Lincoln, JFK, and an Adams: October books go patriotic
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Nineteenth-century writer and educator Amos Bronson Alcott declared, “That is a good book which is opened with expectation and closed with profit.”
He might have been describing our reviewers’ choices for the 10 best books of October.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onOur 10 picks for this month include books about U.S. presidents shaped by conflicts, a Mexican American community disrupted by deportation, a soldier’s atonement for wartime deeds, and a neighborhood changed by one man’s decency.
This month’s novels grapple with issues such as culpability, trauma, and a lack of recognition.
From a British soldier lamenting his role in Ireland’s Troubles to a woman discovering her mother’s wartime heroism, the books speak of compassion, understanding, and transformation.
The nonfiction titles cover a swath of topics.
They range from a history of North America that centers on the experience of Indigenous people to a deep dive into the Cuban missile crisis. And a war correspondent sheds an unusual light on the strategies and tactics behind 1960s civil rights protests in the United States.
A desire to do the right thing motivates the individuals featured in our selections this month. In novels and biographies, each person is depicted in the process of growth and change, moving toward understanding.
1. Dinosaurs, by Lydia Millet
Lydia Millet delivers a beautifully written account of a brokenhearted Manhattanite who seeks a fresh life in Arizona ... by walking there. With spot-on dialogue and observations both pointed and forgiving, the novel reveals the influence of one man’s decency.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onOur 10 picks for this month include books about U.S. presidents shaped by conflicts, a Mexican American community disrupted by deportation, a soldier’s atonement for wartime deeds, and a neighborhood changed by one man’s decency.
2. The Consequences, by Manuel Muñoz
In the opening story of Manuel Muñoz’s latest collection, a character recalls “that strangers only introduced themselves when they needed something.” The needs here are great: Characters old and young, legal and unauthorized, gay and straight long for work, community, independence. Set in the small farming towns of California and Texas, the stories evoke the uneasy “in-betweenness” of lives that cross borders.
3, The Slowworm’s Song, by Andrew Miller
When British ex-soldier Stephen Rose is summoned to testify about a traumatic incident that happened during the Troubles in Belfast, Ireland, 30 years ago, his world is shaken. Worried his testimony might jeopardize his recently renewed relationship with his daughter, Maggie, Stephen composes an exquisitely moving epistle to her about his life and his hopes for atonement.
4. Swann’s War, by Michael Oren
In 1944 on an island off Massachusetts, the police chief goes off to war, leaving his wife to keep order. When the body of an Italian from the nearby prisoner-of-war camp is found, she must battle rising threats and skepticism about her abilities. The novel is an engaging look into a lesser-known history about Italian Americans’ wartime plight.
5. Eyes Turned Skyward, by Alena Dillon
Alena Dillon honors the trailblazing Women Airforce Service Pilots in this dual-timeline novel. When empty-nester Kathy finds her mother’s invitation to a Medal of Honor ceremony in the mail, her mother’s heroic secret life comes to light.
6. Indigenous Continent, by Pekka Hämäläinen
This powerful, revelatory history of North America centers the narrative on Native peoples rather than on European colonizers. Instead of “Colonial America,” Oxford University’s Pekka Hämäläinen presents an “Indigenous America,” demonstrating the fundamental influence of Native resilience and resistance on U.S. history.
7. The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams, by Stacy Schiff
The inimitable Stacy Schiff, author of utterly captivating books on, among other things, Cleopatra and the Salem witch trials, returns with a biography of one of the most pivotal and oddly neglected of all the U.S. Founding Fathers: Samuel Adams, cousin to the more famous politician (and second president) John. Schiff’s book finds the real man behind the Revolutionary mythos.
8. The Abyss, by Max Hastings
Max Hastings brings his signature style – a mixture of the grand (sweeping insights into great events) and the granular (carefully sifted details from diaries and letters of ordinary people) – to the much-studied subject of the Cuban missile crisis. The result is a book to match the best things ever written on the subject in terms of immediacy and drama.
9. And There Was Light, by Jon Meacham
The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian’s majestic biography presents Abraham Lincoln as an imperfect man with a strong moral core. Growing and evolving as he struggled to lead the country through calamitous times, the 16th president has ample wisdom for our age.
10. Waging a Good War, by Thomas E. Ricks
Civil rights leaders in the United States waged nonviolent campaigns as carefully as any military operation. A war correspondent explores the strategies and tactics of the leaders and foot soldiers in the fight for Black equality, and the lessons they hold for today.
