Episode · The Book Review · 2016-03-11
Books mentioned on Inside The New York Times Book Review: ‘The Profiteers’
Gilbert Cruz discussed The profiteers by Sally Denton and The Secret Life of the American Musical by Jack Viertel. Alexandra Alter discussed The Vegetarian by Han Kang, Death by Water by Kenzaburō Ōe and others, and A Cup of Rage by Raduan Nassar. Greg Cowles discussed A few of the girls by Maeve Binchy, The Gangster by Justin Scott and others, All the single ladies by Rebecca Traister, The legends club by John Feinstein, The immortal Irishman by Timothy Egan, American girls by Nancy Jo Sales, Evicted by Matthew Desmond, and Seven Brief Lessons on Physics 8-Copy Counter Display by Carlo Rovelli.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The profiteers
The Profiteers by Sally Denton is a deeply researched work of investigative journalism focusing on the massive construction company Bechtel and its extensive, complex relationship with the United States government, including its prominent role in building the Hoover Dam.
Discussed“Sally Denton joins us to talk about her new book The profiteers”
Where to get it
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The Secret Life of the American Musical
The Secret Life of the American Musical by Jack Viertel is an exploration of how Broadway shows are constructed and how they resonate with audiences.
Discussed“Jack forell will tell us about The Secret Life of the American Musical and the show speaks to you in different ways depending on where you are on the spectrum of life”
Where to get it
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The Vegetarian
The Vegetarian by Han Kang is a haunting South Korean novel that explores a woman's sudden decision to stop eating meat, which triggers a devastating psychological and familial crisis.
Discussed“and uh a South Korean author uh Han Kang who I wrote about recently and who was reviewed in the book review for her novel The vegetarian it was her first um time being translated into English”
Where to get it
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Death by Water
Discussed“kenor o for uh death by water which is his 16th book translated into English”
Where to get it
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A Cup of Rage
Discussed“apparently there's a Brazilian author who I had never heard of reduan Nassar this is um The Guardian called it an explosively erotic 47 page story called a cup of Rage was nominated so as you can see”
Where to get it
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A few of the girls
Discussed“but there are a couple of new titles over in fiction including um a Story collection by Ma bie who died back in 2012 um but this book a few of the girls collects all of her stories um going back to the the very beginning of her career and that is new at number 12 called a few of”
Where to get it
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The Gangster
Discussed“and then um up at number one uh new book at the top of the list Clive kusler and Justin Scott continue their historical series about the New York detective Isaac bell with a book called The Gangster that's the ninth book in this series and it's new at number one”
Where to get it
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All the single ladies
All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation is a groundbreaking work of journalism and sociology by Rebecca Traister that examines the historical and cultural shift of women choosing to remain single and independent.
Discussed“starting down at number 15 uh the journalist Rebecca trer has written kind of a a work of sociology and journalism called All the Single Ladies um which looks at the history of kind of young Womanhood and marriage among women or lack thereof well exactly the thesis here is that women are waiting much longer to get married if”
Where to get it
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The legends club
Discussed“then at number 14 a sports book by uh John Feinstein who writes a lot about college basketball has another college basketball book called The Legends Club it looks at um three college basketball coaches uh who are legends as you'd guess from the title uh Dean Smith from the University of North Carolina uh his big rival Mike Shashi”
Where to get it
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The immortal Irishman
Discussed“then up at number 12 the New York Times journalist Timothy Ean has a history called The Immortal Irishman it's a look at um Thomas Francis Maher who was an Irish revolutionary who came to America and ended up becoming a general in the Civil War leading the Irish Brigade in the Civil War”
Where to get it
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American girls
American girls by Nancy Jo Sales is a gripping and unsettling investigation into modern girlhood and how digital technology and social media have reshaped the developmental landscape for young people.
Discussed“then at number seven we have Nancy Joe sales looking at American Girls uh girlhood in America in the Modern Age especially uh in light of social media and how that has changed um friendships and uh just the cultural environment for uh girls in America today”
Where to get it
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Evicted
Evicted by Matthew Desmond is a rigorous sociological study that follows low-income families and their landlords in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, shedding light on the devastating systemic cycle of poverty and housing instability in American cities.
Discussed“then at number six Matthew Desmond who uh is a sociologist at Harvard but has also written a couple of real works of Journalism uh has another one called evicted it's um this immersive look at the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee and at the crisis of eviction the the housing crisis in general uh among the poorest of the poor”
Where to get it
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Seven Brief Lessons on Physics 8-Copy Counter Display
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics is an engaging introduction to modern theoretical physics by Italian physicist Carlo Rovelli, originally written as newspaper essays.
Discussed“the name of the book is seven brief lessons on physics it's by an Italian theoretical physicist named Carlo relli um these are just what they what it says it's seven lessons on Modern physics originally written as essays for an Italian newspaper and then adapted for this book and he kind of covers the whole field and it came”
Where to get it
