NEW RELEASES

“American Inheritance: Liberty and Slavery in the Birth of a Nation, 1765-1795,” by Edward J. Larson. (Norton, 384 pages, $17.99.) This New York Times Editors’ Choice pick evaluates the relationship between the American Revolution’s call for “liberty” and the institution of slavery, showing that slavery and racism were “economic, political and cultural constructs that served the purposes of the powerful,” the Times’ reviewer wrote. “And because of this, they stood for centuries.”

“Pineapple Street,” by Jenny Jackson. (Penguin, 320 pages, $18.) This novel, which the Times’ reviewer called “an unabashedly old-fashioned story involving wills, trust funds, prenups and property,” centers three women — the eldest daughter, the family baby and the middle-class sister-in-law — as they navigate the shifting dynamics of a wealthy New York family.

“The World and All That It Holds,” by Aleksandar Hemon. (Picador, 352 pages, $19.) “Maybe all this insanity will produce a better world, where everyone could love whoever they want,” a doctor tells two men, one Sephardi and one Bosnian, World War I soldiers and lovers desperate to stay alive together in Hemon’s novel of passion and care amid violence and displacement. “Stranger things have happened.”

“Third Girl From the Left: A Memoir, by Christine Barker.” (Delphinium, 352 pages, $18.) Before Christine Barker was a successful dancer on Broadway, she was a little sister. Her poignant memoir depicts the vibrant New York life she shared with her older brother Laughlin and his partner, designer Perry Ellis, as well as its collapse during the devastation and secrecy of the AIDS epidemic.