zeringue