Troublemaker: One Man's Crusade Against China's Cruelty By Harry Wu with George Vecsey (Nonfiction)
Times Books, reviewed by David Futrelle
A memoir by the well-known and controversial Chinese dissident, who seeks to expose the truth about China's forced labor camps.
The Woman and the Ape By Peter Hoeg (Fiction)
Farrar Straus & Giroux, reviewed by Rob Spillman
An ambitious novel about a captured ape -- the possible missing link -- and his relationships with a variety of humans.
American Dreamers: The Wallaces and Reader's Digest: An Insider's Story By Peter Canning (Nonfiction)
Simon & Schuster, reviewed by Dwight Garner
A portrait of the making (and eventual unmaking) of the magazine that has been called "the top publishing success since the Bible."
Stand Facing the Stove By Anne Mendelson (Nonfiction)
Henry Holt, reviewed by Sam Sifton
The story of "The Joy of Cooking," the most influential cookbook in American history, and its unlikely author, by a noted food historian.
Dixie Rising By Peter Applebome (Nonfiction)
Times Books, reviewed by Paige Williams
A New York Times reporter argues that the South's ideals -- think gun control, race and music -- profoundly influence modern America.

Swamp Fever By James Carville
Beat the Press. Overlooking juicy stories right under their noses, political reporters snarled like hyenas for the red meat of negative campaigning. But Clinton refused to get in their cage.

Ill Humor By Ian Shoales
Romeo and Juliet: New, improved Tragedy Lite -- tastes great, less cathartic.

Unzipped By Courtney Weaver
Catfight in Ireland: Meeting an ex's Irish girlfriend turns Courtney into a staunch nationalist.

Verbivore By Richard Lederer
Take the Verbivore Challenge: The first Verbivore Challenger to correctly guess the noms de plume of these famous writers wins a $25 gift certificate from Borders Books & Music.

The Canonization of Hunter Thompson by Cintra Wilson
With the republication of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" as a Modern Library Classic, Hunter S. Thompson has become a Legitimate Writer. Yeah, and a 40-oz. Ballantine's is Fine Wine. Somewhere, the great man is laughing.
Plus: I edited Hunter — and lived by David McCumber

The Salon Interview: John Edgar Wideman By Laura Miller
The author of "Brothers and Keepers," "Fatheralong" and the new "The Cattle Killing" talks about the folly of integration (and segregation), privacy and the possibility of transformation.

The Hidden Persuaders By Mark Dery
A conversation with Stuart Ewen, whose new "PR!: A Social History of Spin" exposes the secret army of public relations experts who have folded, spindled and mutilated our national mind.

Little Red Riding Hood's Revenge by Charles Taylor
"Freeway" updates an old fairy tale with a tough, working-class twist.