Books

In “Light on Fire,” Gabrielle Selz traces the triumphs and tragedies of the California-born Sam Francis, whose luminous paintings and prints placed him firmly in the pantheon of 20th-century icons of modern art. 

Colson Whitehead’s penchant for exploring genres takes him to uptown Manhattan in the early 1960s and . . . a furniture salesman?

Julian Zelizer’s latest tells the story of a religious scholar who fought for human justice, befriending Martin Luther King Jr. along the way.

“All In” provides the most current, candid, and personal perspective of a figure of huge significance to women’s tennis and the women’s movement.

“The President’s Daughter” weaves a narrative of a terrorist’s kidnapping of a former president’s teenage daughter with several important themes: loyalty, family, kindness, duty, and faith.

Snapshot of an Iowa childhood.

Check out the Heyers’ new History Press volume for its illustrations and pithy folklore, just don’t expect much gore.

Millie Mosbach got out in time, in Ellen Feldman’s new World War II-era novel, so why would she return to the crime-ridden nightmare that was postwar Berlin?

A man and his dog . . .

The highly regarded novelist Hilma Wolitzer is out with a short-story collection that frankly and winningly addresses themes of sexuality and domesticity.

A new poem by a Springs man of letters addresses recent politics.

Surprisingly little ink has been spent on the personal friends presidents may rely on for savvy, unselfish counsel that can impact policy, the nation, and the world. Gary Ginsberg rectifies that with “First Friends.”