Thunderstruck by Erik Larson. Crown, $25.95. The bestselling author of "The Devil in the White City" tells the amazing, interwoven stories of two men--Hawley Crippen, a doctor and an unlikely murderer, and Gugliemo Marconi, the obsessive genius who invented the wireless--whose stories converge during the greatest criminal chase of all time.
Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West by Hampton Sides. Doubleday, $26.95. Sides's extraordinary book brings the history of the American conquest of the West to ringing life. It is a tale with many heroes and villains, and at the center of it all stands the remarkable figure of Kit Carson--the legendary trapper, scout, and soldier who embodies all the contradictions and ambiguities of the American experience in the West.
Union 1812: The Americans Who Fought the Second War of Independence by A.J. Langguth. Simon & Schuster, $30.00. The author of the acclaimed "Patriots: The Men Who Started the American Revolution" presents this dramatic account of the War of 1812, the war that established a young nation as a permanent power and proved its claim to Manifest Destiny.
Mysteries of the Middle Ages: The Rise of Feminism, Science, and Art from the Cults of Catholic Europe by Thomas Cahill. Nan A. Talese, $32.50. The author of four previous volumes in the Hinges of History series, including the bestselling "How the Irish Saved Civilization," turns his eye on the dawn of the modern Western world in this intelligent, beautifully written exploration of medieval Europe.
The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History by Jonathan Franzen. FSG, $22.00. Sparkling, daring, arrestingly honest, this work narrates the formation of a unique mind and heart in the crucible of an everyday American family.
Louis Armstrong's New Orleans by Thomas Brothers. Norton, $26.95. Drawing on first-person accounts, this book tells the rags-to-riches tale of Louis Armstrong's early life and the social and musical forces in New Orleans that shaped him, their unique relationship, and their impact on American culture.
In Search of Willie Morris: The Mercurial Life of a Legendary Writer and Editor by Larry L. King. Public Affairs Books, $26.95. Written with the affection of a close friend and the critical insight of a fellow writer, this book is a wise, sometimes raucous, and moving look at Willie Morris that conveys the energy and activity of the years on top and the troubles, talents, late rallies, and mysteries of the man.
The Gang That Wouldn't Write Straight: Wolfe, Thompson, Didion, and the New Journalism Revolution by Marc Weingarten. Crown, $25.00. Based on comprehensive research and interviews, this book profiles such astonishingly gifted writers as Truman Capote, Hunter S. Thompson and Tom Wolfe, who became the romantic heroes of their own tales, changing journalism and American cultural life forever.
Flaubert: A Biography by Frederick Brown. Little, Brown, $35.00. From the highly acclaimed author of "Zola: A Life" comes the definitive biography of Gustave Flaubert on the 150th anniversary of "Madame Bovary's" publication.
Armed Madhouse: Who's Afraid of Osama Wolf?, China Floats, Bush Sinks, the Scheme to Steal '08, No Child's Behind Left, and Other Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Class War by Greg Palast. Dutton, $25.95. Palast's old-style, gumshoe detective work to dig out the information on the War on Terror, greed-dripping schemes to seize little nations with lots of oil, and the media biases that keep it unreported are the meat and bones of this BBC television reporter's latest book.
What I Know For Sure by Tavis Smiley. Doubleday, $23.95. Smiley shares his searing, quintessentially American story about rising from an impoverished, abusive childhood to becoming a PBS star and outspoken advocate for African Americans everywhere.
Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs by Ken Jennings. Villard, $24.95. This edition traces Ken Jennings's rise from anonymous computer programmer to nerd folk icon. Along the way, it also explores his newly conquered kingdom: the world of trivia itself.