Four short films, based on Dahl’s stories, hit Netflix at the end of September. Beginning with The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar on September 27, followed by The Swan (Sept. 28), The Ratcatcher (Sept. 29) and Poison (Sept. 30). Watch trailer
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
As the blistering heat of summer subsides, giving way to cooler temperatures and changing leaves, there’s no better time than the present to cozy up with a good book. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
A previously unknown short story by Truman Capote, discovered written in pencil in a notebook then carefully deciphered and transcribed, will be published on Friday. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
This conviction of history’s importance is driving a national movement of underground historians that has slowly taken shape over the past 20 years. I call these people historians as a shorthand for a broad array of China’s brightest minds: university professors, independent filmmakers, underground magazine publishers, novelists, artists and journalists. Some might be thought of as dissidents, but most have one foot inside the system, where they continue to hold jobs, own property and raise families. All of them risk their careers, their futures and prison to publish clandestine journals, banned books and independent documentary films. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
With no deal (so far) to end the strikes that have shut down Hollywood, many of your favorite shows, not to mention must-see events like the Emmys, are on hold. Which means you may be looking elsewhere for diversion. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
“American Gun,” by Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson, recounts the grim history of the AR-15 rifle in unvarnished detail. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
New Jersey is a typical entry in the FWP’s American Guides series, published during the late 1930s and early ’40s. The series comprises shaggy biographies of all the then 48 states; pick one at random and you’ll find a smorgasbord of history, legends, jokes, industrial data, social analysis, epitaphs, old letters, old newspaper clippings, old diaries, ghost stories, dubious tales, and half-forgotten anecdotes. You’ll find handsome line illustrations alongside photographs of houses and monuments and people at work. You’ll find scattered, subtle reports on how people were sustaining themselves through the Depression and how New Deal policies were reshaping the country. You’ll find a little practical advice for travelers and a lot of information whose purpose is more obscure. You’ll find a guidebook that seems, itself, to have wandered off and gotten lost. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
His spare, icily precise books explore humanity’s most serious themes, including South Africa’s legacy of apartheid. And not all of them are downers. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
The American Library Association is facing a partisan firefight unlike anything in its almost 150-year history. The once-uncontroversial organization, which says it is the world’s largest and oldest library association and which provides funding, training and tools to most of the country’s 123,000 libraries, has become entangled in the education culture wars — the raging debates over what and how to teach about race, sex and gender… Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
With solid research and engaging humor, this book takes apart the conspiracy theories surrounding the Rothschild family. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
