Five new books out this week, and links to related content you won’t find anywhere else.
A new history book, How the Post Office Created America, by Winifred Gallagher, explores how the United States post office was established before the Declaration of Independence, and how for many years was the U.S. government’s most important endeavor. Gallagher is accustomed to revealing the unknown backstories of the seemingly mundane: see also her piece “How Sofas Changed the World.”
Bestselling author Jessica Anya Blau‘s new novel The Trouble With Lexie concerns the travails of a young woman working at a prestigious prep school. Prep schools have long held prestigious roles in fiction, but just what is an elite prep school like, anyway?
Yasmine El Rashidi‘s debut novel Chronicle of a Lost Summer explores life in Egypt under President Mubarak. Check out her photo essay about the Egyptian Revolution of 2011.
Party of One: A Memoir in 21 Songs, by comedian Dave Holmes, presents songs as autobiography. One of the songs he focuses on is Bruce Springsteen’s “Hungry Heart;” he’s not the first to see Springsteen’s songs as dramatic monologues.
National Book Award finalist Kim Addonizio has a new poetry collection called Mortal Trash. Read her poem “Sui” in The Harvard Review.
