California—land of golden dreams, proud melting pot, home to both the poor and the unimaginably rich—is an amalgam. Her complexities are captured in the essays of Freeman’s: California, which reaches across time and cultures to... Read More

Maria Tumarkin’s "Axiomatic" focuses on events and people in Australia, and through that lens illuminates a wide spectrum of humanity. Though categorized as a book of essays, “essay” doesn’t do justice to Tumarkin’s lengthy,... Read More

The short, potent essays of Margaret Renkl’s Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss are objects as worthy of marvel and study as the birds and other creatures they observe. Linked stories concentrate on Renkl’s family,... Read More

Will Falk’s touching ode to a major ecosystem "How Dams Fall" personifies the Colorado River. This essay-length book has a big goal: to dramatize the plight of the Colorado River in its fight against human intervention. Falk, who... Read More

The twenty-one authors who contributed to "Becoming Dangerous" are witchy and wise, “a coven of weird women playing and sharing with one another.” This essay collection describes the many ways that women, femmes, and non-binary... Read More