"Feed the People!"

New from Basic Books: Feed the People!: Why Industrial Food Is Good and How to Make It Even Better by Jan Dutkiewicz and Gabriel N. Rosenberg.

About the book, from the publisher:

Why Wendell Berry, Michael Pollan, and other slow-food-loving locavores are wrong about food in America—and why Waffle House can save us all.

The food industry is a major driver of climate change, pollution, obesity, animal suffering, and workplace exploitation. Many food writers blame the industrial food system and tell individual eaters to fix these problems by buying local, artisanal food from small farmers—a solution most Americans can’t afford.

But, as food-policy experts Jan Dutkiewicz and Gabriel Rosenberg remind us, modern technology has made food more affordable, abundant, varied, and tastier than at any other time in history. In Feed the People!, they argue that modern food pleasures like Waffle House waffles, and the industrial systems that make them possible, are actually good. With smart technology and commonsense policies, we can make them even better.

Dutkiewicz and Rosenberg have traveled around the United States to find the people changing the way we make and eat food, from the innovators behind plant-based burgers to the cooks serving free school lunches to the labor organizers unionizing fast food joints. They show that building a food system that works for everyone will take more than just eating your vegetables.

Feed the People! invites you to sit at the table and join this delicious movement.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Winter Verdict"

New from Severn River: The Winter Verdict by Dan Buzzetta.

About the book, from the publisher:

Lawyer Tom Berte’s bucolic new life is about to be shattered by a threat he can’t ignore.

Tom Berte, a former Department of Justice lawyer, thought he’d left his past behind when he moved to Castle Ridge with his family. But when a brutal attack leaves him fighting for his life, Tom and his family find themselves at the epicenter of an unfolding conspiracy that stretches from the local ski resort to a desert compound on the other side of the world.

At the heart of the mystery is Phoenix Holdings Group, a shadowy international conglomerate with its sights set on Castle Ridge Ski Resort. When a catastrophic "accident" at the resort claims dozens of lives, Tom uncovers a chilling connection to his own assault and a ruthless plot that could endanger millions.

With his wife and daughter's lives hanging in the balance, Tom must navigate a treacherous path of legal intrigue, corporate espionage, and looming revenge.

For fans of John Grisham and Michael Connelly, strap in for a heart-pounding legal thriller with The Winter Verdict—where the pursuit of justice is as precarious as a black diamond run.

Visit Dan Buzzetta's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Darwin in the Jewish Imagination"

New from Oxford University Press: Darwin in the Jewish Imagination: Jews' Engagement with Evolutionary Theory by Daniel R. Langton.

About the book, from the publisher:

Darwin in the Jewish Imagination provides an overview of Jewish responses to Darwinian evolution, one of the most transformative and challenging ideas of the industrial age. Spanning a century of intellectual and cultural history, it examines how Jewish thinkers-traditionalists, reformers, secularists, mystics, and philosophers-grappled with the profound implications of evolutionary theory for their religious beliefs and cultural identities. The book offers close readings of key figures and debates from Europe to the United States, situating them within the broader contexts of the religion-science controversy, Jewish-Christian interfaith relations, and the intellectual challenges of modernity. A central theme is the pan(en)theistic tendency evident in Jewish thought, reflecting a vision of God as intimately connected with the evolving universe and its natural laws. It explores how Jewish thinkers reinterpreted foundational concepts such as creation, divine action, and human morality in light of Darwin's ideas. This interdisciplinary work not only illuminates how Jewish thought adapted to evolutionary theory but also reveals the broader cultural and theological exchanges shaping modern Judaism. By examining these responses, the book sheds light on how science and Jewish religion have engaged in an enriching dialogue, with profound consequences for modern Jewish thought, belief, and identity.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Moonlight Runner"

Coming soon from Park Row: The Moonlight Runner: A Novel by Karen Robards.

About the book, from the publisher:

In the wake of the Great War, a young woman joins the Irish rebellion and risks everything for her country in this sweeping story of love, bravery and the relentless pursuit of freedom from New York Times bestselling author Karen Robards.

Ireland, 1918. In a world brutalized by the Great War and devastated by the Spanish flu, twenty-two-year-old Rynn Carmichael is suddenly pulled into the war of independence when Donal O’Reilly, the boy she has loved for most of her life, takes up gunrunning in support of the rebellion.

Raised in a small Irish village on the shores of Donegal Bay, Rynn is working as a nurse in a convalescent home for soldiers wounded in the Great War when she overhears a British officer gloating over the trap that has been set for Irish gunrunners bringing a boat full of smuggled arms ashore. Knowing that Donal must be involved, she rushes out at midnight to warn the incoming boat, only to find herself caught up in a terrifying and tragic series of events that take her from the glittering ballrooms of London to the narrow back alleys of Dublin as she and those she loves fight for their lives and their country.

Visit Karen Robards's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Strikingly Similar"

New from Cambridge University Press: Strikingly Similar: Plagiarism and Appropriation from Chaucer to Chatbots by Roger Kreuz.

About the book, from the publisher:

Plagiarism and appropriation are hot topics when they appear in the news. A politician copies a section of a speech, a section of music sounds familiar, the plot of a novel follows the same pattern as an older story, a piece of scientific research is attributed to the wrong researcher… The list is endless. Allegations and convictions of such incidents can easily ruin a career and inspire gossip. People report worrying about unconsciously appropriating someone else's work. But why do people plagiarise? How many claims of unconscious plagiarism are truthful? How is plagiarism detected, and what are the outcomes for the perpetrators and victims? Strikingly Similar uncovers the deeper psychology behind this controversial human behavior, as well as a cultural history that is far wider and more interesting than sensationalised news stories.

Visit Roger Kreuz's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Cheerleader"

New from Pegasus Books: The Cheerleader: A Novel by Marina Evans.

About the book, from the publisher:

Everyone wants to be a Dallas Lonestars Cheerleader, but fame can have a deadly price…

The Dallas Lonestars Cheerleaders are untouchable. They are the epitome of glitz and glamour, reeking of hairspray and perfection. But everything changes when America’s Angel and cheerleading captain Jentry Rae Randall is found murdered in the squad’s locker room.

Filmmaker Nikki Keegan has the opportunity of a lifetime. Brought in to document the Lonestars’ potential comeback after four disastrous seasons, Nikki is now perfectly placed to investigate the murder of the team’s iconic frontwoman.

Nikki turns to cheerleader Shaunette Simmons, the deceased’s best friend, for help. As Nikki becomes closer to Shaunette, the more she suspects that Shaunette is hiding something.

But when Shaunette is run off the road and left to die, it’s clear that nobody on this cheer squad is safe. Because some people would kill to be a Dallas Lonestars Cheerleader…

Marina Evans, a former NFL cheerleader herself, takes readers “behind the gloss” of this iconic American subculture in this high octane debut that is filled with twists, turns, and high kicks. Weaving between sisterhood and ambition, survival and scandal, The Cheerleader will keep you riveted until the final page.

Visit Marina Evans's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Plots and Deeds"

New from Stanford University Press: Plots and Deeds: Agrarian Annihilation and the Fight for Land Justice in Palestine by Paul Kohlbry.

About the book, from the publisher:

The emancipatory potential and limits of land justice, when land is at once home, property, territory, and homeland.

Peasant farming was once an integral part of Palestine's agrarian fabric. But after military occupation of the West Bank in 1967, Israeli land confiscations and economic policies pushed rural cultivators into wage labor. In recent decades, Palestinian land titling and private developers have driven the slow transformation of agricultural land into real estate. In Plots and Deeds, Paul Kohlbry argues that we should see these changes as part of a larger process of agrarian annihilation, one in which state violence and market coercion together devastate the social, ecological, and economic relationships that make agrarian livelihoods possible.

Kohlbry tells the story of those who, refusing annihilation, struggle both for the return of land, and for their return to it. Through long-term engagements in the central highlands of the West Bank, Kohlbry shows how peasant practices and ethics matter for those fighting to rebuild collective attachments to rural places, and the surprising ways that property ownership has become a means of both land dispossession and defense. Going beyond accounts that treat the peasant as a tragic figure or a heroic national symbol, Kohlbry foregrounds the complexity of agrarian life to reveal the relationships between agrarian regeneration and political liberation―ultimately connecting Palestine within a global struggle for land justice.

Visit Paul Kohlbry's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Two Deaths of Lillian Carmichael"

Coming soon from Lake Union: The Two Deaths of Lillian Carmichael: A Novel by Paulette Kennedy.

About the novel, from the publisher:

A young woman, perceived dead, plots to reinvent herself in a gripping historical gothic about secrets, superstition, and murder by the bestselling author of The Devil and Mrs. Davenport.

South Carolina, 1853. Lillian Carmichael, privileged daughter of a disgraced Charleston family, is due to be hanged for the murder of her sister when fate gives her a second chance at life.

After a catatonic episode on the long walk to the gallows, Lillian is declared dead and entombed in the family mausoleum. She awakens days later, buried alive, and flees to the Lowcountry marshes to survive on her wits and reinvent herself. All the while, a series of exsanguination murders holds the terrorized city in thrall―as do the superstitions that the vanished Lillian is some craven creature, resurrected and out for blood.

Lillian finds sanctuary in a crumbling former plantation and a friend in Kate O’Malley, a charismatic actress adept at fashioning new identities. The two form an intimate and powerful alliance, but as the body count rises, the manhunt for Lillian reaches a fever pitch. It will take both women’s cunning for her to escape the gallows again, and to find her freedom, Lillian must first cross paths with the real killer and confront her own family’s deepest, darkest secret.

Visit Paulette Kennedy's website.

The Page 69 Test: Parting the Veil.

The Page 69 Test: The Devil and Mrs. Davenport.

My Book, The Movie: The Artist of Blackberry Grange.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Fighting for a Foothold"

New from Russell Sage Foundation: Fighting for a Foothold: How Government and Markets Undermine Black Middle-Class Suburbia: How Government and Markets Undermine Black Middle-Class Suburbia by Angela Simms.

About the book, from the publisher:

Prince George’s County, Maryland, is a suburban jurisdiction in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area and is home to the highest concentration of Black middle-class residents in the United States. As such, it is well positioned to overcome White domination and anti-Black racism and their social and economic consequences. Yet Prince George’s does not raise tax revenue sufficient to provide consistent high-quality public goods and services. In Fighting for a Foothold, sociologist Angela Simms examines the factors contributing to Prince George’s financial troubles.

Simms draws on two years of observations of Prince George’s County’s budget and policy development processes, interviews with nearly 60 Prince George’s leaders and residents, and budget and policy analysis for Prince George’s County and its two Whiter, wealthier neighbors, Montgomery County, Maryland, and Fairfax County, Virginia. She argues legacy and ongoing government policies and business practices—such as federal mortgage insurance policy prior to 1968, local government reliance on property taxes, and private investment patterns—have resulted in disparities in wealth accumulation between Black and White Americans, not only for individuals and families but local jurisdictions as well. Prince George’s County has a lower cost of living than its Whiter, wealthier neighbors. As the most affordable county bordering D.C., it attracts a disproportionate share of the region’s core middle-class, lower middle-class, working class, and low-income residents, resulting in greater budget pressure.

Prince George’s uses the same strategies as majority-White jurisdictions to increase revenue, such as taxing at similar rates and vying for development opportunities but does not attain the same financial returns. Ultimately, Simms contends Prince George’s endures “relative regional burden” and that the county effectively subsidizes Whiter counties’ wealth accumulation. She offers policy recommendations for removing the constraints Prince George’s County and other majority-Black jurisdictions navigate, including increased federal and state taxes on wealthy Americans and corporations, which will enhance the capacity for government to distribute and redistribute resources equitably; increased state-level funding of public goods and services, which would decrease local jurisdictions’ reliance on locally-generated tax revenue; and the creation of equity funds to remediate harms inflicted upon Black Americans.

Fighting for a Foothold is an in-depth analysis of the fiscal challenges experienced by Prince George’s County and by the suburban Black middle-class and majority-Black jurisdictions, more broadly. The book reveals how race, class, and local jurisdiction boundaries in metropolitan areas interact to create different material living conditions for Americans.

Visit Angela Simms's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Every Exit Brings You Home"

New from W.W. Norton: Every Exit Brings You Home: A Novel by Naeem Murr.

About the book, from the publisher:

A profound, bittersweet portrait of a Gazan immigrant’s heroic efforts to heal his community and birth love from tragedy.

Readers are rarely lukewarm on Naeem Murr’s work, which has been compared by critics to an astonishing array of greats: Margaret Atwood, Henry James, Joseph Conrad, Flannery O’ Connor, Robert Penn Warren, William Faulker, Vladimir Nabokov, and more. His novels are likely to elicit wonderment, as in “the perfect book” (Business Day, South Africa) and “the best novel I've read in years” (Christian Wiman, author of My Bright Abyss). And in this, his first book in two decades, the conflicts, griefs, and hopes of an immigrant community in a Chicago condo come to represent those of the wounded world we all must share.

As a financial crisis looms, Jamal “Jack” Shaban is trying to save his neighbors from bankruptcy. But who is Jack, really? For his flight attendant colleagues, he’s an object of desire, even love, particularly for his sweetly bawdy Wisconsinite best friend, Birdy. Birdy knows nothing about Dimra, Jack’s traditional Muslim wife, with whom Jack is desperate to have a child. Nor does Dimra know about Jack’s attraction to Marcia: an angry single mom new to the building. The resulting tangle of love, desire, and conflict returns Jack to the violence of 1980s Gaza, where a taboo affair nearly destroyed his life.

A man of many sides―adulterer, devoted husband, fixer, community leader, liar, and the survivor of human and cosmic cruelty in both the past and the novel’s present―Jack is a paragon of both desire and hope, someone who has committed to love because the alternative is utter darkness.

A gorgeous blend of gentle comedy and poignant tragedy, of blasted hopes and one man’s indomitable dedication to the well-being of others, this is a book to love and never forget.

Visit Naeem Murr's website.

--Marshal Zeringue