"My Best French Wedding"

Coming August 11 from St. Martin's Griffin: My Best French Wedding: A Novel by Amanda Sellet.

About the novel, from the publisher:

Will it be l’amour the merrier or too haute to handle when rival reporters with a tangled history compete to tell the story of the year at a ritzy destination wedding?

Once upon a time, Walter was Hildy’s favorite person―until he crushed her teenage dreams. A decade later, she has a new beloved: the magazine she built from the ground up. Unfortunately, getting rid of Walter isn’t as easy as shedding her romantic illusions. He’s always around, vying for the juiciest scoops on the elite wedding circuit and provoking her into public displays that don’t scream “mature and sophisticated media maven.”

When Hildy scores exclusive access to the wedding of the season―a week-long parade of luxury in southern France―it’s a chance for her magazine to finally make its mark. Except Walter isn’t sitting at home crying; he’s right there in France, trying to steal Hildy’s story. Again.

Now it’s a head-to-head battle to see whose coverage will make it to print. The problem? Between the champagne and the chateaux, it’s easy to lose sight of the prize. Hildy knows better than to believe in fairy tales, but Walter is doing his best to convince her they could have a part deux.

In this gender-flipped twist on His Girl Friday, Hildy has seven days to prove she is totally over it, living her best life, and definitely not hung up on the past . . . or Walter.

Visit Amanda Sellet's website.

Q&A with Amanda Sellet.

The Page 69 Test: By the Book.

Writers Read: Amanda Sellet (December 2022).

Writers Read: Amanda Sellet (August 2024).

The Page 69 Test: The Odds of Getting Even.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Too Darn Hot"

New from Oxford University Press: Too Darn Hot: Kiss Me, Kate & the Making and Remaking of a Broadway Musical by Hannah Robbins.

About the book, from the publisher:

When Kiss Me, Kate premiered in its first try-out performance, its future was anything but certain. Conceived and staged in just nine months of intense, sometimes chaotic collaboration, the show was a bold experiment: a backstage musical built around a Shakespearean comedy. But once the reviews rolled in, all doubts vanished. The production was a triumph, becoming the most successful stage work of both Cole Porter and the writing duo Sam and Bella Spewack.

Yet Kiss Me, Kate has never been without controversy. At its heart, the show is a backstage comedy built around a play-within-a-play adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. That choice has long invited scrutiny. From its earliest performances to its most recent revivals, Kiss Me, Kate has sparked discussion about adaptation, gender politics, and the evolving tastes of audiences. From its 1948 debut to its 75th anniversary revival, the musical has been both celebrated and critiqued, reflecting shifting cultural attitudes and artistic sensibilities.

In Too Darn Hot, author Thuraisingam Robbins traces the remarkable journey of this enduring musical, charting its development from concept to curtain call, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the artistic decisions that shaped its legacy. Through several case studies--including the lavish MGM film adaptation, a Viennese operetta-style staging, and modern Broadway revivals--Robbins examines how Kiss Me, Kate has remained relevant, provocative, and beloved. Too Darn Hot offers a compelling portrait of a show that continues to ignite conversation and captivate audiences.

Visit Hannah Robbins's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Killer Art"

New from Crooked Lane Books: Killer Art: A Novel by Jon St. Denis.

About the novel, from the publisher:

A pair of newbie academics find themselves reluctant sleuths and even more reluctant targets when a fellow professor turns up dead.

When art professor Vika Chen discovers the strangled body of Professor McGuire in a campus art studio, she becomes the prime suspect in a murder connected to an exhibition exposing AI-generated art.

Since local law enforcement fails to find any optional leads, Vika and her partner, journalism professor Sam Worthing, take the investigation into their own hands. Vika, who until recently worked as a curator at MoMA, and Sam, a former crime reporter for the New York Times, find themselves uniquely suited for the job.

Much to the chagrin of the police chief, the pair’s investigation pinpoints multiple suspects who might have felt threatened by the exhibition. But the stakes become deadly when someone tries to run Vika off the road.

As more bodies pile up, Vika and Sam uncover a collage of secrets that someone would kill to keep buried.

Visit Jon St. Denis's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Piratical States"

New from Cambridge University Press: Piratical States: British Imperialism in the Indian Ocean World, c.1780–1850 by Simon Layton.

About the book, from the publisher:

This deeply researched, innovative study demystifies the way we think about the pirates of world history. Simon Layton encourages readers to look beyond eighteenth-century Atlantic paradigms of rogue individuals or revolutionary collectives, placing piracy as a concept at the heart of the British imperial project in Asia in the nineteenth century. Piratical States reveals an empire bent on wresting sovereignty over maritime space with its own forms of institutional and outsourced violence. A discourse developed in the official mind of colonial 'men-on-the-spot' castigated an array of indigenous seafaring communities and interrupted state-building across the corridors and chokepoints of global trade. In reports, diaries, correspondence, and memoranda, Britain's self-declared pirate-hunters retold history through a mythology of their own making, transforming piracy into an inherently political and racial category, legitimising the wholesale erasure of their enemies.

--Marshal Zeringue

"When She Was Ours"

New from Lake Union: When She Was Ours: A Novel by Anna Nordberg.

About the novel, from the publisher:

Thea Erickson, a renowned surgeon, is filled with both joy and grief as her family gathers at their home on a summer night in 1995. Her elder daughter Phoebe is getting married, but even the happiness of the day feels bittersweet, as Thea grapples with a terminal cancer diagnosis. She worries she won’t be around to support her younger daughter Astra, who’s still in college, but even Thea cannot foresee what is to come―a terrible accident the night of the wedding that changes Astra’s life forever.

In a last-ditch effort to protect her family, Thea arranges a secret meeting with an old family friend and extracts a promise that will reverberate long after she’s gone.

Years after her mother’s death, Astra has moved forward with a career and relationship, but she still struggles with her grief. When a man reaches out to her and Phoebe, offering a window into their mother’s past, Astra must make a choice, and her decision forces her to face what it means to love someone after they’re gone, who we decide to forgive, and how families reckon with the past.

Visit Anna Nordberg's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The First Elections"

New from the University Press of Kansas: The First Elections: The Rise of Electoral Democracy in the Early American Republic by Jay K. Dow.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this groundbreaking and comprehensive look at Congressional elections in pre–Jacksonian America, Jay K. Dow examines the origins of our modern electoral politics.

When did the United States become a recognizably modern republic? The traditional understanding is that elections in the Age of Jackson introduced institutionalized political parties, campaigning, partisanship, position-taking, stump speeches, high elector turnout, and other familiar features of electoral democracy. Before that, so the story goes, elections were less organized along party lines, often uncompetitive, and frequently dominated by elites rather than average citizens. The First Elections offers a compelling alternative to this interpretation of the early American republic.

Through systematic analysis of an impressive new collection of early American election returns known as A New Nation Votes, Jay K. Dow has discovered what these results tell us about the development of Congressional elections between 1796 and 1825. The so-called first party era marks the transition from a “deferential” politics in which local elites exercised great influence over elections to a more recognizably democratic politics. But the extent of this transition has been largely opaque before these new data became available. Focusing on House of Representatives as the foundational institution in national republican government, Dow uses these election returns to provide a more fine-grained picture of United States electoral development than ever seen before. In doing so, he reveals more party-centric, competitive, and developed elections than scholars have generally recognized.

The First Elections begins with the election to the Fifth Congress in 1796, the year that elections first became truly contested following the Federalist and Anti-Federalist period. It concludes with the elections to the Nineteenth Congress, which marked the start of the Jacksonian Second American Party System. Because American politics is territorial politics—in general, but especially in this era—Dow’s work is organized geographically, giving due attention to how electoral democracy developed unevenly across each region of the early United States. Since the states used different methods to elect their representatives, The First Elections pays special attention to the variety of electoral systems that characterized the political mosaic of early America.

The First Elections is a groundbreaking look at what elections were like in the dawn of the new American nation.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Oxford Guide to Scandal and Lies"

Coming September 1 from Minotaur Books: The Oxford Guide to Scandal and Lies by Kate Westbury.

About the book, from the publisher:

Set against the backdrop of post-WWII Oxford University, The Oxford Guide to Scandal and Lies is the irresistible debut from Kate Westbury that seamlessly layers mystery, romance, and a dash of academia to introduce the Crown’s newest undercover operatives.

Oxford, England, 1951 - The Honorable Ginevra Bishop likes red lipstick, clever retorts, and earning top marks in her tutorials. She’s following her mother’s footsteps by studying at Oxford, eager to prove she’s more than a debutante.

Sidney Braithwaite likes brooding, Latin, and ignoring his nightmares. He’s determined to forge a new life for himself at Oxford, far from his childhood mining village and free from memories of the war.

Though Gin and Sidney have little in common, the British Security Service is keen to unite her charm with his espionage experience: there’s a Soviet spy at the university, and the agent tracking them down was poisoned. MI5 wants Gin and Sidney to pick up the trail and identify the informant before more sensitive information is compromised. As a team, the pair of undergraduates clash in personality, upbringing, and taste––but have a connection neither can deny. Gin and Sidney must unite their respective talents to follow the clues before they’re caught in the traitor’s crosshairs…if the sparks flying between them don’t blow up the operation first.

Visit Kate Westbury's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Purist Pursuits"

New from Stanford University Press: Purist Pursuits: Language, Global Ideas, and the Creation of Western Armenian in the Ottoman Empire by Jennifer Manoukian.

About the book, from the publisher:

Purist Pursuits chronicles how and why Armenians in the Ottoman Empire fashioned a new language called Western Armenian. Tracing its rise from the eighteenth to the early-twentieth centuries, Jennifer Manoukian studies the evolution of an ever-changing ideology that undergirded all phases of the language's formation: linguistic purism. Constituting the primary preoccupation of the Ottoman Armenian intelligentsia, linguistic purism dictated that Armenians needed to abandon Turkish loanwords and fundamentally alter the way they wrote and spoke. While linguistic purism continues to be a powerful force throughout the Armenian diaspora today, its historical roots have not been explored until now. With this book, Jennifer Manoukian reimagines what language histories can be for Ottoman-era language communities. She is the first to expose Western Armenian as an ideologically fueled project and to examine the power of global intellectual movements in crafting new language ideologies in the Ottoman Empire. Drawing on untapped Armenian-language sources published in Istanbul, Izmir, Venice, and Vienna, she underscores how examining shifts in attitudes, anxieties, and debates about language can serve as indicators of ideological change and reveal unarticulated global linkages. Ultimately, her work charts a new course in the study of language in the Ottoman Empire.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Big & Lily"

Coming August 11 from Harper Perennial: Big & Lily: A Novel by Lisa Roe.

About the novel, from the publisher:

A sharply funny, deeply heartfelt novel about two sisters who discover the best way to find yourself is by getting lost.

For her entire life, Bridget “Big” Ackerman Petty has struggled to hold everything together—her kids, her husband, her demanding mother, all in dizzying orbit around her. While the kids are grown and her husband is retired, every day still feels like a to-do list she can never quite finish. Why is everything so effortless and easy for her sister Lily—a woman blessed with a magnetic personality, a thriving business, and a husband who adores her.

But when Lily discovers her husband’s been cheating, her “perfect” life implodes. Devastated and overwhelmed, she decides to run as far away as possible: to Alaska to lose herself on a hardcore survival trek—and she’s dragged her reluctant sister Big along.

No cell service, no easy exits—just grizzlies, outdoor plumbing, and a group of strangers who know how to read a compass. As the sisters navigate freezing rivers, unmarked trails, and more than one near-death experience, the defenses they’ve used to protect themselves begin to crumble, and they’re forced to face everything they’ve spent decades avoiding: resentment, regret, envy, and the terrifying possibility that the other one’s life might not be as easy as it looks.

Big & Lily is a laugh-out-loud, emotionally rich novel about second acts, sisterhood, and the unexpected ways we find ourselves when we’re truly lost.

Visit Lisa Roe's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Conventional Maritime Deterrence"

New from Georgetown University Press: Conventional Maritime Deterrence: The Operational Foundations of Influence at Sea by Adam Lockyer.

About the book, from the publisher:

A conceptual framework for understanding the critical role of naval operations in deterrence strategies

A future clash between the United States and China would occur across the seas, islands, and peninsulas of the Indo-Pacific region. Thus, mastering maritime deterrence―creating and displaying naval power to discourage an attack―is vital for peace.

Conventional Maritime Deterrence revives and updates our understanding of how deterrence at sea differs from its terrestrial counterpart. Adam Lockyer examines four types of maritime deterrence strategies: offensive sea control, defensive sea control, offensive sea denial, and defensive sea denial. These fleet operations showcase what crises a nation can plan to respond to, how it can intend to respond, and the likely success of these efforts. Lockyer conducts analysis of cases throughout history and also takes a deeper look at the US Maritime Strategy from the late Cold War in the Pacific, ultimately finding that the credibility of conventional maritime deterrence rests upon what a naval power can be seen to do rather than what it can do.

This book will provide policymakers, naval officers, and scholars of international relations with insight into maritime deterrence for both current and future contests.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Where Her Secrets Lie"

New from Thomas & Mercer: Where Her Secrets Lie by Katie Tallo.

About the novel, from the publisher:

From the bestselling author of Dark August comes a tense, moody thriller about a reclusive grandmother forced to confront her darkest fears to protect her family from a ruthless foe.

Seventy-year-old Lenny Bird lives in a cage of her own making. It’s protected by a strong will, stubborn habits, and hidden secrets―like the crime scene photos in her basement. And the body in her backyard.

Lenny shut down long ago, when her daughter was murdered and her husband committed suicide. But fifteen years later, a court has ordered her estranged grandson Juls to move back in with her when he’s arrested, courtesy of his notorious paternal grandfather. Juls has crossed the wrong people and his criminal world comes crashing through Lenny’s door, along with his twin daughters.

Lenny’s sanctuary overrun, she and Juls clash over long-held grudges. When she delves into his shady world, Lenny realizes he’s more pawn than player. But when her investigation threatens to dredge up her own dark past, Lenny must fight a ruthless crime boss―and choose between protecting her private purgatory … or breaking free to save the family she loves.

Visit Katie Tallo's website.

The Page 69 Test: Dark August.

Q&A with Katie Tallo.

Writers Read: Katie Tallo (June 2022).

The Page 69 Test: Buried Road.

Writers Read: Katie Tallo (December 2024).

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Black Aerial Imagination"

New from Columbia University Press: The Black Aerial Imagination: Aviation and Flight in African and Diasporic Literature by Delali Kumavie.

About the book, from the publisher:

Across a range of literary texts, Black writers depict taking flight to escape systems of subordination from the Middle Passage and the plantation to the present-day racialized order. While flight, air, and aviation technologies have long held out the promise of freedom, they also function as devices for constraining Black mobility.

In The Black Aerial Imagination, Delali Kumavie examines how aviation and flight have shaped Black lives and the global Black cultural imagination. Considering works by African and diasporic writers such as Kofi Anyidoho, Toni Morrison, and Abdulrazak Gurnah, she argues that representations of aviation and air travel reveal the structures circumscribing Black existence. Kumavie interweaves narratives of flying Africans with the airlessness of the slave dungeons, aspirations for flight with the terrors of the air, and global airline travel with incarceration to show how stories of flight connect transatlantic slavery to the racialized violence of borders, the surveillance of international movement, and the postcolonial nation-state. Through deft, nuanced readings of African and African diasporic literature, this book provides vital new insights into the limits of aerial mobility and the persistence of anti-Black violence.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Payback"

New from Severn House: Payback (A Frank Verity Thriller) by Lawrence Light.

About the book, from the publisher:

Journalist Frank Verity must stop the murder of New York’s wealthiest when they’re targeted for revenge in Payback, the edge-of-your-seat financial thriller from Pulitzer Prize nominee and noted finance journalist Lawrence Light.

Bring down the billionaires . . .

A Wall Street billionaire, one of the four infamous “Medici Boys,” takes a swan dive from his high-floor Fifth Avenue apartment. Near the window from which he was thrown is a note: I AM COMING FOR ALL OF YOU.

With no leads and three of the city’s wealthiest men marked for death, the case detective turns to former CIA operative and New York reporter Frank Verity. Frank sees things others do not and knows firsthand that it takes money to fight money.

As Frank races to prevent the next murder of a financial titan, it’s clear these killers are hell-bent on revenge and ingenious at breaching the well-guarded billionaires’ security. One thing is certain―the wealthy rule this town, but maybe this time their billions can’t save them...

This fast-paced suspense thriller is perfect for fans of Lee Child, Dan Brown, the TV show Billions, and Michael Connelly’s Lincoln Lawyer series.

Visit Lawrence Light's website.

The Page 69 Test: Ladykiller.

The Page 69 Test: Fear & Greed.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Deprived of Sense and Intellect"

New from the University of Michigan Press: Deprived of Sense and Intellect: Insanity, Possession, and Diagnosis in Medieval Europe by Leigh Ann Craig.

About the book, from the publisher:

Medieval saints were thought to be able to provide miraculous cures for a wide variety of illnesses, and about one tenth of their miracles involved the restoration of sanity to those who had lost their minds. Deprived of Sense and Intellect explores 460 of these stories written across Latin Christendom between 1240 and 1500. The study uses the lens of critical disability studies to bridge the gap between discussions of demonic possession and naturally arising somatic conditions, treating all these narratives about disability and miraculous healing not as documentation of changes to the function of an individual person, but instead as evidence of substantial and intrusive interpersonal tensions in medieval communities.

While medieval communities assigned these tensions to a malfunction of consciousness in a single person, medieval miracle texts also reveal how the function and malfunction of consciousness was named and classified. In studying these texts, Leigh Ann Craig explores the terminology and rhetoric used to diagnose a loss of mind as either from natural causes or as an effect of demonic predation, tracing the use of Latin vocabulary in medical compendia, law, and theology. Deprived of Sense and Intellect finds that since diagnoses were difficult and frequently subject to doubt, they varied based on regional cultures of disability in northern and southern Europe, the influences on the development of community consensus in Latin Europe in the Middle Ages, and assumptions based on gender, material evidence, and self-diagnosis.

--Marshal Zeringue

"What the Trees Remember"

New from She Writes Press: What the Trees Remember: A Novel by Abigail Cutter.

About the book, from the publisher:

Deeply researched and perfect for fans of Jayne Anne Phillips’s Night Watch, this action-packed coming-of-age tale, set in post–Civil War Appalachia, is part suspenseful mystery, part incisive examination of this nation’s history of racial violence.

Dora Minor, a quirky and fiercely courageous girl, grows up in a remote Virginia mountain community in a family of outliers, thanks to their Quaker beliefs that all people are born equal. After her mother’s death, her indomitable, pipe-smoking grandmother Alma—a revolutionary in her own right—becomes her primary caregiver and protector. With a fierce moral compass, Alma helps shape Dora’s worldview and guides her to question the status quo.

When Dora’s father partners with formerly enslaved Ginny Dudley to open a school for Black children in a place where none would otherwise exist, it sparks a violent backlash. After her father’s death and then a lynching, Dora, with Alma at her side, are forced to look at their community in a new light. Alongside Ginny’s husband Randolph and her closest friend Watcher James, a preacher guided by Nature spirits, Dora confronts hard truths about her neighbors, her father’s death, and, finally, the mysteries of her mother’s life—all of which ultimately leads to healing.

A post–Civil War novel that opens just as Reconstruction is falling apart, What the Trees Remember depicts a time of extreme social unrest and the birth of the Jim Crow era as experienced by strong women constrained by the limitations of the time they live in. Through the devastating loss of loved ones, the destruction of the comfortable life they’ve known, and Nature’s wrath, Dora and Alma strive to rise above their trials by drawing strength from the natural world and never losing faith in themselves.

Visit Abigail Cutter's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"After Belsen"

New from Cornell University Press: After Belsen: Christian Encounters with Holocaust Survivors by Robert Thompson.

About the book, from the publisher:

After Belsen reveals the deeply personal ways in which British and American Christians responded to and were affected by survivors of the Holocaust in the years immediately following the liberation of concentration camps. British and American Christians―men and women, army chaplains and relief workers, government officials and interfaith activists―listened to testimony, confronted postwar issues facing Jews, pioneered the fight against antisemitism, and reapproached their Christian faith as they encountered survivors. At camps like Bergen-Belsen, these encounters forced Christians to confront their long-held beliefs, their complicity, and the meaning of solidarity in the face of atrocity.

Using neglected archives, private correspondence of British and American Christians, and interviews with their families, Robert Thompson pieces together stories that complicate the idea of Christian silence. He highlights the emotional and theological impact of direct witness―moments when Christian and Jewish lives intersected amid the devastation. In doing so, he also reveals the previously unheard voices of women relief workers and chaplains who offered care, challenged antisemitism, and began to reformulate their beliefs from the ground up.

After Belsen is not only a moving contribution that unites Holocaust studies, religious history, and interfaith reflection but also a vital new perspective on how ordinary people responded to extraordinary horror and how their responses resonate today. Their previously untold human stories demonstrate how lived experience―not just institutional declaration―shaped postwar Christianity.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Night Hunter"

New from Berkley: The Night Hunter by Natalie Moss.

About the novel, from the publisher:

In a remote corner of the South African bush, two sisters reunite to bury a family secret once and for all, but when they’re stranded among the wild animals, they find a predator far more dangerous waiting for them in the shadows....

When their conservationist mother passes, Danielle and her estranged sister Grace must return to their isolated family house nestled within a wild-game reserve. While Grace, their mother’s favorite, clings to nostalgia, only Danielle carries the knowledge of her final request: “Find the storehouse . . . Burn everything inside.”

To ease the pain of their homecoming—and the tension between them—each sister invites two friends on the two-day journey into the bush. What starts as a safari adventure, turns into a nightmare when one of them is murdered the first morning at the campsite. In the chaos that follows, they crash their vehicle, stranding them, with no way to call for help.

Now, with dwindling supplies and only one rifle, Danielle must lead them on foot across miles of merciless savannah. They have days of walking ahead…if they survive that long. As the group navigates land where every rustle could mean death, a truth emerges: someone is sabotaging their escape.

Breathtaking and tense, The Night Hunter maps the treacherous terrain of family duty and loyalty as the two sisters confront what they’ve spent years trying to forget.

Visit Natalie Moss's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"How to Control Fire on a Burning Continent"

New from Duke University Press: How to Control Fire on a Burning Continent by Timothy Neale.

About the book, from the publisher:

A critical and ethnographic exploration of wildfire management in Australia, one of Earth’s most fire-prone countries, Timothy Neale’s How to Control Fire on a Burning Continent critiques the colonial logics of control deployed to manage unruly environments and explores alternative forms of environmental stewardship.

Each year, Australia faces increasingly unprecedented wildfires, marked both by their scale and by the intense public disagreements about their political, cultural, and ecological causes. How to Control Fire on a Burning Continent is a critical and ethnographic exploration of wildfire management in Australia and the technoscientific systems of control that shape its current and future possibilities. Timothy Neale observes how two seemingly opposing forces—an entrenched sense of crisis and widespread normalization—combine to form an apparatus of institutional fire management that increasingly centers technical control and militarization. While sympathetic to the double binds many fire management professionals find themselves in, Neale ties contemporary wildfire problems to ongoing colonization and Indigenous dispossession, exploring Indigenous-led land management and cultural burning as a practical assertion of sovereignty. Through dialogue and collaboration with professional fire managers and Indigenous environmental stewards, Neale calls for a collective movement beyond control thinking by fostering new alliances and modes of coping with, rather than commanding, our flammable world.

Visit Timothy Neale's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Free Girls"

New from Flatiron Books: Free Girls by Kristen McCallum.

About the book, from the publisher:

A heartfelt coming-of-age debut about a girl starting over while keeping secret that she’s spent the last year in juvenile detention. Perfect for fans of Nicola Yoon and Leah Johnson.

Sixteen-year-old Jasmine Cooper is back after twelve months at Guiding Hearts Home for Troubled Girls, and nothing is the way it was. Her mom has remarried and now there’s a big new house, a shiny new family, and a fancy new school. Jas feels completely out of place, and things only get more complicated when her mom insists that her “fresh start” include hiding the truth of where she’s been and cutting off people from her past.

As Jas settles into her new life bonding with her seemingly perfect stepsister, making a close-knit group of besties, and maybe even falling for the cute girl in class, it starts to feel like her second chance might actually be real.

But when a friend from the detention center reaches out to reconnect, Jas worries that everything she’s built could fall apart. How long can she keep her past a secret? And how many times can she spin the truth before she forgets who she really is?

Visit Kristen McCallum's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Henry Tudor Must Die"

New from Berkley: Henry Tudor Must Die by Jillian Laine.

About the novel, from the publisher:

One queen exiled. Another headed for the gallows. Both hungry for revenge. England’s most infamous queens unite in vengeance against Henry VIII.

Anne Boleyn is going to die, and neither her cleverness nor her witchery can save her. So when her late rival, Catalina de Aragón, miraculously appears in her cell at the Tower of London on the eve of her execution, very much alive and offering a daring escape plan, no one is more surprised than Anne.

Lina doesn’t have Anne’s magic—but she has just as much hate for England’s wretched king. Severed from her daughter and stripped of all her influence, Lina breathes only for the Hellebore Sisterhood, a clandestine and powerful society with a vested interest in keeping both queens alive . . . and using their particular skills to advance womankind.

Anne and Lina’s old rivalries pale in comparison to a common enemy. And they're not alone. Anna von Kleve, Kat Howard, and even Catherine Parr all have their own bones to pick with the king. One by one, they capture their pawns, infiltrating the court and eliminating the men who plotted against them. Always inching closer to their true target...

And they want his head.

Visit Jillian Laine's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Territorializing Democracy"

New from the University of Georgia Press: Territorializing Democracy: Strategies of Popular Participation in Buenos Aires by Sam Halvorsen.

About the book, from the publisher:

Territorializing Democracy argues that the political control of space is key to understanding political participation in the city. Drawing on a decade of research in Buenos Aires, this book shows that participation is not simply a response to innovations in urban governance; it is a strategy rooted in the relational context of territory. Examining key sites of activism over recent years―campaigning for a people’s park, upgrading an informal settlement, the “national-popular” movement of Kirchnerism, and struggles over urban redevelopment―the analysis contributes to pressing democratic debates around autonomy and self-management, populism and clientelism, and democratic innovation and “participatory articulations.” Through the lens of space and geography, this book offers a relational analysis of popular participation, working between multiple neighborhoods and scales, across different struggles, and between the streets and political institutions, activists, and politicians. In doing so, Halvorsen proposes a dual understanding of the territorialization of democracy: a reflection of the changing political conditions shaping cities today and a tool for assessing how democratic practices emerge from specific, grounded struggles over space.

--Marshal Zeringue

"No One Leaves the Manor"

New from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers: No One Leaves the Manor by Kelly McWilliams.

About the novel, from the publisher:

A deliciously twisted, fast-paced YA horror, where debutante dreams become bloody nightmares—perfect for fans of House of Hollow and Their Vicious Games.

It’s 1921, and Mrs. Caroline Reginald Kane, the last surviving descendant of a family of oil barons, has invited four young debutantes to visit her at Greystone Manor. There, they'll compete for the ultimate prize: to become heir to her unspeakably vast fortune.

But only one girl can win.

And the manor is watching.

Dorothea is a thief, and the best liar in the American Northeast. Her mother vanished at Greystone years ago, and she’s determined to find out why—so long as no one uncovers her secrets first.

Vaughn isn’t crazy. She was born for this life—and she won’t let anyone come between her and the fortune she deserves.

Birdie doesn’t know why she’s been invited, but she believes everything happens for a reason…and that reason just might be divine.

Elspeth is called “pretty as a peach, dim as a doorknob.” But she sees things that the others can't: whispering birds, shifting doors, and a language that should never be spoken.

And there’s something else hidden behind these walls. Something sinister.

It doesn’t plan to let them leave alive.

Visit Kelly McWilliams's website.

The Page 69 Test: Agnes at the End of the World.

Q&A with Kelly McWilliams.

The Page 69 Test: Your Plantation Prom Is Not Okay.

--Marshal Zeringue

"American Pogroms"

New from Oxford University Press: American Pogroms: How Forgotten Massacres Shape America by Daniel Byman.

About the book, from the publisher:

Amidst heightened rhetoric and increasing polarization in the United States, American Pogroms chronicles the causes and consequences of two centuries of mob violence in American history, highlighting exactly what's at stake when we allow leaders to legitimate violence and the mob to rule.

For much of American history, members of the majority population of the United States indiscriminately attacked and terrorized minority communities. In some parts of the country, mob violence seemed a near-constant part of the region's history, while in others it was a brief, horrific spasm that perpetrators--but not victims--quickly forgot.

In American Pogroms, terrorism expert Daniel Byman argues that there is a word for this type of communal violence: pogrom. Although pogroms are historically associated with the orchestrated campaigns of anti-Jewish violence in Tsarist Russia, Byman asserts that pogroms have been an all-too-frequent feature of American history. Tracing two centuries of communal violence, Byman recounts cases of attacks against American religious minorities such as Catholics and Mormons, the killing of thousands of ethnic Mexicans in Texas, the murder and wholesale expulsion of Chinese workers from the American West, and the repeated attacks on the Black community that killed thousands and enabled decades of brutal discrimination. In all these cases, pogroms helped cement a system of injustice that left religious, ethnic, and racial minorities politically and economically marginalized. While the idea of mob violence now strikes most Americans as unthinkable, Byman warns that increased polarization and selective news consumption in recent years has coarsened discourse and legitimized violence, raising the risk that at least some violence will return.

A broad-ranging synthesis of how and why majorities have so frequently resorted to community-level violence to restore or cement their power, American Pogroms illustrates the outsized role of violence in U.S. history and how it shapes the country today.

The Page 69 Test: The Five Front War.

The Page 99 Test: A High Price.

Writers Read: Daniel Byman (June 2011).

The Page 99 Test: Spreading Hate.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Fire Must Burn"

New from Severn House: Fire Must Burn (A Sparks and Bainbridge Mystery, 8) by Allison Montclair.

About the novel, from the publisher:

The owners of The Right Sort Marriage Bureau are back, and more determined than ever to bring love matches to the residents of Post-WWII London . . . so something as trivial as being dragged into a spy mission isn’t going to stop them!

Sparks fly when an old friend comes to town...

London, 1947. After recent events have left the normally steadfast Iris Sparks thoroughly shaken, she’s looking forward to some peace. With The Right Sort doing well, she and business partner Gwen Bainbridge are due a holiday. Until Iris’s former boss enlists their help for a secret mission.

Iris, who left British intelligence after the war, is being recruited for her Cambridge connection to one Anthony Danforth. She hasn’t seen Tony in almost ten years, yet she and Gwen must manipulate him into hiring their marriage service.

Tony’s suspected of being a Soviet operative, and an undercover agent posing as his perfect match could discover the truth. Despite her reluctance at being dragged back into the world of espionage, Iris agrees. After all, Tony was once a very good friend. If he’s innocent, she’ll happily prove it. If not? Well, no one ever said being a spy was easy...

Those who enjoy reading Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher Mysteries and Dorothy Sayers will adore this warm and witty historical mystery!

Visit Alan Gordon's website.

The Page 69 Test: An Excellent Thing in a Woman.

Q&A with Allison Montclair.

My Book, The Movie: An Excellent Thing in a Woman.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Enduring Illegality"

New from the University of Calfornia Press: Enduring Illegality: Time and the State of Waiting in Undocumented Middle Life by Angela S. García.

About the book, from the publisher:

Enduring Illegality chronicles the lives of undocumented Mexican immigrants who have spent decades in the United States waiting for a path to legalization that has yet to arrive. Based on longitudinal fieldwork, this book traces how people who migrated as young adults have transitioned into middle age still undocumented, caught in a state of legal and temporal suspension. Focusing on parents who would have qualified for the failed Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) program, Angela S. García argues that illegality is not only a legal condition but a temporal one, produced and reproduced through decades of waiting for reform. Even in the face of such exclusion, migrants sustain lives, labor, and care across borders. Enduring Illegality offers a critical account of how the state uses time as a mechanism of immigration control, structuring lives and inequality in ways that outlast any single policy or presidential administration.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Erebus-13"

New from Orbit: Erebus-13 (Red Space, 3) by David Wellington.

About the book, from the publisher:

The crew of the Artemis has escaped the nightmare of Paradise-1, but at great cost.

Parker is gone. Petrova’s past continues to haunt her. Worst of all, Erebus—a timeless entity of pure darkness—has been released from its prison.

Now it’s headed for Earth.

Petrova must rally her crew for one final mission. Somehow, they must find a way to unite the disparate factions of the solar system—the United Earth Government, the Lunar colonies, and the outer planets—and find a way to stop Erebus.

The fate of humanity—and the galaxy—is in their hands.

Learn more about the book and author at David Wellington's website.

The Page 69 Test: Chimera.

The Page 69 Test: The Hydra Protocol.

The Page 69 Test: Positive.

My Book, The Movie: The Cyclops Initiative.

The Page 69 Test: The Last Astronaut.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Who Is American?"

New from Princeton University Press: Who Is American?: Belonging and the Question of Jewish Citizenship by Lila Corwin Berman.

About the book, from the publisher:

A groundbreaking history of how modern American citizenship has worked—and not worked—for Jews in the United States

The history of Jews in the United States is often told as if they immigrated, gained citizenship, and almost immediately achieved full legal rights. Yet this story fundamentally misses how citizenship rights worked for Jews and countless others who arrived on American shores. In Who Is American? Lila Corwin Berman draws on case law, statutes, and debates to argue that both the laws of American citizenship and Jews’ position in them changed repeatedly across the twentieth century. Courts, policymakers, and the public persistently asked what it meant to be Jewish under the law. Were Jews a race, a nationality, a religion—or some combination of each? The answer carried profound legal consequences. Not only did it determine Jews’ citizenship status, but it also affected the rights they could exercise. Just as significantly, the meaning of the categories under law changed over time, affecting Jews’ self-understanding, their political ideals, and their relationships to other groups of Americans.

Who Is American? tells a history that resonates powerfully with today’s high-stakes battles over citizenship and rights. As Berman concludes, citizenship law has always been better at posing questions about the terms of belonging than at providing any ultimate resolution. The tangled story of Jewish citizenship demonstrates the limits of law and explains why the United States continues to fall into new and, often, unsettling debates about who is American.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Astronaut!"

New from W.W. Norton: Astronaut!: A Novel by Oana Aristide.

About the book, from the publisher:

A darkly funny and politically resonant novel by an acclaimed new novelist.

Romania, 1989, the twilight of Ceau?escu’s dictatorship: Daily news flashes of seemingly random murders grip the nation. The suspect? A man-eating bear.

Amid the fear of informants, official lies, and daily rationing, two bright lives collide. Constantin, an idealistic police detective prone to scribbling fairy tales in his notebook, is tasked with solving the string of mysterious deaths. Lia, a rebellious, inquisitive schoolgirl pining for more color in her life, is unwittingly drawn into an eccentric elderly neighbor’s secret plot against the regime. While everyone around them is flattened into submission, the two find the spirit to carry out small acts of defiance. Their decisions will have sweeping consequences―for themselves, for their families, and for their country.

Masterfully plotted and psychologically astute, Astronaut! is both a chilling detective novel and a moving coming-of-age tale. It carries a powerful message: the lies we accept today become the truths of tomorrow.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Mountains Are Calling"

New from the University of Nebraska: The Mountains Are Calling: Tourists and the Unmaking of Yosemite National Park by Michael W. Childers.

About the book, from the publisher:

Yosemite National Park hosts more than four million visitors annually, a number that underscores both the national park’s immense popularity and its limits. Large numbers of visitors means air pollution from car emissions, noise pollution that drowns out the sounds of nature, and destroyed habitat―especially near campgrounds and crowded hiking trails. From the first party of tourists in 1855 to the millions who visit today, Yosemite’s visitors have played a primary role in shaping the park’s history. Visitors drove Yosemite’s development and, ultimately, its popularity, but in doing so, they have turned out to be the greatest threat to the very experiences they seek.

In seeking to understand how visitors’ perceptions and experiences have shaped their understanding of the purpose of national parks, and nature more broadly, The Mountains Are Calling places visitors at the center of Yosemite’s story. In histories of the national parks, environmental historians traditionally focus on either a conflict between preservation or exploitation, or a celebration of its founders, but such approaches often overlook the millions of visitors or depict them as backdrops in a larger morality play over the preservation of nature. Michael W. Childers instead addresses the lived experiences of visitors and their role in creating national parks, within the context of national park policy shifts and broader American cultural history. Foregrounding the stories of Indigenous people, tourists, innkeepers, soldiers, rangers, climbers, concessioners, and administrators, The Mountains Are Calling tells a more complete story of the park’s past to make sense of tourism’s environmental costs.

Visit Michael W. Childers's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Demon Star"

New from DAW Books: The Demon Star by Jesse Aragon.

About the novel, from the publisher:

On a ruined planet oppressed by eldritch gods, a rebel leader forces his son to become the vessel of a god-killing demon. Caught in a conflict spanning galaxies and millennia, two unlikely allies must decide whether to save the child, their world, or themselves.

The otherworldly religious conflict of Dune, the cosmic strangeness of Gideon the Ninth, and the heart-pounding action of Red Rising converge in this horror-tinged epic science fantasy debut

Ysira Naktis was a human sacrifice, destined for death. But unlike the thousands “harvested” each year, she did the unthinkable. She survived—and what she brought back with her could rewrite the fate of her civilization.

When Ysira’s son is chosen for demonic possession, she is faced with a choice: allow him to harness cosmic power at an unspeakable cost or doom millions to save him. She finds an unlikely ally in Brother Jacen Kheris, once a gifted exorcist, now an addict desperate for purpose.

From a demon-haunted canyon to a starbound satellite, they must battle their way through cultists, aliens, and the gods themselves. The truths they unearth send them hurtling down a path that can only lead to apocalypse.

Visit Jesse Aragon's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"One Nation Under Law"

New from Cambridge University Press: One Nation Under Law: The Meaning of the Declaration of Independence by Carlton F. W. Larson.

About the book, from the publisher:

This groundbreaking volume shatters many longstanding myths about the Declaration of Independence. Although states-rights advocates have long claimed that the Declaration created thirteen independent nations, Carlton F. W. Larson shows that the Declaration announced the birth of a new nation: the United States of America, a nation governed by an unwritten constitution in which the states were confederated and subject to national authority from the very beginning. Larson counters libertarian claims that the Declaration views government as a necessary evil, demonstrating instead how it embraces constitutionalism, active government, and the rule of law as positive goods. Along the way, Larson debunks other myths, such as the notion that the Declaration is the parchment text enshrined in the National Archives and that it was authored by Thomas Jefferson. By exploring the true meaning of the Declaration of Independence, One Nation Under Law helps us better understand America itself.

Visit Carlton F. W. Larson's website.

The Page 99 Test: The Trials of Allegiance.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Men Like Us"

New from Algonquin Books: Men Like Us: A Novel by Carson Markland.

About the book, from the publisher:

The surprising, poignant Kennedy story you don't know, with the enigmatic Bobby Kennedy at its heart

Bobby Kennedy was never meant to matter.

The seventh of nine children, he’s long been overlooked by his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., who governs his children with the same firm hand that earned him a fortune, an ambassadorship, and enough clout to plant the seeds of an American political dynasty.

But when Bobby’s eldest brother, the anointed heir, dies in a wartime mission, the burden to become the first Kennedy in Congress shifts to Jack, the next in line. Bobby—long ignored and underestimated—is forced to step up, especially as debilitating chronic pain threatens Jack’s Senate seat and aspirations to higher office. With their sights eventually set on the White House, Bobby evolves into the ruthless operative behind the scenes—yet at what personal cost?

Throughout the chaos of campaign after campaign, Bobby finds an unexpected ally in his brother’s wife, Jacqueline Bouvier. While Jackie smiles and waves for the cameras, in private, she leans on Bobby for understanding. Their friendship serves as a refuge from the public spotlight and private intrigue of the Kennedy family, but Jack’s ongoing infidelity tests the boundaries of their loyalty, forcing Bobby and Jackie to each decide just how much they’re willing to sacrifice for the dynasty’s image.

Centering on one of the most significant political families of our time, Carson Markland’s riveting, hopeful debut is about brothers, fathers and sons, winners and losers, loyalty and sacrifice, and the true cost of power.

Visit Carson Markland's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Educating the Exhausted"

New from Johns Hopkins University Press: Educating the Exhausted: Adolescent Sleep and the Struggle for a Later School Start by Terra Ziporyn and Amy R. Wolfson.

About the book, from the publisher:

The battle to align the school day with the science of sleep.

For decades, sleep researchers have reached the same conclusion: adolescents need more sleep than current school schedules allow. Yet across the United States, most middle and high schools continue to start the day at hours that undermine student health, safety, and learning. In Educating the Exhausted, Terra Ziporyn and Amy R. Wolfson explain why evidence alone has not been enough to ensure school hours that allow for sufficient sleep.

The authors recount the development of adolescent sleep research since the 1980s and the long struggle to bring that knowledge into school policy. Scientists, educators, parents, and health professionals often worked in isolation, while school systems remained resistant to change. Early advocacy efforts stalled, local campaigns collapsed, and frustration mounted even as the research base grew stronger and more consistent. Yet, there has been some progress: broader coalitions formed, communication improved, and sustained advocacy led to meaningful policy shifts, including landmark legislation in California. These changes did not come easily; they required persistence, credibility, and a willingness to navigate political and institutional constraints.

Written by two leaders closely involved in these efforts, Educating the Exhausted offers an account of how research enters public decision-making―and what it takes for science to influence policy.

Visit Terra Ziporyn's website and Amy R. Wolfson's faculty webpage.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Law of Solitude"

New from Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books: The Law of Solitude (Children of the Black Glass) by Anthony Peckham.

About the book, from the publisher:

Tell and Wren face a wraith—a sorcerer gone rogue—in this third and final book in the Children of the Black Glass middle grade fantasy series that’s Howl’s Moving Castle meets Christopher Paolini!

Now a captive in Desert’s house, Wren learns the evil sorcerer has melded herself into a human body to become a wraith. Wielding even more power, more strength, and more magic than ever before, Desert’s still not satisfied…not until she consumes Wren’s too.

Tell will stop at nothing to save his sister, and while he lacks magic himself, he discovers one of their friends has mystical powers and is asdetermined as Tell is to save Wren—the girl who once saved him.

Separated for the first time, Tell and Wren are both left to rely on their quick wits, mountain training, and allies old and new to vanquish Desert once and for all. As desperate sorcerers prepare to battle the twisted wraith, they know losing would mean losing the city of Halfway…and each other.

Visit Anthony Peckham's website.

--Mrshal Zeringue

"Power Surge"

New from the University of California Press: Power Surge: Conglomerate Hollywood and the Studio System's Last Hurrah by Thomas Schatz.

About the book, from the publisher:

From the author of The Genius of the System, the classic tale of Hollywood’s first golden age, comes the story of its last.

Thomas Schatz returns us to an era when a newly enriched movie industry rediscovered its creative energy, and indie went mainstream without losing its edge.

Between 1989 and 2004, all the old studios either merged with other media giants or were swallowed up by even bigger diversified behemoths, leading to an infusion of money and fast-tracking the digital revolution. Yet even as CGI and piles of cash fueled a new breed of blockbusters—Batman and Titanic, Toy Story and The Lord of the Rings—an indie ethos permeated the industry. And at the crossroads of commodification and aesthetic vision, auteurs ranging from Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino to Sofia Coppola and Ang Lee became household names.

Power Surge traces these trajectories, which increasingly clashed and commingled during the 1990s and early 2000s, resulting in nothing short of a new golden age—and perhaps the last gasp of the century-old studio system.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Word Salad"

Coming September 15 from Harper Muse: Word Salad: A Novel by Susan Coll.

About the book, from the publisher:

Matilda loves logic and order, and now her structured world is falling apart—in a bookstore.

Former economics major Matilda is moving back to her hometown of Washington D.C. to care for her ailing mother, and she’s desperate for money. She takes a job at her neighborhood bookstore and tries, in vain, to make sense of illogical business of books. To make things worse, she’s forced to team up with a new hire—the enigmatic, flaky, larger-than-life, Sage—who shows up on her first day of work with zero administrative skills and her tiny, puffy, incessantly urinating dog that resembles an underfed rat.

Something in the chaos begins to remind Matilda of her long-neglected creative side, and she starts to rediscover the person she once was before so much got in the way. But things get even more unmanageable when Matilda and Sage are tasked with putting together an event for the reclusive and controversial Dr. Jordan Rutabaga, a windbag of a public intellectual with a cult following that includes a number of people who would like to literally and figuratively see him dead. Rutabaga has a long list of alleged misdeeds, from plagiarism to failure to pay child support to stiffing the nanny.

As the event date approaches, Matilda and Sage discover that Sage and Rutabaga have their own not uncomplicated past, adding yet another person to list of people who do not wish him well. Add in a lawsuit and an impending snowstorm along with the potentially sinister presence of Rutabaga himself, and Matilda is about to come undone.

Bestselling author Susan Coll’s gastric, bookish, laugh-out-loud comedy of manners reminds us that sometimes things have to completely fall apart for them to perfectly come together.

Visit Susan Coll's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Susan Coll & Zoe.

The Page 69 Test: Acceptance.

The Page 69 Test: Beach Week.

The Page 69 Test: The Stager.

The Page 69 Test: Real Life and Other Fictions.

The Page 69 Test: The Literati.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Naming Racism, Confronting Anti-Blackness"

New from Rutgers University Press: Naming Racism, Confronting Anti-Blackness: Mexican American Transnational Racialization and Coalition Building by Bianca Sofia Rubalcava.

About the book, from the publisher:

What happens when we move beyond a Black-and-white understanding of racism? This provocative book challenges conventional narratives by exploring how Mexican Americans navigate the US racial hierarchy―not simply as victims of white supremacy but as complex participants in systems of racial oppression. Tracing the construction of race from colonial regimes to the present, author Bianca Sofia Rubalcava argues that non-Black people of color, particularly Mexican Americans, often negotiate their racial position by distancing themselves from Blackness. Through legal history, social movement archives, and survey data, this work reveals how anti-Blackness has persisted across borders and generations, from the pursuit of legal whiteness to enduring family biases around interracial relationships. Ultimately, the book offers a powerful critique of how anti-Black ideologies hinder cross-racial solidarity and perpetuate marginalization. A bold and necessary intervention, this study pushes the Latinx community―and all readers―to confront complicity and reimagine racial justice in more inclusive and transformative ways.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Undertow"

New from Thomas & Mercer: Undertow (Kari Sharpe Thrillers) by K. T. Konkoly.

About the novel, from the publisher:

From the author of Adrift comes a taut, emotionally charged legal thriller about confronting old enemies, unleashing hidden dangers, and fighting against the pull of small-town secrets.

Attorney Kari Sharpe knew it wouldn’t be easy, leaving her life in New York and returning home to Portland, Maine. But she never imagined it would mean defending her former bully―even if only in court.

Stacy and Greg Stadt made Kari’s childhood miserable. So, when Greg dies in a boating accident and Stacy is charged with his murder, she’s reluctant to take the case. But as Kari faces the demons of her past, she is confronted by more than she bargained for. Greg had been the last obstacle to a contentious casino plan, proposed by a shady consortium wielding power from the shadows.

When another town board member goes missing, Kari realizes the players in this conspiracy may not be what they seem. Meanwhile, she reconnects with her first real love―possibly the last person she should trust. If she can free her former tormentor, she might free herself from old fears. But strong currents of hidden influence keep threatening to pull her under.

Visit K. T. Konkoly's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Inventing Immortality"

New from Oxford University Press: Inventing Immortality: Heterodoxy and Histories of the Soul in Early Enlightenment England by Michelle Pfeffer.

About the book, from the publisher:

In the decades either side of 1700, England witnessed a major public debate about the immortality of the soul. At its centre were two unlikely figures: the lawyer Henry Layton and the physician William Coward. Across numerous publications, both argued that the soul's immortality was a pagan invention absent from early scripture and only later absorbed into Christianity. Their detailed histories of the soul aimed to recast it as an inescapably human creation, rather than a natural and revealed truth.

Though often seen as the product of radical freethinking circles, Layton and Coward's histories drew directly on scholarly commonplaces that they simply reassembled and repurposed. Economic, social, and cultural shifts across the seventeenth century had made academic scholarship more accessible than ever, enabling a growing number of non-specialists to participate in scholarly debates that were now more firmly in the public sphere. The derivative nature of their work should not see writers like Layton and Coward dismissed as mere hacks. Technical proficiency does not automatically confer historical significance, nor does its absence preclude it. Layton and Coward's contributions to the debate about the soul were amateurish and, to specialist scholars at the time, unsurprising. Yet they helped push scholarship in new directions. The impact of ideas depends as much on the context of their circulation as on their originality and rigour.

Rather than portraying the heterodox publications of the period c.1700 as the 'unintended consequences' of scholarship, this book presents a more dynamic model: a feedback loop between lay and specialist knowledge, in which amateur contributions actively shaped scholarly debates. The early Enlightenment, this book suggests, may be best understood less in terms of substantive new ideas, and more in the repackaging of older ones, with different targets, by different sorts of people, for different audiences.

--Marshal Zeringue