Stars for Friedman & Jackson & Smith

Three FSG nonfiction books are raking in the starred reviews:

THANK YOU FOR BEING LATE: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations by Thomas L. Friedman
One of Publishers Weekly‘s Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2016!

“Inspired by the pleasure he took in the ‘free’ moments he was granted when people he planned to meet were running late, columnist, reporter, and best-selling author Friedman began thinking about our hectic, smartphone-centric lives and the profound impact of the ‘three giant accelerations’: digital technology, globalization, and climate change. How can we adapt? Friedman offers tonic suggestions for fostering ‘moral innovation’ and a commitment to the common good in this detailed and clarion inquiry…” — Booklist, starred review

“To meet these and other dizzying accelerations, Friedman advises developing a ‘dynamic stability,’ and he prescribes nothing less than a redesign of our workplaces, politics, geopolitics, ethics, and communities. Drawing lessons from Mother Nature about adaptability, sustainability, and interdependence, he never underestimates the challenges ahead. However, he’s optimistic about our chances as he seeks out these strategies in action… Required reading for a generation that’s ‘going to be asked to dance in a hurricane.’” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

BLACK ELK: The Life of an American Visionary by Joe Jackson
“Jackson’s exhaustively researched biography expands on the widely read BLACK ELK SPEAKS (1932), based on the poet John Neihardt’s interviews with the Sioux visionary and medicine man. Jackson’s enlightening account of this influential Sioux leader, whose life encompassed many landmark events of the tumultuous years of U.S. western expansion, leaves the reader in awe of Black Elk’s struggle to help his people preserve their culture as their traditions, religion, and education were under constant and brutal attack.” — Booklist, starred review

“Stirring, wide-ranging biography of the Sioux elder whose testimonials underlay ‘one of the twentieth century’s most important documents on Native American culture.’ Of much literary and historical merit and a fine addition to the shelves of anyone interested in this part of America’s unhappy past.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

RASPUTIN: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs by Douglas Smith – THREE STARS!
“[Smith] performs a nearly miraculous feat himself in this amazingly detailed, deeply researched biography.” — Booklist, starred review

“[Smith] stuns with a scrupulously exhaustive biography of the monk’s role in the Russian empire’s fall and the rise of Bolshevism… His dedication to extricating Rasputin’s experience from newly available Soviet Union primary sources and international archives surpasses all previous academic works in breadth and scope… Smith’s study will surely be considered the seminal scholarly work on Rasputin, an essential read for students of Imperial Russia’s downfall.”
— Library Journal, starred review

“Monumental and soul-shaking… Displaying commendable detective work and a firm understanding of the Russian silver age and the synod, Smith articulates even the most obscure cultural nuances with fluidity,… never losing his focus on his worthy and mesmerizing subject.” — Publishers Weekly, boxed and starred review