1.
The Transcendentalists and Their World, by Robert A. Gross
This book on the rise of transcendentalism takes readers back to Concord, Massachusetts, 45 years after the publication of the author’s Revolutionary-era The Minutemen and Their World. Read Cullen Murphy’s review of the book, which revolves around Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott, and the other thinkers who called this New England town home in the early- to mid-19th century, here.
2.
Harlem Shuffle, by Colson Whitehead
Coming on the heels of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, the author’s latest transports readers to mid-20th-century Harlem, taking place across three novella-length stories set in 1959, 1961, and 1964. Read Charles Finch’s review of the superb novel—and a look at how the author got to where he is—here.
