Los Angeles is the Great Gatsby of American cities, and a new book confirms this through the lives of three early, self-invented Angelenos.

"The Mere Wife" reimagines "Beowulf" in a surprising, bloody parody of suburban sanctimony and a feminist revision of male heroism.

Stephen Kinzer's book illuminates the decisions of 1898-1902 that set the course of American wars and the overthrow of governments into the 21st century.

Rachel Kushner's new novel set in a women's prison brims with morally tainted characters who are also victims of repressive and dehumanizing incarceration.

The Silicon Valley mashup of countercultural, libertarian and neoliberal values is on full display in the memoir of John Perry Barlow, who knew Timothy Leary, Jerry Garcia, Steve Jobs, Dick Cheney and JFK Jr.

Alan MacLeod's "Bad News From Venezuela" makes a concise and well-argued case against media corruption that has succeeded in hanging the “dictatorship” label on the South American nation.

In "The Great Revolt," it's difficult to tell whether the authors' views flow from their insights on the president's voters or if their insights on his voters are curated according to the authors' views.

Marilynne Robinson delivers some provocative but often frustrating writing on humanist education, history, and science versus theology.

A powerful new book shines light on the rampant sexual violence against the nation's agricultural and domestic workers, who are excluded from laws meant to shield workers from abuse.