Economically, the Middle East has lagged behind the West for centuries, and, as author Timur Kuran contends, that may be less attributable to the ravages of colonialism or scarcity of natural resources than to cultural conditions grown... Read More

"DIY U" is a spectacularly useful orientation and guide for anyone who’s contemplating post-high school education or advising someone who is. Enriched with up-to-date statistics and cogent assessments, the book reveals the pros and... Read More

In his disturbingly perceptive poem, “Musée des Beaux Arts,” W.H. Auden delineated the perpetual disconnect that exists between the comfortable, workaday world and the monumental suffering that’s always going on at its margins. He... Read More

The first of a proposed series of mysteries, this novel introduces protagonist Bill Mallory, a drifter who privately sees himself through the lens of his Choctaw name, Hom-Astubby. Although he has a law degree, Mallory works as a... Read More

Like all well-crafted historical mysteries, this novel is a double delight. Not only does it tantalize with a deliciously circuitous unraveling of the crime, it also totally immerses the reader in another and fascinating world. The... Read More

The Langston Blue of the title is a battle-scarred Vietnam War deserter who’s been hiding out for more than thirty years in the backwoods of West Virginia. His life is reasonably serene until the day someone tries to assassinate him by... Read More

William Faulkner never wrote a darker, more disturbing tale than this one. Like Faulkner, Brooks knows that the sweltering Southern climate and simmering obsessions make for an explosive brew. The Candace of the title is a thrice-married... Read More

Popular music in America has been so much a man’s world that the author performs a real service here in drawing attention to the steady contributions and growing influence of women performers, songwriters, managers, and record company... Read More