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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Capt. William Kidd’s wife, Sarah, a shrewd money and property player in her own right, is hereby rescued from history’s dustbin.

A couple of professional historians cut through the agenda-driven amateurism that’s crippling civic discourse.

The Star’s incredibly well-read man in letters bids an insightful farewell to the year that was.

In the second volume of Neal Gabler’s monumental biography, Ted Kennedy’s progressive priorities run up against a resurgent American right.

In this slim and lyrical novel, Max Little, an author with a fatal disease, ponders what’s ahead while dreading having to tell his wife.

This nonfiction play-turned-book amusingly showcases two artistic giants as if they were at a gossipy lunch.

In A.M. Homes’s latest, “The Unfolding,” it’s the revenge of the rich, white Republicans against a backdrop of family discord.

A poet and author of picture books contemplates dealing with anger.

Jann Wenner was in the right place (San Francisco) at the right time (1967). Not to diminish the man's achievements as a magazine magnate. Here’s his story.

“Death of a Salesman” made Arthur Miller, rich, famous, and admired. So how was he “defeated” by Marilyn Monroe?

From a series of poems on full moons and the Algonquins.

A highly readable portrait of a writer and filmmaker whose life and work were intertwined.

A reading celebrates Anne Porter’s poetry, and a talk hails Mary Rodgers’s bitingly funny memoir.

John Irving’s new doorstop of a novel vividly sums up a lifetime’s worth of themes, from family to sex to identity.

A new children’s book for Halloween sends a trio of dogs on a spooky adventure.

A plea for reform of our troubled prison system from a former executive editor of The Times.

It’s beach house or bust in Amy Fusselman’s comic debut novel.

In Children’s Book Land, Susan Verde is back addressing emotional well-being, while Billy Baldwin’s all about Halloween.