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National Book Critics Circle

Criticism & Features

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March 16, 2022

30 Books: Clairvoyant of the Small by Susan Bernofsky

By Michael Schaub

Clairvoyant of the Small: The Life of Robert Walser by Susan Bernofsky (Yale) “We don’t need to see anything out of the ordinary,” Robert Walser once wrote. “We already see

March 16, 2022

30 Books: Until I Am Free by Keisha N. Blain: 2021 Biography Finalist

By Michael Schaub

Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America by Keisha N. Blain (Beacon) The title of Keisha N. Blain’s magnificent biography of Fannie Lou Hamer comes from

March 16, 2022

30 Books: Fierce Poise by Alexander Nemerov: 2021 Biography Finalist

By Carlin Romano

Fierce Poise: Helen Frankenthaler and 1950s New York by Alexander Nemerov (Penguin Press) A few months into my five years of teaching philosophy at Bennington College, a faculty colleague, during

March 15, 2022

30 Books: Mike Nichols by Mark Harris: 2021 Biography Finalist

By Carlin Romano

Mike Nichols: A Life by Mark Harris (Penguin Press) Igor Mikhail Peschkowsky, a seven-year-old Jewish boy from Berlin, made it by ship to the U.S. in May, 1939. Exquisite timing,

March 15, 2022

30 Books: All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days by Rebecca Donner: 2021 Biography Finalist

By Rod Davis

All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days: The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler by Rebecca Donner (Little, Brown) Rebecca Donner’s

March 14, 2022

30 Books: The Family Roe by Joshua Prager: 2021 Nonfiction Finalist

By Harriet A. Washington

The Family Roe: An American Story by Joshua Prager (W.W. Norton) “There is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known,” this Biblical

March 14, 2022

30 Books: How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith: 2021 Nonfiction Finalist

By Harriet A. Washington

How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith (Little, Brown) In How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America, Clint Smith visits and probes

March 9, 2022

30 Books: Orwell’s Roses by Rebecca Solnit: 2021 Nonfiction Finalist

By Colette Bancroft

Orwell’s Roses by Rebecca Solnit (Viking) Orwell’s Roses is not, Rebecca Solnit tells us, a biography. It is, she writes, “a series of forays from one starting point, that gesture

March 8, 2022

30 Books: The Least of Us by Sam Quinones: 2021 Nonfiction Finalist

By David Varno

The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth by Sam Quinones (Bloomsbury) Sam Quinones follows up Dreamland, his NBCC-award winning account

March 7, 2022

30 Books: Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe: 2021 Nonfiction Finalist

By Colette Bancroft

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe (Doubleday) Most of the many books and articles written about America’s opioid crisis focus on its

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