New nonfiction looks closely at U.S. workings

‘Americana: A 400-Year History of American Capitalism’ Bhu Srinivasan (Penguin Press, $30)

India-born media entrepreneur Srinivasan brings an exuberant lens to his panoramic story of American capitalism as a series of “Next Big Things.” Srinivasan depicts the Mayflower as a venture capital project in the first chapter, “Venture,” and progresses through four centuries in highly readable, thematic chapters. He

‘Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A.’ Danielle Allen (Liveright, $24.95)

“Cuz” will break your heart. A tragic and true tale, it’s a powerful indictment of the mass incarceration of black boys and men, and a call for justice, reform and humanity. At 16, Allen’s bright, winsome cousin Michael, who lived in South L.A., was convicted of a felony and sent to adult prison. He served 11 years and was murdered a few years after his release. As “cousin on duty,” Allen, a Harvard professor, was a formidable ally, but against toxic social forces and a flawed criminal justice system, even she was no match.

‘Ranger Games: A Story of Soldiers, Family and an Inexplicable Crime’ Ben Blum (Doubleday, $28.95)

Alex joined three other soldiers, donned ski masks and robbed a bank in Tacoma, Wash. Why? Was his cousin brainwashed, under the control of a high-ranking Ranger, or was he so detached from reality after training that he thought that the robbery was a training exercise? Blum elevates this truecrime saga, discussing masculine madness and the war on terror.

‘Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change’ Ellen Pao (Spiegel & Grau, $28)

She may have lost her gender discrimination case against Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the high-powered venture capital firm that employed her, but Pao shook up Silicon Valley. With an engineering degree from Princeton and business and law degress from Harvard, Pao, who believed in meritocracy, writes about being degraded and harassed at work, and then marginalized for being a whistleblower. In this bracing memoir, Pao, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, details her mistreatment and how she teamed with several other female tech leaders to found Project Include, a nonprofit, to track diversity results and hold companies and executives accountable.