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Revisiting the brash Joe Biden of ‘What It Takes’

Richard Ben Cramer’s campaign epic, which captured the president-elect’s first failed run in 1988, underscores the contrast between then and now.

Quite a cast of characters in Ruth Ben-Ghiat’s ‘Strongmen,’ a brutal tour of the tyrannies of the last hundred years

A study of dictators and tyrants that includes Amin, Franco, Hitler, Hussein, Mussolini, and Putin.

With a new book, Becky Cooper investigates the old murder of a Harvard student

“We Keep the Dead Close” chronicles an amateur investigation into the long-unsolved murder of Harvard student Jane Sanders Britton.

Douglas Stuart on becoming a reader after a difficult childhood

That Douglas Stuart managed to write “Shuggie Bain” while working 12-hour days as a designer in New York’s fast-paced fashion world was miraculous alone. Add to that, his debut novel, the story of a boy growing up with an alcoholic mother amid the hopelessness of 1980s Scotland, has been shortlisted for this year’s Booker Prize and named a finalist for National Book Award.

BOOKS
It’s a strange new world in ‘The Arrest,’ Jonathan Lethem’s literary sci-fi tale
“The Arrest” is a (very self-aware) post apocalyptic novel, set on a near future earth in which most technology has simply stopped working, for reasons that are never explained. Cars, planes, telephones, and the internet no longer connect human beings one to another, and as a result the United States fragments into small scale, subsistence societies.

BOOKS
‘A Cat’s Tale’ sees history through the eyes of a ‘supermodel’ pet
The book is more than the history of felines, says author Paul Koudounaris. “It’s a gigantic love letter.”

Latest Headlines in Books

BOOKS

A forthcoming biography of Daniel Ellsberg; a re-imagined online antiquarian book fair

Literary news from around the region.

BOOKINGS

Virtual author readings Nov. 8-14

All events take place online; visit the venue website for more information.

BOOKS

Local bestsellers for the week ending November 1

Based on reporting from the independent booksellers of the New England Independent Booksellers Association and IndieBound.

‘I Survived’ author to young readers: ‘You are not just a helpless victim of this chaotic time’

Lauren Tarshis on resilience and whether she's planning a book on COVID-19.

Brookline Booksmith expands into neighboring storefront

Along with more shelf space, the addition will house “The Novel Kitchen,” a book-themed restaurant slated to open in early November.

BOOKS

Pursuing a deceptive American dream in ‘White Ivy’

Susie Yang’s trenchant debut novel, about a young Chinese-American woman’s misguided quest to marry up and fit into the white East Coast upper class, recasts this classic narrative of the huckster and its dynamics of striving and disillusionment through a potent Asian-American lens.

BOOKS

Stories of vulnerability and strength in a new Shirley Hazzard collection

The Australian American author, who died in 2016, is best known for her novel “The Great Fire."

BOOKS

Author and illustrator Maira Kalman talks Shakespeare, Proust, and books about dogs

Kalman has written and illustrated over 30 books for adults and children. Most recently, she collaborated with musician David Byrne to create “American Utopia,” a book based on the Broadway show of the same name.