A New Book on the Sutherland Springs Shooting Explores Resilience, Forgiveness, and Grace
Long after other journalists had packed up, Joe Holley stayed in the devastated town, getting to know survivors. He tells their stories with empathy and tact.
Steven G. Kellman
Articles by Steven G. Kellman
‘Big Wonderful Thing’ Valianty Fits Much of Texas History Into a Single Book
Stephen Harrigan forgoes a sweeping narrative and instead opts for finely etched anecdotes to explain the state’s epic history.
‘The Secrets We Kept’ is a Finely-Structured Story of Secrets, Spies, and Secretaries
Lara Prescott’s sparkling debut novel is based on one of the Cold War’s strangest stories: a covert operation to spread a banned book across the Soviet Union.
‘The Weil Conjectures’ Rewards the Intellectually Adventurous
Part biography, part memoir, Karen Olsson’s new book traces the extraordinary lives of a famous mathematician and his philosopher sister.
Octavio Solis’ ‘Retablos’ Recounts a ‘Beautiful, Messy’ Youth on the Border
Though its title evokes Mexican folk art, Retablos is closer in effect to that of French pointillism. Its small dabs of vivid color produce a brilliant cumulative effect.
In ‘God Save Texas,’ Lawrence Wright Explains the Lone Star State to Outsiders
The latest entry in the ever-popular explaining-Texas genre, “God Save Texas” is a rambling, impressionistic record of ambivalence.
Bill McKibben’s ‘Radio Free Vermont’ Is an Activist’s Lark
Not so much plotted as rendered as a Hardy Boys caper, “Radio Free Vermont” is a fond fantasy of liberal values.
In ‘Texas Blood,’ a Ramble Through Borderland History
Texas expat Roger D. Hodge returns home to discover a “palimpsest of lost and vanishing lifeways.”
