Read Between the Spines

August 2026 Most Anticipated New Book Releases

Contemporary & Literary Fiction | Historical Fiction | Romance | Thrillers & Mysteries | Horror & Gothic Fiction | Fantasy, Science Fiction, & Magical Realism | Short Stories & Essays | Biography & Memoir | Nonfiction

Contemporary & Literary Fiction

Etna

Paul Yoon

Beloved author and winner of The Story Prize, Paul Yoon, is back with the unforgettable story of a working dog, Etna, who, after a devastating war, embarks on an odyssey in the hopes of returning home.

Publication date: August 4

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Kitten

Stacey Yu

An enchanting debut novel about a young woman whose growing obsession with her boyfriend’s cat opens new possibilities for her life—but not without threatening to unravel it.

Publication date: August 4

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The Project

Annie Lord

From the acclaimed Vogue writer and author of Notes on Heartbreak comes a decade-defining romcom: a funny, sweet, and subversive debut novel, reminiscent of Dolly Alderton and Monica Heisey, about two women, tired of the London dating scene, who decide to transform their most annoying male friend into the perfect man.

Publication date: August 4

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Queen Mab

Emily McBride

There is a changeling in this story―but who? A riveting portrait of madness, motherhood, the myths that haunt us, and the families who keep us tethered, Emily McBride’s Queen Mab asks us to reconsider what is real and how we might see a truer picture of ourselves through the darkness.

Publication date: August 4

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Sunlight Finds You

Laura Moriarty

A forbidden love blows open the world of a teenage girl, altering the trajectory of her life–from the author of the New York Times bestseller The Chaperone. A love story set in the past that has much to say about our present. Richly layered and propulsive, it’s a book about extending forgiveness—for ourselves, and for others—and about refusing to settle for a life that is less than full.

Publication date: August 4

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When Lemons Give You Life

Anna Johnston

From the author of the beloved international bestseller The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife comes a heart-stirring novel about family, second chances, and the lengths we go for those we love, following a woman fighting to hold onto life and her older brother who’s rediscovering reasons to embrace it.

Publication date: August 4

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A Tender Age

Chang-Rae Lee

From the Pulitzer Prize finalist, a story of guilt, innocence, and a boy on the cusp of adolescence. Devastating in its emotional precision, A Tender Age captures a family and community in striking distance of the American dream, and a young person on the precipice of adult knowledge, looking at his own culpability and looking away—then thinking about it for the rest of his life.

Publication date: August 11

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Under the Falls

Richard Russo

The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Empire Falls returns with a spellbinding page-turner about a crime in a small town that exposes long-held secrets and betrayals among a group of lifelong friends.

Publication date: August 11

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You’ll Love It Here

Natalie Sue

From the bestselling author of I Hope This Finds You Well comes a sharply funny, surprisingly tender novel about a woman stuck in place, her nosy neighbors, and the journey to find where she belongs—with all the heart of a grown-up The Breakfast Club.

Publication date: August 11

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The Book of Chuck

Latoya Watkins

Set across Texas and spanning four generations, The Book of Chuck is a gimlet-eyed investigation into birthright and belonging through the story of one family in which certain members have clairvoyant powers.

Publication date: August 18

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Jacaranda

Gaël Faye

A young man journeys from Paris to Rwanda to discover the truth about his family’s past in this bestselling, prize-winning novel from internationally renowned Rwandan-French novelist and hip-hop artist Gaël Faye.

Publication date: August 18

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Range

Dorthe Nors

In this mesmerizing novel, an astrophysicist searches for her place among her neighbors and in the universe. Reaching from the everyday to the infinite, from sensory details to contemplations of the cosmos, Range is a gripping investigation of the many kinds of distance we cross through space and time.

Publication date: August 18

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Unprecedented Times

Malavika Kannan

Malavika Kannan establishes herself as an inimitable voice of Gen Z in this piercing coming-of-age debut novel that captures the beauty, humor, pain, and straight-up chaos that exist in relationships between best friends and lovers, mothers and daughters, and between storytellers and themselves. 

Publication date: August 18

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Crocodilopolis 

John Manuel Arias

From the author of national bestseller Where There Was Fire comes a gripping tale of sibling rivalry, family secrets, and the fate of a nation. With the wisdom of biblical myth and the soapy wit of a telenovela, Crocodilopolis is a masterful interrogation of power, masculinity, destiny, and legacy from a literary star on the rise.

Publication date: August 25

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Historical Fiction

The Amateur

Chris Bohjalian

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Midwives and The Flight Attendant: When a young woman, a golf prodigy, kills a caddy with a stray ball at the country club, the investigation of this freak accident reveals a dark and shocking tale of secret affairs, predatory men, and a teenager on trial.

Publication date: August 4

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Meet Me in the Garden

Nina LaCour

From bestselling, award-winning author Nina LaCour comes a gorgeous family story about self-discovery and love in all forms, inspired by the author’s Creole roots. Profound and expansive, a story of love and longing, art and motherhood, friendship and desire.

Publication date: August 4

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Memorial de Ayres

Machado de Assis

In the final novel by one of the greatest writers in the Americas, an aging diplomat bears witness to the shifting cultural tides of nineteenth-century Brazil.

Publication date: August 4

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Hocus Pocus

Brinda Charry

A young magician travels across the world seeking fame and fortune all the while hiding a secret, in a novel based on the renowned, real-life Indian stage magicians performing in the United States in the 1800s.

Publication date: August 11

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Sunrise

Téa Obreht

Three lives, one hundred years, one ghost town: an explosive novel about a mysterious place called Sunrise, where the secrets of the past refuse to stay buried, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Tiger’s Wife.

Publication date: August 11

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The Song of Stork and Dromedary

Anjet Daanje

A thrilling literary puzzle that explores the haunted life and mysterious afterlifes of a writer and her work. A philosophical puzzle that unfolds with the exuberance of a historical romp, ingeniously pivoting from Gothic horror to quantum mechanics to memento mori. In this thrilling, recursive tale, Anjet Daanje gets to the frantically beating heart of why we tell stories, and how we try to create meaning with them in a world filled with brutality and death. 

Publication date: August 18

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Romance

Devour Me

Emily Rath

The haunt is over. This is the hunt. I will have them for my own. From Emily Rath, New York Times bestselling author of the Jacksonville Rays hockey romance series, comes something entirely new…and just a little bit haunted.

Publication date: August 4

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International Relations

Emily Rath

The Proposal meets Heated Rivalry in this queer fake dating to fake marriage romance, following an aspiring young diplomat who hopes to land his dream job by hiring an actor to play his boyfriend . . .

Publication date: August 4

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The Poison Daughter

Sheila Masterson

The must-have, true enemies-to-lovers standalone romantasy about a woman whose lips are deadly poison . . . until she meets the one man who can survive her kiss.

Publication date: August 18

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Pink Ink

Avina St. Graves

Gothikana meets Dexter in this sinfully delicious dark romance about a film student who’s secretly tracking the murders of a serial killer—unaware he’s also her brooding professor.

Publication date: August 4

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The Wild Beneath

Tessa Yang

For readers of Wild Dark Shore and The Time Traveler’s Wife, a fierce, haunting story of one woman caught between her first love and a mysterious stranger who upends everything—and the two worlds that won’t let her go.

Publication date: August 4

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Let’s Kiss and Tell

Joss Richard

A sex columnist and a news reporter realize a fake relationship can help them both professionally and personally—but they aren’t prepared for the real feelings that start to develop beyond the headlines—from the bestselling author of It’s Different This Time.

Publication date: August 11

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The One Where They Fall In Love

Cristina Wolf

When romance editor Elle begrudgingly agrees to take care of her new neighbor’s unruly dog while he’s on shift at the ER, the arrangement sparks an unexpected bond and, eventually, romance.

Publication date: August 11

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Ship Happens

Maosn Deaver

From bestselling and award-winning author Mason Deaver comes a delightful second-chance romance with trans representation! Trapped on a cruise together, exes Owen and Jacob are forced to confront why their relationship went off course…but in such close quarters, maybe they’ll finally be able to right the ship.

Publication date: August 18

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Thrillers & Mysteries

Freyja

Margrét Ann Thors

The unsolved case of a young girl’s disappearance reopens after twenty years in this atmospheric novel of suspense set in Reykjavík and the Icelandic coast.

Publication date: August 4

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Fruit Fly

Josh Silver

Go gay. Go sad. Go dark. A washed-up author will stop at nothing to claw her way back to relevancy—even if it means appropriating a young gay man’s tragic story.

Publication date: August 4

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Plant Lady

Minyoung Kang

In the heart of a quiet town, a young woman tends to her plant shop, but beneath the surface of her lush, green sanctuary lies something far darker…

Publication date: August 4

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The Shadows Tomorrow

Noëlle Michel & Frank Wynne

Sea of Tranquility meets Dark Matter in this dizzying speculative thriller following a clan of Neanderthals living in isolation on a nature reserve and the scientists who care for them.

Publication date: August 4

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Time to Burn

Ellery Lloyd

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Club comes a gripping mystery about time travel tourism and the dangerous consequences which ensue when the privileged make the past their playground.

Publication date: August 4

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The Unknown

Riley Sager

In 1926, five women disappeared from a remote island in Vermont. Now, one hundred years later, it’s happening again.

Publication date: August 4

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The Silent Appeal

Janice Hallett

From “modern Agatha Christie” Janice Hallett, a follow-up to her blockbuster debut novel The Appeal, featuring the Fairway Players as they put on Agatha Christie’s play The Hollow and find themselves embroiled in murder, blackmail, and betrayal once again.

Publication date: August 11

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My Sister Is Going to Kill Me 

Nina Simon

From the New York Times bestselling author of the runaway hit Mother-Daughter Murder Night, a Reese’s Book Club pick, comes another fun, family-centered whodunnit about two sisters who work together to find a killer as they raft down the rapids of the Grand Canyon.

Publication date: August 18

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Big Little Truths

Liane Moriarty

In this highly anticipated sequel, Liane Moriarty examines the complexities of modern women’s lives, shining light on family dynamics and long-hidden truths with wit and compassion. Whether you’ve read Big Little Lies or not, this is the perfect novel for longtime fans and new readers alike.

Publication date: August 25

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Children of Wolves

Lawrence Osborne

A thrilling tale of manipulation and deceit about an American private investigator who travels to Turkey to track down the daughter of a wealthy family, unwittingly setting off a sinister plot.

Publication date: August 25

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Heart of Glass

Jennifer Hillier

Twenty-five years ago in Seaside, Washington, a charming drifter named Sam met three inseparable teenage girls at the local amusement park. Days later, one of them was found dead, her body surfacing in a flooded cranberry bog not far from where she was murdered. When the killer recants his confession and a new body washes ashore the secrets that two friends have worked so hard to bury begin to resurface.

Publication date: August 25

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The Opposite of Murder

Sophie Hannah

Jemma Stelling walks into a police station and confesses―not to a murder she’s committed, but to the one she’s terrified she might. Jemma can’t stop herself from thinking about murdering her stepmother, Marianne Upton. The only way to stop herself might be to confess before she snaps and does the unthinkable.

Publication date: August 25

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They Say a Girl Died Here

Sarah Pinborough

From the New York Times bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes, a thrilling, genre-bending mystery about two murdered girls, a town with dark secrets, and a race to break a deadly cycle.

Publication date: August 25

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Horror & Gothic Fiction

The Hill in the Dark Grove

Liam Higginson

In this gripping debut, steeped in Welsh folklore, a husband and wife living in the beautiful but isolated mountains of Snowdonia stumble upon a buried Neolithic ruin—awakening a mysterious, ancient presence with its own dark designs.

Publication date: August 11

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Reliquary

Hannah Whitten

A young woman is lured to her late fiancé’s remote island estate—only to uncover eerie family secrets, a haunting past, and a monstrous hunger stirring beneath the sea in this deliciously atmospheric horror debut from New York Times bestselling author Hannah Whitten.

Publication date: August 11

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Stay Buried

Jennifer McMahon

From the New York Times bestselling author of Children on the Hill comes a queer folk horror in which a woman must confront decades of secrecy and superstition to learn the truth about her mother’s death.

Publication date: August 11

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Fantasy, Science Fiction, & Magical Realism

Queen of Shadow

Tessa Yang

From #1 New York Times and #1 USA Today bestselling author P. C. Cast—a passionate and magical epic bringing alive Celtic legend, perfect for romantasy fans who love Sue Lynn Tan and Thea Guanzon and historical fantasy fans of Madeline Miller.

Publication date: August 4

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Time Travel for Beginners

Jaclyn Moriarty

In her dazzling new novel, award-winning author Jaclyn Moriarty asks the question, if you could revisit one moment in your life, what would it be?

Publication date: August 4

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Dreamland

Olivie Blake

From New York Times bestselling author Olivie Blake comes a tantalizing story of power, seduction, and the omens you’ll ignore when everything you’ve dreamed of feels just within reach.

Publication date: August 11

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The Inevitable Undoing of Zahara Douglass

Leslye Penelope

For four years, Zahara Douglass has been haunted by the mystery of her sister’s disappearance―not where she went, but whether she ever existed at all.

Publication date: August 11

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The Salt King

Natasha Pulley

An apocalyptic novel about belief, religion, and the power of myth that blends the gripping, end-of-the-world storytelling of The Passage with the biting wit and epic queer romance that makes Natasha Pulley’s books “delightful” (The Washington Post).

Publication date: August 18

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Portrait of a Witch Undone

K.S. Shay

An atmospheric, eerie debut for readers of Starling House and A Discovery of Witches, Isabella Stewart Gardner art heist aficionados, witchy girls, burnt-out former gifted kids, New England history buffs, the coven curious, ride-or-die friends, folklore fanatics, and anyone who’s ever wanted to wander through the looking glass.

Publication date: August 25

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Short Stories & Essays

Triage

Claudia Rankine

Claudia Rankine has widened contemporary literature with her consciousness-raising, genre-defying works. In her first book after her celebrated American trilogy, presented with full-color visuals, Rankine shifts into sustained narrative, memory, criticism, and essay to offer her most personal and emotionally resonant writing yet.

Publication date: August 4

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Wounded Boarders: Stories

George Singleton

Witty and surprising, George Singleton’s latest short fiction collection welcomes both new and longtime readers with his signature offbeat humor, perfect for fans of George Saunders and Jill McCorkle.

Publication date: August 11

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Memoirs & Biographies

Don’t Be Evil: Bad Bosses Fake Promises and My Escape from Big Tech – A Biting Memoir of Twelve Years Inside Google

Claire Stapleton

A whip-smart, darkly funny, and timely memoir of one woman’s twelve years inside Google and her transformation from insider to dissenter as the company’s ideals begin to unravel from within.

Publication date: August 4

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Hiroshima, 8:15: The Lost Memoir

Kiyoshi Tanimoto

A newly discovered firsthand account of the Hiroshima bombing and its aftermath from one of the survivors—bringing unprecedented immediacy to our understanding of this world-changing event.

Publication date: August 4

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The People’s Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn

Dave Zirin

A biography of iconic radical historian Howard Zinn, examining his life and work as a progressive icon and thought leader through the story of the times that shaped him as well as the United States of America.

Publication date: August 4

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A Guide to Open Water Lifesaving: Lessons on Love, Care, and Survival

Virginia Eubanks

Someone you love, maybe the person you love most in the world, is drowning. Should you jump in the water? Will you be able to bring both of you back to shore? Disarmingly funny and quietly wise, the story―heart-wrenching and all too relatable―of how one woman tried to rescue her beloved and learned that she would also have to rescue herself. 

Publication date: August 11

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Great and Unfortunate Things

Jason Arday

With the power of Educated and the emotional sweep of When Breath Becomes Air, this inspiring underdog story follows a nonverbal autistic boy—whom society had all but given up on—as he finds his voice, literally and figuratively, becomes one of the youngest professors in the University of Cambridge’s history, and ultimately puts himself in a position to give back.

Publication date: August 11

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Suffer a Witch: A Memoir

Joy McCullough

A stunning memoir in verse about sexual abuse, survival, and sisterhood from the New York Times bestselling author of Blood Water Paint.

Publication date: August 11

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Three Tenses: A Transmission from the Nineties

Ed Park

An elegant, iridescent mosaic of autobiographical fragments, both real and invented, forming a portrait of a creative life, from the life of the Pulitzer Prize finalist for Same Bed Different Dreams.

Publication date: August 11

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Finding Renée Richards: The Groundbreaking Story of Tennis’s Trans Pioneer 

Julie Kliegman

The candid, definitive biography of professional tennis’s first openly transgender player, Renée Richards, featuring never-before-seen archival photos and untold stories nearly lost to history, until now.

Publication date: August 18

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The Black Shield: An American Memoir of Family and Power

Wilbert L. Cooper

Both an epic history and an intimate family story, a startling account of the lives of Black cops in one Midwestern city. An intimate, bold work of literary nonfiction, The Black Shield is an urgent exploration of the complex duality of the Black cop. 

Publication date: August 25

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Nobody Broke Your Heart: An Intimate Biography of Elliott Smith 

Jamie Fisher 

The first all-encompassing biography of Elliott Smith, offering an intimate portrait of his life and musical legacy with brand-new interviews, lyrics, and correspondence from the people closest to him, many speaking for the first time. 

Publication date: August 25

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Nonfiction

The Cruelest Game: Chasing Greatness in Professional Tennis

Matthew Futterman

A riveting exposé of professional tennis by revered journalist Matthew Futterman (of The New York Times and The Athletic), The Cruelest Game offers never-before-reported access to the daily routines, mindsets, and personal trials faced by today’s major stars and tomorrow’s rising newcomers .

Publication date: August 4

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Empire of Ashes: Truman, Hirohito, & the Descent into Total War

James M. Scott

From the acclaimed Pacific War historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist, the harrowing story of America’s bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the dramatic struggle to end World War II. With startling immediacy, Empire of Ashes illuminates the moral dilemma at the center of America’s decision to inflict total war upon Japan.

Publication date: August 4

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A History of England in Twenty-Five Poems

Catherine Clarke

A captivating and original approach to understanding England’s history, as experienced through twenty-five of the most vital, magisterial poems in English literature.

Publication date: August 4

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The Real Domestic Product: How Birth Control Built Equality (and Why the Future of the Economy and the Planet Depends on It)

Elizabeth Gregory

An urgent and clear-eyed look at the battle over reproductive control in our tipping-point moment—and how to forge a path forward. Fertility researcher Gregory posits that abortion bans and pronatalism are part of a conservative effort to push women out of civic life.

Publication date: August 4

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Three Rivers: The Extraordinary Waterways that Created Europe

Robert Winder

A fascinating exploration of the rich, varied cultural worlds shaped by three great European rivers: the Rhine, the Rhone, and the Po. Setting off in the dramatic mountain landscape where this story begins, acclaimed historian Robert Winder traces the rivers’ journeys from their increasingly fragile glacial sources, revealing in shimmering detail their impact on Europe’s rich history as they flow toward the sea.

Publication date: August 4

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Disposable Workers: The Transformation of Employment

Paul Osterman

A revealing look at the decline in formal employment in favor of hiring contractors, freelancers, temps, and marginal workers, who are excluded from traditional benefits and career ladders.

Publication date: August 11

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Mothers of Invention: A History of Creativity from the Greek Muses 

Moiya McTier

A rollicking, enlightening examination of humanity’s changing relationship to creativity, written from the perspectives of the Greek Muses. The Greek Muses reveal how they meddled in mortal manners, from using astronomy to make sense of the universe to harnessing electricity to transform life on earth—and Olympus. 

Publication date: August 18

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The Jackal: The Rise and Fall of Carlos, the World’s First Super-terrorist

Joby Warrick

The spectacular rise and dramatic fall of super-assassin Carlos the Jackal—one of history’s most infamous terrorist masterminds and the inspiration for numerous celebrated works of pop culture—told with new revelations from the Jackal himself, by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Black Flags.

Publication date: August 18

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The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State

Jill Lepore

Inspired by Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism, which argued in 1951 that the machinery of modern life was reshaping the very fundamentals of human existence, Lepore, profoundly disturbed by the technology revolution and by the soulless inundation of artificial intelligence, unfurls a new history for our own twenty-first century.

Publication date: August 25

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