In a recent review for The New Republic, Joanna Scutts examines Shawn Gude’s biography American Socialist: The Life and Legacy of Eugene V. Debs. Scutts notes that the book illuminates the forces that shaped America’s foremost socialist evangelist, alongside the exceptional efforts of his opponents to crush his movement. Gude describes how Debs fused nationalist and Christian mythology with Marxism, creating rhetorical oratory that drew comparisons to Jesus Christ from both critics and followers alike.
Meanwhile, Dwight Garner evaluates Barbara Trapido’s novel Brother of the More Famous Jack in The New York Times. Garner praises the book’s literate, funny, and eccentric dialogue, describing it as a pocket classic that takes life seriously and earns its emotions. The novel explores young people who grow up in narrow cultural circumstances and find alternative ways of living through unconventional and urbane acquaintances.
Writing in The Baffler, Rhian Sasseen reviews Meghan O’Gieblyn’s memoir Will and Attention. Sasseen discusses how the book traces O’Gieblyn’s relapse into alcoholism alongside her unexpected flirtation with Catholicism years after renouncing religion. Drawing on philosophers such as Simone Weil and Arthur Schopenhauer, the memoir offers an exploration of free will, self-examination, and the nature of addiction.
Additional critical attention from Lit Hub’s Book Marks covers Lily Meyer on Madeline ffitch’s novel Avalon, Rise, and Max Callimanopulos on Tom McCarthy’s The Rhyl Poster.