The Discovery of Slowness, Sten Nadolny (Elizabeth...

The Discovery of Slowness, Sten Nadolny (Elizabeth Sifton/Viking). “The German writer seeks a talisman against the desperation of modern life. His image of this desperation is speed; his remedy is slowness . . . . A beguiling philosophical tale” (Richard Eder).

Under a Sickle Moon: A Journey Through Afghanistan, Peregrine Hodson (Atlantic Monthly). The author “allows us to see the simple, fierce and enduring faith that sustains the mujahedin in their suffering and their struggle” (Jonathan Kirsch).

Covert Action: The Limits of Intervention in the Postwar World, Gregory F. Treverton (Basic Books), shows that covert action is not “a romantic ‘magic button’ that does away with the need for sound military and diplomatic strategies . . . brilliant analysis” (David Aaron).

Agents of Innocence: A Spy Story, David Ignatius (Norton). This “fast-paced spy story set in Beirut . . . (is) historically accurate and fictionally engrossing” (David Lamb).