Books | Author Q&As
Alaska beckoned. A young adventurer trades screen time for wilderness savvy.Ben Weissenbach found himself tamed by the Alaskan wilderness, schooled by skilled outdoorspeople, and rescued from hubris by an eagerness to learn.
How Monopoly games rescued POWs from German prison campsIn “Monopoly X,” Philip E. Orbanes explores the ingenuity and resourcefulness behind the creation of special game boards with hidden tools.
Everyone’s doom-scrolling about the AI apocalypse. This book stays down to Earth.Adam Becker, author of “More Everything Forever,” says tech titans are trying to decide the future of humanity. Here’s what their techno-domination narratives miss.
Robert Smalls’ Civil War bravery jumps off the page. A new comic captures his legacy.Can a new graphic novel help cement the legacy of Robert Smalls? The little-known Civil War figure caught the attention of a Hollywood writer and producer, who says that telling Smalls’ story could “change lives.”
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A biographer profiles Rose Valland, who secretly tracked Nazi art theftsMichelle Young’s biography of Rose Valland examines how a museum archivist was able to strike a blow against Nazis' art looting in occupied France.
‘Freedom Season’ uplifts the struggle for dignity and citizenshipHistorian Peniel Joseph’s “Freedom Season” raises up the work of Black activists seeking a more just society in the pivotal year of 1963.
Her ancestor sought a homeland for Jews. He chose Galveston, Texas.Rachel Cockerell talks about her great-grandfather’s role in bringing Jews out of Europe in an effort to create a Jewish homeland in Galveston, Texas.
The stories ‘move into hope’: Elaine Pagels reflects on Jesus’ teachingsThe Gospels spread the teachings of Jesus and stories about his life. A Bible historian unpacks the message behind them in “Miracles and Wonder.”
Laila Lalami taps into privacy concerns in ‘The Dream Hotel’Novelist Laila Lalami’s trepidation about big tech and data collection led her to imagine a world in which even dreams are subject to monitoring.
A biographer celebrates Benjamin Franklin’s curiosity and joy in scienceThe ‘ingenious’ Founding Father Benjamin Franklin receives his due as scientist-inventor in Richard Munson’s sparkling biography.
Why J. Edgar Hoover’s biographer worries about Kash Patel running the FBIAn author who studied J. Edgar Hoover’s complicated legacy at the FBI says she sees warning signs in the overt political statements by Trump nominee Kash Patel.
Neal Stephenson mixes polo, politics, and power in the novel ‘Polostan’A Russian American girl straddles the worlds of her Ukraine-born Bolshevik father and her Montana-raised cowgirl mother in the 1920s and ’30s in Neal Stephenson’s “Polostan.”
Curtis Chin grew up in a Chinese restaurant. He’s on a 300-city tour to save others.In cities across the United States, Chinatowns are struggling. American storyteller Curtis Chin, author of “Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant,” is on a mission to save these vibrant cultural enclaves.
How ‘History Alice’ is getting Gen Z to learn about the pastAlice Loxton doesn’t believe history should be boring or academic. As “History Alice,” she connects with millions of people on social media, and her second book, “Eighteen,” already reached No. 1 in the U.K.
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