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The Kingdom of Speech by Tom Wolfe (Little, Brown)
If you thought every question pertaining to evolution has been solved, think again: More than 50 years after he first started turning conventional wisdom on its head, Wolfe explains in his typically high-energy prose howthe development of speech is still an area in which science has far more questions than answers. Along the way Wolfe explores heady concepts of what it means to be human.
A Torch Kept Lit: Great Lives of the Twentieth Century by William F. Buckley Jr. (Crown Forum)
Journalist James Rosen, remembering that the hyperkinetic magazine editor, who died in 2008, did someof his best work when remembering fallen friends, enemies and newsmakers, painstakingly combed through Buckley’s enormous output to assemble this engaging and enlightening collection of obituaries, acclaimed by noless an authority than Buckley’s only child, Christopher, as perhaps his father’s finest volume ever.
*Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance (Harper)
A graduate of Yale Law School and a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who grew up under hair-raising circumstances of social dysfunction (not just poverty) on the edge of Appalachia in Kentucky and Ohio, Vance proves the perfect messenger from a world most of us can scarcely imagine. As it became clear that Vance’s proud people — working-class whites who feel they’ve been left behind by globalization — were Donald Trump’s strongest supporters, the book took on an extra layer of importance in a year of political upheaval. *Also chosen by Maureen Callahan
The Iran Wars: Spy Games, Bank Battles, and the Secret Deals That Reshaped the Middle East by Jay Solomon (Random House) The Wall Street Journal’s indefatigable foreign-policy reporter takes you behind the scenes to explore the secret communications and back-door maneuverings that yielded John Kerry and President Obama’s shocking deal to end sanctions on Iran, which got the green light to restart its nuclear programs in only 10 years. What did the US get out of the deal? Read the book and you’ll be even more disturbed by the answer.
Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion by Paul Bloom (Ecco)
Everyone knows that empathy is the key to being a decent human being, right? Bloom, a Yale psychologist, explains how that notion is not only misguided but dangerous.
The Intimidation Game: Howthe Left Is Silencing Free Speech by Kimberly Strassel (Twelve)
Weshould never forget how an arm of the US government — the IRS — systematically harassed and intimidated conservatives in the Obama years. But Strassel’s brilliantly argued, thoroughly researched book documents howmuch worse it is, reviewing the many instances of ruthlessness in the government blob whenit comes to shutting up viewpoints it doesn’t like.
Disrupted: My Misadventures in the Start-Up Bubble by Dan Lyons (Hachette)
Lyons, a middle-aged journalist hired by the Boston startup Hub Spot, found himself in a hilarious yet alarming newworld equal parts kindergarten and “Logan’s Run.” Cosseted with toys, games and snacks, smiling, naive young people are nevertheless crushed into dust by the ever-churning corporate wheels in an industry where everyone is expendable on the way to an IPO.