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Chekhov Large and Small
Bob Blaisdell examines new biographies of Anton Chekhov by Michael C. Finke and Donald Rayfield.
Biography & Autobiography
"I don't think anyone should write their autobiography until after they're dead." — Samuel Goldwyn
Resisting the Food Establishment: On Mayukh Sen’s “Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women Who Revolutionized Food in America”
Sen has brought to light a stellar cast of culinary experts that readers may not know about but should.
A Necessary, Hazardous Calling: On Judith Mackrell’s “The Correspondents: Six Women Writers on the Front Lines of World War II”
A well-crafted true story of female journalists reporting from the front lines.
Workmanlike Surrealism: On Alex Danchev’s “Magritte: A Life”
Alex Danchev’s final book is a sparkling biography of a prolific, popular artist.
Madness as Method: On Andrew Hussey’s “Speaking East: The Strange and Enchanted Life of Isidore Isou”
A new biography of the founder of Lettrism, the “avant-garde of the avant-garde.”
What If?: New Insight into the Friendship of Virginia Woolf and T. S. Eliot
A newly opened archive of Eliot’s letters sheds light on his friendship with Woolf.
Ghosts of the Avant-Garde: On Johanna Drucker’s “Iliazd: A Meta-Biography of a Modernist”
A remarkable account of the life, work, and afterlife of an elusive modernist artist.
Are You Listening?
Sophia Stewart on Stephen Sondheim, Georges Seurat, Sam Francis, and the recovered power of the muse.
Doing Something: On Keisha N. Blain’s “Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America”
A biography of activist Fannie Lou Hamer compares her work to today’s activists.
A Solo on the Pipe: On Julia Copus’s “This Rare Spirit: A Life of Charlotte Mew”
Declan Ryan gleans new insights on poet Charlotte Mew from “This Rare Spirit,” a biography by Julia Copus.
“A Home in the Neon Heat of Nature”: A New Biography of Czesław Miłosz
Cynthia Haven’s “Czesław Miłosz: A California Life” captures the formative dynamics of exile.
Lee’s Fault
John Reeves reviews Allen C Guelzo's new biography of Robert E. Lee.
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