Michael Schaub
Michael Schaub is a writer, book critic and regular contributor to NPR Books. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Portland Mercury and The Austin Chronicle, among other publications. He lives in Austin, Texas.
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In Benjamin Markovits' new novel, a far-flung family reunites in their home town of Austin for Christmas, bringing all their baggage. And while it's an emotional book, it never descends into pathos.
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Journalist and Brain on Fire author Susannah Cahalan writes in an urgent, personal book that the '70s study by David Rosenhan had an outsized effect on psychiatry — and may have been fatally flawed.
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Stephen Harrigan's sprawling history of the Lone Star state showcases his enthusiasm for Texas; it's an endlessly fascinating look at how the state has evolved over the years.
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Colson Whitehead's harrowing new novel is based on a true story about a brutally abusive reform school in Florida where the grounds were pocked with the unmarked graves of the boys who died there.
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Peter Houlahan's account of the violent robbery and its aftermath is based on interviews with civilians, officers and robbers involved; his prose reads like a crime novel in the best way possible.
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Gifted writers Dan Abrams and David Fisher, who previously brought us Lincoln's Last Trial, are clearly fascinated by how Teddy Roosevelt's court case played out — bringing an enthusiasm to readers.
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The Pulitzer prize-winning author draws from history and psychology, theorizing that nations in crisis can learn from the experiences of people in crisis — and looks for a path forward for the U.S.
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Like David McCullough's other books, this one succeeds because of the author's strength as a storyteller; it reads like a novel and is packed with information drawn from painstaking research.
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Philippe Besson's novel — ably translated from the French by Molly Ringwald — chronicles a painful teenaged heartbreak, followed by grown-up ennui. It's a well-worn but very well-told tale.
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Journalist Charles Lane's account is endlessly gripping — and he does an excellent job of placing the operation in historical context, chronicling racism and resentment in the South post-Civil War.