Jehuda Reinharz and Motti Golani’s "Chaim Weizmann" is an expansive and engrossing study of the Zionist leader and Israel’s “founding father.” Born in 1874, Weizmann grew up in Russian-controlled Poland. Within his family,... Read More

Max Humphrey’s "Lodge" is a photographic guide to ten historic buildings within the west and southwest of the US’s National Park Service. After the establishment of the first national parks in the late nineteenth century, travelers... Read More

"The Illustrated Etymologicon" is a dizzying, delightful trip through the evolution and accidents of language. You could not be impassive or loquacious without John Milton; they’re two of the many states that the puritanical poet... Read More

William Sheehan and Sanjay Shridhar Limaye’s "Venus" is a comprehensive introduction to historical and current research into Venus, as well as its representations in popular culture. Apart from the Moon, Venus is the brightest object... Read More

"Ministers of a New Medium" brings fresh insight into Christian evangelism, tracing the lives and work of two pioneering preachers from the early days of radio in the US. Walter Maier, a Lutheran pastor, and Fulton Sheen, a Catholic... Read More

Eleanor Ford’s enticing cookbook "The Nutmeg Trail" explores the global history and use of spices—not just in cuisine, but in medicinal remedies, incense, and aphrodisiacs. Ford notes that the spice trade lured explorers for... Read More

Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore’s inspiring biography traces the rise of a Black American painter, the great grandson of slaves, to a place of eminence in twentieth-century American art, despite the racism he faced. Born in 1911 in North... Read More

Art historian Sheila Barker’s biography of Artemisia Gentileschi presents the facts of Artemisia’s life, framing a narrative around why and how its events happened as they did. In a “visual contextualization of the lives and... Read More