A worthy new biography of the late historian Eric Hobsbawm shows the ardent communist in the crucible of the 20th century
Fifty years after the release of the film that changed the world, two new books look back at its transcendent genius creator
Id meet ego. Ego, id. The celebrated, controversial, highly self-aware filmmaker’s new ‘Café Society’ is about himself—but who is that?
Churchill biographer’s passion was for all human stories, not just the epics
The Austrian writer presented an ideal of what Europe might have been and might one day be
Having brought author Clarice Lispector back into the public eye, biographer Ben Moser turns to Susan Sontag
Two new biographical sketches depict the great recluse as agent of growth, emblem of permanent adolescence, and cipher
The whole question of modernity, in new assessments of the German composer and his work
A match a century in the making brings two tough, funny, liberated stars into glorious alignment
New books about Albert Einstein, labor organizer Clara Lemlich, and mathematician Paul Erdős will inspire readers of all ages
Reza Aslan’s powerful new ‘Zealot’ paints a vivid, accessible portrait of Jesus as a Jewish nationalist
On the anniversary of the Beatle’s assassination, turning to his wild, controversial biographer for enlightenment
Gertrude Himmelfarb argues that the philosemitism of writers like George Eliot can be a cure for anti-Semitism
Five Books, holiday edition: Nine hardbacks—including Philip Schultz’s memoir, a history of the orgasm, and Alfred Kazin’s journals—for the readers on your list
A breathless biography of Wendy Wasserstein hints at the tensions in the playwright’s life but, like its subject, fails to confront them
COMING IN OCTOBER 2010
A new biography is overly impressed by Leonard Bernstein’s liberal politics
The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity