All opinions expressed in this department,
as throughout the magazine, are those of SALON.

F I C T I O N

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The Final Judgment by Richard North Patterson
A somber, ingenious mystery by a writer unsurpassed in evoking courtroom drama.
Slow Fuse by Masako Togawa
A Japanese psychiatrist descends into a seamy tangle of sex, blackmail and murder in the trendy precincts of modern Tokyo.
The Ghost Road by Pat Barker
An astonishing and horrific novel, set during the last days of WWI, that reveals the tragic cost of the Great War.
The Education of Oscar Fairfax
by Louis Auchincloss
An elegant exploration of moral ambiguity by one of our most acute observers of upper-class life.
Numbers in the Dark and other Stories
by Italo Calvino
Celebrations of the uncanny and marvelous, by the late author of such fabulous works as "The Baron in the Trees."

N O N F I C T I O N

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The Twilight of Common Dreams: Why America is Wracked by Culture Wars by Todd Gitlin
The former head of SDS argues that our endless wrangling over multiculturalism is distracting us from addressing more important national concerns.
Home: American Writers Remember Rooms of Their Own
Edited by Sharon Sloan Fiffer and Steve Fiffer
Funny, poignant, haunting essays by contemporary writers on rooms that touched their lives.
Adcult USA: The Triumph of Advertising in American Culture by James Twitchell
A witty and unsettling guide to our advertising-drenched culture.
The Right to Privacy
by Ellen Alderman and Caroline Kennedy
A gripping, carefully-argued exploration of how and why America is experiencing a "general erosion of privacy."
James Thurber: His Life and Times
by Harrison Kinney
A massive biography that will send the reader back to the work of the preeminent literary comedian of midcentury America with renewed appreciation.