Review by New York Times Review
GINGERBREAD, by Helen Oyeyemi. (Riverhead, $27.) For her new novel - a meditation on family and what it means to be part of a community - Oyeyemi has taken old fairy tales, seasoned them with 20th-century history and pop-culture references, and frosted them with whimsical detail. I.M.: A Memoir, by Isaac Mizrahi. (Flatiron, $28.99.) Throughout this autobiography by one of America's most acclaimed designers of the 1990s, his innovation and confidence are evident, contrasting with an industry that, despite its superficial fickleness, can be deeply resistant to change. TRUTH IN OUR TIMES: Inside the Fight for Press Freedom in the Age of Alternative Facts, by David E. McCraw. (All Points, $28.99.) McCraw, the deputy general counsel of The Times, leads readers through some of his most memorable cases, particularly those involving Donald Trump. He expresses concern about the crisis of public trust, stating that "the law can do only so much." MADAME FOURCADE'S SECRET WAR: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler, by Lynne Olson. (Random House, $30.) Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, who fought the Nazis while enduring sexism in her ranks, is little remembered today. Olson argues that she should be celebrated. INSTRUCTIONS FOR A FUNERAL: Stories, by David Means. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $25.) Means's fifth collection, populated with adulterers and criminals, railroad bums and other castaways, suggests that beneath every act of violence there pulses a vein of grace. GOOD WILL COME FROM THE SEA, by Christos Ikonomou. Translated by Karen Emmerich. (Archipelago, paper, $18.) This collection of linked stories, set on an unnamed Aegean island and featuring a cast of wry, rough-talking Greeks reeling from the country's economic devastation, showcases Ikonomou's wit, compassion and infallible ear for the demotic. OUTSIDERS: Five Women Writers Who Changed the World, by Lyndall Gordon. (Johns Hopkins University, $29.95.) Gordon links five visionaries who made literary history - George Eliot, Mary Shelley, Emily Bronte, Olive Schreiner and Virginia Woolf - through their shared understanding of death and violence. THE TWICE-BORN: Life and Death on the Ganges, by Aatish Taseer. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $26.) Attempting to rediscover his traditional Indian roots through the study of Sanskrit, a journalist finds himself alienated from them. HOUSE OF STONE, by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma. (Norton, $26.95.) This ambitious and ingenious first novel uses a young man's search for his personal ancestry as a way of unearthing hidden aspects of Zimbabwe's violent past. The full reviews of these and other recent books are on the web: nytimes.com/books
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [July 11, 2019]
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
McCraw, the deputy general counsel of the New York Times, recounts 17 years of defending the First Amendment and the paper's legal integrity in this passionate memoir. Best known for a letter he wrote responding to a lawsuit threat from President Trump about a report detailing groping accusations against him from two women, McCraw colors his legalese with wit and levity. Much of the book involves the 2016 election, including the paper's publication of a portion of Trump's 1995 tax return (a move that McCraw reassured reporters would have no legal consequence), but also features lighter anecdotes, such as a libel suit from Beatles acquaintance "Magic Alex" about his portrayal as a "charlatan" in an obituary for Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Stories including the Harvey Weinstein sexual allegations (during which McCraw reviewed early article drafts) are recounted vividly, and McCraw includes correspondence with opposing legal teams, as well as his fielding of questions from reporters, once via phone from the stands of Yankee Stadium. Laws regarding leaks, libel, and Freedom of Information Act requests are explained thoroughly, with McCraw believing "there was still something right about a system where you had a chance to stand up to your government in a court of law." News junkies will relish the insider access. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The deputy general counsel of the New York Times debuts with a personal and professional account of the profound changes in journalism and of the threats he perceives to the First Amendment, threats intensified by the cries of "fake news!" that emanate from the White House and echo around the country.McCraw, who has been at the Times for more than 15 years, mixes memoir, history, and politics, stirring in a bit of self-effacement (he thought Donald Trump was incapable of winning the 2016 election) with a dash of self-congratulation: He writes extensively about a viral letter he wrote to Trump's attorneys about a Times story giving voice to two women who had accused the candidate of sexual impropriety. The author briefly tells the story of his own background, but mostly, he maintains a sharp focus on a number of key developments and issues. He writes about the 1964 New York Times Company v. Sullivan case, which made suing the press for libel much more difficult (a 9-0 decision in favor of the Times Company); the president's tax returns; WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden; the Harvey Weinstein case and the #MeToo movement; the Freedom of Information Act; and the kidnapping of journalists in dangerous parts of the world. Most affectingly, he discusses the wonders of the First Amendment and how we must protect it. Periodically, McCraw expresses disbelief and horror about an American president who blasts the free press and identifies journalists as the enemies of the people. He notes with alarm, as well, how the very wealthy (and very conservative) are funding anti-media lawsuits. Here, he credits comedian John Oliver (whom he calls "brilliant") for "outing" coal magnate Bob Murray on Last Week Tonight. Throughout, the author highly praises journalists working for the Times.Although occasionally tendentiousMcCraw clearly loves his employerthis is a passionate, important defense of the First Amendment and its absolute necessity in a democracy. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by New York Times Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
