7 New Books to Watch For in December

‘Bag Man: The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cowl-up, and Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen Criminal within the White Home,’ by Rachel Maddow and Michael Yarvitz (Crown, Dec. 8)

Maddow and Yarvitz dive into the different Watergate-era scandal: The antihero of this ebook is Spiro Agnew, Richard Nixon’s vp, whose corruption throughout his tenure as Maryland’s governor turned a vital concern as federal prosecutors raced to take away him from workplace, lest he take over as president when Nixon resigned. The ebook, which builds on earlier reporting, traces the efforts to cowl up Agnew’s crimes and convey him to justice.

‘Black Futures,’ edited by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham (One World, Dec. 1)

Wortham, a workers author on the Occasions Journal, and Drew deliver collectively pictures, screenshots, illustrations, recipes and extra to reply the query, What does it imply to be Black and alive proper now? Dozens of artists, activists, musicians and extra contributed to the amount, together with Alicia Garza, Morgan Parker, Ziwe Fumudoh, Teju Cole and Solange Knowles.

‘The Invention of Drugs: From Homer to Hippocrates,’ by Robin Lane Fox (Primary Books, Dec. 8)

Now greater than ever, many people are conscious about how drugs and the philosophies of medical doctors form our lives. Fox traces this historical past again to the Greeks, exploring how the West’s concepts about illness and therapeutic have advanced over 1000’s of years.

‘An Stock of Losses,’ by Judith Schalansky. Translated by Jackie Smith. (New Instructions, Dec. 8)

Schalansky opens with a preamble detailing issues that had been misplaced whereas she was penning this genre-bending ebook — the Boeing 777 en path to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur; mosques in Mosul, Iraq; Guatemala’s Lake Atescatempa — and every of the chapters makes use of a misplaced merchandise as a story jumping-off level. As Schlansky writes, the gathering is above all involved with the “various phenomena of decomposition and destruction.”

‘Perestroika in Paris,’ by Jane Smiley (Knopf, Dec. 1)

In case you’re in search of a feel-good escape, do that new novel by Smiley, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer. This time Smiley’s hero is a curious racehorse named Paras, who escapes her stall and makes her means over to the Place du Trocadéro. There, Paras strikes up a friendship with a lonely German pointer named Frida, who’s unusually expert at taking care of herself. Loads of different Parisians, human and animal, present Paras compassion and assist her discover her means within the metropolis.

‘Generally You Must Lie: The Life and Occasions of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Writer of “Harriet the Spy,”’ by Leslie Brody (Seal Press, Dec. 1)

This biography sheds loads of new mild on Fitzhugh, who was particularly reticent about her private life and sexuality. Brody delves into her inventive and inventive influences, and makes the case that Fitzhugh’s most enduring creation — Harriet — is simply as a lot at house alongside Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem as Scout Finch and Jo March.

‘Sylvia Pankhurst: Pure Born Insurgent,’ by Rachel Holmes (Bloomsbury, Dec. 15)

This new biography of the English suffragist (1882-1960) argues that Pankhurst was one of many “biggest unsung political figures of the 20th century.” All through her life, as an advocate of employees’ rights, anti-colonialism, anti-fascism, feminism and extra, Pankhurst understood the intersections between gender, class and race. As she as soon as wrote of herself: “When victory for any trigger got here, she had little leisure to rejoice, none to relaxation; she had at all times another goal in view.”