The idea of the classic newspaperman is fading into the mists of time, as nonfiction becomes, for many purveyors, more about grabbing attention than in-depth writing. Luckily, William Zinsser is still among us; in "The Writer Who... Read More

Kurt Vonnegut has made a lasting impact on literature, so the promise of any previously unseen work is welcome news. In "We Are What We Pretend to Be", Vonnegut’s first and last works are presented, delivering a final fix of the... Read More

At its best, historical fiction allows the reader to become immersed in another world, presenting a character’s life and issues in a way that fully develops the setting. The Raven’s Heart, the story of a disinherited, tenacious girl... Read More

“You are misinformed,” Deborah Niemann states early in the introduction to "Ecothrifty", countering the many time- and cost-related excuses people use to keep from doing what’s good for them and the planet. A homesteader and... Read More

David Budbill’s "Park Songs" is a collection of dramatic monologues, dialogues, and poetic choral pieces spoken by characters who frequent a city park. These people know each other, whether through intimate relationships or by simply... Read More

Years after the death of Chairman Mao Tse-tung, taxi drivers in China began displaying laminated pictures of the Great Helmsman in their vehicles. Believing that his image possessed magical powers that otherwise belonged to local... Read More

The principles of rewards and consequences—along with stories of Pavlov’s dog or the rat in the maze—are such core assumptions in our culture, they’re almost cliché. Susan Schneider quickly moves beyond the cliché, however, in... Read More

When Ann Richards was elected governor of Texas in 1991, she ushered in a “New Texas” by appointing large numbers of women and minorities to government positions. True to Richards’s feminism and progressivism, she “let the people... Read More