Against the Day
By Thomas Pynchon
Penguin, $18
This novel begins at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and spans the globe through space and time.
The Creation
By E.O. Wilson
Norton, $13.95
The Pulitzer Prize-winning Harvard University biologist proposes a partnership between scientists and religious leaders to save the planet.
American Bloomsbury
By Susan Cheever
Simon & Schuster, $15
Explores the relationships of the Massachusetts literati — including Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau — in the mid-19th Century.
The Race Beat
By Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff
Vintage, $15.95
This account of the media’s role in covering the civil rights movement won a Pulitzer Prize.
After This
By Alice McDermott
Dial, $14
A novel that traces the lives of the members of a Long Island Irish Catholic family over 20 years as they are shaped by world events.
Walt Disney
By Neal Gabler
Vintage, $20
A biography of the man who shaped the entertainment industry, merchandising and the Disney vision.
Mary: Mrs. A. Lincoln
By Janis Cooke Newman
Harcourt, $15
A fictional account of the life of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln.
Lincoln’s Sword: The Presidency and the Power of Words
By Douglas L. Wilson
Vintage, $14.95
Shows how Abraham Lincoln’s key speeches and public letters were a crucial component to his leadership.
The Case Against Homework
By Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish
Three Rivers, $13.95
Research surrounding homework myths, the toll it takes on personal development and family life, and how to prioritize.
