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

For those perplexed by how American politics are so profoundly manipulated by Moral-Majority types, historian Nancy L. Cohen’s latest book has many of the answers. Well-researched and coolly incisive on the hot-button social... Read More

Altagracia Villalobos spends her childhood, the years before she becomes American Grace Thornberry, in the Mexican border town of Mesquite. "Tree of Sighs" is the story of Grace’s ever-changing identity and the journey that takes her... Read More

“War is a powerful aphrodisiac,” John V. H. Dippel writes. In this rich, far-reaching study of armed conflict since Abraham Lincoln’s time, Dippel discusses gender, women’s suffrage, and the demographics of marriage and birth,... Read More

“Random things happen, and these are the things that change everything else.” *Shark Girls’*s second sentence succinctly states one of its themes—the long-term consequences of accidents that occur in one horrible moment. The book... Read More

Both Bill Raney and his wife JoAnne traveled extensively before meeting each other in San Fransisco, falling in love, marrying in Reno, and adopting a newborn boy, Zerky. So when they discovered an excess of time on their hands after... Read More

While reading a travel memoir, you of course want an intriguing location for your virtual visit. You also want a knowledgeable writer for your guide—and an engaging voice, because it’s the personality-behind-the-words that actually... Read More

In the tradition of poets who could make poetry pay—Byron, McKuen, Collins—William Cullen Bryant earned his place by having once been offered the princely sum of $1,000 in antebellum currency for any occasional verse he might... Read More