The American Plague - Molly Cardwell Crosby's book examines the outbreak of yellow fever in Memphis, Tennessee during the summer of 1878, and the medical community's often roundabout way of decoding the mysterious disease. Crosby's detailing of the deadly outbreak is remarkable, and the story is eerily echoed by the slow reaction of governments to similar events in our modern world. [05.14.2008 by Jason Middlekauff]

Do Travel Writers Go To Hell? - In his high-flying and low-balling memoir, travel writer Thomas Kohnstamm's "swashbuckling tale of high adventures, questionable ethics, and professional hedonism" recounts his first assignment for Lonely Planet, asserting that while working on guide books for the company he cut every corner possible, from plaigarising to faking trips. [04.30.2008 by Eric J Herboth]

Heat - Subtitled "An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany," author Bill Buford's book is a tantalizing tale of kitchen ambition and the humbling experience of apprenticeship. [04.23.2008 by Cory Tendering]

Campaigning for Hearts and Minds: How Emotional Appeals in Political Ads Work. - "The simple messages contained in political ads may spark an emotional response," states How Emotional Appeals in Political Ads Work, from University of Michigan Political Science lecturer Ted Brader, "but the ads are assumed to derive the bulk of their emotional power from something other than the words." [04.11.2008 by Brian Christopher Jones]

Black Postcards - From his days at Harvard with the indie dreamscicles Galaxie 500 to his broader success with Luna and that band's subsequent dissolution, Dean Wareham's memoir is measured in relationships. That most of them seem to have failed isn't the point, the point being equal parts "Rock & Roll" and "Romance." [03.27.2008 by Dan Weiss]

All Governments Lie - Taken on its first three words alone, the title of Myra MacPherson's book might be too inflammatory for all but the leftiest left-wingers. Rather than a conspiracy screed on modern society, MacPherson's work, its full title including "The Life and Times of Rebel Journalist I.F. Stone," is a portrait of one of America's most iconoclastic journalists. [03.13.2008 by Brian Christopher Jones]