Amitav Ghosh
Smoke and Ashes. Opium’s Hidden Histories
Smoke and Ashes is at once a travelogue, memoir and a history, drawing on decades of archival research. In it, Ghosh traces the transformative effect the opium trade had on Britain, India, and China, as well as the world at large. Most surprising at all, however, was the discovery that the author’s own identity and family history was swept up in the story.
John Murray Publishing
Adam Schatz
The Rebel’s Clinic. The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon
In the era of Black Lives Matter, Frantz Fanon’s shadow looms larger than ever. He was the intellectual activist of the postcolonial era, and his writings about race, revolution, and the psychology of power continue to shape radical movements across the world. In The Rebel’s Clinic, Shatz offers a dramatic reconstruction of Fanon’s extraordinary life-and a guide to the books that underlie today’s most vital efforts to challenge white supremacy and racial capitalism.
Farrar Srauss and Giroux
Johann Eglöff
The Darkness Manifesto. On Light Pollution, Night Ecology, and the Ancient Rhythms That Sustain Life
As a devoted friend of the night, Eklöf reveals the startling domino effect of diminishing darkness: insects, dumbfounded by streetlamps, failing to reproduce; birds blinded and bewildered by artificial lights; and bats starving as they wait in vain for insects that only come out in the dark. For humans, light-induced sleep disturbances impact our hormones and weight, and can contribute to mental health problems like chronic stress and depression. The light bulb —long the symbol of progress and development— needs to be turned off.
Scribner Books
Brad Gooch
Radiant. The Life and Line of Keith Haring
Part of an iconic cultural crowd that included Andy Warhol, Madonna, and Basquiat, Haring broke down the barriers between high art and popular culture, creating work that was accessible for all and using it as a means to provoke and inspire radical social change. Haring died of AIDS in 1990. To this day, his influence on our culture remains incontrovertible, and his glamorous, tragically short life has a unique aura of mystery and power.
Harper Collins
Percival Everett
James
When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond. Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating wit, James retells the story of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer from Jim’s perspective.
Random House