John Allen Paulos, “A Numerate Life” (Prometheus Books, 2015)
John Allen Paulos, who has accomplished the unheard-of double of writing best-sellers about mathematics and inserting a word (‘innumeracy’) into the language, has attempted another ambitious feat – br...
12 Nov 201553min
Megan Marshall, “Margaret Fuller: A New American Life” (Mariner Books, 2013)
Megan Marshall is the Charles Wesley Emerson College Professor in writing, literature and publishing. Her book Margaret Fuller: A New American Life (Mariner Books, 2013) won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize in...
8 Nov 20151h 5min
James E. Strick, “Wilhelm Reich, Biologist” (Harvard UP, 2015)
“Life must have a father and mother…Science! I’m going to plant a bomb under its ass!” The author of the line above – who scrawled it in his private diary in the midst of a series of experiments in w...
6 Okt 20151h 9min
Minghui Hu, “China’s Transition to Modernity: The New Classical Vision of Dai Zhen” (U of Washington Press, 2015)
Minghui Hu‘s new book takes Dai Zhen as a case study to look at broader transformations in classical scholarship, technical methodologies, politics, and their relationships in the Qing period. This st...
15 Sep 20151h 4min
Kecia Ali, “The Lives of Muhammad” (Harvard UP, 2014)
Muhammad is remembered in a multitude of ways, by both Muslims and non-Muslims. And through each retelling we learn a great deal not only about Muhammad but about the social milieu of the authors. In ...
25 Aug 201551min
Daisy Hay, “Mr. and Mrs. Disraeli: A Strange Romance” (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2015)
As I imagine most any biographer will tell you, one of the great joys and privileges of biographical research is using archives. This is where one encounters tangible pieces of the subject’s life- let...
25 Juli 201529min
Donald Dewey, “Lee J. Cobb: Characters of an Actor” (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014)
In his new book Lee J. Cobb: Characters of an Actor (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014),Don Dewey discusses Lee J. Cobb’s career, both from his importance as a character actor and follower of the Method ac...
20 Juni 20151h 3min
Sally G. McMillen, “Lucy Stone: An Unapologetic Life” (Oxford University Press, 2015)
Sally G. McMillen is the Mary Reynolds Babcock professor of history at Davidson College. In her book Lucy Stone: An Unapologetic Life (Oxford University Press, 2015) McMillen has given us a rich biogr...
14 Juni 20151h 6min
