Washington Independent Review of Books

Given No Choice is a comprehensive history of abortion jurisprudence in the United States. Cody McDevitt’s deep dive examines the strictures that have been put in place to control women’s reproductive health and the work of those who would secure women’s freedom over t...

Summer has finally arrived, and I’m ready for it! I love the longer days, the more relaxed schedule, the popcorn-and-a-movie dinners when I don’t feel like cooking, and the excuse to spend a little more time with a book in my hand. I’m heading to my favorite beach town, Bethany Beach, Delaware, soon and am trying to convince myself that I don’t really need to bring five books...

The maxim was inscribed on the Temple of Apollo: “Know thyself.” That ancient Delphic injunction pointed inward, toward one’s deepest sense of personal truth. But that innermost sense, hardly existing in a vacuum, lived in dialogue with other selves attempting to manifest their authentic truths in a body politic.

Knowing oneself, then, was both an in...

The narrator of Mark Helprin’s Elegy in Blue wants us to pay attention. To the blue of the sky and that of the ocean. To the beauty of art and nature. To the sensuality of well-made clothing. All this is evidence of God, and if we pay attention, we may touch the divine....

An unforgettable, sweeping novel of espionage, love, and war that reframes our understanding of the first half of the 20th century.

Born into an aristocratic German Jewish family, Ernst Baerwald is a gifted linguist, talented musician, and fearless idealist. When he’s recruited in 1900 to become a spy — his cover working for a company that would becom...