The New York Times Book Review - USA (2020-11-15)

4 SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2020

THE GLORIOUS AMERICAN ESSAY: ONE HUNDRED ESSAYS

FROM COLONIAL TIMES TO THE PRESENT,edited by

Phillip Lopate. (Pantheon, $40.) In 900-plus

pages, with writers from Cotton Mather to Ra-

chel Carson and beyond, this anthology mar-

shals a quintessentially American vision.

LAUGHING TO KEEP FROM DYING: AFRICAN AMERICAN SAT-

IRE IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, by Danielle Fuen-

tes Morgan. (University of Illinois, cloth, $110;

paper, $24.95.) Morgan explores a radical im-

pulse in recent Black comedy, arguing that

performers like Dave Chappelle or films like

“Get Out” aim to highlight racial boundaries.

AFTER THE FACT? THE TRUTH ABOUT FAKE NEWS, by Mar-

cus Gilroy-Ware. (Repeater Books, paper,

$16.95.) Gilroy-Ware, a British journalist and

media scholar, evaluates why expanded ac-

cess to information has instead led to a glut of

disinformation and mistrust just when we

need consensus on matters of grave import.

THE DECAMERON PROJECT: 29 NEW STORIES FROM THE PAN-

DEMIC, selected by the editors of The New York

Times Magazine. (Scribner, $25.) Life in lock-

down, as imagined by fiction writers includ-

ing Margaret Atwood, Charles Yu and Karen

Russell for The Times Magazine.

AGAINST AMAZON: AND OTHER ESSAYS, by Jorge Car-

rión. Translated by Peter Bush. (Biblioasis,

paper, $16.95.) The Spanish author’s essays on

reading are anchored by his title manifesto,

which enjoyed prior success as a pamphlet.

If you grew up in Texas in the late 1960s and

early ’70s, as I did, a course in Texas history

was a requirement. Yet I’ve learned more from

Volumes I and II of Robert Caro’s “The Years of

Lyndon Johnson” than I ever did in school. The

second volume, MEANS OF ASCENT,contains a biog-

raphy-within-a-biography of Gov. Coke Steven-

son, the original ranch-owning, brush-clearing Texas politician,

now mostly forgotten. But it’s Caro’s retelling of the Stevenson-

Johnson Democratic primary race for a Senate seat in 1948 that

made for gripping reading in the fall of 2020. The 1948 Election Day

was chaotic, and the vote count even more so, with pro-Johnson

ballots seeming to appear out of nowhere to overturn Stevenson’s

significant lead. The results ended up in court, and the race wasn’t

settled for more than a month. As with this year’s election, the

story of that Texas vote in 1948 was better than fiction.

—STEVE KENNY, SENIOR EDITOR FOR NIGHTS

New & Noteworthy

WHAT WE’RE READING

REFLECTIONS, MEMORIES,

CONFESSIONS

With more than 600 photographs

“HONEST, COMPELLING,

INTRIGUING.”

—DAN W. LUFKIN, Founder, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette

The acclaimed play, The Lehman Trilogy,

features Mayer Lehman, John Loeb’s great-grandfather.

Discover the remarkable history of the entire Lehman family

in John’s comprehensive and beautifully illustrated memoir.

View the exclusive footage of John’s extraordinary 75th

birthday celebration at Blenheim Palace on the bonus

DVD, along with historic coverage of the event, and read

David Patrick Columbia’s review of the party on page 647.

For more details, go to ambassadorloeb.com.

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JOHN’S

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JOHN L. LOEB JR.JOHN L. LOEB JR.

AMBASSADOR,

CHAIRMAN, WINSTON CHURCHILL FOUNDATION, USA

AMBASSADOR,

CHAIRMAN, WINSTON CHURCHILL FOUNDATION, USA

HARDCOVER $29.99 • EBOOK $8.99 • AUDIOBOOK $24.99

available from AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, APPLE BOOKS and AUDIBLE