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Back to topMarch/April Nonfiction Reviews
These books are sure to enlighten and expand anyone's mind. Something here is bound to catch your eye; alternatively, you can check out the many books on the Upcoming Nonfiction Releases list by clicking here.
Available in Hardcover Now from Random House
Many young people dream of becoming an archaeologist, but for French woman Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt that dream came true at a time when few women were in the field. She is the subject of The Empress of the Nile, a book by Lynne Olson. Obsessed at the age of nine by the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, she studied and worked her way into the Department of Egyptology at the Louvre in Paris. During World War II, she joined the French Resistance. Traveling to Egypt many times in her life, she came to love the country and its people. She is best known today for her many accomplishments in the field of Egyptology, and she wrote the still definite account of the contents of Tutankhamen's tomb, and she helped to save Abu Simbel and other Nubian monuments from destruction by the building of the Aswan Dam. She (and Jacqueline Kennedy, interestingly) helped to bring the Egyptian Temple of Dendur to New York, where it now proudly stands in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Because of Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt and others like her, the world can still see and appreciate the antiquities of Egypt. She is a fascinating subject for this fascinating book.
Reviewed by Linda Wesselink
Available in Hardcover on April 18 from Doubleday Books
From David Grann, the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon, The Wager is a captivating and historic shipwreck story much like Endurance (Lansing) and In The Heart of the Sea (Philbrick). It is a page-turning adventure revealing the power of the ocean and the courage of the sailors who lived and fought on it. In the mid-1700s as the British and Spanish battled for supremacy of the seas, one mission went so wrong that mutiny seemed the only honorable choice for survival. However, the survivors’ glory diminishes (and the court martial begins) when the people and stories of those left stranded on islands thousands of miles away make their way back to England.
Reviewed by James Morrison
Available in Hardcover Now from Crown Publishing
Matthew Desmond, winner of The Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction in 2017, has written a concise, easy to read, well documented and cited book about how poverty can be practically eliminated in this country. Through statistics and reports, he debunks some long held myths about poverty, welfare, and the poor. He describes what our government can do, what big business can do, and, most importantly, what the upper middle and upper classes can do to alleviate those living at or below the poverty level. Desmond's solutions seem logical but involve adjustments and sacrifices from most of us. For those who feel we haven't done enough for the lower class in this country, Poverty, by America is a must read.
Reviewed by Nancy Randall
Available in Hardcover on April 4 from Viking
It is 1922 in Indiana where D.C. Stephenson, a man who has changed his life story at least a half a dozen times, begins his rise to quickly become head of the Ku Klux Klan in the Midwest. He has big plans for himself- hoping eventually to become President of The United States. Through bribes, lies and other heinous acts, he almost reaches that goal. Fortunately, a young woman named Madge Oberholtzer is out to stop him. Egan's latest work of nonfiction is part true crime, part history lesson, and part warning of what could happen in this country again. I can't remember the last time I read a work on nonfiction that was so frightening yet so engrossing.
Reviewed by Nancy Randall