In the News, January 2026
Posted 11.20.25: The $50,000 American Battlefield Trust Prize for History has been awarded to historian Alan Pell Crawford for This Fierce People: The Untold Story of America's Revolutionary War in the South, a timely work that humanizes stories amid that conflict's 250th anniversary. The Prize is made annually to a work of military history or biography that underscores the essential role of the nation's military conflicts on the founding, formation, and perpetuation of our nation, which we continue to learn from today.
Posted 10.09.25: “What Was Best About the ‘Best American Poetry'? After four decades, the annual book series is drawing to a close. Our columnist looks at what it all meant: I wonder if there has ever been more equivocation about the word ‘best' and its meaning outside of the front matter of ‘Best American Poetry'—or ‘BAP,' for short—an annual selection of 75 poems from U.S. periodicals that has now, after 40 volumes, reached its conclusion. Conceived by David Lehman, who is retiring the series, the title has vexed many guest editors over the years. They've expressed ambivalence, suspicion and revulsion to the idea itself.... But ‘best' is there in the name.... ‘BAP' intros are given to lists of forms and subjects, to illustrate the range therein. I used to love these anthologies for showing me what kinds of poems are possible: poems as models for being a poet. Now when I revisit them—the second The Best of The Best American Poetry (25th Anniversary Edition), edited by Robert Pinsky in 2013, is a favorite—I read with a rather more urgent desire to see what experience is possible: poems as models for being, full stop.”—Elisa Gabbert, The New York Times Book Review, Oct. 3, 2025
Posted 10.01.25: “The style of Carpet Diem: Tales from the World of Oriental Rugs is quite different from that of other rug books I know. It's remarkably readable, and it's fun.... Carpet Diem is certainly entertaining, but it also describes the nuts and bolts of the carpet world, the business side of the oriental carpet trade, in a way I had not seen previously. I learned about small auctions and consignment shops and antiques fairs, about how to bargain effectively.... The book is informative. And above all, it's a pleasure. I loved it.”—Tom Farnham, Compass Interview, Hali Magazine
Posted 09.23.25: “Born Equal: Remaking America's Constitution, 1840–1920 is the second volume of Akhil Amar's grand trilogy, a constitutional history of the United States. This is a bold and ambitious project. As Akhil stated in his first volume, we have multitudes of books on this and that constitutional issue, narrow monographs that never see beyond their particular subject or particular period. But we have precious few treatments of our constitutional history that are wide-angled and multigenerational and that sweep over the entire exciting 250-year history of our constitutional struggles.... Akhil's history is selective, and his criterion of selection is the constitutional importance of the person or the event. His technique is brilliant.... He can combine both narrative movement and deep analysis.... It is the most extraordinary kind of history that I have read, using key events, key dates, and maps, especially maps, to illuminate the history of the nation.... Akhil finds connections in our past that other historians have missed, and his statements are often electrifying.... 1840 to 1920 was an amazing period for constitutional history, and Akhil has captured all the dynamism of those eighty years in this wonderful volume. It is a fitting successor to his first volume The Words That Made Us. In this second volume of this great trilogy, he has paid tribute to the power of equality in our political and constitutional lives as no other historian ever has. I congratulate him on its publication.”—Gordon Wood, The Rosenkranz Originalism Conference at Yale Law School, Sept. 19, 2025
Posted 09.12.25: “Profiles of such Americans form the heart of Akhil Amar's landmark Born Equal: Remaking America's Constitution, 1840–1920. In this, the second part of a planned trilogy on the history of American self-government, the Yale law professor discusses the actions of families, groups of friends, civic organizations and, yes, politicians. It is a thorough and vivid account of those who toiled to help bring about Lincoln's new birth of freedom before, during and after the Civil War. Born Equal, like Mr. Amar's larger trilogy, is an ambitious attempt to teach constitutional history not through a series of Supreme Court decisions and doctrines but through the people's own debates and decisions.... This new volume focuses on how the best minds of the ‘Second Founding' generation saved the Union and improved the Constitution. Mr. Amar continues his documentary approach, filling his book with the artwork, cartoons, maps, literature and photographs that, in his view, show how a people's constitution is actually made and remade....Mr. Amar presents a much richer, more colorful and ultimately more compelling account of American political history.”—Adam White, The Wall Street Journal
Posted 08.15.25: “George Bradley collects with the heart of an aesthete. He has written a winning memoir of his seduction by beautiful rugs...showing that, whatever they teach about history, carpets are first and foremost enduring objects of handcrafted beauty.... Carpet Diem: Tales from the World of Oriental Rugs is at its best when reproducing lovely color plates of the rugs under discussion—and when describing their enchantments.”—Michael O'Donnell, The Wall Street Journal
Posted 07.25.25: A starred Kirkus Review for Akhil Reed Amar's forthcoming Born Equal: Remaking America's Constitution, 1840–1920: “Tracing the idea of equality, enshrined in documents that are central to American identity, in this sprawling history, constitutional scholar and Yale law professor Amar begins with a close reading of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and its assertion that the U.S. was a nation ‘conceived in liberty.'... A pointed, closely argued study of the long historical arc leading to civil equality for all.”
Posted 07.15.25: “George Bradley's Carpet Diem: Tales from the World of Oriental Rugs is a personal and often humorous exploration of the world of oriental rugs, seen through the eyes of a poet turned collector.... It's a memoir filled with vivid stories, surprising encounters, and a deepening love for the art of antique carpets....a passionate dive into the world of rugs—buying, selling, researching, and meeting the many colorful characters who populate the trade.... Along the way, readers are introduced to both the beauty of the objects and the eccentric world surrounding them. This charming, unconventional book is a must-read for anyone curious about the emotional pull of oriental rugs. It's a love letter to textile art, filled with insight, wit, and heartfelt enthusiasm.”—Ivan Soenderholm, Jozan Magazine
Posted 07.14.25: “Legal scholar Amar tracks the evolution of constitutional rights from the heights of ‘slavocracy' in the 1840s and '50s through women winning the right to vote in 1920.... An elegantly written and thorough survey of America's second founding.”—Publishers Weekly on Akhil Reed Amar's forthcoming Born Equal: Remaking America's Constitution, 1840–1920
Posted 07.09.25: “The Editors of The New Criterion are pleased to announce that David Lehman is the winner of the twenty-fifth New Criterion Poetry Prize. Mr. Lehman will receive $3,000, and his collection Ithaca will be published by Criterion Books in the winter of 2026. Established in 2000, the New Criterion Poetry Prize is awarded each year to a book-length manuscript of poems that pays close attention to form. David Lehman is the author of numerous books of poetry, nonfiction, and literary criticism, and the founder and series editor of The Best American Poetry. His recent works include The Morning Line, New and Selected Poems , Yeshiva Boys, and The Mysterious Romance of Murder: Crime, Detection, and the Spirit of Noir.”
Posted 06.02.25: “‘It's sophisticated in conception, harmonious in palette, and meticulously woven, a consummate example of the kind of artifice that is cool and cerebral,' George Bradley says of a particularly impressive oriental carpet. Much the same can be said of his book, an unexpectedly engaging account of his long fascination with carpets and their cultural history and lore, not to mention his interactions with fellow connoisseurs, dealers, restorers and not a few shady characters playing the trade.... Bradley has plenty to talk about, and weaves it well.”—Bill Thompson, The Post and Courier, on Carpet Diem: Tales from the World of Oriental Rugs by George Bradley
Posted 05.28.25: “The Fate of the Generals: MacArthur, Wainwright, and the Epic Battle for the Philippines was written not so much to contrast the two generals' commandabilities—their overlapping tenures in the Philippines were brief—but to commemorate an unsung American hero who has never properly received his due. Jonathan Horn is too good a historian, however, to obsess over MacArthur's bothersome character flaws, vanities, and egotism. And so, he leaves us with a paradox of human nature: that the supremely talented but flawed human being whom we may not admire, we may well need—and treat better than we do his moral superior.”—Victor Davis Hanson, The Claremont Review of Books
Posted 05.27.25: “Presidential speechwriter and journalist Jonathan Horn, author of books on George Washington's latter years in the 18th century and Confederate general Robert E. Lee in the 19th century, explores the 20th century with his latest work on the entwined lives of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright. It was their destiny to preside over the greatest defeat in U.S. military history.... Horn's research, much of it conducted in archives, is exceptional and his writing fluid and engaging. He has crafted a very personal account of two of America's most celebrated heroes, one (MacArthur) who remains in the public imagination and another (Wainwright) who has been largely lost to time. This is a highly recommended account of their service to the nation, one that can be enjoyed by historians and lay readers alike.”—Peter Mansoor, Washington Free Beacon, on on The Fate of the Generals: MacArthur, Wainwright, and the Epic Battle for the Philippines by Jonathan D. Horn
Posted 05.16.25: “Wainwright, like MacArthur, was a 19th-century soldier confronting the new warfare of the 20th century. But, as Jonathan Horn tells us in The Fate of the Generals: MacArthur, Wainwright, and the Epic Battle for the Philippines, that is where his similarities with MacArthur ended.... Recounting battle scenes with riveting prose, Mr. Horn minces no words in his descriptions of the horrors of Bataan.... What makes this study worthwhile is the author's juxtaposition of what we have long known about MacArthur with the lesser-known actions and agonies endured by Wainwright. The Fate of the Generals lifts Jonathan Wainwright out of the shadow of Douglas MacArthur and ‘back into the light.'”—Walter R. Borneman, The Wall Street Journal
Posted 04.30.25: Publishers Weekly on Carpet Diem: Tales from the World of Oriental Rugs by George Bradley: “Bradley unfurls a rich and surprisingly intimate account of his entry into the world of oriental rug-collecting. After his interest was sparked by a Persian throw rug inherited from his great-grandfather, what began as an ‘absorbing distraction from life's adamantine realities' morphed into a fixation that brought him around the world; into contact with unscrupulous salespeople, devoted artisans, and colorful fellow obsessives; and often into conversation with the past. What emerges most vividly are the detailed portraits of the relationships he forms and his genuine reverence for the meticulousness of the craft. Elevated by a poet's patient attention to detail, it's a captivating window into the culture and history of an artisanal craft. This will appeal to anyone who's fallen deeply for a new passion.”
Posted 04.01.25: “Crase constructs his biography from their field journals, letters, and a suitcase of Ripley's drawings left to him and his partner. Erudite and nimble, Crase presents us these two characters, or rather, allows them to present themselves as he saw them, an enduring love and lifetimes of experience.... It is a profound and loving tribute to curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge.”—James Whitmore on Both: A Portrait in Two Parts by Douglas Crase in The Library Is Open
Posted 03.17.25: Kirkus Reviews on Carpet Diem: Tales from the World of Oriental Rugs by George Bradley: “An unexpectedly engrossing account of a decades-long preoccupation with carpets, their history and lore, and his interactions with kindred connoisseurs, dealers, restorers, and disreputable players in the trade.... Bradley's personal journey of discovery, learning, bargaining, acquisition, and lamentation, which began in 2003, is fascinating. Even those not immediately drawn to the subject will find his weave hard to resist.... Carpet Diem is an education. Bradley's take on the strategies of bargaining is particularly enjoyable.... Bradley's prose is crisp, fresh as a new loaf of bread, and not without a certain elegance of description. He can paint vivid word pictures, especially of New England and Asia. Bradley augments his book with engaging asides, a detailed appendix, a glossary of terms, a bibliography, and 11 full-color photographs. The allure of artisanal rugs is afforded the treatment it deserves.”
Posted 02.15.25: “Gen. Douglas MacArthur was a conniving glory hound who sold out his second-in-command, Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, according to this incisive chronicle. Historian Horn recaps the 1941 Japanese invasion of the Philippines, when MacArthur was hailed as a hero after his men on the Bataan peninsula held out for several months despite facing starvation. But Horn argues that MacArthur bungled the campaign, stayed relatively safe and well-fed, and was derelict in abandoning his men for Australia. The real hero, Horn contends, was Wainwright, who skillfully led the troops at the front and shared their hardships.... Horn's profile is a colorful addition to the library of disparaging MacArthur portraits.... The result is a perceptive take on the psychology of military leadership.”— Publishers Weekly on The Fate of the Generals: MacArthur, Wainwright, and the Epic Battle for the Philippines by Jonathan D. Horn
Posted 02.06.25: “An enthralling and unsettling distillation of medicine's repeated adoption of bad science. Most of these failures are well known and well documented elsewhere, but Makary ties them together to great effect.... Makary wants to disrupt the way medicine is delivered by asking better research questions.... This is a passionate, well-argued and thought-provoking read, but what makes it essential is that Makary is not a dreamer on the sidelines, but Donald Trump's pick to be the next commissioner of the FDA, an agency he has previously criticised.”—Phil Hammond, The Times (UK) on Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health by Marty Makary
Posted 01.19.25: A Best Book of 2024! The Economist magazine chose Origin Story: The Trials of Charles Darwin by Howard Markel one of the "Best Books of 2024": "Books about Charles Darwin are at no risk of going extinct. Yet by making its centrepiece a consequential debate in 1860—in which evolution triumphed over creationism—this book offers something welcome and new."