Day in the Life
James Hynes’s hilarious new novel, “Next,” is a day in the life of an everyman.
Robert Birnbaum
My Kinda Town
A big-shouldered biography for that big prairie metropolis, Chicago.
Heroes and Villains
Native American lore and paranormality in the Lakota Black Hills of Dan Simmons’s imagination.
The Souls of White Folk
Nell Irvin Painter unpacks the evanescent notion of race in “The History of White People.”
The Producer
Fitzgerald based his “Tycoon” on Hollywood legend Irving Thalberg. Now there’s a new biography.
Counting Back the Years
The mordant wit of Brit Francis Wheen zeros in on that lame and sickly decade, the ’70s.
Another National Treasure
Jules Feiffer may not do it all, but he does a lot. Now comes a memoir.
New McPhee
John McPhee has a new book of essays. Need I say more?
Manguel on Reading
Alberto Manguel writes about his first love.
Dummies’ Guides for U.S.
Take your choice between two annotated guides to the U.S. Constitution.