The Ice, Stephen J. Pyne (University of...

The Ice, Stephen J. Pyne (University of Iowa). “The first work to attempt to find for Antarctica a place in the culture of the world . . . . A landmark of Antarctic literature” (Michael Parfit).

Reagan’s America: Innocents at Home, Garry Wills (Doubleday). “A fascinating biography whose impact is enhanced by techniques of psychological profile and social history . . . . Many of the side streets (Garry) Wills goes down are delightful for their unexpectedness, wry humor and special insight” (Al Delugach).

Populuxe: The Look and Life of America in the ‘50s and ‘60s, Thomas Hine (Knopf). This stimulating book “is a historical/psychological analysis that documents the evolution of the American Dream through the things we bought in that period to keep up with the Joneses” (Alan J. Adler).

Towards the Lost Domain: Letters From London 1905, Henri Alain-Fournier (Carcanet). With “freshness, delicacy, vigor and wit,” the young writer reflects on the English character, the paintings he saw in museums, his reading (and) his plans for the future” (Richard Eder).

Rainbow Drive, Roderick Thorp (Summit). This “engrossing” mystery novel investigates an unholy alliance between drugs and political power. “Major or minor, no character Thorp creates is anything but three-dimensional” (Don Campbell).