The books we love coming out this week include new titles by Emily Tamkin, Katherine Corcoran, and Alisha Rai.
Bad Jews: A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities
Journalist Tamkin (The Influence of Soros) illuminates in this vibrant study the multifaceted nature of the Jewish experience in America. Interweaving historical vignettes, contemporary interviews, and personal reflections, Tamkin argues that “as a monolithic or hegemonic entity... the Jewish community does not exist.” She examines how restrictions placed on Jewish immigration in the 1920s intensified “assimilation and acculturation,” as well as tensions over “what it meant to be an American Jew,” and notes that while some Jews became deeply involved in socialist politics, others founded the neoconservative movement. She also delves into the boom in suburban synagogue construction after WWII, the creation of the “Jewish American Princess” stereotype, and the collaboration between conservative Jews and the Christian right. Throughout, Tamkin brings nuanced perspective to such controversial matters as the alleged antisemitism of Muslim congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib and the “active role” some American Jews “play[ed] in upholding America’s racist, slave-based society” (she notes that the first Jewish person to hold a cabinet position in North America was Confederate attorney general and secretary of state Judah P. Benjamin). Heartfelt, nuanced, and empathetic, this revelatory ethnography is a must-read.
In the Mouth of the Wolf: A Murder, A Coverup, and the True Cost of Silencing the Press
Corcoran, the former Associated Press bureau chief for Mexico and Central America, debuts with a searing look at the unsolved 2012 murder of Regina Martínez, an investigative reporter for the Mexican magazine Proceso. Martínez was discovered beaten to death in her bathroom in the capital city of the state of Veracruz. Martínez’s targets had included influential politicians, such as Fidel Herrera, the former Veracruz governor, whom she’d linked to the misuse of state funds and organized crime. She persisted in her digging, despite Veracruz’s history as an extremely dangerous place for journalists. The number of powerful enemies she made led her colleagues to suspect that one of them, possibly Herrera, was responsible for the killing. Corcoran’s own reporting discredits the official story that the murder was a crime of passion and that a petty criminal, El Silva, arrested a few months after the killing, was responsible; her analysis makes it clear that El Silva, who confessed under torture, was just a patsy. Corcoran’s vivid account is based on hundreds of interviews she conducted in Mexico over seven years. Despite the lack of a satisfying resolution, this succeeds both as an homage to the heroic Martínez and as a gripping real-life whodunit.
Partners in Crime
Rai (First Comes Like) continues her hot streak with this delightful action-packed rom-com/caper mash-up full of jewel heists, sizzling hot sex scenes, and high-stakes backroom poker games. Mira Patel ran from her family’s less-than-legal life in Las Vegas when she was 18. Now she’s settled down in California and hires a matchmaker to find love—but she screens out anyone she thinks might reject her for not coming from a “good family,” among them lawyer Naveen Desai. When Mira’s aunt Rhea dies and leaves her a mysterious note and the key to a storage locker, she learns that her estranged father stole a $10 million necklace from the crime lord Cobra. Complicating things even further, the lawyer handling Rhea’s estate is none other than Naveen, and when Cobra’s henchmen come after Mira, he winds up kidnapped right alongside her. Now they must work together to escape. Escape-room-loving, emotionally intelligent Naveen makes a delightful hero, and Mira’s progression from mild-mannered accountant to card-counting James Bond–style badass is by turns hilarious and thrilling. This is a must-read for romance lovers.
Myth America: Historians Take on the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past
Historical truths counteract America’s crisis of disinformation in these illuminating and sharply written essays gathered by Princeton historians Kruse (White Flight) and Zelizer (Burning Down the House). Seeking to discredit right-wingers who have “sought to retrofit history as a rationale for present policies and programs” and debunk more widespread myths rooted in American exceptionalism, the contributors cover a wide range of issues. Erika Lee (America for Americans) explains that xenophobic immigration laws, including the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, fail to acknowledge that foreigners don’t just “come” to the U.S., but are “pushed, lured, and brought” to serve America’s economic interests, and notes that by the time Donald Trump announced his presidential candidacy in 2015, more Mexican immigrants were returning to Mexico than arriving in the U.S. Daniel Immerwahr (How to Hide an Empire) refutes politicians from both parties who claim that the U.S. is not an empire; Karen L. Cox (No Common Ground) reveals the links between Confederate monuments, white supremacist groups, and Jim Crow laws; and Carol Anderson (The Second) documents how claims of voter fraud have been used since Reconstruction to disenfranchise minority groups. Distinguished by its impressive roster of contributors and lucid arguments, this ought to be required reading.
A Heart Full of Headstones: A John Rebus Novel
Edgar winner Rankin’s outstanding 24th John Rebus novel (after 2020’s A Song for the Dark Times) opens dramatically with the Edinburgh detective, officially retired but still working, in the dock charged with a crime that’s not revealed until the very end. Flashbacks show familiar characters from Rebus’s world pursuing various agendas. Organized crime kingpin Morris “Big Ger” Cafferty, an old adversary of the detective, asks Rebus to find a man he wronged, but Rebus still has eyes on taking down Cafferty. Det. Insp. Siobhan Clarke, a former colleague of Rebus’s, is investigating a policeman accused of domestic abuse who threatens to expose a culture of police corruption (“Skeletons are about to come tumbling out of closets”). Malcolm Fox, a loathsome, ambitious detective inspector, wants to contain that threat’s collateral damage. Every thread leads to murder. The well-constructed plot is matched by brooding, atmospheric prose (Rebus has “spent his whole life in... a city perpetually dark, feeling increasingly weighed down, his heart full of headstones”). This is one of Rankin’s best Rebus novels in years.
Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Extra Good Things: Bold, Vegetable-Forward Recipes Plus Homemade Sauces, Condiments, and More to Build a Flavor-Packed Pantry
“It’s the added extras that dress up a meal, making an already good dish deliciously better,” insist chef Ottolenghi and Ottolenghi Test Kitchen chef Murad in this creative collection of sauces, crunchy bits, and more. The jazzed-up recipes are what the authors call “a celebration of vegetables” and are largely inspired by Middle Eastern cuisine: Moroccan-inspired sweet and savory chicken pie gets a spicy crunch from the cinnamon-almond topping, while Egyptian ful mudammas (a spiced fava bean dish typically served for breakfast) is given a fiery kick from a green chile sauce. Throughout, the duo suggest variations for each “extra” item in a recipe; for instance, the pomegranate salsa used for a green frittata with burnt eggplant also pairs well with labneh, hummus, and a slow-cooked lamb shoulder. On a sweeter note, a bonus section focuses on dessert basics, where the team takes a classic dessert, such as devil’s food cake, and puts a fresh twist on it with intriguing ingredients like hazelnut praline, which can also be spooned onto toast, pancakes, or oatmeal (or even mixed with cocoa powder for a “Nutella-esque experience” that the authors “promise you won’t regret”). This master class on flavor and flair will inspire home cooks far and wide.
Duplicity: A Brick Kavanagh Mystery
Wilson’s excellent sequel to Relentless finds Brick Kavanagh, a former Washington, D.C., police detective, back home after three months in Ireland, where he was recovering from the previous book’s traumatic events. Now, at 42, he’s ready to try something new. One possibility, suggested by Grace Alexander, a professor at a local university, is for him to teach a seminar on cold cases to students of criminology. Grace even has a real case in mind—the hit-and-run death of a grad student—though it’s complicated by the prime suspect having diplomatic immunity. Then, on a weekend in Chicago with a flight attendant he met in Ireland, Brick hears that the wife and infant twins of his friend and former partner, Ron Hayes, have vanished, possibly kidnapped. Back in D.C., Brick lends Ron his wholehearted support, even as some disturbing information about his friend surfaces in the course of the investigation. Never mind, as Brick and Ron admit, that dumb luck and coincidence result in satisfying resolutions to both cases: it’s a cracking good time. One doesn’t have to be a mystery fan to relish this.
Beyond Welcome: Centering Immigrants in Our Christian Response to Immigration
González (The God Who Sees), a Guatemalan-American immigrant advocate, urges Christians to welcome immigrants in this incisive appeal. “Jesus does not ask me or anyone to assimilate but to be fully ourselves,” González contends, encouraging Christians to follow Jesus’s exhortations to “love our neighbors as ourselves.” She unpacks immigrant stories in the Bible, noting that Joseph was a displaced migrant whose assimilation into the Egyptian system of oppression illustrates the moral compromises assimilation often demands of outsiders. Candidly reflecting on how internalized racism shaped her youth in Florida, the author recounts how white beauty standards made her feel inadequate and confesses that she mostly dated white men “because I was raised to prefer and believe in the superiority of whiteness.” González rejects the notion that immigrants should have to act above reproach because no human is perfect, and God’s incarnation in Jesus demonstrates the Christian imperative to “fully and unreservedly embrace our own and each other’s humanity.” The author’s biblical analysis achieves the difficult task of drawing fresh conclusions from familiar stories and finding wisdom in those less discussed, and her keen attention to how language, race, wealth, ability, and sexuality intersect with immigration is compassionate and inclusive. The result is a top-notch Christian look at immigration, humane and full of heart.