Books

Review of Theodore Sasson’s “The New American Zionism”

by Samuel Goldman

The question that looms over The New American Zionism is whether the tendency of American Jews to identify with Israel more strongly as they age will continue in the future.

Review of Ben Yagoda's "The B-Side: The Death of Tin Pan Alley and the Rebirth of the Great American Song"

by Luther Spoehr

A celebration of the best of Tin Pan Alley.

Review of “The History Manifesto” by Jo Guldi and David Armitage

by Ramses Delafontaine

The Manifesto advocates a return to the study of larger time scales to overcome an alleged epidemic of short-term thinking.

Review of Christian G. Appy’s "American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and Our National Identity"

by Ron Briley

A call for a national reckoning with the myth of American exceptionalism.

Review of Shlomo Avineri’s “Herzl's Zionism: Theodor Herzl and the Foundation of the Jewish State”

by Ralph Seliger

A book for our times as we try to remember what Israel was founded for. 

Review of Barry Eichengreen’s “Hall of Mirrors: The Great Depression, the Great Recession, and the Uses – and Misuses – of History”

by Robert Brent Toplin

Economists and journalists have published numerous books that attempt to explain the financial crash and Great Recession of 2008-2009. In Hall of Mirrors Barry Eichengreen breaks new ground with a wide-reaching comparative perspective.

Review of Bryan Burrough’s "Days of Rage: America’s Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence"

by Shawn Francis Peters

Bryan Burrough’s hefty new book is a vivid, engrossing, and far-ranging work that provides a detailed glimpse of a half-dozen underground radical groups in the Vietnam era and its aftermath.

Review of Brian Matthew Jordan’s “Marching Home: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War”

by Murray Polner

Very few of the books written about the war have been centered on the ordinary Union veteran.   Jordan offers an explanation.

Review of John Merriman’s “Massacre: The Life and Death of the Paris Commune”

by Ron Briley

Drawing upon French primary source documents, Merriman has written an engaging history addressed to the general reader which poses important questions regarding working-class autonomy, class conflict, and state-sponsored terrorism which resonate in the contemporary world.

Review of Danielle Allen’s “Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality”

by M. Andrew Holowchak

Allen’s book, much lauded by reviewers, fails wholly. 

Review of Julian E. Zelizer’s “The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress and the Battle for The Great Society”

by Mike O’Connor

Zelizer exposes as a “myth” the idea of “the 1960s as the apex of modern liberalism.” 

Review of "Dalton Trumbo: Blacklisted Hollywood Radical" by Larry Ceplair and Christopher Trumbo

by Ron Briley

Trumbo is the subject of an in-depth biography commenced by the screenwriter’s son and sometimes collaborator, Christopher, and completed by film scholar Larry Ceplair. Ceplair concentrates the biography upon Trumbo’s personal life rather than the numerous scripts he authored; employing the numerous letters written by the author as a primary source.

Review of Lara Vapnek’s “Elizabeth Gurley Flynn: Modern American Revolutionary”

by Murray Polner

Lara Vapnek makes quite clear in her spirited, sympathetic and enlightening biography, long before she ever signed a party membership card, Flynn was not just another communist apparatchik or commonplace left-winger. 

Review of Lauren Coodley’s “Upton Sinclair: California Socialist, Celebrity Intellectual”

by Lawrence S. Wittner

Can a dedicated socialist have a significant impact upon American life? Lauren Coodley’s biography of prominent socialist novelist and agitator Upton Sinclair shows that, with a lot of talent and fortitude, that kind of influence is possible.

Review of Colman McCarthy’s “Teaching Peace: Students Exchange Letters with Their Teacher”

by Murray Polner

“Teaching Peace: Students Exchange Letters with Their Teacher,” is riveting and a real gem, filled with insights gleaned from the thousands of letters he’s received from former students.

Review of Andrew Maraniss's "Strong Inside: Perry Wallace and the Collision of Race and Sports in the South"

by Luther Spoehr

What it took to desegregate the Southeastern Conference.

Review of James Bradley’s “The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia”

by Murray Polner

There are lessons to be learned about war and peace and Bradley’s valuable book offers a warning about past and future unnecessary entanglements.

Review of “The 40’s: The Story Of A Decade: The New Yorker,” Edited by Henry Finder and Giles Harvey

by Mark Weisenmiller

Readers and writers should relish this “story of a decade” for it’s education and entertainment. 

Review of Daniel James Brown's "The Boys in the Boat"

by Bernard von Bothmer

The astonishing tale of the University of Washington's crew team's improbable quest for Olympic gold in 1936

Review of Jason Sokol’s “All Eyes Are Upon Us: Race and Politics from Boston to Brooklyn"

by Robert Polner

In Obama’s America, many whites, even those living in the largely homogeneous suburbs of the Northeast, are still capable of being shocked by eruptions of deep-seated, structural racism. They shouldn't be, as Jason Sokol shows.