Review by New York Times Review
HITLER: Ascent 1889-1939, by Volker Ullrich. Translated by Jefferson Chase. (Vintage, $22.) A new biography dispenses with myths of greatness and destiny that circulate about Hitler: In Ullrich's telling, he emerges as a mediocre, unremarkable man who seized on a moment of political rage to rise to power. This book, the first of two planned volumes, ends on the eve of Germany's invasion of Poland, setting off World War II and eventually leading to his downfall. PERFECT LITTLE WORLD, by Kevin Wilson. (Ecco/HarperCollins, $16.99.) Izzy, a teenager pregnant with her teacher's baby, agrees to join a utopian family experiment that resembles a commune. "It's a novel you keep reading for old-fashioned reasons," our reviewer, John Irving, said. "You also keep reading because you want to know what a good family is. Everyone wants to know that." TRUEVINE: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother's Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South, by Beth Macy. (Back Bay/Little, Brown, $17.99.) George and Willie Muse, two albino African-American brothers, were exhibited in a circus for years during the 20 th century, a situation close to slavery. How they came to join the show is murky, but the core of Macy's reporting focuses on the boys' mother, Harriett, who doggedly sought to bring them home. HISTORY OF WOLVES, by Emily Fridlund. (Grove, $16.) In Fridlund's debut novel, northern Minnesota's austere landscape sets off a grim coming-of-age story. When a young mother and her son arrive in town, Linda, a teenage loner with a fractured home life, is drawn to them. She soon begins babysitting the child, Paul, and finds herself in an ambiguous family dynamic, made worse after his father returns from Hawaii; the moral choices Linda makes haunt her decades later, when she finally tells her story. AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY: A Love Story, by John Kaag. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $16.) A chance encounter leads Kaag, a philosophy professor, to a library full of masterpieces (early editions of works by Kant, signed copies of Thoreau's writings), transforming his professional and personal trajectories. Our reviewer, Mark Greif, praised the memoir as "a spirited lover's quarrel with the individualism and solipsism in our national thought." DO NOT SAY WE HAVE NOTHING, by Madeleine Thien. (Norton, $16.95.) As a child, Marie, the central figure of Thien's novel, and her mother welcome into their home a woman fleeing China after the Tiananmen Square protests. The guest, AnLing, and Marie are linked by their fathers: The men used music to cope with the regime and to remain steadfast to each another during the Cultural Revolution.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [November 12, 2017]
Review by Booklist Review
Standing before students gathered in Harvard's Holden Chapel in 1895, philosopher William James wrestled with one urgent question: Is life worth living? More than a century later, a troubled postdoctoral student namely, John Kaag confronts the same question. Near despair after his recent struggle to discern meaning in his father's death from cancer, Kaag is vexed by his failure to progress in his academic research and by his emotional paralysis in a disintegrating marriage. Surprisingly, salvation intellectual and personal comes through the discovery of the private library (in philosophy, religion, and poetry) of the pioneering American philosopher William Ernest Hocking. This forgotten trove of books helps Kaag renew his passion for philosophy, American-style (Emerson, Pierce, James), enriched through connections to European thinkers (Descartes, Kant, Hegel), and infused with insights from Eastern religions. Renewed passion of a different sort gives him courage to attempt a new romantic start with a woman who shares his commitment to philosophical inquiry. This is philosophy not as mere academic concepts but as lived experience.--Christensen, Bryce Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Kaag (Thinking Through the Imagination), a professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, embarks on a deeply personal search for the answer to the William James-inspired question, "Is life worth living?" Stocking a Subaru with a "case of mediocre pinot noir," Kaag leaves a stale marriage and drives to the New Hampshire estate of a deceased scholar whose personal library is the equivalent of a philosopher's candy store. Many of the books are first editions and their margins contain an entire subplot of America's intellectual history. Kaag bonds deeply with the priceless books while battling his own angst, termites, rodents, and New England weather. Deciding to catalogue the most valuable volumes and place them in temporary storage, he summons help from a colleague. While they pour over Kant and Hegel, romance blooms. Kaag is a scholar at heart and a pack rat for intellectual trivia. Because of this, he risks leaving the reader both emotionally shortchanged and overeducated. There are wondrously frank moments in his narrative, as when he struggles to change a tire and, later, attempts to mow the estate field with a scythe. If only Kaag had sweated more and abstracted less, this would be a perfect book. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Kaag (philosophy, Univ. of Mass., Lowell; Thinking Through the Imagination) has written a book that is part memoir and part historical analysis of early American philosophy. The work is organized into three sections: Hell, Purgatory, and Redemption. These headings reflect the mood of Kaag's life during the time that he discovered the library of the American philosopher William Ernest Hocking (1873-1966). Through telling the story of his discovering the library and then cataloging its contents, Kaag examines the ideas of Hocking along with the Transcendentalists, and philosophers William James, Charles Peirce, Josiah Royce, and others. He interweaves these sections with episodes from his life to explain the themes of self-reliance and personal experience that appear in many of the works of American philosophers. VERDICT This title offers a unique combination of memoir and the history of American philosophy that is a joy to read. Kaag ably presents both subjects in a way that keeps readers engaged as he shows the value of developing a personal philosophy that can help individuals find meaning, or at least some guidance, in their lives.-Scott Duimstra, Capital Area Dist. Lib., Lansing, MI © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
