PositiveBooklistLeebaert illuminates the dynamics of FDR’s consequential administration by focusing on four of his lieutenants ... Leebaert sheds new light on FDR’s managerial capabilities and ably demonstrates that the cultivation of diversified and resilient talent was essential to the administration’s endurance.
Simon Garfield
PositiveBooklistFans of Simon Winchester’s The Professor and the Madman and readers who don’t mind plenty of intriguing digression will devour it.
Matthew Connelly
PositiveLibrary JournalThe author meticulously makes his case, while also outlining the history of classified information and deftly illustrating the deep symbiosis between capitalism and national security strategy ... Perfect for readers intrigued by the intersection of politics and history.
Ross Gay
PositiveLibrary JournalThe essays are short and potent ... The tone is one of riffing and improvisation, as though Gay is having a lively but leisurely conversation with the reader ... Gay is a treasure, and his latest offering will delight his fans as well as those new to his work.
April White
PositiveBooklistDespite the book’s somewhat rarified scope, this is a valuable and intriguing contribution to American social history.
Andrew Rice
PositiveBooklistWhile a few of Rice’s contentions feel forced, his narrative is propulsive and entertaining and he manages to make the outcome of that fateful election seem anything but assured. This book will appeal to readers of popular history à la Erik Larson’s work.
Frank Bruni
PositiveLibrary JournalAlthough it can sometimes read more like a long column than a memoir, Bruni’s optimistic book will be a balm to many.
Michael Tubbs
PositiveLibrary Journal[Tubbs] experiences with local politics and community organizing are instructive and revealing, and his gratitude for the women who raised him is evident throughout ... Part coming-of-age story and part political autobiography, Tubbs’s book is an accessible and compelling account of his life.
Kyla Schuller
RaveLibrary JournalSchuller’s highly recommended feminist counterhistory is inspiring, and her arguments persuasive. She excels in letting the voices and lived experiences of women of color, trans women, and otherwise marginalized women come to the fore.
Kat Chow
PositiveLibrary JournalThe book is a tribute to Chow’s spirited mother, but it’s also a revealing portrait of three daughters trying to negotiate a complicated relationship with their father ... Chow’s book is an important and welcome addition to a growing catalogue of memoirs by a new generation of Asian American writers.
Anna Qu
RaveLibrary JournalA nuanced examination of complicated ripple effects of intergenerational emigration. A powerful memoir of finding self-worth.
Kathryn Kolbert and Julie F. Kay
RaveLibrary Journal... concise and pragmatic ... Their book is neither reassuring nor despairing ... Their book is not intended to convince anti-abortion stalwarts to change their minds; it is written as a blueprint for advocates of reproductive justice. The steps it outlines go beyond access to contraception or abortion clinics; taking a holistic approach, it emphasizes the need for universal health care and affordable child care ... The authors make clear that the ability to determine for oneself how and when to bear children is a human right and is essential to a person’s agency over their own life and future. An essential guide; recommended for all collections.
Cheryl Diamond
RaveLibrary JournalDiamond (Model: A Memoir) describes the incredible story of her childhood spent on the run ... Diamond’s memoir is compulsively readable; for fans of suspense novels or memoirs like Tyler Wetherall’s No Way Home.
Sarah Sentilles
RaveLibrary JournalSentilles (Draw Your Weapons) describes her experience of adoption and foster care in this memoir of grief and beauty ... The author sheds light on the system’s racial inequity and its bias toward wealthy parents, and she writes with compassion ... Sentilles writes candidly and humanely about her experience of building a family beyond immediate kin and discovering the depths of love and protection. Essential reading for those hoping to be foster parents.
David Michaelis
PanLibrary Journal... accessible, if abbriviated ... Roosevelt’s life does not necessarily lend itself well to concision. Blanche Wiesen Cook’s excellent volumes remain the definitive record.
Michelle Bowdler
PositiveLibrary JournalChanel Miller\'s Know My Name demonstrated that coming forward to tell one\'s story is in itself a powerful form of victim advocacy; Bowdler does the same in this affecting account.
Rose Andersen
PositiveLibrary Journal... a loving yet harrowing portrait ... Andersen’s genuine love for her sister is compelling; many readers will relate.
Gareth Russell
MixedLibrary JournalThe account gains momentum post-iceberg, and each individual reveals his or her true character in the face of unfolding tragedy ... Although Ida Straus’s fraught decision to die with her husband, rather than climb into a lifeboat without him, has been oft-portrayed in books and film, it is nonetheless affecting here ... An optional purchase, as this is well-trod ground.
Amaryllis Fox
RaveLibrary JournalFox escribes her path to a career in the CIA in riveting detail ... Relating her experience of being a young woman in the CIA and balancing family life while undercover in a hostile country is invaluable to readers ... Fans of Showtime’s Homeland and espionage novels will devour this highly recommended memoir, as will readers interested in counterterrorism, nonprofileration, and peacemaking.
Gene Weingarten
RaveLibrary JournalAll happenstances continued to reverberate in surprising and often pivotal ways. The technological and scientific gains accomplished in the space of a few decades are also made plain, and the mid-1980s are evoked with just a twinge of nostalgia ... The results of this fascinating, well-researched narrative are conveyed with immediacy, insight, and humor. A solid choice for all readers.
