Software engineer and product manager Wilensky surveys fundamental aspects of modern society that he feels are desperately in need of a rethink. Chief among them he asserts is an educational system that teaches children nothing but conformism and soon-to-be-forgotten factoids; instead he argues instructors should stimulate kids’ curiosity and creativity teach them critical thinking skills and raise them to be “thinking machines” who “reason reflexively.” Wilensky also condemns religious belief as the fountainhead of irrationality intolerance conflict and so much “false and often foul doctrine” that “religious inculcation…of young children is equivalent to child abuse.” To counter such conformism he recommends “changing the environment” so that everything children are exposed to “reflects in some way a worldview embracing science and reason while at the same time rejecting religion and belief in the supernatural.” The author also takes issue with one-person-one-vote democracy which he says yields a “mediocracy” in which ignorant people are manipulated into electing corrupt hacks. Wilensky presents his opinions in lucid plainspoken but high-minded prose: “It may sound obvious but we need to make a conscious effort at every turn of our lives to be more virtuous compassionate human beings.” He offers some engaging explanations of complex concepts such as the Darwinian evolution of human moral intuition and the falseness of unfalsifiable arguments and he explores some imaginative potential reforms such as teaching all kids chess and debate skills to sharpen their wits. Sometimes though Wilensky’s drive to optimize society launches into dystopian notions that many readers will perceive as incompatible with freedom such as a requirement to obtain a parenting license to have children and an elitist electoral system in which a so-called superb class of voters who score high on critical-thinking tests have votes that count more than those of people the author calls “subpar.” Such ideas are likely to strike readers as alienating and even frightening.

Between the late 19th and early 20th centuries writes Wood historian of American architecture and urbanism New York City “grew into one of the world’s largest most important and dynamic cities.” Roughly 1 million buildings—an astonishing number—went up in the city during that period. In his deeply informed and informative account Wood describes how population growth and a robust economy gave rise to a large and sophisticated construction industry. He deftly describes the numerous and complex arrangements that provided much-needed office buildings homes factories railway stations bridges streets and subway lines. We read often in detail about large construction firms building trade associations the mechanics of tunnel construction labor unions architectural offices and wrecking companies. Wood introduces us to government workers and officials such as Thomas F. Gilroy (head of the city’s Department of Public Works in the 1890s) and labor organizers such as Morris Rosen. After the city consolidated in 1898 Wood extends his gaze beyond Manhattan’s skyscrapers to the lower-density outer boroughs. Throughout he attends to the many conflicts between business and labor over the length of the workday safety and wages; contractor competition for private commissions and lobbying for public works projects; and city government efforts to manage the corruption labor unrest noise and disruption and the regulatory demands of building activity. For those fascinated by urban development (particularly construction and particularly in New York City) reading this substantial history is time well spent. What primarily matters to Wood however are facts. Consequently he refrains from any attempt at a more general understanding of building construction. In the last chapter after a brief summary the story simply ends.

This novel take place in the aftermath of a high-profile trial as 72-year-old retired teacher Helen Ryder (known to the other jurors as “Schoolmarm”) and other jurors reconnect after a series of suspicious deaths among their peers. Two months before they voted to convict basketball player Roger “Buck” Dempsey for the murder of his wife and now it appears that someone is exacting revenge. Helen hardware store owner Harold Ashman (nicknamed “Shoe”) actor and science fiction writer Alex Manning (known as “Reporter”) and the lively exotic dancer Mindy Laine (aka “CeeCee”) investigate which leads them into a web of deceit and danger. The novel does a great job of blending suspense with character-driven drama as each juror brings their own personalities and emotion baggage to the proceedings. As they try to make sense of the unexplained deaths difficulties arise—not just in the investigation but also in their personal lives; for example Helen’s family is threatening to place her in an elderly care home. Damon who also writes bestselling novels as Margaret Brownley manages to balance an entertaining whodunit with insights into the diverse worlds of the jurors whose lives have been drastically changed by their shared experience. The pacing is tight with each chapter revealing just enough to keep readers hooked. The dialogue especially between Harold and Helen (“Helen shot a daggered look in Harold’s direction. ‘You actually listened to something I said? That’s a first’”) adds lighter moments to an otherwise tense narrative. Overall this twisty novel offers a unique mix of courtroom drama and post-trial mystery while its subtle romance elements make it feel well-rounded.

Following on Moses Man of the Mountain (1939) Hurston spent years studying the life of Herod the Great the famed Jewish leader. Her editor rejected the resulting book which wound up in a trunk and then following her death in flames—the trunk burned by a crew hired to clear out her house—and miraculously rescued by a passing sheriff’s deputy who knew she was a writer. Hurston had two apparent purposes: She wished to chronicle “the 3000 years struggle of the Jewish people for democracy and the rights of man” and she saw in Herod’s alliance with Rome a metaphor for the Cold War struggle between Russia and the United States. While many ancient sources portray Herod as a tyrant anticipating the fiercer denunciation of his son as the scourge of both Jesus Christ and John the Baptist Hurston builds on other accounts; in particular she rejects the charge that a monstrous Herod ordered “the massacre of the innocents” instead insisting that “he was beloved by the nation.” The Herod of her story is a smolderingly handsome man suitable for a romance novel which earns him the attention of a lustful and decidedly bad Mariamne who repaid his blandishments by plotting his death bringing it instead on herself: “Mariamne was dead. Dead. Never to burn away annoyances with her hot soft body.” Hurston sometimes writes with a kind of high-gothic-romance seriousness (“My own father is at fault for beseeching Caesar to reinstate this treacherous Hyrcanus in the priesthood”) mixing in charming if perhaps not quite appropriate Southernisms (“Cleopatra knew more ways to kill a cat besides choking it to death on butter”). Altogether the manuscript while an interesting historical document lacks the polish of Hurston’s classic books such as Dust Tracks on a Road and Their Eyes Were Watching God.

In these pages anecdotes from the author’s life career and participation in sports exemplify his teachings which extol the virtues of integrity timeliness humility discipline a positive attitude and continual improvement (Rogers focuses on Thursdays because he emailed his first motivational message to coaching clients on that day in 2019). The author cites his father and his high school football coach as his greatest mentors but he also highlights other people as examples of excellence like his popular barber—Rogers notes his barber’s success isn’t due to his haircutting savvy but to his personality. The author also praises various businesses like the Markel Group a company that emphasizes honesty fairness and even humor in their work style. Among Rogers’ original concepts is “Treadmill Accountability” which takes the idea that treadmills don’t lie and uses it as a metaphor for brutal honesty with oneself in the personal and professional spheres. The aphorism “God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason” inspires the author’s command to “Respect the Ratio” meaning leaders should listen more than they talk. Rogers cautions against “The Waiting Place” a state characterized by hesitation and procrastination in which progress dies. He concludes with a reminder that there’s “no finish line” to self-improvement. (As an extra motivational push Rogers signs off each message with “Average sits on the bench.”) The book’s short chapters and weekly reading structure will make it easy for leaders to stay inspired. Rogers also infuses his advice with humor: One of his team’s “three simple rules” is “Do not be f****** late.” The author unabashedly encourages black-and-white thinking and some observations (“We all know the professionals execute the boring while the amateurs lie to themselves”) lack nuance. The sports metaphors may seem excessive and unrelatable to those uninterested in professional athletics.

Despite the small number of suspects there are lots of mysteries surrounding the death of Herbert Endicott. To begin with is he really dead? His young wife calls the police when she becomes alarmed that he hasn’t returned from an errand after two hours. But when Lt. Valcour finds the missing man’s body hunched in the bottom of a cupboard he’s so insistent that it remain undisturbed until Endicott is officially pronounced dead that he fails to notice—and keeps anyone else from noticing—that Endicott is still alive. Valcour’s plan to have family physician Sanford Worth keep Mrs. Endicott under sedation while Nurse Vickers or Nurse Murrow remains with Endicott until he comes around goes predictably awry leaving Endicott really dead—no doubt about it this time—just as Thomas Hollander the alleged best friend Valcour summoned so that Endicott could awaken to a friendly face tries to stab him in the chest. Hollander is shot in the act by someone just outside the window but who would be lurking there in the hours after midnight? If Endicott was being blackmailed as the note his wife found reading “BY THURSDAY OR—” would seem to suggest wouldn’t his blackmailer have a stronger incentive to keep him alive than to kill such a promising cash cow? And why is Mrs. Endicott so unconcerned about Marge Myles her husband’s lover that she keeps Marge’s name in her address book?

August awakens to the smell of delicious beef patties wafting in from the kitchen where Daddy’s cooking. August sister June and their parents are initially able to support themselves with the money they make selling Daddy’s tremendously popular patties but as August’s classmates and their families start to leave the island for “far-off places like New York City London Miami and Toronto” the business struggles. August’s family decides to leave too. Their lives change dramatically—now they must don cumbersome winter coats and Daddy takes a bustling subway and two buses to his factory job leaving him little time for cooking. Young August decides to try whipping up some patties; unfortunately the child endures a painful burn in the process. But soon after Daddy’s motivated to get back into the patty business and the family adapts preparing vegetarian halal and gluten-free options for members of their new community. Hohn has crafted a relatable tale of characters whose love of food keeps them anchored even after they leave home brought to life by Robinson’s warm earth-toned illustrations. An especially memorable scene sees August’s classmates at a sort of crossroad of global migration boarding a stairway set against a globe as an airplane soars in the background. Backmatter discusses the enduring global significance of Jamaican beef patties.

DI Joanna Piercy is thrilled that her longtime friend DS Mike Korpanski is returning to work in Staffordshire a year after having been badly injured. On the same day an elderly man named Joseph Holden opens his door to a stranger with a gun and struggles to understand whether the man wants the valuable objects Joseph’s acquired in his travels or revenge for some past misdeed. Joseph’s neighbor Doreen Caputo who checks on him every day while walking her dog goes to the police after several odd interactions make her fear that something’s wrong. The two police officers she talks with check out her tip duly noting the rental car parked near Joseph’s home. Meantime Joseph is mostly kept tied to a chair while he considers his sins. When his cleaner Clarice who’s Somali arrives he has to wonder if she’s involved. After talking to the officers who checked up on Joseph Joanna has a niggling feeling and she and Mike decide to look in on him themselves. A call from headquarters alerts them to the fact that a caller has claimed to be holding Joseph and Clarice and demanded to talk to Joanna. Although Joanna recently completed a course on hostage negotiations she feels ill-equipped to deal with the situation but she has no choice. While the police search for clues in Joseph’s past that might explain why someone would hold him hostage Joanna continues talking in hopes of resolving the dangerous situation.

The author offers a unique perspective on personal and professional growth. His simple framework asserts that “Change happens. You grow. Then you win”; he blends social science with storytelling to reinforce these theories and offers examples from the careers of leaders such as IBM CEO Ginni Rometty and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Tasler observes that people who’ve reached a certain level of success find themselves at a crossroads: They either cling too closely to their survival instincts and avoid change or they embrace a growth mindset and evolve. He explains how one can leverage the “spring fever effect” in which the anticipation of a win triggers a greater dopamine release than the win itself and explores the “power of a nudge” such as a mentor’s encouragement to push one toward new opportunities. The book urges readers to shift from “fragile optimism” (a belief in one specific positive outcome) to “agile optimism” (a belief that one will gain insights leading to any number of desirable outcomes). It also intriguingly questions the role of resilience noting that “bouncing back to our original form isn’t the optimal response to change.” His “push-and-love approach” encourages leaders to challenge their team members while also reassuring them that they’re capable of more. Similarly in times of change rather than infuse subordinates with fear (via “jump-or-fry ultimatums”) leaders can inspire creativity through “dream-and-fly suggestions.” Some readers may find the “Change→Grow→Win” scenario to be overly optimistic as it assumes people immediately have enough agency to instigate change and will ultimately come out on top. Still throughout this book Tasler offers creative conceptualizations of self-improvement such as contrasting “chameleon resilience” (a survival instinct in which someone returns to the status quo after change) versus transformative “caterpillar resilience.” Overall his advice is simple and practical and he offers several insightful exercises such as considering one’s current situation from a future perspective or writing about oneself in the third person to alter common self-perceptions.

Rowan James and her sisters born with magical gifts live in Caball Hollow West Virginia where the townspeople treat them with a mixture of awe and suspicion. Rowan has a special ability to smell lies so she becomes confused when she can’t detect dishonesty where she expects to find it. This discovery leads her to realize that people in town are losing not only personal belongings but also their memories. While staying in a remote cabin and volunteering with the Forest Service at a fire lookout tower Rowan is stunned when Hadrian Fitch the farmhand who worked for her family and vanished weeks earlier reappears on her doorstep unconscious and bleeding. As more strange occurrences unfold—including a death tied to the mysterious events sweeping through town—Rowan finds herself at the heart of an escalating mystery. Her investigation grows increasingly dangerous as startling secrets come to light and she must determine who in Caball Hollow can be trusted: Hadrian a group of paranormal YouTubers or even her own family members. This gothic Appalachian mystery works as a stand-alone but weaves together complex characters and storylines from 2023’s Bittersweet in the Hollow. The plot is intricately crafted with key information held back until the novel’s explosive conclusion. The pacing is steady yet filled with tension ensuring that each revelation lands with an impact. The main characters are cued white.

Today will be Rosa’s first time performing onstage with the group and she’s nervous. But Mamiachi as she sometimes calls her mother gives her a pep talk about bravery and strength and reminds her of her namesake Rosa Quirino one of the first female mariachis. Donning matching pink trajes de charro the musicians hit the stage. Rosa wonders if she’s really ready—will the audience like her? With Mami and the rest of the band made up of a trio of loving madrinas (who vary in ethnicity) Rosa summons her courage and lets the music flow out for an emotional first performance. When the music ends the audience enthusiastically applauds and Rosa knows that she’s a true mariachi. Vibrant illustrations echo the lively mariachi tunes; the color pink which figures prominently pops against the darker backgrounds. The authors artfully convey Rosa’s journey from uncertainty (“My knees are knocking weak and wobbly”) to triumph: “I feel like I am soaring through the melody painting a picture with my hands and using my voice to tell our story.” Backmatter includes mini biographies of three influential female figures in mariachi and provides information on the formal suits that mariachi wear.

In spring when frost thaws and rain arrives amphibians such as spring peepers and salamanders begin their journey from woods to the vernal pools where they’ll spawn. That perilous journey involves crossing roads as vehicles whoosh past. Enter the Amphibian Migration Team—volunteers who stand at these crossings at night to monitor traffic and help “our tiny friends” to safely cross “a wet road on a wet night in spring.” As citizen scientists the volunteers also count survivors and casualties. Percival chronicles this process in unadorned prose through the eyes of one multiracial family who not only volunteer but also advocate for the creation of a wildlife tunnel to allow the creatures safe passage beneath the road. The Black-presenting child who narrates emerges as a hero asking questions packed with answers. “Do they hear the other frogs singing and think Tonight is the night! It’s time to go down to the pool to lay our jelly eggs safely in the water!” The explanatory part of the story—the making of a toad tunnel from design to budget to town council approval—offers readers a road map. At times the narration slips into more telling than showing but the illustrations rendered digitally but in the style of woodcut prints are spectacular. Spreads saturated with nighttime purples browns and yellows riven with beams from headlamps fill the page while charming illustrated bubbles pop up alongside the child’s head.

Tan returns to her Celestial Kingdom in this standalone romantic fantasy. The Lord of Tianxia serves the immortal Queen Caihong of the Golden Desert faithfully until he is forced to choose between her and Liyen his granddaughter and heir. Liyen has been poisoned by the waters of death in the Wangchuan River in the Netherworld and can only be healed by the Divine Pearl Lotus which her grandfather refuses to hand over to the queen though she’s demanded it. When his heart gives way soon after Liyen blames the immortals even though they’re not directly responsible for her grandfather’s death. She vows that under her rule Tianxia will be liberated from service to the immortals. Complicating matters Liyen is attacked by Winged Devils monstrous allies of the Wuxin who were banished to the Netherworld following an attack on Tianxia and she needs help from the God of War to figure out why. Although there is romantic tension between the two of them it is so gradual that the romance is the least interesting part of this ambitious saga. Tan’s worldbuilding skills are impressive and her vivid descriptions of magic and mythology move this doorstop epic through a rich well-established backstory. Liyen struggles to navigate the heavens and Earth without quite understanding the forces manipulating her life which isn’t to say that she lacks agency just context. Her struggle pays off in the third act but at times the journey is slow and the romance gets lost in the slog.

Suraya Saab’s dealings with royalty usually come in the form of commissions to make weapons imbued with some of the world’s last remaining slivers of magic. Now however a glittering envelope arrives with a different request: King Zarek wants her to travel to the capital city of Kaldari to meet the crown prince along with many other women. In public the palace has positioned this event as a grand search for Prince Javed’s bride. In reality the royal family is looking for a woman integral to an ancient prophecy who’s rumored to hold the power of the stars. There are two distinct parts to this romance inspired by Persian and Indian mythology. First is the fish-out-of-water depiction of Suraya navigating the capital and royal court which her forge and her background as a tradeswoman hardly prepared her for. Joining the throngs of other women competing for Prince Javed’s hand Suraya finds that it isn’t the crown prince who captures her attention but his illegitimate half brother Roshan. When the event is interrupted by a rebel militia and Prince Javed tips his hand about his true intentions Suraya and Roshan plot an escape—and with no one to rely on but each other something else begins to take root in their unlikely partnership. The romance starts strong with Suraya questioning whether Roshan is someone she can trust but fizzles out once they both confess their feelings. Howard also uses some language that feels out of place in her fantastical setting such as when Suraya talks about “book boyfriends” with her friend Laleh: “Fictional men never disappoint.” Overall though a lovely blend of worldbuilding intrigue and action keeps the momentum going.

“What does it take to make life…delicious?” The rich umami flavors of soy sauce of course! In effervescent verse three East Asian–presenting children share different ways of making the delectable condiment. Luan pops open soybeans to make a traditional Chinese soy sauce. Haru combines soy with toasty wheat for a Japanese variety. For spicy and sweet Korean flavors Yoo-mi “mixes in jujubes and chilis.” Lee’s lively watercolor illustrations of the children gleefully celebrating each stage of the long process pair beautifully with the upbeat text for an informative engaging story. Skillfully weaving together three different styles of making soy sauce the author highlights the power of the ingredient to unite people and cultures. Mouthwatering depictions of Chinese Japanese and Korean dishes showcase the sauce’s contributions to Asian cuisine. Some of the rhymes are a bit tenuous but the infectious enthusiasm that permeates the pages makes for a fun read-aloud. Some of the text is rendered in glossy flowing soy sauce which along with the use of onomatopoeia adds a whimsical touch and a sensory dimension to the reading experience. The book concludes with a history of the condiment information on varieties from different East Asian and Southeast Asian countries and a visual glossary.

In her latest work of nonfiction the author a self-described brain coach primarily aims to help readers aged 40 to 60 craft their own personal AI (“autobiographical intelligence”) to stave off Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of mental deterioration associated with age. The key to her multistep approach is storytelling which she views as crucial to mental health; she even adapts the Cartesian motto “I think therefore I am” into “I narrate therefore I am.” She contends that one’s personal story is like a rope made of words—a braided “mindDNA” that determines how that person will age. “Mental health” she writes “is a flawed concept that should be replaced by story health.” Strupp proposes seven steps for improving such health: “Reclaim” “Reframe” (“By shaping the words you say to yourself about yourself…you can strengthen your mindDNA”) “Review” “Renew” (which addressees the physical replacement rate of the body’s cells) “Redirect” “Reset” (“the afternoon of life requires heroic action to strengthen the story rope”) and finally “Rejoice.” Each of these key elements can be strengthened she says by its own mental “tool” such as the “Inner Compass Tool” in the “Reclaim” chapter and she explains how to use each one. To illustrate the use of the tools in narrative terms Strupp uses a fictional character named Grace a recently laid-off 46-year-old single mother raising her 11-year-old daughter. The book includes numerous full-color illustrations by Myers to clarify its points.

The author makes the wise tactical decision to open her book on a personal note describing how during her own “afternoon of life”—when she seemed to have most of her lifetime goals—she still felt unfulfilled: “This acute painful feeling—what I call a soul-ache—pushed me to seek what mattered most in life” she writes. “I felt the need to make sense of my life: the good the bad and the ugly.” Cliches such as these appear throughout the book and some aspects of the work feel oversimplified—especially regarding the biological factors of degenerative conditions that can’t simply be avoided by maintaining an active mind. However the stories that she draws from her own experiences as a consultant as well as the generalized precepts she inserts into the tale of Grace and her own family paint an appealingly optimistic picture. The concept of “SuperAgers” who work hard to enable their brain to outlast their body underscores this combination of perfectibility and communal connection. The author notes for instance that counteracting the dopamine rush that accompanies over-indulgence involves a different more powerful brain chemical—oxytocin whose effect she says is strengthened by “activities people have been doing for millennia”: “dancing empathy eye contact giggling hugs play sex singing.” Many elements of Strupp’s upbeat book embrace the notion of holistic personal effectiveness urging people in their later years to look on the challenges of aging as potentially beatable.

Claudia loves everything about her new home a magical city created to safeguard unicorns. She and her pal Sara are excited to celebrate their BFF Pippa’s birthday. Pippa’s parents travel the globe looking for lost unicorns and Pippa barely sees them. When their plans to return home for her birthday fall through due to a snowstorm a disappointed Pippa cancels her party. But at her friends’ urging she agrees to accompany them to the amusement park. When the girls get stuck at the top of a flying Ferris wheel the Emergency Unicorns—Unicornia’s version of first responders—come to the rescue. Translated from Spanish the tale wraps up with an all-sweets picnic including a magical cake that gives eaters the ability to perform handstands somersaults and flying pirouettes. Unicornia isn’t all cotton candy and glittery drinks—vegetable soup appears once slurped down quickly to get to dessert—but magic-infused concoctions are the order of the day. Though Claudia expresses some uncertainty she narrates in a chipper tone; conflicts are easily resolved and frowns swiftly turn to smiles. The turquoise-tinged cartoon illustrations differentiate the girls by hairstyle and color; characters have skin the white of the page. If readers’ appetite for heart-shaped cupcakes and quadruple-chocolate cookies isn’t sated more sequels follow. The events of the first installment aren’t recapped so newcomers may want to start there.

Haslett’s third novel is partly narrated by Peter Fischer a New York City lawyer working for a nonprofit handling asylum cases. There and in the rest of his life he handles things with assurance but little joy—his lover Cliff has little more depth than a dating-app hookup and he avoids conversations with his snarky and unfiltered sister Liz. But he’s unsettled when he takes on the case of Vasel Marku a young gay Albanian man seeking asylum over fears he’ll face homophobic persecution. Peter’s narration of his unusually deep involvement in Vasel’s case is braided around third-person narration about his mother Ann who leads a women-focused spiritual retreat in Vermont with her partner Clare. Ann’s breakup with her husband (and Peter’s father) after falling for Clare disrupted her life and it’s clear that both mother and son have been swallowing a lot of unspoken hurt. The strength of Haslett’s storytelling is its deliberation slowly peeling back the veneers of Peter's and Ann’s professional accomplishments and cool public personas to reveal storms of guilt and fear. The two share complex queer sexual coming-of-age stories—Peter as a teenager falling for a handsome and emotionally distant classmate Ann as a middle-aged woman falling for a woman shipwrecking her marriage and career as a pastor. They share losses too—Peter’s father’s death from cancer and a withheld event that gives the novel its emotional payoff. It’s “practically mandatory” Clare observes for women to “hide in other people’s pain” just as men like Peter are asked to never feel it. And though the outlines of the novel suggest sentimental family-trauma fare Haslett’s sophisticated grasp of the ways that people over-police their feelings makes it a remarkably acute and effective character study.

In conservative West Germany courts in the 1950s and ’60s ruled that the commanders of the Wehrmacht and the Nazi regime’s judiciary had ruled fairly when sentencing deserters to be executed decreeing that “the Wehrmacht had not been any harsher in enforcing military law than had the Americans and British.” That’s not quite right notes historian Peifer: Whereas an estimated 15000 German soldiers were condemned to death for the crime the U.S. “executed precisely one soldier for desertion in World War II.” Peifer begins with a few extended anecdotes on individual German soldiers and what prompted them to desert even knowing the consequences: One officer who successfully fled to Switzerland enumerated several reasons from the mass killing of Jews to watching his unit be chewed to bits on the Russian front. He did not the author adds “list fear and exhaustion as reasons for his flight…but surely they played a role.” Others had perhaps less noble reasons simply preferring not to be killed; strangely as Peifer notes this proved a successful defense in at least a few cases albeit in one a soldier was sentenced instead to 15 years of hard labor enough to convince him to volunteer for frontline service again simply so he could get a bit of food and rest. “He barely survived the war” Peifer writes but at least the soldier lived. Interestingly the author observes the East German regime was somewhat more forgiving of desertion than was its western counterpart considering desertion an act of resistance. In all events and not at all surprisingly as Peifer records desertion rates climbed steadily as World War II went on and the morale of German soldiers and their auxiliaries declined.

The FBI German holds “refuses to prioritize investigations of violence by white supremacists.” Instead he adds the bureau focuses on less dangerous groups such as Black Lives Matter even though “far-right militants have committed over one hundred deadly acts just since the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville Virginia.” Notable among those acts was the storming of the Capitol about which just as with that rally the agency had plenty of advance intelligence but did not act on it German says—even as one Washington hotel sensing trouble chose to close its bar popular among Proud Boys and their ilk between Jan. 4 and 6. If a bar can do it why can’t the feds? German suggests that intelligence failures have a willful component: In the Trump era he holds “law enforcement bias became much more overt” and that bias was all too often tilted against minorities and inclined to overlook violence perpetrated by white supremacists and the far right; indeed German notes he left the agency after whistleblowing on the FBI’s post-9/11 focus on “perceived threats from Muslim Black Native American and immigrant activists environmentalists and progressive protest groups” instead of real threats from white supremacists. As a result German holds these groups have become emboldened. Serious systematic and institutional reforms are needed says German who now a policy fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice urges “It is time for the FBI to reverse its shift toward broad intelligence collection about innocent Americans and to refocus investigations where facts establish reasonable indications of violence and criminality.”