Published in 2022, this is not Harris's latest novel (that would be 2024's Precipice, which is also excellent). But it was the last one my father gave me, and the last one he read, before he died. He gave me Harris' first novel, Fatherland, when it came out in 1992, and ever since we exchanged copies and chatted about each new Harris book. Harris is a master craftsman of the historical novel, and Act of Oblivion is no exception. Both England and New England in the late-17th century are brought vividly (and terrifyingly) to life. The main character is fictional, but he is the only one who is—a very effective contrivance. So yes, this novel has some personal meaning to me, but I still think that objectively speaking this is historical fiction at its absolute best!
'A belter of a thriller' THE TIMES 'A master storyteller . . . an important book for our particular historical moment' OBSERVER 'His best since Fatherland' SUNDAY TIMES
'From what is it they flee?' He took a while to reply. By the time he spoke the men had gone inside. He said quietly, 'They killed the King.'
1660. Colonel Edward Whalley and his son-in-law, Colonel William Goffe, cross the Atlantic. Having been found guilty of high treason for the murder of Charles the I, they are wanted and on the run. A reward hangs over their heads - for their…
Although a trusted friend recommended this recent book, I picked it up with some trepidation. A memoir about piano lessons did not exactly sound thrilling. But Denk is one of America’s greatest living classical pianists, also blessed with a talent for witty and poignant prose, and his book is totally engrossing. I love books that weave together discussion of music and musicians in ways that illuminate the creative process as something very human—flawed and messy and communal, marked by moments of dramatic failure and searing inspiration. I’ve tried to write such books myself, but as a mere historian, and I've yet to come even close to the success Denk achieves here.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A beautifully written, witty memoir that is also an immersive exploration of classical music—its power, its meanings, and what it can teach us about ourselves—from the MacArthur “Genius” Grant–winning pianist
LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL • “Jeremy Denk has written a love letter to the music, and especially to the music teachers, in his life.”—Conrad Tao, pianist and composer
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker
In Every Good Boy Does Fine, renowned pianist Jeremy Denk traces an implausible journey. His life is already a little tough as a precocious,…
I learned so much from this brilliant new way of looking at human history. The title sounds grim, but the book is more about survival and adaptation than it is about catastrophe, making it surprisingly encouraging. Rather than plodding across the centuries, Wade jumps from one fascinating case study to another, each one engagingly presented in smart and lively prose. Each chapter left me keen to read the next one—and, in the end, isn’t that what reading books is all about?
A groundbreaking new perspective on catastrophes throughout human history, with vital lessons for our future
'This book upended my understanding of the ancient world' Zoe Schlanger, author of The Light Eaters
'Lizzie Wade is an exceptional journalist and a master storyteller' Ed Yong, author of An Immense World
The history of humanity is one of devastating, once-in-a-thousand-year events: rising seas that make land uninhabitable, decades-long droughts, civilisational collapse, epidemics like the Black Death and the Spanish Flu that reduce a city's population by fifty percent. And yet, despite enormous destruction and very real tragedy, these catastrophes all share one common…
The Nine Lives of Christopher Columbus is (I hope) an authoritative biography that also explores Columbus’s many afterlives into the present, showing how our understanding of him is colored by manufactured mysteries surrounding his name, nationality, birthplace, ancestry, education, religion, intellectual vision, moral fiber, sexual proclivities, and resting place.
I argue that Columbus is best seen neither as devil nor saint, nor as uniquely talented, but as typical of the many Iberian and northern Italian mariners who became explorers, slave-traders, and conquistador-settlers. I also show how he became an iconic American hero, producing a parallel Italian American hero. In sifting through centuries of evidence to expose the many distortions of “Columbiana”, I reveal how we might come to understand Columbus and his legacies anew.
