Every year, we get hundreds of submissions for the Fall Preview issue, and each editor must trim that list to a mere 30 to highlight for a total of 150. It’s simultaneously one of the most difficult and rewarding tasks of the year. Of course, there were dozens of worthy books that didn’t make the list, but I believe strongly in the value of each of the 30 titles on our list. Of those, here are seven that I have been discussing with and recommending most to family and friends. (All quotes are from the Kirkus reviews.)
Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life by Alice Wong (Vintage, Sept. 6): “A mixed-media collection of prose and other work by Asian American disability activist Wong. In the introduction, the author, who was born with a form of muscular dystrophy, claims that she never intended to be an activist. On the contrary, she writes, ‘Ableism conscripted me into activism’.…A stunningly innovative, compulsively readable hybrid of memoir, cultural criticism, and social activism.”
Profiles in Ignorance: How America’s Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber by Andy Borowitz (Avid Reader Press, Sept. 13): “A celebrated political satirist eviscerates know-nothing politicians, mostly Republicans.…Ravaging this seemingly endless rogues’ gallery of buffoonery and corruption, Borowitz marshals mind-boggling, breathtaking evidence.”
Teaching White Supremacy: America’s Democratic Ordeal and the Forging of Our National Identity by Donald Yacovone (Pantheon, Sept. 13): “Beginning with the founding of the republic, writes Yacovone, textbooks have been primary instruments for transmitting ‘ideas of white American identity,’ even asserting that this identity is definitively White and that, as one 1896 textbook stated, ‘to the Caucasian race by reason of its physical and mental superiority has been assigned the task of civilizing and enlightening the world.’ Current textbooks have plenty of problems, as well. An outstanding contribution to the historical literature of American racism and racist ideologies.”
The Petroleum Papers: Inside the Far-Right Conspiracy To Cover Up Climate Change by Geoff Dembicki (Greystone Books, Sept. 20): “Big oil knew about greenhouse gas–related climate change more than half a century ago—and did nothing but lie about it.…Even as one Exxon oil scientist warned 40 years ago that climate change would be catastrophic for people around the world…the company still is ‘trying to convince people the emergency wasn’t real.’ A damning, necessary exposé of corporate malfeasance with lethal consequences.”
Stay True by Hua Hsu (Doubleday, Sept. 27): “A Taiwanese American writer remembers an intimate but unexpected college friendship cut short by tragedy.…This memoir is masterfully structured and exquisitely written. Hsu’s voice shimmers with tenderness and vulnerability as he meticulously reconstructs his memories of a nurturing, compassionate friendship.”
Folk Music: A Bob Dylan Biography in Seven Songs by Greil Marcus (Yale Univ., Oct. 11): “Casual Dylan fans will know at least a couple of the author’s seven chosen songs…but his explorations of lesser-known tunes…with all their allusions to the lost history of America, should inspire them to dive deeper into the discography. Marcus delivers yet another essential work of music journalism.”
The World Record Book of Racist Stories by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar (Grand Central Publishing, Nov. 22): “A perfect follow-up to the authors’ You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey.…Ultimately, Ruffin and Lamar provide a much-needed wake-up call for anyone who still doesn’t believe the severity of anti-Black racism in America.…An excellent look at lived experiences of Black Americans that should be required reading for all Americans.” (Read our interview with Ruffin and Lamar.)
Eric Liebetrau is the nonfiction and managing editor.
