Books

Her work for Military Intelligence took Marguerite Harrison, foreign correspondent and socialite, across the world undercover, fur coat and evening dresses in tow. Incredible? Read on.

Brad Gooch continues his explorations of the culture of the 1980s in “Radiant,” his biography of the art star and activist Keith Haring.

Fearmongering and the ubiquity of security capitalism are everyone’s problem, two academics write in “Trapped,” a powerful yet accessible volume.

Behold “Language City,” a linguistic Baedeker of New York, especially its outer boroughs, which have become home to so many immigrant populations. But can the new Babel work?

Frank Johnson drew hundreds of remarkably accomplished comic strips over five decades, without any formal training in art and in complete obscurity. Until now.

Irene Cairo’s collection of closely observed, ruminative stories, often examining family life, will reward rereading.

From a new collection by George Held, just in time for the osprey’s arrival.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian argues that the threats to the American Republic we see today have been present in our culture from the start.

Jeffrey Sussman reads from “Tinseltown Gangsters” twice over, while the Southampton Writers Conference scholarship deadline looms.

An eminent ecologist’s life is changed when he rescues an injured screech owlet and they come to a certain, yes, understanding.

In this sophisticated espionage novel, Lea Carpenter’s young heroine seeks experience in her search for an identity. She gets more than she bargained for.

Ellen Feldman’s new historical novel brings vivid characters, juicy details, skillful pacing, and a solid plot, all in post-World War II New York.

The author of “Soil and Spirit” will be in discussion with Evan Harris, writer and Star book reviewer, on Saturday at Guild Hall.

No ships off the empty coast in February? No nothing? The birds say different.

Rachel Shteir delivers a fresh, scholarly reassessment of a legendary second-wave feminist who’s taken her lumps in recent years.

A reading by Vanessa Cuti, the author of “The Tip Line,” a thriller based on the Gilgo Beach murders, will launch the monthly Writers Speak series at Stony Brook Southampton.

Carole Stone’s latest collection offers understated poems of loss, widowhood, and forging on, but nowhere is there self-pity or bitterness, only optimism.

In her memoir “Castles & Ruins,” Rue Matthiessen looks to recapture the mystery and magic of Ireland — and of her mother.

Stan Herman’s memoir details the successful career of a designer both popular and commercial, while evoking all the color and character of the old garment district.

In “Lost Long Island,” Richard Panchyk lays out 21 examples of industries, people, places, things, and ways of life that have vanished from our fair Island.

Céline Keating’s novel tells a story of Montauk vanishing before our eyes, with all the underlying social and economic tensions and environmental woes triggered by its booming popularity.

With “Quiet Street,” Nick McDonell has penned the unlikeliest of memoirs, detailing success and more success among the one percenters.

Best-read man picks 10 best books, for the best year-end list you’ll find.

Electing an American president was Rupert Murdoch’s dream turned nightmare, Michael Wolff writes in his gossipy, occasionally obscene account of power and politics, “The Fall.”

Idylls at an artist’s compound in Springs, an allegory for our times, and calming words of affirmation: It’s The Star’s kids’ book roundup.

In his collection of essays Ralph Sneeden’s muse is the waters of North Sea and the South Shore, from boating to surfing, from boyhood to late middle age.

Richard Brockman has written a deeply personal account of how he slowly, painfully freed himself from the trauma of his mother’s suicide in order to reclaim and recreate the narrative of his life.

The M.F.A. program in creative writing and literature at Stony Brook Southampton is offering an open house at the campus’s Lichtenstein Center, with readings by faculty and students. It starts at 6 p.m. on Dec. 6 in Chancellors Hall.

Will Hermes gives us Lou Reed in full: complicated, scandalous, arty, poetic, ambisexual, temperamental, a battler through critical and commercial disappointments.

In “Fierce Ambition” Jennet Conant resurrects a tenacious female war correspondent, Maggie Higgins, largely ignored by journalistic history.