"Summer on Lilac Island"

New from Harper Muse: Summer on Lilac Island: A Novel by Lindsay MacMillan.

About the book, from the publisher:

A witty and heartwarming escape about mothers and daughters, small-town dating, and the surprising ways we find our way home.

When Gigi Jenkins finds herself broke, unemployed, and out of options, she has no choice but to return to Mackinac Island, the horse-and-buggy hometown she swore she'd left behind forever.

Living under the same roof with her meddling, divorced mother, Eloise, feels like a recipe for disaster--especially when Eloise hatches a scheme to set Gigi up with the island's charming new doctor.

Determined to call her mother's bluff, Gigi agrees to the date on one condition: she gets to play matchmaker for Eloise in return.

What begins as a battle of wills spirals into a summer of small-town antics, unexpected sparks, and plot twists neither woman saw coming.

But the greatest love story of the summer isn't about romance--it's about the bond between mother and daughter. Through late-night date debriefs, outfit consultations, and learning to laugh (and forgive), Gigi and Eloise begin to bridge years of misunderstanding, moving from adversaries to confidantes.

With Lindsay MacMillan's signature wit and warmth, Summer on Lilac Island is a joyful, tender tale of second chances, new beginnings, and the countless forms love can take.

Visit Lindsay MacMillan's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Awake!: William Blake and the Power of the Imagination"

Coming September 1 from Hurst: Awake!: William Blake and the Power of the Imagination by Mark Vernon.

About the book, from the publisher:

In the 200 years since Blake's death, the visionary artist, poet and writer has become a household name, often beloved. Yet many struggle to comprehend his kaleidoscopic ideas; how they speak to human longings and the challenges of living in anxious times.

Philosopher and psychotherapist Mark Vernon provides a fresh route into Blake, taking him at his word. Exploring this brilliant thinker's passionate writings, arresting artworks and fascinating life, Vernon illuminates Blake's vivid worldview. Like us, he lived in a tumultuous era of war, discontent, rapid technological change, and human estrangement from nature. He exposed the dark sides of political fervour and social moralising, while unashamedly celebrating love and liberty. But he also conversed with prophets and angels, and was powerfully, if unconventionally, religious. If we take this seriously--not easy, in secular times--then Blake can help us to unlock the transformative power of imagination.

Written for both longstanding fans and unfamiliar readers, Awake! reveals Blake as an invigorating and hopeful guide for our modern age.

Visit Mark Vernon's website.

The Page 99 Test: Science, Religion and the Meaning of Life.

--Marshal Zeringue

"What We Left Unsaid"

Coming August 19 from Atria/Emily Bestler Books: What We Left Unsaid: A Novel by Winnie M Li.

About the book, from the publisher:

On an unexpected road trip, three estranged siblings uncover a startling family secret and larger truths about being Asian American in a post-COVID world—from the author of the “dazzling and devastating” (Chris Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author) thriller Complicit.

The Chu siblings haven’t seen each other in years but when they’re told that their ailing mother is scheduled for an operation next month, they agree to visit her together. Then their mother makes an odd request: before seeing her, they must go on a road trip together to the Grand Canyon.

Thirty years ago, a strange incident had aborted a previous family road trip there. No one’s ever really spoken about it, but during this journey, the middle-aged Chu siblings have no choice but to confront their childhood experience.

Together, Bonnie, Kevin, and Alex travel along Route 66—but as the trip continues, they realize the Great American Road Trip may not be what they expected. Facing their own prejudices and those of others, they somehow learn to bridge the distances between them, the present-day, and their past.

With “powerful and beautiful writing” (Sarah Pearse, New York Times bestselling author), Winnie M Li weaves an emotive and eye-opening exploration of family, race, growing up, and what it means to be American.

Visit Winnie M Li's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Saving Ourselves from Big Car"

Coming September 16 from Columbia Business School Publishing: Saving Ourselves from Big Car by David Obst.

About the book, from the publisher:

Cars are killing people and making the planet uninhabitable. Crashes take the lives of more than a million people around the world each year. Air pollution linked to motor vehicles contributes to even more untimely deaths. Highways and unsafe streets have devastated cities, yet traffic congestion still swallows up countless hours. And carbon emissions from transportation are a key driver of climate change, which now threatens to make the world unlivable. Why do we still worship at the altar of the car? How can we find alternatives that are healthier for the planet and ourselves?

This book exposes how “Big Car”―the complex of companies in the automobile, oil, insurance, media, and concrete industries that promote and entrench car dependence―has pursued profit at the expense of the common good. David Obst explores how Big Car gained almost immeasurable influence over our lives, weighing the benefits and the costs of reliance on private automobiles. He details how industry covered up the harms of lead additives, fought against seatbelts, and continues to fund climate-change denialism. Obst considers the future of mobility, surveying how cities―from Taipei to Tempe, Copenhagen to Chicago―are experimenting with forms of transportation that offer alternatives to the dominance of cars. Provocative and comprehensive, Saving Ourselves from Big Car is a powerful wake-up call for us to change how we use cars before it’s too late.

--Marshal Zeringue

"A Vow of Embers"

New from Montlake: A Vow of Embers (The Eye of the Goddess) by Sariah Wilson.

About the book, from the publisher:

A princess’s forced marriage to a dangerously seductive prince becomes a life-and-death alliance in an exhilarating adventure by Sariah Wilson, the USA Today bestselling author of A Tribute of Fire.

Lia is always prepared for battle, but being blackmailed into marriage by Prince Alexandros is a challenge too far. She has no choice. He’s holding her sister hostage to force her hand. But with this union built on betrayal and rage comes a contract. By the goddess’s law, the marriage must not be consummated. A relief to Lia. She’d rather commit regicide than fall into bed with a man she loathes.

There is one other saving grace. Marriage gives Lia access to the palace and a chance to uncover the truth about the treasured eye of the goddess―and the magic it holds. But something inexplicable and impossible to ignore soon binds Lia and the prince. By night they walk in each other’s dreams, and by day they share each other’s pain.

As longing and trust grow between Lia and Alexandros and inhibited desires are set free, outside forces rise against them, posing an ever-present danger. Not only to the throne but to their very lives.

Visit Sariah Wilson's website.

The Page 69 Test: A Tribute of Fire.

My Book, The Movie: A Tribute of Fire.

Q&A with Sariah Wilson.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Human Toll"

New from NYU Press: The Human Toll: Taxation and Slavery in Colonial America by Anthony C. Infanti.

About the book, from the publisher:

How the thirteen colonies deployed the power of taxation to support, promote, and perpetuate the institution of slavery

The Human Toll documents how the American colonies used tax law to dehumanize enslaved persons, taxing them alongside valuable commodities upon their forced arrival and then as wealth-generating assets in the hands of slaveholders. Anthony C. Infanti examines how taxation also proved to be an important component for subjugating and controlling enslaved persons, both through its shaping of the composition of new arrivals to the colonies and through its funding of financial compensation to slaveholders for the destruction of their “property” to ensure their cooperation in the administration of capital punishment. The variety of tax mechanisms chosen to fund slaveholder compensation payments conveyed messages about who was thought to benefit from―and, therefore, who should shoulder the burden of―slaveholder compensation while opening a revealing window into these colonial societies.

While the story of colonial tax law is intrinsically linked to advancing slavery and racism, Infanti reveals how several colonies used the power of taxation as a means of curtailing the slave trade. Though often self-interested, these efforts show how taxation can be used not only in the service of evil but also to correct societal injustices. Providing a fascinating account of slavery’s economic entrenchment through the history of American tax law, The Human Toll urges us to consider the lessons that fiscal history holds for those working in the reparations movement today.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Volatile Memory"

New from Tordotcom: Volatile Memory: The Volatile Memory Duology (Volume 1) by Seth Haddon.

About the book, from the publisher:

This is How You Lose the Time War meets Ex Machina: Seth Haddon's science fiction debut, Volatile Memory, is a sapphic sci-fi action adventure novella.

With nothing but a limping ship and an outdated mask to her name, Wylla needs a big pay day. When the alert goes out that a lucrative piece of tech lies hidden on a nearby planet, she calls on all the swiftness of her prey-animal instincts to beat other hunters to it.

What you found wasn’t your ticket out—it was my corpse wearing an AI mask. When you touched the mask, you heard my voice. A consciousness spinning through metal and circuits, a bodiless mind, spun to life in the HAWK’s temporary storage. I crystallized and realized: I was alive.

Masks aren't supposed to retain memory, much less identity, but the woman inside the MARK I HAWK is real, and she sees Wylla in a way no one ever has. Sees her, and doesn’t find her wanting or unwhole.

Armed with military-grade tech and a lifetime of staying one step ahead of the hunters, Wylla and HAWK set off to get answers from the man who discarded HAWK once before: her ex-husband.

Visit Seth Haddon's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Reinventing the American Thoroughbred"

New from the LSU Press: Reinventing the American Thoroughbred: The Arabian Adventures of Alexander Keene Richards by Gary A. O'Dell.

About the book, from the publisher:

Most equine authorities consider Alexander Keene Richards (1827–1881) one of the nineteenth century’s most significant Thoroughbred importers and breeders. Born in Georgetown, Kentucky, and orphaned as a toddler, Richards was adopted by his grandfather, from whom he inherited not only the family farm in Georgetown but also Transylvania, a cotton plantation in East Carroll Parish, Louisiana. Horses fascinated Richards from an early age, and as his passion deepened, he became convinced that the key to improving the stamina of the Thoroughbred, in an era when American racing consisted of grueling long-distance competitions, was to crossbreed American horses with the magnificent steeds of the Middle East.

As Reinventing the American Thoroughbred recounts, Richards traveled thousands of miles on expeditions into the heart of Syria to obtain Arabian stock of the purest blood. He became the first American―indeed the first Westerner―to venture into the desert to bargain directly with nomadic tribesmen for their horses. Richards transported the animals back to his grandfather’s farm near Georgetown, which he transformed into a premier breeding establishment called Blue Grass Park. He also used his Transylvania plantation in Louisiana for similar purposes. Richards relied on Ansel Williamson, an enslaved horse trainer, to prepare his Thoroughbreds for racing. Williamson developed a reputation as one of the best handlers in the nation.

The Civil War interrupted Richards’s equine breeding experiment. Dependent on southern cotton produced by enslaved labor for his wealth, Richards sided with the Confederacy and was appointed volunteer aide-de-camp by General John C. Breckinridge. During his brief military career, he served at Vicksburg and later in the attack on Baton Rouge. In late 1862, he received Breckinridge’s permission to travel to England to purchase artillery for the general’s Kentucky brigade. Richards remained in London for the remainder of the war, returning to the United States after receiving amnesty. Bankrupt, he spent the rest of his life attempting to rebuild Blue Grass Park as a nationally recognized Thoroughbred facility.

Richards’s life story, chronicled here for the first time by Gary A. O’Dell, is an epic tale of adventure, experimentation, and devastation that illuminates the grand history of the American Thoroughbred industry in fresh and fascinating ways.

Visit Gary A. O'Dell's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Maria La Divina"

Coming September 16 from Bellevue Literary Press: Maria La Divina by Jerome Charyn.

About the book, from the publisher:

An intimate portrait of the world’s most iconic opera singer

Maria Callas, called La Divina, is widely recognized as the greatest diva who ever lived. Jerome Charyn’s Callas springs to life as the headstrong, mercurial, and charismatic artist who captivated generations of fans, thrilling audiences with her brilliant performances and defiant personality.

Callas, an outsider from an impoverished background, was shunned by the Italian opera houses, but through sheer force of will and the power and range of her voice, she broke through the invisible wall to sing at La Scala and headline at the Metropolitan Opera, forging an unforgettable career. Adored by celebrities and statesmen, the notable and notorious alike, her every movement was shadowed by both music critics and gossip columnists—until, having lost her voice, she died alone in an opulent, mausoleum-like Paris apartment.

In Charyn’s inimitable style, Maria La Divina humanizes the celebrated diva, revealing the mythical artist as a woman who survived hunger, war, and loneliness to reach the heights of acclaim.

Visit Jerome Charyn's website.

The Page 69 Test: Under the Eye of God.

My Book, The Movie: Big Red.

Q&A with Jerome Charyn.

The Page 69 Test: Ravage & Son.

Writers Read: Jerome Charyn (August 2023).

--Marshal Zeringue

"Venice, the Ottomans, and the Sea"

New from Oxford University Press: Venice, the Ottomans, and the Sea (1381–1517) by Stefan K. Stantchev.

About the book, from the publisher:

The later Middle Ages and the early modern period were important and overlapping historical moments for both Venice and the Ottoman Empire, yet the two--both the periods themselves and the Republic and Empire more generally--have often been considered in isolation. Seeking to understand better this interrelated transition, Venice, the Ottomans, and the Sea offers for the first time an integrated view of trade and sea power that transcends the overworn paradigms of trade--the Ottoman territories as a land of opportunity--and crusade--the Ottomans as a military threat--to uncover the complex interplay between economic structures and political decision making that shaped the period between the end of Venice's most devastating war with Genoa in 1381 and the Ottoman conquest of Mamluk Egypt in 1517.

Drawing on the full range of available Venetian sources, as well as Ottoman, Genoese, Florentine, and papal materials, the book clarifies the trajectory of Venice's trade with the Ottomans, the evolution of Venetian defensive measures in the Balkans and of Venetian naval warfare, Venice's attempt to aid the Byzantine Empire in 1453, the dynamics of the Venetian-Ottoman war of 1463-79, and the interconnections between Venice's social and political structures and its Italian and Ottoman politics. In so doing, it offers a comprehensive analysis of Venetian-Ottoman relations, ranging from macro to micro scales, and across matters of economic, political, and military history. From a broader Mediterranean perspective, this highlights the intersections of political, social, economic, and technological factors behind accelerated historical change in the late medieval and early modern periods and offers a case study in the ways in which a Mediterranean elite maintained its privileged position over time.

The Page 99 Test: Spiritual Rationality.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Too Old for This"

Coming August 12 from Berkley: Too Old for This by Samantha Downing.

About the book, from the publisher:

A retired serial killer’s quiet life is upended by an unexpected visitor. To protect her secret, there’s only one option left—what’s another murder? From bestselling author Samantha Downing.

Lottie Jones thought her crimes were behind her.

Decades earlier, she changed her identity and tucked herself away in a small town. Her most exciting nights are the weekly bingo games at the local church and gossiping with her friends.

When investigative journalist Plum Dixon shows up on her doorstep asking questions about Lottie’s past and specifically her involvement with numerous unsolved cases, well, Lottie just can’t have that.

But getting away with murder is hard enough when you’re young. And when Lottie receives another annoying knock on the door, she realizes this crime might just be the death of her…

Visit Samantha Downing's website.

The Page 69 Test: My Lovely Wife.

The Page 69 Test: He Started It.

The Page 69 Test: For Your Own Good.

The Page 69 Test: A Twisted Love Story.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Empowering Workers in an Age of Automation"

New from Oxford University Press: Empowering Workers in an Age of Automation: Social Justice, Technology, and the Future of Work by Tom Parr.

About the book, from the publisher:

Empowering Workers in an Age of Automation explores how labour market policymakers should respond to the threats and opportunities that arise from automation, artificial intelligence, and other forms of technological progress. The book's aim is twofold. First, it is to develop and defend a novel philosophical framework for theorizing about the demands of social justice in the labour market, which Parr calls 'the empowerment model'. At the heart of this view is a concern for fairness and, more specifically, a concern for the growing inequality in prospects between members of the working-class and their middle- and upper-class counterparts. Second, it is to examine a range of concrete political controversies relating to labour markets and the future of work in the light of the empowerment model. The analysis presented is wide-ranging, and includes discussion of technological unemployment, the four day work week, the gender earnings gap, working from home, and role of higher education.

Throughout the text, Parr is keen to caution against sensationalist narratives, and instead emphasizes the more prosaic but still hugely consequential ways in which technology is changing how we work. To do this, he draws on a wealth of empirical research, and extensively from findings in labour economics. The result is a book that takes seriously, and aims to shed light on, some of the most pressing challenges that we actually face.

Visit Tom Parr's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Salt Bones"

Coming soon from Mulholland Books: Salt Bones: A Novel by Jennifer Givhan.

About the book, from the publisher:

At the edge of the Salton Sea, in the blistering borderlands, something is out hunting...

Malamar Veracruz has never left the dust-choked town of El Valle. Here, Mal has done her best to build a good life: She’s raised two children, worked hard, and tried to forget the painful, unexplained disappearance of her sister, Elena. When another local girl goes missing, Mal plunges into a fresh yet familiar nightmare. As a desperate Mal hunts for answers, her search becomes increasingly tangled with inscrutable visions of a horse-headed woman, a local legend who Mal feels compelled to follow. Mal’s perspective is joined by the voices of her two daughters, all three of whom must work to uncover the truth about the missing girls in their community before it's too late.

Combining elements of Latina and Indigenous culture, family drama, mystery, horror, and magical realism in a spellbinding mix, Salt Bones lays bare the realities of environmental catastrophe, family secrets, and the unrelenting bond between mothers and daughters.

Visit Jennifer Givhan's website.

The Page 69 Test: River Woman, River Demon.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Province of All Mankind"

New from Cornell University Press: The Province of All Mankind: How Outer Space Became American Foreign Policy by Stephen Buono.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Province of All Mankind is the story of a powerful idea about the cosmos. Born in the science-fiction literature of the nineteenth century and maturing in the Age of Apollo, this idea held that outer space should be preserved as a "sanctuary" from human strife, free from weapons, warfare, and political rivalry. If humanity could somehow leave violence behind as it moved into space, perhaps peace would finally reign.

Bucking a half-century of "space race" scholarship, Stephen Buono argues that despite waging a totalizing Cold War, the United States achieved stunning diplomatic successes that heralded the cosmos as a realm of peace and cooperation. The early story of space politics is not primarily one of militarization, but rather of political prescience and restraint. The Province of All Mankind demonstrates that space became a unique domain of American foreign relations and international law, and provides lessons for the Second Cold War unfolding over the horizon.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Night Sparrow"

New from Harper Perennial: The Night Sparrow: A Novel by Shelly Sanders.

About the book, from the publisher:

For fans of Kate Quinn and The Nightingale, a gripping story of a young Jewish girl who joins an elite Russian sniper unit and embarks on a mission targeting the highest prize of World War II: Adolph Hitler.

With the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, Elena Bruskina’s world collapses. The ambitious university student and her Jewish family are quickly forced into the Minsk ghetto where thousands are immediately murdered, including her father and brother. Then her younger sister is publicly executed on false charges and her mother is shot. Alone with her grief, Elena escapes the ghetto, determined to avenge her family’s deaths.

Heading to Moscow, she enrolls in the Red Army’s newly created Central Women’s Sniper Training School. After rigorous training, she becomes a member of an all-female sniper platoon, a community of brave young women willing to give their lives to defend their country. Then Elena is chosen for a secret mission—a daring and highly dangerous plan to capture the face of evil itself: Hitler.

Inspired by the real-life female snipers and interpreters in the Red Army during World War II, The Night Sparrow is a portrait of friendship, resilience, courage, and sacrifice under extraordinary circumstances.

Visit Shelly Sanders's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Hollywood Dance-ins and the Reproduction of Bodies"

New from Oxford University Press: Hollywood Dance-ins and the Reproduction of Bodies by Anthea Kraut.

About the book, from the publisher:

Hollywood Dance-ins and the Reproduction of Bodies proposes that a figure who barely registers in film studies or dance studies offers valuable insight into ideas about "the body" and the reproductive labor that gives rise to images of bodies. The book is the first scholarly study of the dance-in, a dancer who executes a star's choreography as cameras are being focused and lights are being set. While they share similarities with doubles and stand-ins, dance-ins do not replace stars' bodies on screen and they often serve multiple unseen roles, including as choreographers' assistants and stars' coaches, making them vital to the creation and transmission of choreography.

Focusing on dance-ins in mid-twentieth century Hollywood, when film musicals and the studio system were at their height, author Anthea Kraut exposes the racialized and gendered "corporeal ecosystem" that operated behind the scenes, propping up and concealed behind the seeming self-referentiality of white stars' filmic dancing bodies. A production history informed by feminist materialist approaches to labor and critical race theory, Hollywood Dance-ins tells the stories of the 1940s white pin-up star Betty Grable's dependence on her white dance-in Angie Blue; the African American jazz dancer Marie Bryant's private coaching of a myriad of stars in the late 1940s and early 1950s; Carol Haney and Jeanne Coyne's training of the white ingénue Debbie Reynolds for Singin' in the Rain (1952); the Mexican American dancer Alex Romero's close partnership with the white star Gene Kelly; and the biracial star Nancy Kwan's on- and off-screen exchanges with a white production team and Asian/American ensemble members in Flower Drum Song (1961).

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Payback"

New from Atria Books: The Payback: A Novel by Kashana Cauley.

About the book, from the publisher:

When Jada Williams is relentlessly pursued by the Debt Police, she is left with no choice but to take down her student loan company with the help of two mall coworkers—from the author of the “lethally witty” (The New York Times Book Review) The Survivalists.

Jada Williams is good at judging people by their looks. From across the mall, she can tell not only someone’s inseam and pants size, but exactly what style they need to transform their life. Too bad she’s no longer using this superpower as a wardrobe designer to Hollywood stars, but for minimum wage plus commission at the Glendale mall.

When Jada is fired yet again, she is forced to outrun the newly instated Debt Police who are out for blood. But Jada, like any great antihero, is not going to wait for the cops to come kick her around. With the help of two other debt-burdened mall coworkers, she hatches a plan for revenge. Together the three women plan a heist to erase their student loans forever and get back at the system that promised them everything and then tried to take it back.

“A novel of great fun and unforgettable fury” (Megha Majumdar, bestselling author of A Burning) The Payback is a razor-sharp and hilarious dissection of race, power, and the daily grind, from one of the most original and exciting writers at work today.

Visit Kashana Cauley's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Heaven Has a Wall"

New from the University of Chicago Press: Heaven Has a Wall: Religion, Borders, and the Global United States by Elizabeth Shakman Hurd.

About the book, from the publisher:

An urgent exploration of borders as sacred objects in American culture.

Our national conversation about the border has taken a religious turn. When televangelists declare, “Heaven has a wall,” activists shout back, “Jesus was a refugee.” For Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, the standoff makes explicit a longstanding truth: borders are religious as well as political objects.

In this book, Hurd argues that Americans share a bipartisan border religion, complete with an array of beliefs and practices, including a reverence for national security, a liturgy for immigration, and an eschatological foreign policy. Through an analysis of the many ways the United States creates, enforces, and ignores borders at home and abroad, Hurd offers a bold new perspective on the ties that bind American religion, politics, and public life.

Visit Elizabeth Shakman Hurd's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Death of an Ex"

New from Minotaur Books: Death of an Ex: A Vandy Myrick Mystery (Volume 2) by Delia Pitts.

About the book, from the publisher:

Delia Pitts expertly writes about family, race, class, and grief in her mysteries. Vandy Myrick captured readers' and critics' hearts in Trouble in Queenstown. She returns in Death of an Ex, where Vandy tries to piece together what brought her ex-husband's life to an end.

Queenstown, New Jersey, feels big when you need help and tiny when you want privacy. For Vandy Myrick, that’s both a blessing and a curse. Now that Vandy’s back in “Q-Town,” her services as her hometown’s only Black woman private investigator have earned her more celebrity—or notoriety—than she figured.

Keeping busy with work helps Vandy deal with the grief of losing her daughter, stitching the seams, cementing the gaps. The memories will always remain, and they come crashing back to the surface when her ex-husband, Phil Bolden, walks back into her life. Promising everything, returning home, restoring family. Until she answers her door to the news that Phil has been murdered. And Vandy decides Phil is now her client.

It’s hard to separate the Phil that Vandy knew from the one Queenstown did. She sees him—and their daughter—in Phil’s son, who attends a prestigious local high school. She sees the layers of a complicated marriage with his wife. She sees all of Phil’s various roles: parent, husband, businessman, philanthropist. But which role got him killed?

Visit Delia Pitts's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Aviator and the Showman"

New from Viking Books: The Aviator and the Showman: Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and the Marriage that Made an American Icon by Laurie Gwen Shapiro.

About the book, from the publisher:

While the persistent mystery of Amelia Earhart's death may remain unsolved, her inspiring life and accompanying partnership with George Putnam is a treat. Shapiro's account brings new light to the life these two shared.

The riveting and cinematic story of a partnership that would change the world forever

In 1928, a young social worker and hobby pilot named Amelia Earhart arrived in the office of George Putnam, heir to the Putnam & Sons throne and hitmaker, on the hunt for the right woman for a secret flying mission across the Atlantic. A partnership—professional and soon otherwise—was born.

The Aviator and the Showman unveils the untold story of Amelia's decade-long marriage to George Putnam, offering an intimate exploration of their relationship and the pivotal role it played in her enduring legacy. Despite her outwardly modest and humble image, Amelia was fiercely driven and impossibly brave, a lifelong feminist and trailblazer in her personal and professional life. Putnam, the so-called “PT Barnum of publishing” was a bookselling visionary—but often pushed his authors to extreme lengths in the name of publicity, and no one bore that weight more than Amelia. Their ahead-of-its time partnership supported her grand ambitions—but also pressed her into more and more treachero's stunts to promote her books, influencing a certain recklessness up to and including her final flight.

Earhart is a captivating figure to many, but the truth about her life is often overshadowed by myth and legend. In this cinematic new account, Laurie Gwen Shapiro emphasizes Earhart’s multifaceted human side, her struggles, and her authentic aspirations, the truths behind her brave pursuits and the compromises she made to fit into societal expectations. Drawing from a trove of new sources including undiscovered audio interviews, The Aviator and the Showman is a gripping and passionate tale of adventure, colorful characters, hubris, and a complex and a vivid portrait of a marriage that shaped the trajectory of an iconic life.

Visit Laurie Gwen Shapiro's website.c The Page 99 Test: The Stowaway.

Writers Read: Laurie Gwen Shapiro (January 2018).

My Book, The Movie: The Stowaway.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Mrs. Plansky Goes Rogue"

New from Forge Books: Mrs. Plansky Goes Rogue by Spencer Quinn.

About the book, from the publisher:

This tale of the irresistible and unforgettable Mrs. Plansky, "a terrific character" (Stephen King), will lead her up and down coastal Florida and beyond in a brand-new, whirlwind adventure, Mrs. Plansky Goes Rogue!

Mrs. Plansky is fresh off of winning a thrilling senior tennis championship with her doubles partner, Kev Dinardo, and is gearing up to celebrate with him on his yacht. That is, until the yacht is destroyed in a fire. Kev claims the fire was caused by a lightning strike, pure bad luck, but there's one small problem—Mrs. Plansky didn't see any lightning.

Already certain there's more going on than she's being told, Mrs. Plansky's curiosity turns to concern when Kev goes missing. Her suspicion gets the better of her and leads her to break into his house, only to find it ransacked.

But Kev isn't the only person Mrs. Plansky has to worry about. A conversation with her dad reveals that not long ago, he'd introduced Kev to Jack, Mrs. Plansky's wayward tennis pro son. And now, her dad—distracted by arrangements for his upcoming wedding—either can't remember or has no interest in divulging any details.

Worse? Now Jack has gone missing, too.

Visit Spencer Quinn's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Peter Abrahams and Audrey (September 2011).

Coffee with a Canine: Peter Abrahams and Pearl (August 2012).

The Page 69 Test: The Dog Who Knew Too Much.

The Page 69 Test: Paw and Order.

The Page 69 Test: Scents and Sensibility.

The Page 69 Test: Bow Wow.

The Page 69 Test: Heart of Barkness.

Q&A with Spencer Quinn.

The Page 69 Test: A Farewell to Arfs.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Wired Wisdom"

New from the University of Chicago Press: Wired Wisdom: How to Age Better Online by Eszter Hargittai and John Palfrey.

About the book, from the publisher:

A surprising window into the online lives of people sixty and over—offering essential insights, no matter your age.

Many popular accounts say the older you are, the greater your tech struggles. And it’s worrying to think of loved ones emailing cringe-worthy misinformation, falling for phishing attacks, or becoming lonelier with increasing time spent online.

But in their eye-opening book on the internet’s fastest-growing demographic, researchers Eszter Hargittai and John Palfrey offer a more nuanced picture—debunking common myths about older adults’ internet use to offer hope and a necessary call to action. Incorporating original interviews and survey results from thousands of people sixty and over, Wired Wisdom shows that many, in fact, use technology in ways that put younger peers to shame. Over-sixties are often nimble online and quicker to abandon social media platforms that don’t meet their needs. Despite being targeted more often, they also may be less likely to fall for scams than younger peers. And fake news actually fools fewer people over sixty, who have far more experience evaluating sources and detecting propaganda. Still, there are unseen risks and missed opportunities for this group. Hargittai and Palfrey offer practical advice and show that our stereotypes can be hurdles that keep us from building intergenerational support communities, helping loved ones adopt new technology that may improve their lives, and thriving together online.

Visit Eszter Hargittai's website and John Palfrey's blog.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Greenwich"

Coming soon from St. Martin's Press: Greenwich: A Novel by Kate Broad.

About the book, from the publisher:

Summer, 1999. Rachel Fiske is almost eighteen when she arrives at her aunt and uncle’s mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut. Her glamorous aunt is struggling to heal from an injury, and Rachel wants to help―and escape her own troubles back home. But her aunt is oddly spacey and her uncle is consumed with business, and Rachel feels lonely and adrift, excluded from the world of adults and their secrets. The only bright spot is Claudia, a recent college graduate, aspiring artist, and the live-in babysitter for Rachel’s cousin. As summer deepens, Rachel eagerly hopes their friendship might grow into more.

But when a tragic accident occurs, Rachel must make a pivotal choice. Caught between her desire to do the right thing and to protect her future, she’s the only one who knows what really happened―and her decision has consequences far beyond what she could have predicted.

A riveting debut novel for readers of Celeste Ng and Liane Moriarty, Greenwich explores the nature of desire and complicity against the backdrop of immense wealth and privilege, the ways that whiteness and power protect their own, and the uneasy moral ambiguity of redemption.

Visit Kate Broad's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Joseph Smith"

New from Yale University Press: Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet by John G. Turner.

About the book, from the publisher:

From an award-winning biographer, a riveting and deeply researched portrait of Mormonism’s charismatic founder

Joseph Smith Jr. (1805–1844) was one of the most successful and controversial religious leaders of nineteenth-century America, publishing the Book of Mormon and starting what would become the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He built temples, founded a city-state in Illinois, ran for president, and married more than thirty women. This self-made prophet thrilled his followers with his grand vision of peace and unity, but his increasingly grandiose plans tested and sometimes shattered their faith.

In this vivid biography, John G. Turner presents Smith as a consummate religious entrepreneur and innovator, a man both flawed and compelling. He sold books, land, and merchandise. And he relentlessly advanced doctrines that tapped into anxieties about the nature and meaning of salvation, the validity of miracles, the timing of Christ’s second coming, and the persistence of human relationships for eternity. His teachings prompted people to gather into communities, evoking fierce opposition from those who saw those communities as theocratic threats to republicanism.

With insights from newly accessible diaries, church records, and transcripts of sermons, Turner illuminates Smith’s stunning trajectory, from his beginnings as an uneducated, impoverished farmhand to his ultimate fall at the hands of a murderous mob, revealing how he forged a religious tradition that has resonated with millions of people in the United States and beyond.

Visit John G. Turner's website.

The Page 99 Test: They Knew They Were Pilgrims.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Both Things Are True"

Coming September 1 from Lake Union: Both Things Are True: A Novel by Kathleen Barber.

About the book, from the publisher:

For two exes who meet again, moving on is harder than ever in a funny and heartfelt romantic comedy about starting over by the author of Truth Be Told, now a major Apple TV+ series.

Vanessa is a yoga influencer living high in New York. But after her crypto-entrepreneur fiancé ruins both their lives by fleeing the country amid fraud allegations, Vanessa’s only choice is to start over―by flying home to Chicago and moving in with her sister.

Just as Vanessa puts her life back together, she bumps into Sam. Years ago, they fell hard and too fast. Their relationship ended in heartbreak after an impromptu Las Vegas wedding officiated by a Dolly Parton impersonator―and an annulment that was just as sudden. Now Sam is co-owner of a solar company with a promising future, a future Vanessa wants to be included in. But she can’t shake the whiff of scandal from her AWOL fiancé, and to protect Sam’s reputation, she’s keeping her distance. Then again…

If anyone can turn a negative into a positive―and a first love into a second chance―it’s a young woman with influence.

The Page 69 Test: Follow Me.

Writers Read: Kathleen Barber (March 2020).

12 Yoga Questions with Kathleen Barber.

Visit Kathleen Barber's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Immaculate Misconceptions"

New from Oxford University Press: Immaculate Misconceptions: A Black Mariology by Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones.

About the book, from the publisher:

'Mary is Black.’ Immaculate Misconceptions: A Black Mariology begins with this claim to challenge how Christian thinking of salvation, possibility, and identity are challenged when we rethink assumptions about race, gender, and divine significance through the lens of the Virgin Mary, and specifically, through a return to the Black Madonna.

A layered journey is offered through art, theology, and culture to consider a theology arising from the condition of the Black Mother, a theology following the condition of the Black Madonna, a theology for the consideration of all those who pursue justice and life at the spiritual intersections of the world, questioning the 'legislative doctrine' around our perceptions of Mary as the mother of God, and extending conversations forward to consider the what else of life.

Immaculate Misconceptions considers how Christian collusion with colonialism, capitalism, and anti-Blackness have worked theologically to deny Blackness from the realms of the sacred. Through the lens of art and icon, the treatise thinks through Black women's reproductive legacies, and revisits the figure of the Black Madonna, as a necessary return to the womb as hush harbor, birth as liturgy, and Black life as holy.

Visit Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"All Because of You"

Coming soon from Thomas & Mercer: All Because of You: A Novel by Lissa Lovik.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this thrilling debut, author Lissa Lovik plumbs the murky depths of a man’s mind as he insinuates himself into the life of the woman he’s determined to have and to hold . . . forever.

For Chris, it’s love at first sight. After their grocery store meet-cute, it’s easy to get her name from a fallen receipt: Serena. A quick online search reveals Serena’s status (single mom), address, and workplace. And once he discovers she’s a Realtor, Chris schedules a house showing right away. But he isn’t pushy―he’ll wait to ask her out.

In the meantime, he’ll just watch. And listen in. He wants to learn everything about her, so he can make her happy. It’s not creepy; it’s true love.

From their first date, their relationship is perfect. But Serena’s best friend keeps getting in the way. She thinks he’s just a friend, but Chris knows better. He knows better about a lot of things. Keeping her in line is getting harder, but their love is worth the effort.

The stars aligned when Chris and Serena met in that Winn-Dixie. And they’re going to be happy together . . . even if it kills them.

Visit Lissa Lovik's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Politics of Public Pensions"

New from Columbia University Press: The Politics of Public Pensions: Parties, State Governments, and Unions by Carolyn Abott.

About the book, from the publisher:

This book is a nuanced and comprehensive account of the intricate politics surrounding public sector pensions, an issue that has become increasingly contentious in recent years. Drawing from an array of case studies and theoretical perspectives, it delves into how public sector pensions are negotiated, structured, and sustained, revealing the consequences for governance, labor relations, and public policy.

Carolyn Abott examines the historical development of public sector pensions, emphasizing the sociopolitical factors that have shaped their evolution and the ongoing debates about their sustainability. She uncovers the political and economic considerations that influence pension policy, highlighting the tensions among public employees, governments, and taxpayers. Abott also addresses the broader implications for economic inequality and intergenerational equity, offering a distinctive perspective on the intersection of public finance and political power.

The Politics of Public Pensions concludes with recommendations for reform that balance the needs of retirees with the fiscal realities faced by governments, providing a roadmap for a sustainable and equitable future. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods, this rigorous book delivers essential insights for policy makers, scholars, and anyone interested in public finance.

--Marshal Zeringue

"American Sky"

New from Lake Union: American Sky: A Novel by Carolyn Dasher.

About the book, from the publisher:

Three generations of indomitable women navigate life on their terms in an epic and inspiring historical novel about love and war, family secrets, and mothers and daughters finding the freedom to fly.

It’s 1943. The war rages. The newly launched WASP program is recruiting. And barnstormer fan Georgeanne “George” Ector’s dream is to take to the skies. Grit is what she inherited from her mother, an Oklahoma farm girl at the turn of the century who preferred taking apart an engine to stitching linens for a hope chest. She taught her daughter well. George isn’t the only woman about to follow her calling.

Vivian Shaw, so similar to George they’re like sisters, also longs for a career flying the fastest planes in the American arsenal. For a time, George and Vivian triumph. But at war’s end, the adventurous women are grounded by the expectations of others: to get married, have children, and raise a family. Vivian has other plans. So, eventually, do George’s daughters, Ruth and Ivy, who embark on very different paths of their own.

Three generations of women staring down a vast horizon of possibilities are determined to navigate whatever comes their way―from the hardships of war and home to love and loss, and to the fallout of a long-held secret that could change their lives forever.

Visit Carolyn Dasher's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Test, Measure, Punish"

New from NYU Press: Test, Measure, Punish: How the Threat of Closure Harms Students, Destroys Teachers, and Fails Schools by Erin Michaels.

About the book, from the publisher:

The risk of closure and repression in schools

In the last two decades, education officials have closed a rising number of public schools nationwide related to low performance. These schools are mainly located in neglected neighborhoods with high concentrations of poverty. Despite this credible threat of closure, relatively few individual schools threatened with closure for low performance in the United States are actually shut down. Yet, as Erin Michaels argues, the looming threat is ever present. Test, Measure, Punish critically shifts the focus from school shutdowns to the more typical situation within these strained public schools: operating under persistent risk of closure.

Many K-12 schools today face escalating sanctions if they do not improve according to repressive state mandates, which, in turn, incentivize schools to put into place nonstop test drills and strict student conduct rules. Test, Measure, Punish traces how threats of school closure have distorted education to become more punitive which disproportionately impacts―even targets―Black and Latinx communities and substantially hurts student social development. This book addresses how these new punitive schooling conditions for troubled schools reproduce racial inequalities.

Michaels centers her research in a suburban upstate New York high school serving mainly working-class Black and Latinx students. She reveals a new model of schooling based on testing and security regimes that expands the carceral state, making the students feel dejected, criminalized, and suspicious of the system, their peers, and themselves. Test, Measure, Punish offers a new theory of schooling inequality and shows in vivid detail why state-led school reforms represent a new level of racialized citizenship in an already fragmented public education system.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Difficult Girls"

New from Delacorte Press: Difficult Girls by Veronica Bane.

About the book, from the publisher:

A teen girl’s attempt at social reinvention takes a deadly turn when a co-worker disappears—and she learns she may have been the last person to see the missing girl—in this razor-sharp, murderously funny thriller debut.

After the incident last year, Greta Riley Green is looking for reinvention—a fresh start—and a job at Hyper Kid Magic Land, the local amusement park, seems like the perfect way to forge a new path . . . no matter what it takes.

So when fate pulls Greta into Mercy Goodwin’s orbit, it feels like things are looking up. Beautiful and confident, Mercy dazzles audiences daily. And at the first party of the summer, she picks Greta to confide in. Mercy has a secret to share, if Greta will just meet her the next day. It’s a sign that Greta’s truly fitting in.

Only, when the time comes, Mercy is a no-show—as she is everyday after that—and Greta knows something’s wrong. She can’t help thinking back to the night of the party. Did Mercy seem upset? Terrified, even? Could she be in trouble? It wouldn’t be the first time a talented young performer came to a sinister end at Hyper Kid....

Of course, Greta has her own issues with the past, and the more she uncovers Hyper Kid’s secrets, the more her own threaten to surface. This job was meant to be a reboot, a summer without trouble. But trouble, it seems, finds Greta, and her past—and the bloody past of Hyper Kid—is about to catch up with her.

Visit Veronica Bane's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Great Disruption"

New from Cambridge University Press: The Great Disruption: How Geopolitics is Changing Companies, Managers, and Work by Srividya Jandhyala.

About the book, from the publisher:

In an era marked by new challenges – from trade wars and sanctions, to supply chain disruptions and political instability – understanding the relationship between geopolitics and business is more crucial than ever. How are companies impacted and why should they care? This book explores how geopolitical shifts, including the rise of China, the US-China tech competition, and regional conflicts, affect markets, industries, companies, managers, and employees. Uncovering the structural changes reshaping the global business environment, the business risks from an increasing national security focus, and the implications of trade wars and global conflicts on innovation, Srividya Jandhyala offers practical strategies and skills for managers and employees to manage these risks. With a focus on real world case studies and actionable insights for businesses, The Great Disruption is as an essential resource, offering a roadmap for companies to navigate an evolving but unpredictable global business landscape.

Visit Srividya Jandhyala's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Lightning in a Mason Jar"

New from Lake Union: Lightning in a Mason Jar: A Novel by Catherine Mann.

About the book, from the publisher:

In South Carolina, a woman discovers her aunt’s profound secrets in an emotional novel spanning decades about trauma, survival, and the bonds of female friendship by a USA Today bestselling author.

Since Bailey Rae Rigby’s adoptive aunt Winnie passed, Bent Oak, South Carolina, doesn’t have much of a hold on her anymore. So it seems.

Bailey Rae aims to settle the small estate and, armed with her aunt’s inspiring personal cookbook, buy a food truck with an ocean view in Myrtle Beach. Everything goes awry when a distraught young mother arrives in town clutching a copy of that same cookbook. Embedded inside is a code that promises a safe place in Bent Oak for desperate women on the run. For Bailey Rae it opens up a world of questions. Who really was the beloved aunt she’s known most of her life?

Winnie Ballard’s story reaches back fifty years―one of a Southern debutante’s harrowing marriage, of her escape and reinvention, and the galvanizing friendship of three resilient women who overcame their traumas, created a shelter, and found purpose. But there’s more to Winnie’s deliverance and long-held secrets than Bailey Rae imagines.

With each revelation, Bailey Rae draws on her aunt’s courage to find purpose herself. For now, whatever threats may come, Bailey Rae isn’t going anywhere.

Visit Catherine Mann's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"State of Ridicule"

New from Princeton University Press: State of Ridicule: A History of Satire in English Literature by Dan Sperrin.

About the book, from the publisher:

A history of political satire in English literature from its Roman foundations to the present day

Satire is a funny, aggressive, and largely oppositional literature which is typically created by people who refuse to participate in a given regime’s perception of itself. Although satire has always been a primary literature of state affairs, and although it has always been used to intervene in ongoing discussions about political theory and practice, there has been no attempt to examine this fascinating and unusual literature across the full chronological horizon. In State of Ridicule, Dan Sperrin provides the first ever longue durée history of political satire in British literature. He traces satire’s many extended and discontinuous trajectories through time while also chronicling some of the most inflamed and challenging political contexts within which it has been written.

Sperrin begins by describing the Roman foundations and substructures of British satire, paying particularly close attention to the core Roman canon: Horace, Persius, and Juvenal. He then proceeds chronologically, populating the branches of satire’s family tree with such figures as Chaucer, Jonson, Dryden, Swift, Pope, and Dickens, as well as a whole series of writers who are now largely forgotten. Satire, Sperrin shows, can be a literature of explicit statements and overt provocation—but it can also be notoriously indirect, oblique, suggestive, and covert, complicated by an author’s anonymity or pseudonymity. Sperrin meticulously analyses the references to transient political events that may mystify the contemporary reader. He also presents vivid and intriguing pen portraits of the satirists themselves along the way. Sperrin argues that if satire is to be contended with and reflected upon in all its provocative complexity—and if it is to be seen as anything more than a literature of political vandalism—then we must explore the full depth and intrigue of its past. This book offers a new starting point for our intellectual and imaginative contact with an important and fascinating kind of literature.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Daikon"

New from Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster: Daikon: A Novel by Samuel Hawley.

About the book, from the publisher:

A sweeping and suspenseful novel of love and war, set in Japan during the final days of World War II, with a shocking historical premise: three atomic bombs were actually delivered to the Pacific—not two—and when one of them falls into the hands of the Japanese, the fate of a couple that has been separated from one another becomes entangled with the fate of this terrifying new device.

War has taken everything from physicist Keizo Kan. His young daughter was killed in the Great Tokyo Air Raid, and now his Japanese American wife, Noriko, has been imprisoned by the brutal Thought Police. An American bomber, downed over Japan on the first day of August 1945, offers the scientist a surprising chance at salvation. The Imperial Army dispatches him to examine an unusual device recovered from the plane’s wreckage—a bomb containing uranium—and tells him that if he can unlock its mysteries, his wife will be released.

Working in secrecy under crushing pressure, Kan begins to disassemble the bomb and study its components. One of his assistants falls ill after mishandling the uranium, but his alarming deterioration, and Kan’s own symptoms, are ignored by the commanding officer demanding results. Desperate to stave off Japan’s surrender to the Allies, the army will stop at nothing to harness the weapon’s unimaginable power. They order Kan to prepare the bomb for manual detonation over a target—a suicide mission that will strike a devastating blow against the Americans. Kan is soon confronted with a series of agonizing decisions that will test his courage, his loyalty, and his very humanity.

An extraordinary debut novel that is the result of twenty-seven years of work by its author, Daikon is a gripping and powerfully moving saga that calls to mind such classics as Cold Mountain. It is set amid the chaos and despair of the world’s third largest city lying in ruins, its population starving and its leadership under escalating assault from without and within. Here is a haunting epic of love, survival, and impossible choices that introduces a singular new voice on the literary landscape.

Visit Samuel Hawley's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Nightcrawlers"

New from the University of California Press: The Nightcrawlers: A Story of Worms, Cows, and Cash in the Underground Bait Industry by Joshua Steckley.

About the book, from the publisher:

How does a banal earthworm become a valuable commodity? Lumbricus terrestris, otherwise known as the Canadian nightcrawler, is the most popular live bait used by recreational anglers throughout the world. Each year, as many as seven hundred million worms are handpicked from Ontario farmland for the bait market, earning the region the undisputed title of worm capital of the world. The Nightcrawlers goes deep into the empirical underground to see how capital confronts a diverse cast of human and nonhuman characters: stubborn worms, wealthy dairy farmers and their precious cow manure, immigrant pickers laboring at night, and worm wholesalers who undercut each other through tax fraud and money laundering. This eccentric tale of worms, cows, and cash reveals the inherent contradictions in capitalism's attempts to commodify the living world—including the soil organisms that are inches beneath our feet.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Myth Maker"

New from Crooked Lane Books: The Myth Maker: A Novel by Alie Dumas-Heidt.

About the book, from the publisher:

Someone is killing women and staging their bodies in strange, evocative scenes in this Greek-mythology-inspired serial killer thriller perfect, for fans of Alex Michaelides and Tana French.

Cassidy Cantwell has devoted her life to becoming a detective, never forgetting the cold case that has influenced her entire career: the unsolved murder of her best friend. Cassidy tries to balance her demanding job with her suffocatingly close-knit family and her increasingly clingy boyfriend, but when a strange new murder case comes across her desk, she’s determined to solve it, especially when it turns out the victim was the wife of her college ex-boyfriend.

While Cassidy’s partner, Bryan, works to prove that her ex is their suspect, Cassidy can’t shake the feeling that there’s something more to the case that they’re not seeing. After the medical examiner finds a strange ring among the victim’s personal effects that the husband insists didn’t belong to his wife, Cassidy is struck by similarly odd details from a previous crime scene—details that seem to have an uncanny connection to a Greek myth.

When another body attracts public attention and the FBI joins the hunt, the case gets increasingly complicated–and solving it seems further and further out of reach. With anonymous taunts about her best friend’s death dragging her attention away, Cassidy finds herself pulled in different directions–sacrifice her personal life for the sake of her career, or put everything she has into finding years-old answers to a case that haunts her still.

And the killer behind the murders isn’t done yet.

Visit Alie Dumas-Heidt's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Gender Mobility"

New from Oxford University Press: Gender Mobility: 7 Ideas about Gender in the New Testament Period by Susan Hylen.

About the book, from the publisher:

What if our long-held understandings of gender have less historical basis than we imagine?

The gender norms and sexual distinctions of the first century world that produced the New Testament were not strictly binary, as we might think. Although some ancient writers did indeed contrast male and female attributes, other social norms created considerable overlap between men and women.

In Gender Mobility, Susan E. Hylen argues that the Roman gender order was definitively non-binary. She makes a compelling case that freeborn men, freeborn women, freed men, freed women, enslaved men, and enslaved women all constituted different genders. Further, specifically non-binary genders like eunuchs held a place within Roman gender norms and systems. And the possibility that some people could change gender -- what Hylen calls "gender mobility" -- was a standard feature of the period.

Hylen also shows that, for the most part, gender options were not freely chosen, and moreover that gender norms were dominated by familiar forms of oppression -- a social domination that favored freeborn men and women over other groups. In this way, Hylen redirects our contemporary thinking about gender roles to the ancient past, while simultaneously opening our imaginations to other ways that societies have constructed gender. This thought-provoking book serves our own current moment as we continue to debate gender norms and the institutions that maintain them.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Dirty Version"

New from Harper Perennial: The Dirty Version: A Novel by Turner Gable Kahn.

About the book, from the publisher:

Heat rises and sparks fly when a surf-town author and an intimacy coordinator are thrown together to write new, steamy sex scenes for a TV series based on her hit novel in this deliciously fun debut romance.

Tash was thrilled when the dramatic rights to her surprise-hit feminist novel were snapped up by an indie film studio. But no one warned her that a Hollywood shuffle could land her smart, literary epic in the hands of a huge action-movie franchise director more famous for his machismo than his artistry.

And now this big shot director wants “the dirty version” of her book, demanding Tash transform the strong, complex female warriors she created into eye candy. Despite her best efforts to stall, the studio assigns Tash to its golden-boy intimacy coordinator to help her add spice to the script. Tash resents Caleb from the first word of the first sentence they write together, certain he's the enemy and too handsome to be trusted. But the longer they collaborate on her characters, the more she's attracted to his firm grasp of emotional (and fine, physical) nudity. Soon they're burning up the bedsheets along with their new pages, blurring romantic storylines.

But just when Tash feels it’s all coming together, the whole plot falls apart. Can she find a narrative that saves her show and her own love story, or are both lost forever?

Visit Turner Gable Kahn's website.

--Marshal Zeringue