Books | AAN.org

Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantasticnew

Ever read a poem about a guy who emotionally abuses a mannequin and leaves her silicon heart broken in a dumpster?

San Antonio Current | Roberto Ontiveros | 02-16-2012 | Fiction

Tags: Eduardo Jiménez Mayo and Chris N. Brown, Three Messages and a Warning

'The Third Reich' by Roberto Bolañonew

A few years after George Steiner penned an essay about Hitler's architect Albert Speer for the New Yorker and New Wave sellouts Spandau Ballet cracked the top 40 by singing songs about truth and precious metals, an obscure Chilean poet who once swore he'd never write novels began work on a beach comedy called The Third Reich that he promptly placed in a drawer.

San Antonio Current | Roberto Ontiveros | 02-16-2012 | Fiction

Sandra Cisneros' Impact on Latino literaturenew

As nearly everyone now knows, Sandra Cisneros — the oft-times indigenously attired author who founded the Macondo Writers' Workshop here in 1998 and the Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Foundation two years later — is done with San Antonio.

San Antonio Current | Roberto Ontiveros | 02-16-2012 | Author Profiles & Interviews

A Strong Case for Legal Weednew

When Juárez cartel gangster Jose Antonio "El Diego" Acosta Hernandez was arrested last summer he had an estimated 1,500 murders under his belt operating in a city where violent death comes fast and furious.

San Antonio Current | Greg Harman | 02-16-2012 | Nonfiction

Tags: Beto O'Rourke and Susie Byrd, Dealing Death and Drugs

Book Review: 'Bouncing Off Guardrails'new

"Who the hell is waking me up by ringing my fucking doorbell at 2:30 am? It must be Sunshine, but why doesn't she just use her key? Wait a minute, she's laying next to me.

San Antonio Current | Scott Andrews | 02-15-2012 | Nonfiction

How to Save Books

You may remember such classics as "How the Internet Slaughtered Newspapers" and "How Napster Decimated the Music Business." It's always the same story: Digitalization destroys profits. Whether it's newspapers, magazines, CDs or books ("pBooks," they call them now), the electronic assault on tangible media follows a familiar pattern.

Maui Time | Ted Rall | 02-15-2012 | Books

Tags: Amazon, Books, Kindle books, book publishing

Listening in the Darknew

Adam Johnson imagines life in North Korea.

East Bay Express | Stefanie Kalem | 02-10-2012 | Author Profiles & Interviews

Tags: North Korea, Adam Johnson

Gil Scott-Heron: The Last Holiday: A Memoirnew

Gil Scott-Heron’s memoir isn’t intimate, but it casts him in a new light nevertheless.

Baltimore City Paper | Pierre Bennu | 01-18-2012 | Nonfiction

Tags: Gil Scott-Heron

LA Punk Confidentialnew

Alice Bag's Violence Girl lights up a legendary scene.

East Bay Express | Stefanie Kalem | 01-16-2012 | Author Profiles & Interviews

Tags: punk rock, Alice Bag

Laurent Dubois discusses Haiti: The Aftershocks of Historynew

"A lot of what we see today is the result of recent history, the last 30, 40 years. It's not a kind of inexorable story that is how it had to happen from 1804. In the 19th century, Haiti was quite economically successful."

INDY Week | Jay O'Berski | 01-11-2012 | Author Profiles & Interviews

Tags: Haiti, Laurent Dubois

Wojciechowski's The Last Great Game: Duke vs. Kentuckynew

Although the full title occasions three objections all by itself, Gene Wojciechowski's book is nevertheless essential reading for anyone interested in college basketball—and especially, in these environs, for local sports lovers.

INDY Week | Adam Sobsey | 01-11-2012 | Nonfiction

Tags: Gene Wojciechowski

Thomas Frank Returns With New Book About the Billionairesnew

"Democrats really failed to speak to the new angry sensibility in the country. And Obama's personality is almost precisely wrong for the populist moment—he really has trouble turning on that emotion."

INDY Week | Bob Geary | 01-04-2012 | Nonfiction

Tags: Thomas Frank, Pity the Billionaire Review