A Far Country
By Daniel Mason
Vintage, $13.95
A novel about the lives of the poor in the Third World.
Battleground Chicago
By Frank Kusch
University of Chicago Press, $16
Eighty former Chicago police officers are interviewed in this account of the riots and violence that plagued the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
Alexis de Tocqueville
By Hugh Brogan
Yale University Press, $20
A biography of the French aristocrat and his influence on American democracy.
Knots
By Nuruddin Farah
Penguin, $15
A novel about a Somali woman who returns to her homeland.
What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War
By Chandra Manning
Vintage, $15.95
Letters written by hundreds of soldiers from the North and the South provide compelling views of the ordinary men who fought in the Civil War.
Road Map to Holland: How I Found My Way Through My Son’s First Two Years With Down Syndrome
By Jennifer Graf Groneberg
New American Library, $14
A memoir detailing a mother’s journey with one of her twin sons whose special needs force her to re-evaluate her world.
The Hot Topic
By Gabrielle Walker and David King
Harcourt, $14
A guide to the problems and solutions associated with global warming.
Infidel
By Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Free Press, $15
A memoir of one woman’s escape from an arranged marriage.
Jane Goodall: The Woman Who Redefined Man
By Dale Peterson
Mariner, $17.95
The struggles and successes of the woman who revolutionized the study of animal behavior.
Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season
By Jonathan Eig
Simon & Schuster, $15
Chicago journalist Jonathan Eig’s biography of the first black major leaguer.
The Treatment and the Cure
By Peter Kocan
Europa, $14.95
Two stories fused into a single novel, this tale begins with the journey of a jailed 19-year-old serving a life sentence for attempted homicide.
Helpless
By Barbara Gowdy
Picador, $14
The 9-year-old daughter of a single-mom is abducted in this novel of morality and loyalty.
Free Food for Millionaires
By Min Jin Lee
Grand Central, $13.99
In this novel, a recent college graduate tries to strike a balance between her shifting American dreams and her Korean parents’ unassimilated views.
The Moments Lost: A Midwest Pilgrim’s Progress
By Bruce Olds
Picador, $16
In this historical novel, a Chicago journalist heads to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to cover the 1913 copper mine strike.
The Gravedigger’s Daughter
By Joyce Carol Oates
HarperPerennial, $15.95
This novel is a tale of a long-suffering daughter whose family escaped Nazi Germany.
Theft
By N.S. Koenings
Back Bay, $13.99
Five short stories covering various themes of loss.
Names My Sisters Call Me
By Megan Crane
5 Spot, $13.99
A novel about three sisters with a long history of conflict who reunite when the youngest gets engaged.
