Michael Schaub
Michael Schaub is a writer, book critic and regular contributor to NPR Books. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Portland Mercury and The Austin Chronicle, among other publications. He lives in Austin, Texas.
-
Like David McCullough's other books, this one succeeds because of the author's strength as a storyteller; it reads like a novel and is packed with information drawn from painstaking research.
-
Philippe Besson's novel — ably translated from the French by Molly Ringwald — chronicles a painful teenaged heartbreak, followed by grown-up ennui. It's a well-worn but very well-told tale.
-
Journalist Charles Lane's account is endlessly gripping — and he does an excellent job of placing the operation in historical context, chronicling racism and resentment in the South post-Civil War.
-
In his new book, the literary scholar presents an absorbing, necessary look at the "Redemption" era, in which the hard-fought gains of African-Americans were rolled back by embittered Southern whites.
-
Amy Hempel's first book of new material in 14 years showcases her immense talents as a fiction writer. It's a powerful collection of stories about uneasy, unmoored, even desperate people.
-
Bryan Washington's debut story collection brings the Texas city to life in all its struggle and imperfect glory.
-
Jen Beagin is a wonderfully funny writer with a knack for serious subjects. Her exuberant new novel follows a young house cleaner who grew up too fast and is trying to reinvent herself.
-
Han Kang's new novel isn't quite a novel — it's a gorgeous, hard-to-categorize series of reflections, themed around the color white, on grief, mourning and what it means to remember those we've lost.
-
Lauren Wilkinson's debut novel follows the life and career of an African American FBI agent who's recruited by the CIA to aid in the overthrow of a charismatic African leader.
-
Maurice Carlos Ruffin's razor-sharp new novel is set in a dystopian near future where race relations have deteriorated further and scientists have developed a procedure to "demelanize" black people.