Books of The Times

Joy Williams distills much learning — from philosophy, religion and history — into 99 stories about the guy who takes your soul.

The journalist Richard Behar communicated extensively with the disgraced financier. His rigorous if irreverent book acknowledges his subject’s humanity.

A brisk new biography by the National Book Award-winning historian Tiya Miles aims to restore the iconic freedom fighter to human scale.

In “The Material,” Camille Bordas imagines the anxious hotbed where the perils of being a college student and the perils of being funny meet.

In a frank but measured memoir, “On Call,” the physician looks back at a career bookended by two public health crises: AIDS and Covid-19.

As a new book by Ramin Setoodeh shows, Donald Trump brought the vulgar theatrics he honed on TV to his life in politics.

In “When the Clock Broke,” John Ganz shows how a decade remembered as one of placid consensus was roiled by resentment, unrest and the rise of the radical right.

Her new novel, “Parade,” considers the perplexity and solipsism of the creative life.

In his memoir “The Friday Afternoon Club,” the Hollywood hyphenate Griffin Dunne, best known for his role in Martin Scorsese’s “After Hours,” recounts his privileged upbringing.

In a new book, the journalist and science fiction writer Annalee Newitz shows how we have used narrative to manipulate and coerce.

In “When Women Ran Fifth Avenue,” Julie Satow celebrates the savvy leaders who made Bonwit, Bendel’s and Lord & Taylor into retail meccas of their moment.

A new biography of the performer, writer and director Elaine May has the intensity to match its subject.

In “The Editor,” Sara B. Franklin argues that Judith Jones was a “publishing legend,” transcending industry sexism to champion cookbooks — and Anne Frank.

In Garth Risk Hallberg’s new novel, a teenage rebel and her father reconnect amid a sea of their own troubles.

R.O. Kwon’s second novel, “Exhibit,” sees two Korean American women finding pleasure in a bond that knits creative expression and sadomasochism.

In a new book, the historian Kim A. Wagner investigates the slaughter by U.S. troops of nearly 1,000 people in the Philippines in 1906 — an atrocity long overlooked in this country.

The professor and social commentator Glenn Loury opens up about his vices in a candid new memoir.

An anxious artist’s road trip stops short for a torrid affair at a tired motel. In “All Fours,” the desire for change is familiar. How to satisfy it isn’t.

The economist and philosopher Daniel Chandler thinks so. In “Free and Equal,” he makes a vigorous case for adopting the liberal political framework laid out by John Rawls in the 1970s.

Hari Kunzru examines the ties between art and wealth in a new novel, “Blue Ruin.”

Caroline Crampton shares her own worries in “A Body Made of Glass,” a history of hypochondria that wonders whether newfangled technology drives us crazier.

“I Just Keep Talking,” a collection of essays and artwork by the historian Nell Irvin Painter, captures her wide-ranging interests and original mind.

The best stories in Honor Levy’s “My First Book” capture the quiet desperation of today’s smart set. But there is such a thing as publishing too soon.

“Finish What We Started,” by the journalist Isaac Arnsdorf, reports from the front lines of the right-wing movement’s strategy to gain power, from the local level on up.

Slim and precious, “Somehow: Thoughts on Love” doesn’t measure up to her best nonfiction.

“In the Shadow of Liberty,” by the historian Ana Raquel Minian, chronicles America’s often brutal treatment of noncitizens, including locking them up without charge.

“Knife” is an account of the writer’s brush with death in 2022, and the long recovery that followed.

As he struggled with writing and illness, the “Alienist” author found comfort in the feline companions he recalls in a new memoir, “My Beloved Monster.”

In “The Invention of Prehistory,” the historian Stefanos Geroulanos argues that many of our theories about our remote ancestors tell us more about us than them.

A new omnibus compiles the poet’s books and unpublished work, including his two-part autobiographical masterpiece, “Genesis.”

In her buzzy memoir, “Sociopath,” Patric Gagne shows herself more committed to revel in her naughtiness than to demystify the condition.

Judith Butler’s new book, “Who’s Afraid of Gender?,” tries to turn down the heat on an inflamed argument.

Cynthia Carr’s compassionate biography chronicles the brief, poignant life of the transgender actress Candy Darling, whose “very existence was radical.”

Stephen Breyer means well. Why is his new book, “Reading the Constitution,” so exasperating?

After his partner, Molly Brodak, died by suicide, Blake Butler found painful truths in her journals and personal items.

In Lisa Ko’s adventurous novel “Memory Piece,” youthful exploration takes a dark turn for an artist, an activist and a web developer.

In his latest book, the prolific British psychoanalyst Adam Phillips promotes curiosity, improvisation and conflict as antidotes to the deadening effects of absolute certainty.

The private musings of Sonny Rollins reveal an artist devoted to the rigors of self-improvement.

Her lucid memoir, “One Way Back,” describes life before, during and after she testified that Brett Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her in high school.

In “Soldiers and Kings,” the anthropologist Jason De León interviews smugglers, arguing that they are victims of poverty and violence, even as they exploit the humans in their care.

“James” takes Mark Twain’s classic tale and places the enslaved sidekick, Jim, at its center.

A brief volume of Elspeth Barker’s writings shows off the late novelist’s ability to soothe, shock and find the humor in dark moments.

In his eighth book, the best-selling author Cal Newport offers life hacks for producing high-quality work while working less.

In his thoroughly researched “Radiant,” Brad Gooch considers the short, blazing life of the ’80s artist, activist and man about downtown.

Rita Bullwinkel’s debut novel, “Headshot,” spotlights eight boxers in a national tournament and the struggles of their inner lives.

A new biography chronicles this essential American writer’s complicated love life, celebrated career and singular talents.

In this collaboratively written novel, Lower East Side dwellers get through lockdown swapping colorful tales on the roof of their scruffy building.

Two new books about the platform chronicle its leadership under first Jack Dorsey and now Elon Musk, portraying a site reeling from user disaffection and gross mismanagement.

A story collection from Diane Oliver, who died at 22, locates the strength in Black families surviving their separate but equal surroundings.

A devastating 2020 fire on the island of Lesbos is the springboard for a meditation on origin stories, borders and migration in Lauren Markham’s “A Map of Future Ruins.”

“The Freaks Came Out to Write” is an oral history of America’s most important alternative weekly.

With Burton and Taylor as stars and a writer and director feuding, adapting the scabrous play wasn’t easy. “Cocktails With George and Martha” pours out the details.

“Literary Theory for Robots,” by Dennis Yi Tenen, a software engineer turned literature professor, shows how the “intelligence” in artificial intelligence is irreducibly human.

Lucy Sante recounts the trials and joys of her gender transition in the memoir “I Heard Her Call My Name.”

A new book by the historian Dan Stone seeks to amend — and expand — our understanding of the genocide.

In her new book, the writer presents 10 years of her diaries in an unorthodox arrangement.

Deborah Jowitt’s “Errand Into the Maze” revels in the artistry of the dance legend, while downplaying the messy choices in her marathon career.

Calvin Trillin collects many of his inimitable profiles and essays about journalism in “The Lede.”

Adam Shatz’s “The Rebel’s Clinic,” a new biography of the psychiatrist and revolutionary Frantz Fanon, aims to restore complexity to a man both revered and reviled for his militancy.

Plato and Pushkin, Mickey Mouse and “The Simpsons” make (permissible) appearances in this surprisingly zippy history of copyright protection.

In a new book, Manjula Martin explores her accommodation to life in Northern California in an era of increasingly extreme weather.

An experiment in digital disengagement prompts Kyle Chayka to consider how technology has narrowed our choices and dulled the culture.

Yaroslav Trofimov grew up in Kyiv. “Our Enemies Will Vanish” records his experience as a journalist for The Wall Street Journal assigned to cover the war.

Álvaro Enrigue’s “You Dreamed of Empires” is a hallucinatory tale of the conquistadors’ arrival at Moctezuma’s gates.

In Marie-Helene Bertino’s remarkable funny-sad novel, the young visitor and her mother find the means to persevere in the aisles of a cosmetics store.

This bracing anthology of Christopher Hitchens’s work for The London Review of Books is just the ticket.

In “Pure Wit,” Francesca Peacock makes a fresh case for the writer Margaret Cavendish’s place in the feminist canon.

Be wary of the recipes (all that glaze!), but there’s still delight in getting advice about etiquette, guest lists and fondue.

In a new memoir, the filmmaker and playwright shares his opinions on Hollywood past and present.

Shahnaz Habib’s “irreverent history” takes a lively and sometimes ruthless look at who gets to go where and what gets papered over in their accounts.

A new biography sheds light on her humble beginnings and prolific, genre-defining career.

In “Zero at the Bone,” Christian Wiman offers a welcome tonic: poetic and philosophical reminders of how to get through troubling times.

In his new book, “The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory,” the journalist Tim Alberta subjects his faith’s embrace of right-wing extremism to critical scrutiny.

The new book by Lauren Elkin examines artists who’ve defied conventions and expectations, including Carolee Schneemann, Eva Hesse and Kara Walker.

“Among Friends” is a history of an industry transformed by consolidation and shifting tastes.

In “Flight of the WASP,” the inveterate dirt-digger Michael Gross gives America’s elite families the white-glove treatment.

Ray Isle’s “The World in a Wineglass” is a broad survey of vintners with a focus on sustainability and organic methods.

The new book by Jennifer Burns aims to bring fresh complexity to our understanding of the Nobel Prize-winning economist.

A new biography resuscitates the colorful, tragic life of Mal Evans: roadie, confidant, procurer, cowbell player.

His book is a thrilling account of the conspiracy to steal the 2020 election, the attack on the Capitol, Tucker Carlson’s defenestration and more.

The new book by Witold Szablowski features the chefs who were expected to prepare sumptuous meals for Russian leaders — and keep them from being poisoned.

In a chatty and candid new memoir, Barbra Streisand talks about her early determination to be famous and tallies the hurdles and helpers she met along the way.

A flurry of new books highlights broad disagreements over how to address the problem.

Mixing the medical and the personal, several memoirists find literary analogies the best way to capture unwelcome visits to “unimaginable lands.”

Set during the pandemic, Sigrid Nunez’s new novel, “The Vulnerables,” is a story of unlikely companionship and personal reflection.

The classicist Mary Beard examines the excesses and tedium of imperial rule, sorting fact from gossip and tall tales.

In a new memoir, the rock luminary details his long career and the music that shaped him.

Michael MacCambridge’s “The Big Time” rewinds to the ’70s, when showy personalities and compelling rivalries turned sports into mass entertainment.

The new book by the Philippine journalist Patricia Evangelista recounts her investigation into the campaign of extrajudicial murders under former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Fuchsia Dunlop’s “Invitation to a Banquet” is a cultural investigation of an impossibly broad and often misunderstood cuisine.

In “I Must Be Dreaming,” the cartoonist serves up nutty nocturnal admissions, considers theories of sleep and, yes, imagines losing her teeth.

A new history by Fergus M. Bordewich examines Ulysses S. Grant’s battle against white supremacist terror.

The filmmaker’s new memoir, “Every Man for Himself and God Against All,” prompts a critic’s incredulity.

Mary Gabriel’s biography is as thorough as its subject is disciplined. But in relentlessly defending the superstar, where’s the party?

“Going Infinite,” Lewis’s new book about the disgraced crypto billionaire, defies the author’s winning formula of upbeat narratives and unsung genius.

In his memoir “The Controversialist,” Martin Peretz reflects on his long tenure as publisher and editor of The New Republic.

In “Brooklyn Crime Novel,” the veteran author transports readers to a conflicted time in the old neighborhood.

In his latest book, the German historian Volker Ullrich describes a nation buffeted by poverty, hyperinflation and political extremism, but managing — for the moment — to thwart Hitler’s ascent.

Her new novel, “Night Watch,” is a mother-daughter story set in a West Virginia mental institution.

Isle McElroy’s second novel, “People Collide,” puts a pair of bored newlyweds in each other’s shoes.