Archive
The complete Open Letters Monthly Archive.
What really happened that night in Benghazi on September 11, 2012, when four US citizens lost their lives when a large group of gunmen attacked the US compound? What were the forces that set the tragedy in motion, and could it have been prevented? A new book asks the hard questions
Read MoreThe events of September 11, 2012 at the American compound in Benghazi have proven extremely politically divisive, but Mitchell Zuckoff's new book strives to stay focused on the men doing the fighting and dying
Read MoreWhen a headstrong young woman jumps in a coach in order flee Mr. Wrong, she never guesses she's got a passenger in the back who might just be Mr. Right.
Read MoreWhat does a headstrong gambler do when she makes an all-or-nothing bet with an imperious lord - and loses?
Read MoreKing Henry VII's victory at Bosworth transferred the crown of England to the new Tudor dynasty - but it also left many Plantagenets hanging around making Henry VII anxious. His son Henry VIII shared that anxiety, and his gradually-increasing persecution of the last remaining Plantagenets is the heart of Philippa Gregory's new novel.
Read MoreHistorian S. C. Gwynne has written an immense - and immensely readable - biography of one of the most enduringly enigmatic figures of the American Civil War, Stonewall Jackson
Read MoreWe all know the names of Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams, but a terrifically engaging new book reminds us that the American Revolution's supporting cast was no less fascinating
Read MoreSpurred by a chance encounter with a wounded bird, Michele Raffin steadily grew her hobby into one of the world's most successful sanctuaries for rare and threatened birds in need of rehabilitation.
Read MoreKen Follett's enormous "Century Trilogy" comes to its conclusion against the backdrop of the Cold War, the civil rights struggle, and all the other trials of the 20th century
Read MoreThe First World War provided the dark inspiration for an entire generation of great writing, and a big new anthology assembles a stunning variety of that work, from the familiar to the obscure
Read MoreA compendium of uplifting stories of ordinary people making extraordinary efforts to find ways to help the poor and disadvantaged of the world
Read MoreA mild-mannered engineer goes out walking in Arizona and suddenly finds himself transported to a strange and violent alien world in M. C. Planck's fantastic latest novel
Read MoreA tightly-controlled kaleidoscopic debut novel from the lyricist for the Mountain Goats
Read More"It's not your fault." "What's not my fault?" "Nothing. Everything. I don't know."
Read MoreIn the face of a black wall of facts about environmental degradation and mass extinction, a scientist and teacher offers a much-needed note of hope
Read MoreIn the wake of Alexander the Great's death, many voracious sub-kingdoms sprang up along the routes of his famous conquests. One of these would go on to become the Seleucid Empire, and a new book details its first century of existence
Read MoreWe think of the Middle East as a place of hopeless deadlocks - but once upon a time, an Egyptian president, an Israeli prime minister, and a U.S. president worked for two weeks to hammer out a plan for peace. Lawrence Wright takes readers to Camp David at a turning point in history.
Read MoreCan Joseph Boyden’s The Orenda heal Canada’s colonial relationship with its First Nations? Why should we expect literature to succeed where our leaders have failed?
Read MoreA disaffected British colonial officer with a yearning for heroism is relegated to a doomed imperial outpost where he meets a native boy with a yearning for heroes - and from this unlikely pairing, Nick Harkaway's Tigerman weaves its fantastic, moving story.
Read MoreEngland had been at war with France almost continuously since the Norman Conquest, but in the Hundred Years War, the conflict became especially heightened - and transformative. A new history tells the story as a rattling good yarn.
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