Weingarten, the president of the AFT, America’s largest educators’ union, debuts with a rousing inquiry into “what teachers do” and “why those who are afraid of freedom... try to stop” them. The book focuses on the onslaught faced by public school teachers during the two Trump administrations—in 2023 alone, she notes, 110 bills were presented in state legislatures attempting to curtail what teachers can and cannot do. In New Hampshire, the state education commissioner even set up a website encouraging the public to report educators who were illegally teaching about racism. The book contains a wealth of such examples from around the country, which Weingarten presents as an effort not only to smash the foundations of the American public school system but to pave the way for fascism, which she defines as the abandonment of logic and empirical evidence in favor of fanciful truths that the “leader” invents and espouses to his acolytes, who parrot them back as a show of loyalty. Public school teachers, she astutely observes, do four things that make them the number one enemies of fascism and its aims: impart critical thinking skills, create welcoming communities, foster lower-class students’ ability to achieve economic success, and serves as anchors of the labor movement. It adds up to a galvanizing portrait of teachers as society’s best bulwarks against anti-intellectualism and retrograde thinking. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

Historian Larman (The Windsors at War) explores in this comprehensive account the critically overlooked second half of David Bowie’s career. The book opens in the late 1980s, when Bowie was recording albums and touring as a member of the rock band Tin Machine, before releasing a string of solo albums. Though none reached the heights of his 1970s and ’80s output, creative partnerships with such producers as Brian Eno helped Bowie go in new directions, from 1999’s heavily acoustic Hours to the industrial pop of 2002’s Heathens, and eventually return to critical and commercial relevance. After suffering a heart attack on stage in Prague in 2004, Bowie retired from touring and did not release a new album for 12 years; the critically lauded Blackstar came out only two days before his 2016 death. Drawing on a wealth of research, the author highlights the creative challenges faced by a star who was perceived to have “peaked long before... reach[ing] the age of forty,” and gives due to the “flawed but often brilliant moments” on Bowie’s path to reinventing himself. This casts fresh light on the rock star. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

The short-lived 1990 TV series Twin Peaks cast a long cultural shadow, according to this energetic account from film critic Meslow (From Hollywood with Love). In 1988, filmmaker David Lynch and TV veteran Mark Frost brainstormed the project as a surrealist mystery centered on the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer. The premise left the show’s creators in something of a bind, Meslow explains, as they sought to “keep moving the mystery forward” without fully resolving the murder “because no one had any good ideas yet for what a post–Laura Palmer Twin Peaks might look like.” The show was canceled shortly after the killer was revealed in season two, though its cult popularity continued to grow thanks to buzz generated by its cliff-hanger ending and “hyper-serialized quality,” which made it an “irresistible prospect on DVD.” Frost and Lynch later returned to the material, with Lynch making a prequel film, 1992’s Fire Walk with Me, and the two teaming up for Twin Peaks: The Return, an 18-part miniseries released 25 years after the original show ended. Meslow interweaves his diligent account of the show’s cultural legacy with delightful peeks into its idiosyncratic production and the eccentric directorial style of Lynch, who advised Lara Flynn Boyle during one long, difficult-to-shoot scene to “think of how gently a deer has to move in the snow.” Fans will be riveted. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

Popova (The Universe in Verse), creator of the blog The Marginalian, delivers a masterful exploration of life’s meaning by weaving together profiles of visionaries and discussions of science, art, and nature. She begins with Captain James Cook en route to Tahiti in 1769 to observe the Transit of Venus. Upon arrival, he documented a society startlingly unlike that of his native England, an anecdote that prompts Popova to reflect on humanity’s penchant to reject otherness (“the discomfort with which we recoil at cultural practices and personal choices different from our own... reveal[s] our own fears and insecurities”). Elsewhere, Popova discusses 18th-century chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who illuminated the nature of life by identifying oxygen and hydrogen; author Mary Shelley, whose novel Frankenstein reveals the power of social conditioning; abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who set out to prove one can “refuse to be made a monster by the world’s monstrosity”; and geologist Alfred Wegener, whose theory of continental drift forever altered humanity’s view of the planet. In Popova’s hands, their struggles and successes combine in a lyrical symphony of truth, made richer by reflections on the nature of the color blue, NASA’s Kepler mission, the 1815 eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Tambora, the invention of the bicycle, and more. “Every story is the story of the world,” Popova deftly reveals. This is multifaceted and marvelous. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

This pulse-pounding romantic thriller from bestseller Krentz (Shattering Dawn) follows Sophy Harper and Luke Well, whose psychic families have a long-standing feud. So when Luke comes to Sophy’s shop asking for a favor, she’s surprised. Luke has learned that Sophy’s aunt Bea and his uncle Deke were having an affair—and that they’ve now both vanished into thin air, a disappearance he thinks may be connected to a local murder. The duo team up to investigate, leading them to the Fool’s Gold Canyon Art Colony—and straight into danger. The Colony’s founder, tech bro Trent Hatch, is definitely hiding something. As Sophy and Luke search for answers, Krentz keeps the twists coming at a breathless pace. Along the way, Sophy and Luke put aside their familial rivalry and fall for each other. This romantic turn is satisfyingly executed, as are the paranormal elements, which add an extra layer of intrigue. Krentz’s fans will not be disappointed. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

Well-to-do policeman Leo Herzfeldt investigates a string of grisly murders in 19th-century Vienna in Pötzch’s lively sequel to The Gravedigger’s Almanac. In 1892, venerated Egyptologist Alfons Strössner discovers an unplundered tomb while lost in the desert. After sand collapses around him, he’s rescued by three colleagues, and they unearth the treasure together. Two years later, two of those colleagues have died under suspicious circumstances. When Strössner’s body is found inside a sarcophagus in Vienna’s Museum of Art History with emeralds pressed into his eye sockets, it looks like murder. As Leo investigates, more killings plague Vienna, including a mauled zookeeper and dismembered male prostitutes. Battling antisemitism and skepticism of his scientific methods from police colleagues, Leo enlists the investigative help of his love interest Julia Wolf and eccentric gravedigger Augustin Rothmayer, setting the stage for an entertaining if far-fetched climax. Other elements may also test the reader’s patience, including contrived romantic troubles between Leo and Julia, but this is still a supremely enjoyable, well-researched adventure. Readers will have fun. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

Guggenheim fellow Kurtz (Three Minutes in Poland) uncovers the identities of the construction workers immortalized in the Empire State Building photographs of Lewis Hines, who famously posed his subjects on steel beams dangling hundreds of feet above ground. Following a clue left behind in Hines’s own handwriting, Kurtz was able to connect the photographs to a long-overlooked plaque in the building’s lobby honoring skilled craftsmen involved in the skyscraper’s 1930–1931 construction. From there, Kurtz pieces together bare-bones but poignant accounts of the craftsmen, including 22-year-old stone setter James Patrick Kerr, whose father, a Northern Irish immigrant, was killed in a streetcar accident when he was three years old and who lived with his mother and stepfather in a $17-a-month apartment on Tenth Avenue when Hines snapped his portrait; and Ukrainian-born glazier Samuel Laginsky, father of five, who suffered a gruesome death on the job just two years after his photo was taken. Kurtz emphasizes how this reframing of the Hines snapshots as a planned photo shoot memorializing local craftsmen’s excellence puts a populist lens on a building that has more often served as a symbol of corporate might, while also puncturing the myth that the photos are somehow “documentary” records of the work itself. New York history buffs will be thrilled by Kurtz’s discovery. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

This angsty, kink-forward gay romance, the second in Cate’s Sinful Manor series (after Keep Me), reunites former college roommates turned messy friends with benefits seven years after the brutal argument that decimated their relationship. Artist Declan Barclay, whose fear of commitment stems from a traumatic past, is shocked when old flame Colin Shelby, now an actor, shows up at his family manor, intending to use it as the venue for his wedding to fellow actor Pierce Michael Hall. Declan hates Pierce on sight but, due to a bet with his sister, has to make sure the fast-approaching wedding goes off without a hitch. The narrative toggles between past and present, with the flashbacks laying a solid foundation for the men’s relationship. When Declan realizes that Pierce doesn’t treat Colin well, he has just six days to stop the wedding—and possibly win back the love of his life. Declan is just the kind of wounded hero Cate’s fans will swoon for, and it’s deeply satisfying to see Colin come into his own as he learns to name and claim his desires. Readers will find this as heartfelt as it is spicy. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

Unfolding like a fairy tale, this enchanting fantasy from Kechacha (To Catch a Moon) plays out over a single day in the life of a dance company devoted to performing an otherworldly ballet. No one knows the origins of the show. The Grub, the train on which the company lives, travels from town to town, and upon the company’s arrival in a new place, their theater building, The Grit, manifests as well. Once pledged to the company—for one year and one day—dancers become beholden to the show, and reneging on a pledge can have dire consequences depending on the will of the Crow, the deity to which they all answer. The narrative jumps between members of the company, exploring their relationships with both each other and the show itself, their motivations for joining the odd and dangerous endeavor, and their intentions for the future. Kechacha weaves these individual strands into a glimmering, dreamlike whole, darkened by nightmares that lurk in the wings. Fans of traditional stories of the Fae won’t want to miss this. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

Writer and film producer Fischer (The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures) explores in this entertaining group biography the lives and works of filmmakers Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg. He begins on the set of the 1968 film Finian’s Rainbow, one of the last gasps of Hollywood’s Golden Age. After winning a scholarship from Warner Bros., a young Lucas was tasked with observing the film’s director, the up-and-coming Coppola. The two had an instant connection and went on to start their own production company, American Zoetrope. Meanwhile, Spielberg, another promising young director, had landed a contract directing TV shows for Universal Studios but was eager to make movies. Fischer documents how the three ushered in a new era of film that rejected the old system of powerful studios controlling production and instead centered high-concept, director-driven blockbusters. Along the way, he chronicles how Coppola transformed The Godfather, a pulpy novel about the Mafia, into a film that “pushed the bounds of the medium”; follows Spielberg’s animatronic innovations in Jaws; and traces how Lucas turned his idea for a “sort of space opera thing” into the Star Wars franchise. Throughout, Fischer leverages a novelistic style that makes his extensive research and interviews a pleasure to read. This is a sure-fire hit for cinephiles. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink