Books

Considering George Balanchine, the autocratic, contradictory Russian émigré who gave new life to American ballet.

In lyrical prose, a Pulitzer winner explores the wages of modernity by way of a small island off Maine.

When the Algonquin whispers to you.

“Fit Nation” is a detailed Baedeker of the democratization of athletics, with spot-on observations regarding the sociology of fitness. 

Jeffrey Sussman’s “Sin City Gangsters” takes us on an impressive journey from the tawdry beginnings of Las Vegas through to its current almost Disney World iteration.

Eric Alterman is back with a typically contentious, hefty, diligently detailed exploration, this time focused on the long-running American debate over Israel.

Paul Goldberger’s architecture criticism gets a revision, and Peter Eliott is out with a fantasy novel.

For connoisseurs of brevity, the 14 pieces in John McCaffrey’s “Automatically Hip,” some only two pages in length, will deliver a sweet take on the short form.

The killing of two Black brothers by a white police officer in Freeport in 1946 was a little-known but pivotal moment in a long and tragic history.

Frederic Tuten’s short prose vignettes accompany his prints in pastels and ink, and the result is delightfully whimsical.

Here is Peter Beard, wildlife photographer, artist, naturalist, author, blue blood, and ladies’ man, considered by someone who knew him well across some 30 years.

One man’s life seen from a belted car seat.