Scott Martelle journalist/author

Of Wael Ghonim's Revolution 2.0: The Power of the People Is Greater Than the People in Power: A Memoir

On Thanhha Lai and winning the National Book Award with her debut verse novel.

Of John M. Barry's Roger Williams and The Creation of The American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty

On Philip Taubman's The Partnership, about Cold Warriors working on a nuke-free world.

On the folks behind Goodreads.

For Sierra magazine, on an unusual alliance that is helping end coal-fired power in the Pacific Northwest.

Condoleezza Rice's No Higher Honor

OP-ED:

"Why We Quit Spending"

William Kennedy's Chango's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes

Richard White's Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America

Noir mystery writer James Sallis

On a law that denies justice to aggrieved families

Of James O'Shea's The Deal from Hell on the Zell takeover of Tribune

ANALYSIS:

On Obama nominee John E. Bryson

OP-ED:

"When fear trumps liberty"

On Area 51, and secrets in the desert

A book about lies, and their cultural corrosion

Michael Shermer, the nation's "skeptic laureate"

OP-ED:

On Detroit, and its evaporating population

I look at Stanley Meisler's look at the history of the Peace Corps

OP-ED

On nuclear energy, and asking the right questions

Jonathan Lethem

On Nicholas Delbanco's Lastingness

Paul David Pope's The Deeds of My Fathers

Simon Winchester's Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories

Author Bill Barich

Of Anne Trubek's tours of dead authors' homes

Mystery writer John Shannon

On John Dower's Cultures of War

On The Wave, about big waves and the people who love them

On Sara Gruen's Ape House

On Gustavo Dudamel gone digital

There's more to Gilroy than garlic

On singer-songwriter Peter Case

On Jon Clinch's Kings of the Earth

On anthropologist Jennifer Perry, and California's Channel Islands

A look at political polemics in hardcover

Of Scott Turow's Innocent for the Cleveland Plain-Dealer

Interview piece with Scott Turow

Op-Ed piece

On Ludlow, and the West Virginia mine tragedy (for the LA Times)

On Exene Cervenka for Orange Coast

On Mark Twain's image problem

On Terry Teachout and Pops, his new bio of Louis Armstrong.

A look in the LA Times at the launch of Sarah Palin's memoir.

On The Fourth Part of the World, a history of how America got it's name, in The Washington Post

On Barbara Demick's forthcoming Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

Short profile of critic Terry Teachout on his forthcoming bio of Louis Armstrong.

Kazuo Ishiguro's short story collection, Nocturnes.

On Dan Brown and The Da Vinci Code

"Harry Helling's Uncertain Voyage"

Profile of author Maile Meloy.

On AAA baseball in Fresno, the budget alternative to the bigs.

Pat Conroy's South of Broad, not up to his full narrative power.

Fun piece on a yacht club without a yacht, a dock or, nowadays, a clubhouse.

Of Nick Reding's Methland, exploring the devastating effects of meth on small-town America.

Another version of the Reding review, this in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

A road trip up the California coast -- from brewpub to brewpub.

Elizabeth Edwards' Resilience in the LA Times.

Of J. Robert Lennon's Castle in the LA Times.

Short interview/profile of Reza Aslan, author of No God But God and How To Win A Cosmic War.

On Barry Rillera, former Righteous Brothers guitar player who shared a secret with The Beatles.

Ifill and Asim books on Obama, race and politics.

On Detroit's Focus:HOPE

"It was cool outside. The rain had stopped, but the dampness seeped into our bones with the chill of death."

A piece on eco-friendly travel to San Diego.

Advancing the annual Hatch, N. Mex., chili festival.

An Hour Detroit piece on bipolar disorder and Heinz Prechter's suicide.

Rick Wartzman's book on the burning of The Grapes of Wrath.

Long-shot presidential contender Duncan Hunter.