Dickens: A Biography

Fred Kaplan. Avon Books, $12.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-380-70896-3

``This first major biography of Dickens in nearly 40 years is a winning mix of insight, narrative skill and shrewd judgment,'' commended PW. As limned here, ``Dickens was convivial, loyal, secretive and arrogant, with a `performance personality' that required applause for self-definition.'' Photos. (May)

Featured Nonfiction Reviews

Bruce Chadwick

The Battle of Gettysburg was a dramatic combination of pathos and absurdity, according to this remarkable selection of primary sources from historian Chadwick (The Cannons Continue reading »

Joshua Howe, Alexander Lemons

Howe (Behind the Curve), a professor of environmental history at Reed College, and U.S. Marine veteran Lemons team up for a searing mix of wartime memoir and scientific Continue reading »

Rich Benjamin

Benjamin (Searching for Whitopia) delivers a devastating memoir about the ripple effects of the coup that ousted his grandfather, Haitian president Daniel Fignolé, in 1957. Continue reading »

Marlene L Daut

Historian Daut (Awakening the Ashes) offers a powerful biography of Henry Christophe (1767-1820), who fought for, defected from, and ultimately ruled over Haiti. She first Continue reading »