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Children's & YAPicture Book

Spine-tinglers for the spookiest time of year

Feature by Julie Hale

The phrase “scared silly” takes on new meaning in these madcap tales of witches and monsters. Filled with mischievous fun, these thrilling Halloween reads will leave little readers shrieking—with laughter. Happy haunting!

WITCH VS. WEATHER
Halloween magic gets out of hand in Rebecca Colby’s It’s Raining Bats & Frogs. Delia, an adorable little sorceress, is excited about the annual Witch Parade until signs of rain dampen her spirits. When a full-on downpour soaks her broom-riding sisters, she takes matters into her own hands. Chanting an incantation, she transforms the raindrops into dogs and cats—a switch that goes hilariously haywire. Next, she summons a shower of hats and clogs, followed by bats and frogs, but her spells go awry every time. In the end, Delia realizes that rain is fine—even fitting—for parade day. Illustrator Steven Henry enlivens the witches’ wacky story with detail-filled drawings of marching scarecrows, juggling skeletons and horn-tooting ghosts, all of whom take part in the parade. As Delia learns the hard way, Halloween weather—like her magic spells—brings both tricks and treats!

THERE’S NOTHING TO FEAR
Sam Garton continues the adventures of Otter and her grown-up guardian, Otter Keeper, with the sweet seasonal treat, Otter Loves Halloween. Yes, Otter is excited about October 31, and it’s easy to see why! Preparations for the ghostly evening include a pumpkin-buying excursion (followed by Otter Keeper’s puzzlement over the carving process) and the hanging of decorations (glow-in-the-dark spider webs get stuck where they shouldn’t). Finally, it’s dress-up time. Otter dons a witch’s hat and cloak, and her stuffed pals Teddy and Giraffe get special costumes of their own. But when the trick-or-treaters arrive, Otter is terrified. She hides under the bed until Otter Keeper coaxes her out with an ingenious idea that sets her fears to rest. There’s lots to love about this delightful look at Halloween through Otter’s eyes. Her gentle personality shines through on every page, thanks to Garton’s genius digital illustrations. This is a great way to introduce young readers to the holiday.

READY, SET, SCARE!
A cute—and creepy—group of mischief-makers plans hijinks for Halloween in Ethan Long’s Fright Club. Vladimir the Vampire, Fran K. Stein, Sandy Witch and the rest of the Fright Club gang convene in their clubhouse to prepare for Operation Kiddie Scare. They review the traits of successful monsters (“ghoulish faces, scary moves, chilling sounds”), but their collective shock factor is a little low (to these guys, “scary moves” means ’70s disco steps). When their meeting is crashed by a timid-looking contingent of forest creatures who want to join the club, Vladimir scoffs and denies them entry. But the animals soon prove they’re skilled at being scary, and the two groups join forces for the spookiest Halloween the block has ever seen. Long depicts these eerie antics in black-and-white pencil drawings overlaid with classic monster-movie hues—sepia browns, sickly greens, macabre blues and purples. There’s plenty of fright-night fun to be had with his batty tale.

The phrase “scared silly” takes on new meaning in these madcap tales of witches and monsters. Filled with mischievous fun, these thrilling Halloween reads will leave little readers shrieking—with laughter. Happy haunting!

Fiction

Tales that pack a powerful punch

Feature by Michael Magras

Some people would have you believe that short stories are the literary equivalent of baseball’s minor leagues, a place to hone your skills until you’re ready for a bigger and more prestigious stage. But as masters such as Alice Munro have proven, a great short story is no less of an achievement than a great novel.

These four collections demonstrate that a new generation of authors is happy to experiment with the possibilities of the short form.

The most audacious collection here is Only the Animals by the South African and Australian writer Ceridwen Dovey. How’s this for a daring conceit: Each story is written from the perspective of an animal killed in a conflict wrought by humans. And an author appears in almost every narrative.

A cat owned by Colette escapes from the author’s car and witnesses horrors on the front lines in France during World War I. Chimpanzees in Germany who are being trained to adopt human characteristics become more refined even as food rationing dehumanizes men and women. A dolphin born into captivity writes to Sylvia Plath, “a human writer who meant something to me,” to explain the circumstances by which the dolphin performed echolocation activities for the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program.

Seeing events through an animal’s eyes gives us an outsider’s perspective on major events in recent history, including atrocities like the rise of Nazi Germany and the wars in the Middle East. In forcing us to do so, Dovey suggests that some animals have a capacity for empathy that humans would do well to emulate.

RUSSIAN JEWELS
The Tsar of Love and Techno is an intricately structured and powerful collection. These interconnected stories set in Russia span more than 70 years. They begin with the tale of Roman Markin, a “correction artist” who works for the Department of Party Propaganda and Agitation. His job is to airbrush images of political dissenters out of photographs and paintings. One of the dissenters is his younger brother, Vaska.

In memory of his brother, Roman draws tiny portraits of Vaska in the pictures he censors, including a photo of a ballerina who looks like Vaska’s widow and a painting of a dacha in a pasture. The painting links tales of the ballerina’s granddaughter, a telephone operator at a nickel combine who wins the Miss Siberia pageant and marries the 14th richest man in Russia; a former deputy art director who, after the 1999 bombing of Chechnya, is forced to become head of the Chechen Tourist Bureau; and a soldier who carries a mix tape his brother gave him before his first tour of duty.

This collection showcases Marra’s wit and his gift for unforgettable details, such as when a soldier fires a round into the earth to loosen it before he digs a grave. Some characters are capable of great brutality, whereas others are capable of declaring that no invention is “more humane, more elegant, more generous” than the wheelchair ramp. The Tsar of Love and Techno is the work of an elegant and generous writer. 

EVERYDAY PROBLEMS
Lauren Holmes’ debut, Barbara the Slut and Other People, is lighter fare than the previous books, but don’t equate light with inconsequential. Holmes’ deceptively breezy stories focus on women grappling with sexual politics and make important observations about challenges faced by millennials.

A 20-year-old woman from Los Angeles travels to Acapulco to see her distant mother and to announce that she’s a lesbian. “Mike Anonymous” is a quietly devastating story of a woman who works at a clinic that helps people with sexually transmitted diseases, and of a married Japanese man convinced that he’s HIV positive. And in the title story, a high school senior applies to Princeton and struggles to lose the reputation she earned several times over in 11th grade.

Holmes, whose work has appeared in outlets like Granta and Guernica, has a keen ear for dialogue and a sharp memory for the high school life, as proven in the description of a student who “removed her retainer with her tongue and spit it onto her desk every time she was about to say something in class.” Barbara the Slut contains surprisingly tender depictions of love and family, which show that you should never judge a book by its title.

HOME TO KANSAS
Andrew Malan Milward focuses on the rich history of his home state of Kansas in his second collection, I Was a Revolutionary. Milward’s hometown of Lawrence has been the site of significant moments in American history, including pro-slavery guerrillas’ 1863 massacre of abolitionists—the largest act of domestic terrorism until the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. He recreates many such historical moments in these stories.

The protagonist of “The Burning of Lawrence,” which chronicles the 1863 killings, is the Confederate guerrilla fighter William Quantrill. “The Americanist,” a modern-day story about a gay couple, invokes John Romulus Brinkley, the “Goat Gland Doctor” of the 1920s who injected goat testicles into men to improve their virility. “What Is to Be Done?” presents the eccentric sculptor Samuel Perry Dinsmoor, a retired teacher who, in later years, was known to lecture about socialism to a roomful of invisible students.

Milward’s habit of providing excessive historical detail diminishes the tension at times, but when he minimizes background information, as he does in the brilliant title piece, the results are compelling. There are lovely, unexpected touches: A pro-slavery fighter in “The Burning of Lawrence” trashes an abolitionist’s home, but pauses long enough to play the family’s organ with “long-dormant familiarity.” 

Throughout the book, Milward makes astute observations about politics, not only about the political climate of past eras but also of our own—a rarity in contemporary American fiction.

Who says short-story writers occupy a low rung on the literary hierarchy? As these collections prove, great short fiction not only is its own major league but also boasts an impressive lineup that any contingent would envy.

 

This article was originally published in the October 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Some people would have you believe that short stories are the literary equivalent of baseball’s minor leagues, a place to hone your skills until you’re ready for a bigger and more prestigious stage. But as masters such as Alice Munro have proven, a great short story is no less of an achievement than a great novel. These four collections demonstrate that a new generation of authors is happy to experiment with the possibilities of the short form.
Romance

Tricks and treats in romance

Feature by Lois Dyer

It’s October, which means it’s time for spooky, sexy, supernatural romances in the spirit of Halloween. These three titles have enough romantic danger, mayhem and eeriness to satisfy the most demanding paranormal romance reader. Settle into your favorite comfy chair and enjoy!

SOUTHERN BLOODSUCKERS
Author Sandra Hill delivers the next installment in her Deadly Angels series with Even Vampires Get the Blues. This time, it’s Harek Sigurdsson’s turn to meet his life mate. The sexy vampire-angel and once-upon-a-time Viking is shocked and far from happy when he’s slammed with the scent of roses—the bonding scent—the moment his hand clasps that of Navy SEAL Camille Dumaine. He’s not ready to be mated, not even when the female is as enticing as Camille.

Camille is equally as uninterested in falling in love. However, the brilliant and sexy computer geek is assigned to an upcoming mission with her, so Camille has no choice but to spend time with him. But before the SEAL mission begins, Harek is ordered to accompany Camille to New Orleans, where her brother’s wedding is taking place. The festivities throw the two together, and given the heated attraction between them, intimacy is a foregone conclusion.

Their visit to New Orleans is over all too soon, however, and they must complete the dangerous assignment in Nigeria that originally brought them together. When an ambush surprises the SEAL team, Harek’s worst nightmare becomes reality: Just when he can admit he loves Camille, he may lose her forever.

This latest entry in the Deadly Angel series showcases the author’s talent for humorous dialogue, hot sexual tension, charming heroes, strong heroines and endearing secondary characters. Readers will relish this latest book and look forward to the next in the series with anticipation.

SCOTS MAGIC
​Best-selling author Terri Brisbin lures readers back to the Orkney Islands and 1286 AD in Raging Sea, part of her Stone Circles series. Landholder Soren Thorson and sea merchant’s daughter Ran Sveinsdottir grew up together in Orphir, a village on the windswept Orkney mainland off the northern coast of Scotland. Treachery tore them and their families apart, but now Ran has returned to Orphir. During the voyage home, she discovers a startling affinity for the water. The sea calls to her, welcomes her—and obeys her commands. Amazed and confused, she seeks an explanation from Soren’s wise grandfather, only to discover that the elderly gentleman has recently died. She is determined to avoid Soren, but when she learns he has tapped into a deep connection with the wind, storms and lightning, they agree to seek answers about their strange new powers together.

Soren and Ran soon learn that they’ve been called to defend humans from the terrifying threat of an ancient goddess. Imprisoned centuries prior for her crimes against humans, the goddess schemes to return and take vengeance. Only Soren and Ran, together with their allies, can stop her. But will they gain control of their newfound powers quickly enough to defeat the evil goddess and her minions? Or will humankind be erased from the earth in a wave of rage and death?

The setting for this supernatural tale of gods and goddesses is unique and intriguing, as are the creative legends supporting the plot. The hero and heroine are each strong and honorable, both in their dealings with each other and their answering of the call of destiny. 

CHICAGO'S VAMPIRE TOWN
Author Cat Devon brings her readers a spooky tale set in the world of Chicago’s Vamptown with Tall, Dark And Immortal. Reporter Keira Turner is still reeling from the discovery that her deceased grandfather was a vampire hunter when she confronts gorgeous detective Alex Sanchez. The entry in her grandfather’s journal is clear: “Seek out vampire Alex Sanchez in the Chicago Police Department. Trouble is coming.”

Alex is stunned by Keira’s story. Her grandfather was known as The Executioner, a legend among vampires. He doesn’t know whether the beautiful brunette is a serious threat or not, but he does know that she’s trouble—she could expose the existence of vampires to humans. Not to mention the fact that Keira carries The Executioner’s genetic code and bloodline. However, despite her grandfather’s legacy, Alex quickly discovers that she’s his mate—a detail he plans to keep hidden for as long as possible.

Unable to ascertain Keira’s true agenda, Alex takes her hostage, but it soon becomes clear that someone wants her dead. Is it the rival Gold Coast vampires or someone in Alex’s own group? What does Keira know that makes her a target? And is it connected to her investigation into a series of blood bank thefts?

The elements of the universe created by Devon are intriguing, and readers will enjoy the vampire-versus-vampire tension as both groups vie for dominance. Paired with the Chicago setting, this tale has an old-school, gangsters and cops vibe while still maintaining a contemporary feel.

Lois Dyer writes from her home in Port Orchard, Washington.

It’s October, which means it’s time for spooky, sexy, supernatural romances in the spirit of Halloween. These three title have enough romantic danger, mayhem and eeriness to satisfy the most demanding paranormal romance reader. Settle into your favorite comfy chair and enjoy!
Food & DrinkCookbooks

Reading to leave you shaken and stirred

Feature by Eve Zibart

Americans discover, and rediscover, trends in drinking just as they do in dining. A few years ago, the holidays were afloat in variously erudite or encouraging tomes on wine-tastings, great regions and terroirs, and beginners’ ways to “express” beverage flavors, not to mention a slew of wine guides especially for women.

Then the evangelicals of beer hopped up to defend that equally ancient and venerable tonic, followed by the prophets of whiskeys, shrubs and, well, tonics. Not to mention the numerous re-inventors of the cocktail.

All this alcohol-inspired abundance may explain why beverage experts are looking more into niche and novelty approaches this year.

PROPOSE A TOAST
Paul Dickson has written 65 nonfiction books on a variety of subjects, including cocktailing and toasting, language and baseball—often in combination (i.e., a history of drinking in baseball). Dickson’s latest, Contraband Cocktails: How America Drank When It Wasn’t Supposed To, began as a fascination with Prohibition-era recipe books that along the way naturally snowballed into an engaging discourse on classic cocktails replete with trivia, recipes, a list of -alcohol-related slang of the period and a fair amount of Golden-Era literary and celebrity gossip. As Dickson points out, the years of Prohibition coincided with some of the most flamboyant drinking in literature and on Broadway and the Silver Screen (think The Great Gatsby and W.C. Fields). 

Although not exactly unknown, the asides are entertaining: Henry Craddock, who fled Prohibition Manhattan for London and compiled the still-revered Savoy Cocktail Book, told an interviewer in 1926 that he was then mixing up at least 280 cocktails—a number that did not include juleps, fizzes, punches, highballs, etc. Dickson defends the use of vodka in the Bloody Mary, though he does dispense with the common misconception that it has anything to do with the onetime Queen, and goes with the often-disputed version of the drink having been created at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris. (A disproportionate number of famous bartenders and recipe writers were named Harry, possibly giving a whole new meaning to the phrase “hair of the dog.”) 

THE PUN'S THE THING
More self-consciously “literary” is a stocking stuffer for unrepentant punsters (actually, the sort of entertainment that used to be found in the bathrooms of the well-read). In Shakespeare, Not Stirred: Cocktails for Your Everyday Dramas, populist Shakespeare professors Caroline Bicks and Michelle Ephraim have pulled out all the stoppers, condensing the plots of the Bard’s plays into “riotous prose” and then naming slightly twisted cocktails for long-suffering characters. Consider the Lady Macbeth’s G-Spot (something like a Lear-ing bastard offshoot of a whiskey sour and a Rob Roy); Much Ado About Frothing (pisco sour with heart-shaped sprinkles) and chapters entitled “Shall I Campari Thee to a Summer’s Day?” 

As Shakespeare was already an inveterate punster, the book is almost too much of a muchness, best consumed in small quantities. Maybe it could serve a peculiar book club—one reading, and one round of drinks, at a time.

AN APPLE A DAY
Longtime beer-book author and blogger Jeff Alworth has temporarily swapped suds for cider, which he believes is the next specialty brew, and which he pointedly defines not as the insipid fruit juice of childhood but a whole family of artisan beverages including Calvados and Lambig. In Cider Made Simple: All About Your New Favorite Drink, Alworth travels from apple farms in the U.S. to Canada, England, France and Spain, talking and tasting with artisan cider blenders. He discusses the roles of aromatics, acidity, sweetness, tannins, fermentation, florals, “funkiness”—and if this sounds reminiscent of a wine primer, it’s no accident. Craft cider can range in alcohol content from 3 percent to 10 percent. It may be blended from a carefully curated balance of apple species, like vine varieties. Some of the best cider is even riddled and disgorged, à la Champagne, although with a somewhat different technique. 

Alford may be jumping the gun a little on calling cider the next favorite beverage, but he isn’t too far ahead of the curve: While its following is small compared to that of craft beer, the cider market is estimated to double every three years. 

A CLASSIC MIXER
The glossiest book of the bunch, and the one best suited to the cocktail obsessive, is Adam Ford’s Vermouth: The Revival of the Spirit that Created America’s Cocktail Culture. It’s part love letter to what has become his actual profession—he’s the founder of Atsby, a groundbreaking vermouth producer—and a bit of a vanity production, as it’s hard for him to resist specifying one of Atsby’s vermouths in his recipes.

Either way, it’s a passion project. Ford has dived deeply into drinking history—about 10,000 years’ worth—to show that herb- and spice-infused alcohols have been recognized as medicinal and recreational potions since Neolithic times nearly everywhere around the globe. (Admittedly, that’s a pretty broad definition of vermouth, but he has a point.) He strolls through decades of America’s evolving cocktail culture: the New York Exhibition of 1853, when four different Italian “vermout” makers poured a liquor that Charles Dickens admired; the wild and wicked post-Civil War Manhattan; the “Mad Men” era; etc. 

Oh, along the way, Ford brings up two more famous Harrys: Harry Johnson, famed author of the 1882 New and Improved Illustrated Bartender’s Manual, Or: How to Mix Drinks of the Present Style; and Harry Hill, owner of one of Manhattan’s first Gilded Age “concert saloons.” Maybe it’s a secret society.

 

This article was originally published in the November 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

An alcohol-inspired abundance has led beverage experts to look more into niche and novelty approaches to drink-themed gift books this year.
NonfictionMusicMemoirBiography

Following the beat of their own drummers

Feature by Henry L. Carrigan Jr.

The lives of musical greats continue to fascinate us, and this fall once again features biographies and memoirs of key players, from the producer credited with inventing rock ’n’ roll to a woman at the forefront of feminist rock.

On December 4, 1956, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash got together in Memphis’ Sun Studio for an impromptu jam session. Behind the console was Sam Phillips, the man who not only discovered Presley, Cash and Lewis, but who also dreamed of bringing together black and white voices in the studio in a deeply divided South. Peter Guralnick, the dean of rock historians, draws on extensive interviews from his 25-year friendship with Phillips in the epic, elegant and crisply told Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ’n’ Roll. Guralnick charts Phillips’ path from his birth near Florence, Alabama, to the founding of Sun Records—and chronicles his enduring contributions to rock ’n’ roll. When he produced Rufus Thomas’ version of “Hound Dog,” for example, Phillips thought it didn’t live up to Big Mama Thornton’s original, but “Rufus carried off his performance with genuine conviction—the one unwavering test Sam applied to any material he let out of the studio.” In the end, as Guralnick points out, what drove Phillips was his dream of allowing the voices he had heard singing chants in the cotton fields to express themselves in their own way. “[M]usic was not confined to the drawing room . . . there was great art to be discovered in the experience of those who had been marginalized and written off because of their race, their class, or their lack of formal education.” 

LONG AS I CAN SEE THE LIGHT
John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival serves as a cracking good storyteller in Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music. Born in El Cerrito, California, in 1945, Fogerty sought music as both escape and solace after his parents’ divorce. He traces the early incarnations of Creedence and the band’s rise to the top of the charts in 1969 with “Proud Mary” and “Born on the Bayou.” He also offers backstory on his lyrics: “Bad Moon Rising,” for instance, grew out of hearing people talk in astrological lingo such as “I’m a Virgo with Libra rising.” Although Creedence was flying high in the late 1960s and early ’70s, the group soon descended into an inferno of contentious legal battles. Fogerty expresses his anger and disappointment with bandmates Stu Cook and Doug Clifford, and for the first time shares what he believes were the outlandish courtroom tactics of lawyers who knew nothing about music. After a period away from the public eye, he has immersed himself in songwriting once again—“all good songs engage you because they get you to feel something”—and emerged thankful for the journey, even the hard parts.

THE LOVE YOU SAVE
Rolling Stone writer Steve Knopper chronicles the King of Pop’s rise to fame in the compulsively readable MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson. Drawing on 400 interviews with friends, family and others, Knopper traces Jackson’s musical genius from his early days with the Jackson 5 through his out-of-this-world solo success with “Beat It” and “Thriller.” When Jackson met Quincy Jones in the mid-1970s, he saw Jones as a father figure who could take the place of the abusive Joe Jackson, and by the end of the ’70s, Jackson was working with Jones, moving toward a solo career and developing his signature dance moves. With the release of videos for “Billie Jean” and “Thriller,” he successfully “integrated radio and MTV,” Knopper writes. Through much of the 1990s and early 2000s, Jackson lived under the shadow of child sexual abuse charges, and he sank into oblivion from prescription drug use before his death in 2009. Still, for nearly three decades, he was “supernaturally graceful, the rare show-business Renaissance man who could sing, dance, and write songs.” 

PAINTED FROM MEMORY
Unlike most traditional memoirs, Elvis Costello’s Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink eschews any narrative structure, moving freely out from his childhood in Liverpool and London, where he accompanied his father to dance halls, soaking up the chords and vibes. In school, he managed to talk a couple of friends out of an “unhealthy fascination with the music of Emerson, Lake & Palmer” and turn them on to the acoustic music then flowing out of Laurel Canyon. Costello mulls over his associations with musicians from Emmylou Harris to Kris Kristofferson, discussing the influence each has had on him. A prolific songwriter, he also shares insights into the composition of his songs. For “Allison,” which is based on the imagined life of a grocery checkout cashier, he writes, “I have no explanation for why I was able to stand outside reality and imagine such a scene as described in the song and to look so far into the future.” Costello’s aim is true in these peripatetic musings about his life and music.

MODERN GIRL
Guitarist Carrie Brownstein co-founded the group Sleater-Kinney, pushing the boundaries of punk and indie rock and emerging as a central figure of the riot grrrl movement. In Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl, she probes her life with an honesty that is at once painful and spirited. Growing up in a suburb of Seattle, Brownstein attended her first concert—Madonna—in fifth grade, a “moment I’ll never forget, a total elation that momentarily erased any outline of darkness.” By the time she was in high school, she was alienated from her parents and immersed in Bikini Kill, whose music provided a haven from the turmoil of her teenage life. She and Corin Tucker eventually formed Sleater-Kinney and made a name for themselves in the Seattle scene and around the world. Brownstein bubbles over with fiercely blunt insights about the male-dominated music business: “[P]ersona for a man is equated with power; persona for a woman makes her less of a woman.” When Sleater-Kinney broke up in 2006, Brownstein went on to co-write, produce and star in the television show “Portlandia.” She declares that, for her, performing and playing and living the life of a working artist constitutes her search for a home: “the unlit firecracker I carried around inside me in my youth . . . found a home in music.”

 

This article was originally published in the November 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

The lives of musical greats continue to fascinate us, and this fall once again features biographies and memoirs of key players, from the producer credited with inventing rock ’n’ roll to a woman at the forefront of feminist rock.
NonfictionMemoir

Unwrapping holiday hilarity

Feature by Lily McLemore

The holidays can be a bit stressful, but luckily, laughter is an excellent stress reliever! So crack open one of the three books below and crack up around the Christmas tree.

HILARIOUS HOLIDAY ANGST
Nothing says the holidays like a nice fire, a warm cup of cocoa and getting into a massive fight with your family. Jen Mann, author of the wickedly funny People I Want to Punch in the Throat, feels your holiday-fueled pain. In her latest collection of essays, Spending the Holidays with People I Want to Punch in the Throat, she gleefully skewers Santa and all of his obnoxious Christmas acolytes. Mann grew up in a family of “holiday overachievers” (her mother has hundreds of Santa figurines), but even as a child, she was done with the excessive cheer and holiday perfectionism. In her book, she lambastes the humblebrag-filled Christmas letter, overzealous carolers and parents bent on giving their precious ones the perfect holiday. With Mann as my companion in animosity, I can feel a little less guilty about hating the holidays and dismiss it all with a good laugh.

BASSOON SOLO
You probably recognize Rainn Wilson as the galling Dwight Schrute from “The Office,” the hugely popular NBC TV show about the lives of a bunch of paper-pushers in Pennsylvania (indeed, “Dwight” writes the foreword), but Wilson delves deeper with The Bassoon King: My Life in Art, Faith, and Idiocy. Born as a “large-headed, pale horror” to admittedly odd, proto-hippie parents (hence the name “Rainn”) in Seattle, Wilson blossomed into a star high school athlete and had lots of girlfriends. Just kidding: He became a Dungeons & Dragons master and took up the bassoon. Filled with genuinely fascinating stories about his unusual upbringing, his entrée into the comedy world and his thoughtfully developed views on life, Wilson’s book is an unsurprisingly funny and surprisingly poignant entry in the cavalcade of celebrity memoirs. 

WISECRACKING
Jason Gay, the Wall Street Journal’s blithe and beloved sports columnist, offers up some excellent, if nontraditional, life advice in his hilarious Little Victories: Perfect Rules for Imperfect Living. Based on his popular “Rules” column, this book is filled with, as he writes, “both practical and ridiculous” advice, like his belief that everyone should allot a little more money to flowers, that one should never rent a PT Cruiser while on vacation and that the goal of attaining total happiness is total hogwash. Gay’s tidbits of hard-earned, unexpected advice and musings are truly hilarious, but as he reflects on his relationships with his loved ones and the big moments in his life, they’re also incredibly touching. Gay is a gifted writer, and I would say this book is a big victory. 

 

This article was originally published in the November 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

The holidays can be a bit stressful, but luckily, laughter is an excellent stress reliever! So crack open one of the three books below and crack up around the Christmas tree.
Fashion

That book looks good on you

Feature by Cat Acree

FALLING FOR FASHION
Why do we love the way we do? And how? And who? In The Looks of Love: 50 Moments in Fashion That Inspired Romance, Hal Rubenstein, author of 100 Unforgettable Dresses and co-founder of InStyle magazine, approaches this timeless topic through movies, television, music, fashion, politics and advertising, revealing how style can forever alter our notions of gender roles, sexuality and what love should look like. Rubenstein discusses influences like John Galliano, Nancy Reagan and grunge darlings Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, but his sweet spot is film, which he explores with infectious enthusiasm. Consider how Flashdance’s sliced sweatshirts resonated with a new generation of sexually independent young women. And where would trench coats be without Casablanca? Rubenstein’s prose is romantic, wry and even a little bit wicked; he knows what makes us tear up and when we want to laugh (kindly or not). Love can sour as quickly as the appeal of shoulder pads, but if you’re lucky, it can last a lifetime.

COSMETIC LEGACY
In the early ’90s, Naomi Wolf’s The Beauty Myth insisted that wearing makeup was a “violent backlash against feminism.” Professional makeup artist Lisa Eldridge offers the ultimate counterpoint with Face Paint. Makeup can be playful and creative, and while Eldridge has plenty of fun discussing beauty pioneers such as Audrey Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich and Grace Jones, she considers makeup with an anthropological eye: “[T]he freedom and rights accorded to women during a given period are very closely linked to the freedom with which they painted their faces.” Beginning in ancient Egypt and moving through the golden age of Hollywood, Eldridge traces the vast history of cosmetics, explores the evolution of materials and techniques, and delves into the intrinsic ties between women’s history and the way we embellish our skin and lips. Makeup is what you make of it, Eldridge insists. It can make you part of the tribe, or it can set you apart from it.

PEOPLE, PARTIES, PLACES
Where’s Waldo? meets Perez Hilton in the hilariously illustrated Where’s Karl?: A Fashion-Forward Parody by Stacey Caldwell, Ajiri Aki and Michelle Baron. Fictional fashion blogger Fleur takes readers to the trendiest places around the world, from a photoshoot in Marrakech to Art Basel Miami. Our mission is to locate Karl Lagerfeld amid the riotous, flamboyant crowd, but you’ll also spot style crushes like Tilda Swinton and the Olsen twins, plus other members of the fashion elite, or as Fleur calls them, “mostly undiagnosed lunatics and megalomaniacs with highly covetable outfits.” Go ahead—obsess.

 

This article was originally published in the November 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Explore the illustrious history of fashion through these stylish new books—and have a bit of frivolous fun while you’re at it.
FictionDebut Fiction

Two delectable debuts

Feature by Amy Scribner

“Food is our common ground, a universal experience,” said James Beard, and these two delicious new books are cases in point. 

Both feature a protagonist chasing a food dream, one in the Big Apple and the other all over Europe. And both have enough mouthwatering descriptions of meals to send you rummaging for something to munch on.

The fun, frothy Food Whore has traces of The Devil Wears Prada, except instead of a cruel magazine editor, the villain is the entire Manhattan restaurant scene. Tia Monroe dreams of writing cookbooks and enrolls in the prestigious New York University culinary masters program. But when her bid for an internship with a famous cookbook author is botched, Tia begins ghostwriting columns for weaselly New York Times restaurant critic Michael Saltz, who has lost his ability to taste food. 

It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement: Saltz gets to keep his coveted job at the Times, and Tia gets the thrill of seeing her words in print, albeit under someone else’s byline. She also gets access to Saltz’s private account at Bergdorf Goodman. In no time, down-to-earth Tia becomes a fashionista who breaks up with her steadfast boyfriend and starts dating one of New York’s hottest chefs. But Tia quickly learns how brutal it is in the culinary world, where restaurants will do anything to get a good review. 

Food Whore is the first novel from Jessica Tom, a Brooklyn writer who graduated from Yale University and, much like Tia, wrote restaurant reviews for the school paper. Tom nails the dog-eat-dog restaurant world, whipping up a remarkably entertaining debut.

In Vintage, Bruno Tannenbaum is on the other side of his career from young Tia. After years as a food columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, Bruno is sliding into obsolescence. He once wrote a little-known novel he was proud of and a gimmicky best-selling cookbook he was less proud of. But now, he’s sleeping on his mother’s couch (wife kicked him out for cheating), unemployed (newspaper let him go) and drinking too much (see previous). When a Russian restaurateur enlists Bruno’s help in solving the mystery of a lost vintage of French wine, Bruno senses a story that could revive his career and prove to his family that he still has what it takes to provide for them.

Vintage is a whirlwind of a book, with the charmingly rough Bruno spinning through France, Moldova and Russia as he chases down the wine, which he believes was stolen by the Nazis during World War II. He finds romance with a French winemaker, intrigue in a Russian prison and answers where he never expected them. 

Author David Baker is the director of the documentary American Wine Story, and he delivers a walloping good time in Vintage. While the book is clever and funny, it’s also a tender meditation on the power of food and wine to heal even the sorest of hearts. Bruno is a character for the ages, a passionate foodie who finds his own winding road to redemption.

 

This article was originally published in the November 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

“Food is our common ground, a universal experience,” said James Beard, and these two delicious new books are cases in point.
NonfictionBiography

Supporting roles in history

Feature by Alice Cary

It’s been said that behind every great man, there’s a great woman, and that’s certainly the case with these three political wives and their well-known husbands. In fact, history might have turned out quite differently without them.

THE ORIGINAL FIRST LADY
Flora Fraser’s new biography, The Washingtons: George and Martha, “Join’d by Friendship, Crown’d by Love”, is a dense but fascinating account of the nation’s first “first couple.” Using letters, journals, dispatches and a variety of authoritative texts, the British author documents George and Martha’s comings and goings as they managed his Mount Vernon estate and dealt with a host of relatives, friends and politicians. Both were in their 20s when they wed—she a wealthy, widowed mother of four. 

Before Martha, George loved but didn’t marry the wealthy Sally Cary Fairfax, and also remained close to Philadelphia socialite Elizabeth Willing Powel. Fraser wonders about one encounter with Powel late in George’s life: “Had she or Washington or both declared or acted on a feeling for the other that was forbidden, given his marriage to Martha?”

Regardless of what may or may not have happened, it’s clear that everyone adored Martha. Abigail Adams described her as “one of those unassuming characters which creates Love & Esteem.” During the Revolution, Martha endured winter encampments with Washington and was welcomed by officers who found that she brightened the general’s mood. Fraser concludes that the marriage was “the making” of George Washington, boosting not only his wealth but his confidence. 

When he died, Martha said, “All is now over, I shall soon follow him!” She never entered their bedroom again, sleeping instead in the attic.

LBJ’S SECRET DEPENDENCY
Betty Boyd Caroli uses a wealth of primary sources to explore the marriage of Lady Bird and Lyndon. She shapes the Johnsons’ story nimbly, beginning with a telling scene from their daughter Lynda’s White House wedding, explaining why Lady Bird remained so devoted to her brash, womanizing husband.

The glue that kept this presidential couple together, Caroli writes, is that LBJ was “insecure and needy” from the start, and when “faced with a huge problem or disappointment, he would go to bed and pull the covers over his head.” His wife was the only one who knew how to draw him out of these funks, so in that sense she was his savior, time and time again. Lady Bird was also a savvy businesswoman and a highly successful campaigner throughout her life.

Caroli skillfully weaves the couple’s personal lives together with the tumultuous political situations they faced. Her narrative is a soulful account that details the pair’s widely divergent family backgrounds and acknowledges that LBJ was indeed the “human puzzle” that one journalist called him, but also “head over heels” in love with his wife.

The feeling was mutual. Caroli shows that repeatedly, when deciding between her husband’s needs and those of her daughters, Lady Bird chose her husband. One secretary described Lynda and Lucy as “almost orphans in a sense.” 

Lady Bird acknowledged that LBJ humiliated her at times, but said, “he made me someone bigger and better than I would have been.”

CHURCHILL'S ADVISOR
Might the Allies have lost World War II if Winston Churchill hadn’t married his wife, Clementine? Winston himself claimed victory would have been “impossible without her.” The story of this behind-the-scenes pillar of strength is absorbingly told by British biographer Sonia Purnell in Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill.

Clementine was Winston’s closest and most influential political advisor, Purnell argues, and her role has been largely overlooked—not even discussed in Churchill’s own six-volume account of the war.

Purnell describes this tall, stunning, athletic woman as a fashionable trendsetter, “a precursor to Jackie Onassis.” She built a close friendship with another political wife of her day, Eleanor Roosevelt. Their relationship lasted for years, although, interestingly, neither liked the other’s husband.

Winston and Clementine’s relationship was not without its trials. Heated arguments weren’t uncommon, and Winston sometimes called his wife “She-whose-commands-must-be-obeyed.” The couple was devastated when daughter Marigold died of septicemia at age 2, sending Clementine into a deep depression. And in what Purnell calls Clementine’s most courageous act of the war, in 1943 she refused to tell Winston how serious his heart condition was, fearing the knowledge would impede his ability to conduct the war.

Purnell recounts a mesmerizing period from a never-before-seen vantage point, and readers will be spellbound from start to finish.

 

This article was originally published in the November 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

It’s been said that behind every great man, there’s a great woman, and that’s certainly the case with these three political wives and their well-known husbands. In fact, history might have turned out quite differently without them.
Graphic Novels & ComicsGraphic Memoirs

Dive into a great graphic

Feature by Hilli Levin

Fall is a busy season in the publishing world, which means plenty of new arrivals are hitting the shelves! For readers looking for a little change of pace—and a more visual reading experience—we've rounded up our favorite graphic novels and memoirs that will bring a little color into these increasingly gray days. 

ADVICE FROM YOUR BETTER SELF
From The New Yorker cartoonist and author of the graphic memoir Cancer Vixen comes this satirical send-up of the New York media world. Self-serving Ann Tenna runs a celebrity gossip site that would make writers at TMZ blush, but a fateful car crash on her birthday leaves her unconscious and clinging to life. In a Christmas Carol-style chain of events, Ann leaves her body and comes face-to-face with her higher self, who takes her on a reflective journey through her most cringe-worthy life choices. Marchetto's laugh-out-loud and out-there tale is filled to the brim with pop culture references and lush artwork, making this one cosmic trip worth taking.

THROUGH THE LENS OF CHILDHOOD 
French author Riad Sattouf chronicles his childhood as the son of a French mother and Syrian father in his playful yet brutally honest graphic memoir. Sattouf was adored and doted on by his father, an academic and firm believer in pan-Arabism and the importance of education for the Arab people. Years living in Gaddafi's Libya—where each citizen was guaranteed housing, but squatters frequently took claim of the Sattouf's various residences and a later stint in Assad's Syria—take a toll on the family's bright-eyed idealism. At first called a little angel for his flowing gold locks, Sattouf is later insulted for his "ugly yellow Jewish hair," and he must come to terms with his feelings of being an outsider in a part of the world his father so badly wants to make theirs.

SUPER STAN
It's almost impossible to have a conversation about the evolution of graphic storytelling without dropping Stan Lee's name at least a few times. One of the most influential creators in the comic world (Spider-Man, Iron Man and the X-Men, to name a few) tells his own story in the unmistakably zippy style he's known for in his new autobiography. Starting from his childhood in a Depression-hit Manhattan, Lee chronicles his first meetings with collaborators Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, but his moments of pride are balanced by shocking, painful recollections of his personal losses and family struggles. For fans of the Marvel brand and the wide world of superheroes, this is a well-executed autobiography that should not be missed.

RACING TOWARD SHAMBALA
This innovative hybrid is a captivating tale that weaves sections of prose alongside pages of comic panels for an action-packed story. Set during World War I, this immersive read will satisfy fans of classic good vs. evil adventure stories. The globe-trotting action follows an underground group of explorers sworn to seek out and solve the world's greatest mysteries, and in this volume, the Guild must travel to the golden city of Shambala from Buddhist mythology. If you're a fan of Indiana Jones, then this book will satisfy your desire for a little nostalgic fun. 

CLOWNING AROUND
Peruvian-born and acclaimed author Daniel Alarcón is known for his gorgeously rendered prose that draws frequent comparisons to Steinbeck, Nabokov and Roberto Bolaño. In his first graphic novel, he expands upon his short story, first published in The New Yorker in 2003, which follows a young Peruvian journalist in the wake of his father's death. After discovering his father's secret second family at his funeral, Chino is sent on a strange, almost absurd reporting assignment: write a feature on Lima's street clowns. What follows is Chino's tender recollections of his early childhood, interspersed alongside his increasingly sad observations of the poor working clowns. Stark visuals from Sheila Alvarado make this forelorn, moving work of literary fiction come to vivid life. 

Fall is a busy season in the publishing world, which means plenty of new arrivals are hitting the shelves! For readers looking for a little change of pace—and a more visual reading experience—we've rounded up our favorite graphic novels and memoirs that will bring a little color into these increasingly gray days.
Nonfiction

Welcome words of wisdom

Feature by Trisha Ping

Do you have someone on your gift list who could use a dose of inspiration? Or maybe you're the one looking for reading material to provide motivation and reflection as we head into 2016. Either way, these new books might be just the ticket.

YOUR BEST SELF
Before she wrote Wild, Cheryl Strayed worked as an advice columnist, Dear Sugar (she is now reprising the role via podcast with the writer Steve Almond). Readers of that column—and her book Tiny Beautiful Things—know that Strayed has a knack for delivering sage advice with compassion and wit. Her new book, Brave Enough, a tiny hardcover in a cheerful green binding, contains more than 100 quotes from Strayed's work that are as simple and straightforward as they are wise. From advice ("romantic love is not a competitive sport") to prompts that will make you re-evaluate your choices ("Ask yourself: What is the best I can do? And then do that.") this is a collection to contemplate and savor. 

SAYING 'YES' TO SUCCESS
The influence of Shonda Rhimes on the entertainment industry over the past 10 years is difficult to overstate. The writer, producer and showrunner is responsible for runaway hits like "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal." Rhimes' popular shows, which feature diverse casts, are often credited with cracking open a glass ceiling for non-white actors—much as Rhimes herself, who is black, has reached a level of success in the TV business that few women or African Americans had previously attained. In her first book, Year of Yes: How to Dance it Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person, Rhimes talks about the pressures and pleasures of this role in a frank and personal tone ("If the first network drama with an African-American leading lady in thirty-seven years didn't find an audience, who knows how long it would take for another to come along?"). But she also discusses issues that the average woman can relate to—such as weight loss and the balance of work and home life—from a feminist perspective without holding back, even when her opinions might be controversial (for one, she says that motherhood is not a job, but a role). 

NEVERMIND THE END
Neurologist Oliver Sacks spent nearly 50 years treating patients, healing others even as he made a name for himself with his lyrical essays about the mind's many mysteries. He died of cancer on August 30, 2015, just four months after publishing his memoir. His final book, Gratitude, is a short compliation of Sacks' final four essays, which were written in the last two years of his life and previously published in The New York Times. All four focus on aging and coming to terms with mortality with honesty, from Sacks' perspective as a doctor-turned-patient. Sacks has a perspective on the human body and mind that most of us don't, and although his observations are more personal than clinical, his experience does contribute to a point of view that is matter of fact without being soulless. A brief introduction by Sacks' assistant, Kate Edgar, and his partner of eight years, Billy Hayes, gives context to these pieces, which serve as a fitting coda to a memorable body of work. 

Do you have someone on your gift list who could use a dose of inspiration? Or maybe you're the one looking for reading material to provide motivation and reflection as we head into 2016. Either way, these new books might be just the ticket.

Romance

Highland kilts and Scottish lilts

Feature by bookpagedev

There aren't many images more emblematic of the romance genre than a strong, kilted hero standing on the moors. To celebrate these burly heroes, we've reviewed three of the best recent Highland romances. Make sure you've got a tartan blanket and a hot toddy ready to enjoy with these novels!

STEALING KISSES
Jennifer Ashley’s latest installment in her Mackenzies series, The Stolen Mackenzie Bride, reaches back to the height of the Jacobite uprising in 1745 as this tale of courtship between two beloved Mackenzie ancestors unfolds.

English noblewoman Lady Mary Lennox is resigned to leading a dutiful, if not especially blissful, life as the soon-to-be-wife of one of her father’s political allies—until she locks eyes with Malcolm Mackenzie.

Mal has spent the past few years chasing skirts and enjoying his fair share of whisky, but one look at Mary and the mischievous Scot’s mind is made. She’s the elegant, passionate woman of his dreams, but he’ll have to find a way to break Mary’s legally cemented engagement—and break the fact of her British birth to his high-born Scottish father.

The politically unstable Edinburgh of the mid-18th century is not the most swoon-worthy setting for star-crossed love, and there are plenty of dark, violent moments that make this abundantly clear. Mary is given little choice in her life, and she is frequently used as a political bargaining chip by the warring sides, but the convention-breaking Highlander sparks her desire for respect and independence, and she makes some surprisingly daring decisions where she can. Mal may be a fierce, rugged warrior who gets what he wants, but his charm and emotional maturity make him an especially lovable hero. This is a sweeping saga in which a rare love blossoms in the shadow of war and political brutality.

AN UNLIKELY LOVE
The romance in Paula Quinn’s The Taming of Malcolm Grant, part of her MacGregors series, develops in the most unlikely of places. When the Grant brothers are in need of a bit of relaxation, the womanizing Highlander Malcolm knows the perfect place to unwind: his old friend Harry Gray’s brothel, Fortune’s Smile.

Unfortunately, almost immediately upon arrival, the brothers spark up a brawl with the wrong people. Malcolm and his brother, Cailean, are injured and in desperate need of medical attention. Luckily, Harry Gray is willing to hide the brothers above the brothel, and his sister, Emmaline, is a skilled healer.

Blinded at a young age by the fever that killed her parents, Emmaline has spent most of her life sequestered away, learning the art of healing. However, she has recently reunited with her brother, whom she barely knows. Uncertain what exactly to do with Emmaline and worried about her safety, Harry rarely allows her to leave her upstairs quarters above the raucous brothel, and never without a companion to guide her.

Malcolm is stunned to find the gentle likes of Emmaline in Fortune's Smile, but as she works to heal the gravely injured Cailean, Emmaline’s sweet-tempered demeanor and empathetic nature unexpectedly begin to heal Malcolm’s hardened heart, as well. Will it be the quietly confident Emmaline who finally tames the notorious Malcolm, or will a lingering threat end their relationship before it begins? 

QUITE THE MISTAKE TO MAKE 
When Riona Duff is awakened in her uncle’s York home by hand over her mouth and a gruff Scottish voice telling her to get dressed, she assumes the worst. But in The Wrong Bride, the first book in Gayle Callen’s Highland Weddings series, a bevy of assumptions are proven false. 

Lady Catriona Duff was promised to clan chief Hugh McCallum when they were both children, but her father now renounces the betrothal, and Hugh refuses to accept the slight. His clan desperately needs the money from Catriona’s dowry, and he believes he has no choice—he either claims his bride or his clan will suffer. Hence sneaking into the Duff’s estate in the dead of night and stealing Catriona away to his Highland keep. 

However, there is a flaw in Hugh’s plan. A large one: He’s stolen the wrong Duff woman. The very stubborn Hugh refuses to believe he’s made this big of a mistake, assuming that she is lying in an attempt to weasel out of their impending nuptials. But the woman is resolute: He is betrothed to her cousin, not her. 

However, this does nothing to abate the searing attraction between the two. Hugh is determined to court and seduce his wary bride, and Riona, who has spent a lifetime in the shadow of her sister, has a hard time resisting. Even though Riona knows she is not truly his betrothed, she finds herself tentatively falling in love with the burly laird. However, when Hugh’s scandalous past is revealed and Riona’s true identity is proven, their burgeoning hope for love may be dashed. Rich with historical detail and sexual tension, the first of Callen’s new series is a winner. 

 

There's not many images more emblematic of the romance genre than a strong, kilted hero standing on the moors. To celebrate these burly heroes, we've reviewed three of the best recent Highland romances. Make sure you've got a tartan blanket and a hot toddy ready to enjoy with these novels!
NonfictionBiography

The presidency’s last gentleman

Feature by Lynn Green

Almost 25 years after President George H.W. Bush left office, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jon Meacham examines the life and career of a figure who seems almost “quaint” by today’s politically polarized standards. 

Bush believed in compromise, worked to secure support on both sides of the aisle “and was willing to break with the base of his own party in order to do what he thought was right, whatever the price,” Meacham writes in Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush. “Quaint, yes: But it happened, in America, only a quarter century ago.”

Meacham’s penetrating biography goes beyond the events of Bush’s presidency, as monumental as they might be—the liberation of Kuwait, the end of the Cold War—to offer an absorbing look at what made the man, from his privileged childhood to his hyper-competitive spirit, which Meacham characterizes as a “hunger for power” that was evident from a young age. 

“[T]hat is what drove George H.W. Bush, relentlessly and perennially: a hunger to determine the destinies of others, to command respect, to shape great events,” the author writes. Bush was willing to veer off the well-trod path to achieve those ends, whether that meant bypassing a lucrative job in finance to move to the Texas oil fields or running for the U.S. Senate in Texas in 1964 as a political neophyte. (He lost but won a seat in the House two years later.)

Bush was born in Massachusetts in 1924, the second son of a marriage that combined two old-line wealthy families. His Walker forebears shine somewhat more brightly than his Bush relatives in Meacham’s telling, with his grandfather and namesake George Herbert (Bert) Walker standing out as a particularly bold character. (“Temperamental, imperious, and impatient, he thrived on conflict,” Meacham writes. One of Walker’s sons described him as “a real son of a bitch.”)

Meacham has a flair for setting a scene with cinematic effect, from the World War II air battle where Bush almost lost his life to the night of the 1992 election when the solitary and anguished president reflected on his loss to Bill Clinton.

The biography is enriched immeasurably by Meacham’s 10 years of interviews with the former president, from 2006 to 2015, as well as material from Bush’s personal diaries, which he dictated into a handheld recorder during his years as vice president and president. “He would speak into the machine quietly, often late at night or early in the morning. Taken all together, the diaries enable us, in effect, to sit with Bush as he muses about life at the highest levels,” Meacham writes.

A former editor of Newsweek, Meacham won the Pulitzer Prize for American Lion, his 2008 biography of Andrew Jackson. His masterful new portrait of Bush is both authoritative and highly readable, a treat for history buffs and general readers alike.

Almost 25 years after President George H.W. Bush left office, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jon Meacham examines the life and career of a figure who seems almost “quaint” by today’s politically polarized standards.

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