Olivia Laing, Sarah Weinman, Alison Roman, and more: 23 new books out today!

Finally, a sense of hope in the air. A tide change, or a wind shifting: New Yorkers can, and do, expect better for themselves. There’s a beauty to that realization, that no matter the hardships and beat-downs our country has received over the years, there is still an intrinsic glimmer. A belief that, despite all evidence to the contrary, there is reason to demand more.

And to aid us in this quest for hope and change and possibility, there will always be literature that asks that of us, and our world. There’s a substantial dose of that quest in this week’s pile. Two books about sexual assault by Sarah Weinman and Jen Percy that, while not revolving around joyful subjects, do integral work in condemning a patriarchal past and building the blocks for a feminist future. There’s a narrative history of Mount Rushmore, an expert explication on the impact maps on our countries and world, a history of the American Revolution by Ken Burns. There’s also a new cookbook by Alison Roman, that teaches us how to live well in the dailiness. And we wont’ forget all the fiction that helps create those worlds we want to live in: a new Andrew Miller novel, an Olivia Laing, a republished Elaine Kraf work, and many, many more. Enjoy, and happy Tuesday.

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Olivia Laing, The Silver Book
(FSG)

“An astounding work … The world of Fellini and Pasolini is uncannily resurrected in this visionary narrative.”
–Celia Paul

Sarah Weinman, Without Consent: A Landmark Trial and the Decades-Long Struggle to Make Spousal Rape a Crime
(Ecco)

“Through detailed research and beautiful writing, Sarah Weinman has created an evocative, unputdownable, and haunting narrative about one woman and the trial that changed marriage for all women in America.”
–Lyz Lenz

Alison Roman, Something From Nothing
(Clarkson Potter)

“Alison Roman gives you a collection of simple, smart, timeless recipes that rely on a home cook’s best kept secret: a well-stocked pantry … You’ll find warm, opinionated writing coupled with classic recipes, both with signature Alison flair.”
–From the publisher

Quiara Alegría Hudes, The White Hot
(One World)

“In wise, searing prose, Quiara Alegría Hudes fills in a daughter’s lost history while treating us to a stunning debut about the passions that whisper: to honor what you love, leave.”
–Marie-Helene Bertino

Claude Gassian, Patti Smith: Horses, Paris 1976
(Abrams)

“A collection of never-before-published photographs of music legend Patti Smith, taken by rock-n-roll photographer Claude Gassian during the release of her iconic album Horses.”
–From the publisher

Ken Burns and Geoffrey C. Ward, The American Revolution: An Intimate History
(Knopf)

“This gripping, in-the-moment, thought-provoking, visually exciting history profoundly deepens our understanding of our nation’s origins and how the past is shaping our volatile present.”
–Booklist

Jen Pearcy, Girls Play Dead: Acts of Self-Preservation
(Doubleday)

“A brave and clear-eyed look at the ways sexual assault affects women, Jen Percy brings her gimlet eye and scalpel prose to a topic as ugly as it is ubiquitous. This is a work of cultural criticism and self-examination that really does (cliche be damned!) read like a novel.”
–The Boston Globe

Matthew Davis, A Biography of a Mountain: The Making and Meaning of Mount Rushmore
(St. Martin’s Press)

“With deep reporting and great sensitivity, Matthew Davis unearths a striated history of one of America’s most recognizable sights. A Biography of a Mountain tells the riveting story of complicated leaders, ideals twisted with greed and ambition, and of the land itself.”
–Lauren Redniss

Sacha Bronwasser, trans. by David Colmer, Listen
(Penguin Books)

“Cannily constructed and gracefully written, this thought-provoking literary thriller offers a charcuterie board’s worth of rewards.”
–Publishers Weekly

Mark Lee Gardner, Brothers of the Gun: Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and a Reckoning in Tombstone
(Dutton)

“A revealing account that adds shades of gray to black-and-white legends of the Wild West.”
–Kirkus

Stewart O’Nan, Evensong
(Atlantic Monthly Press)

“Unsentimental yet deeply moving: more wonderful work from the versatile, masterful O’Nan.”
–Kirkus

William Rankin, Radical Cartography: How Changing Our Maps Can Change Our World
(Viking)

“This is it: the full download from a true genius of cartography. Radical Cartography will make you see maps, and, indeed, your place on the planet, with fresh eyes.”
–Daniel Immerwahr

Elaine Kraf, Find Him!
(Modern Library)

“Striking … Strangely affecting.”
–Publishers Weekly

Andrew Miller, The Land in Winter
(Europa)

“A novel that hits your cells and can be felt there, without your brain really knowing what’s happened to it. Superb.”
–Samantha Harvey

Dolly Parton with Tom Roland, Star of the Show: My Life on the Stage
(Ten Speed Press)

“A visual feast … A beautifully curated collection of career-spanning photos and also an entertaining and encyclopedic catalog of Parton’s unstoppable work ethic.”
–Library Journal

George Packer, The Emergency
(FSG)

“Packer writes with spare elegance and mounting urgency, and while the depictions of rising class and intergenerational conflicts have clear parallels to real-world matters, the novel never loses its taut dramatic edge. It’s a knockout.”
–Publishers Weekly

Grace Walker, The Merge
(Mariner)

“Disturbingly believable and oddly intriguing … An innovative dystopia that offers a fascinating look at how science, social control, and information manipulation intersect in a totalitarian future.”
–Library Journal

Joseph Luzzi, The Innocents of Florence: The Renaissance Discovery of Childhood
(W. W. Norton)

“Luzzi’s compact study of a single orphanage in Florence is a marvelous—and sobering—history of how we think about so-called abandoned children and childhood itself … A remarkable achievement.”
–John T. McGreevy

Daniel Swift, The Dream Factory: London’s First Playhouse and the Making of William Shakespeare
(FSG)

“A thrilling account … A story I thought I knew but didn’t. Swift brightly illuminates that raucous, scrappy, litigious world.”
–The Week

David McWilliams, The History of Money: A Story of Humanity
(Holt)

“A clear and endlessly fascinating explanation of what this is all about and how it all works.”
–Steven Pinker

Yuliana Ortiz Ruano, trans. by Madeleine Arenivar, Carnaval Fever
(Soft Skull)

“Life’s potential for beauty and harshness sing together. Ortiz has written a story you will not forget.”
–Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Allie Tagle-Dokus, Lucky Girl
(Tin House)

“An absolutely killer debut. Lucky Girl is remarkably precise in its meditations on art, youth, sacrifice, and obsession. It is a tart, manic, and exhilarating read.”
–Kiley Reid

Paul Heideman, Rogue Elephant: How the Republicans Went from the Party of Business to the Party of Chaos
(Verso)

“The need for a lucid, well-researched history of the modern Republican Party has long been clear. Paul Heideman’s new study is especially good at illuminating the complex relations between the party’s political leaders and different parts of the business community.”
–Thomas Ferguson