With this eye-catching volume, Rogers (coauthor of Firecrackers), a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, makes a persuasive case for collage as a crucial but overlooked feminist art form. While the beginnings of collage are often traced to the “high art” of early 20th-century artists like Pablo Picasso, the author begins in the Victorian era, when women crafted witty, photocollaged images to express themselves and showcase their artistic skills and sophistication to potential suitors. Later, modernist artists created surreal cut-paper assemblages, and second wave feminists used collages to make political statements. Contemporary artists experiment with digital and high-res printing technology to investigate intersections of gender, race, class, and geography. Throughout, Rogers spotlights such artists as Dora Maar, who crafted surrealist photocollages in the 1930s; Lorna Simpson, an Afrofuturist who began exploring collage by cutting up her grandmother’s copies of Ebony and Jet; and Mickalene Thomas, who playfully recreates classical European art compositions with photos of modern Black women. Lavishly illustrated and containing a wealth of information on artists around the world, this survey is a cut above. (June)

Reviewed on 04/10/2026 | Details & Permalink

In this wide-ranging account, linguist Fridland (Like, Literally, Dude) surveys cutting-edge sociological, psychological, and historical explanations for why accents exist and what effects they have on society. As she touches on everything from the spread and evolution of Indo-European languages to U.S. accents influenced by the Great Migration, she repeatedly probes at the role that accents play in race and class, from the way that workplace advancement is hindered or helped by accents to the concept of the shibboleth, a “mispronunciation” that reveals someone as an outsider—an idea presented in the Old Testament but put into practice as relatively recently as the mid-20th century, when Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo’s militias sought out Haitian Creole speakers to execute by forcing people to pronounce the Spanish word for parsley. She notes that linguists have shown that accents develop naturally, along fairly robust and definable paths, as groups of people drift away from one another socially; she also explores how, as children acquire language, the mental process is deeply linked to categorization, which can include categorizing the types of people speaking. In short, she argues, accent and sociality are deeply intertwined, and addressing things like social inequality will always require people to think about what they think about how other people speak. Fast-paced and cheerily written despite sometimes heavy subject matter, this is a delightfully easygoing linguistic romp. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 04/10/2026 | Details & Permalink

Sports historian Gilbert (How Baseball Happened) delivers a probing biography of James Creighton, baseball’s first celebrity athlete, whose short-lived career ended with his sudden death in 1862 at age 21. Gilbert exposes the curious and corrupt chain of events that doomed Creighton to relative obscurity in the annals of sports history. Creighton, Gilbert alleges, was covertly compensated for playing in what was then an amateur sport, and it was his exceptional talent as a pitcher that led him to be literally worked to death. As a mid-19th-century wave of immigration prompted residents to flee Manhattan, baseball’s birthplace, for Brooklyn, they brought the sport with them, forming pick-up teams like the Atlantics and the Excelsiors. Gilbert argues that Creighton, the son of a Tammany Hall lackey, was intentionally relocated from Manhattan to Brooklyn at age 16 as a way of surreptitiously improving the Excelsiors’ roster. Local businessmen invested in the sport then attempted to spread its popularity beyond New York by sending the Excelsiors on exhibition tours; it was during one such game that Creighton began to complain of pain, dying days later of apparent internal injuries. Gilbert highlights that, despite the work Creighton did to popularize the sport, the Baseball Hall of Fame doesn’t recognize players of the “Amateur Era,” meaning he has gone relatively unrecognized. It’s a fascinating must-read for baseball history buffs. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 04/10/2026 | Details & Permalink

Sacks, a financial influencer who posts as Mrs. Dow Jones, debuts with a down-to-earth guide to personal finance. At her first corporate HR meeting, Sacks, then 25, was inundated with retirement and health insurance jargon that left her feeling lost. She found research empowering and set out in 2018 to help other young people achieve financial literacy. The “ultimate financial power move” is increasing income, she says, outlining steps like negotiating a raise or taking on side hustles. Making more and spending less increases one’s “Action Money,” funds left over once the essentials are covered. Sacks also calls this “your Future Rich Person money,” as it can be used to build an emergency fund, pay off debt, invest in the stock market, and bankroll retirement. Her “Bachelorette Payoff Method” encourages tackling debt by focusing on the loan with the highest interest rate first (“it’s who you’re inviting to the fantasy suite”) while continuing to pay the minimum on all other debts (“no one gets ghosted”). Elsewhere, she walks readers through setting up investment accounts suited to their needs, suggests having monthly “Money Dates” to review one’s finances, and lays out her Ten Commandments of Money Etiquette. Personable and full of pop culture references, this is a digestible introductory course for getting one’s money right. (May)

Reviewed on 04/10/2026 | Details & Permalink

Science journalist Jacobsen (Wild Chocolate) delivers an eye-opening investigation into the health benefits of sunlight. Arguing that health-care providers and skin-care product marketers have gone too far in framing the sun as a carcinogen to be avoided at all costs, Jacobsen makes the case that moderate sun exposure has tremendous upsides. Studies consistently show that people who receive ample amounts of sun lead longer, healthier lives, he explains, while sun deprivation is linked to heart attacks, dementia, depression, certain cancers, and autoimmune conditions. There is no one-size-fits-all recommendation, Jacobsen says, noting a healthy dose of sunlight depends on many factors like skin type (those with pale skin may only need a few minutes a day, while those with dark skin might benefit from a lot more). When exposed to natural rays, skin cells produce a molecule called proopiomelanocortin, or POMC, which enzymes separate into hormones that stimulate alertness and feelings of well-being. Fear of the sun is a modern phenomenon that grew in response to a rise in skin cancer cases in the 1970s and ’80s, which Jacobsen says was “less of an emergency than it seemed,” as the increase was the result of longer lifespans and massive population growth. Illuminating and accessibly written, this will make readers want to head outside. (June)

Reviewed on 04/10/2026 | Details & Permalink

Miller, creator of such celebrated comics series as the Dark Knight Returns and 300, meditates on the forces behind his art in this exuberant memoir. The episodic narrative revisits Miller’s career milestones, including breaking into the comics biz in the gloriously grungy New York City of the 1970s, whose urban squalor and violence infused his artistic sensibility; his triumphant reboot of Batman as a grizzled, cantankerous 50-year-old battling nihilistic perps and a vapid media culture; and a humbling Hollywood gig scripting 1990’s Robocop 2 (“Writing a screenplay can be a lot like carefully casting and assembling what you’re certain is a beautiful fire hydrant, only to watch a long line of dogs come piss on it”). Sprinkled throughout are revelatory explorations of comics craft, from storytelling rules (“Tell whoever’s watching who the hero is, and then get that hero into trouble right quick”) to celebrations of the genre’s excess (“I adore swirling hair and rumpling trench coat cloth and frothing spittle.... Teeth clenched like psychotic chiclets”). Gorgeously illustrated with panels from Miller’s work and written in elegantly two-fisted prose, this is a wildly entertaining account that his fans will savor. Illus. Agent: Albert Lee, UTA. (July)

Reviewed on 04/10/2026 | Details & Permalink

Journalist and sociologist Wolfe debuts with a fascinating history of the Earth Liberation Front, a loose-knit climate justice group that was concentrated in the Pacific Northwest in the 1990s. Wolfe begins with a sweeping history of American environmentalism, detailing how hippie tree huggers gave way to professional organizations like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth in the latter half of the 20th century. As the planet’s prognosis worsened, Wolfe writes, many environmentalists went from monkey wrenching, or nonviolent disobedience, to ecoterrorism. The Earth Liberation Front, or ELF, was “whispered about” in activist circles after its first cell emerged in Brighton, England, in 1992, then made headlines in 1998 when a Eugene, Ore., cell took credit for torching a ski lodge in Vail, Colo. None of the group’s actions, which also included blowing up ranger stations and liberating wild horses from the Bureau of Land Management, resulted in human casualties. After the passage of the Patriot Act in the wake of 9/11, the FBI went after the ELF, arresting seven members in 2004. Wolfe captures the urgency that gave rise to the group and poses potent questions about the ethical boundaries of extremism. Readers will be rapt. Photos. Agent: Adam Eaglin, Cheney Agency. (June)

Reviewed on 04/10/2026 | Details & Permalink

Travel writer Pergament debuts with a cheeky love letter to the pleasure-filled lifestyle of Southern Europe, where there’s “less hurry, more tapas... less retirement planning, more pesto.” In brief sections, she breaks down the Mediterranean philosophy for living well, which involves creating a chic but timeless style (sunglasses, statement bags, clothes that suit the wearer rather than current trends), enjoying good food and wine without overdoing it, and generally slowing down to enjoy the little things in life. Other sections provide irreverent tips on makeup (eyeliner is a must, but wearing concealer is like “going to a wine tasting while you’re chewing gum”); exercising (indoor workouts are best, to avoid the perils of running across steep, cobbled streets); and traveling (“Pack light... even the biggest yachts are smaller than you think”). Pergament couples her own experience living in Italy, Spain, Greece, and France with bits of wisdom from Mediterranean locals for a spunky, early aughts fashion magazine vibe that’s complemented by vivid, witty illustrations from Mokshini. This delights. (May)

Reviewed on 04/10/2026 | Details & Permalink

Therapist Kim (Single on Purpose) provides a refreshingly straightforward guide to navigating modern love. He argues that relationships often fail because people rely on dysfunctional or unrealistic definitions of love—fed to them by parents, Hollywood, and society—as a fairy tale, a means of “making you whole,” or an endless source of happiness and validation. In reality, love is an active choice that entails self-examination, emotional repair, and daily effort. He explains how readers can work to recognize damaging models of love that have shaped them, take lessons from past relationships, and create with one’s partner a relationship that’s rooted in shared responsibilities, aligned priorities, and a balance of autonomy and togetherness. Along the way, he makes valuable distinctions between “unhealthy love” marked by urgency and codependency, and “healthy love,” defined by interdependence, communication, and the ability to repair conflicts. Kim’s emphasis on personal agency serves as a welcome corrective to passive, idealized narratives of romance, even if readers might wish some of his recommendations—such as auditing one’s inherited beliefs about love—were more rigorously sketched out. Still, readers who are dating or attempting to build more intentional partnerships will get plenty from this. (June)

Reviewed on 04/10/2026 | Details & Permalink

The electrifying nonfiction debut from novelist Clemmons (What We Lose) muses on the thorny concept of freedom in “a world buckling from the consequences of centuries of interlocking injustices.” In particular, she contrasts the American right’s narrow definition of personal freedom at the expense of others to that of Black people, for whom freedom is both more “expansive” and also continually “revised” through struggle. The title essay ruminates on a 2013 trip Clemmons took to Johannesburg to unveil her mother’s headstone that coincided with the death of Nelson Mandela. “Home Going” examines the Great Migration alongside the author’s experience moving to the West Coast. In “A People Without a Nation,” Clemmons interrogates Afropessimism’s rise alongside that of Trump, and considers how Bigger Thomas, the protagonist of Richard Wright’s Native Son, can provide “a window into the psychology of the school shooter, the serial rapist... the white supremacist.” Most harrowing is “Freedom Pt. 2,” Clemmons’s account of being forcibly kissed by a Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist when she was in grad school and later speaking publicly about the incident during the #MeToo movement, only to have her veracity questioned, likely damaging her career and leading her to worry about being “reduced to a footnote in The Author’s story.” It adds up to a sharply glimmering vision of how personal experience connects to larger political moments. (June)

Reviewed on 04/10/2026 | Details & Permalink