1. Eugene L. Meyer’s review of Elizabeth R. Varon’s Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South (Simon & Schuster). “Critics would interpret his dissent as disloyalty both to Lee and to the Confederate cause. For accepting defeat and Reconstruction — even becoming a Republican and working with newly enfranchised Black politicians — Longstreet was reviled. While other Confederate commanders were portrayed as noble warriors, meriting marble statues and even U.S. military bases named for them (and only recently changed), Longstreet was persona non grata.”


2. C.B. Santore’s review of Deanne Stillman’s American Confidential: Uncovering the Bizarre Story of Lee Harvey Oswald and His Mother (Melville House). “If your reading preferences turn toward history, you’ll likely find American Confidential an unsatisfying rehash of already-known facts strung together with literary references, speculation, and imagined exchanges. If, however, you don’t mind the embellishments, it’s a very readable story told from a unique perspective — ideal for those who just can’t get enough of Kennedy-Oswald noir.”


3. Peggy Kurkowski’s review of Matthew F. Delmont’s Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad (Viking). “Ultimately, through his prodigious research and chronicling of myriad Black voices, Matthew Delmont shows readers ‘what it means to dissent in a democracy.’ Half American bestows a fresh assessment of — and appreciation for — the Black soldiers and civilians who fought extraordinarily hard so ‘that no one would ever again be treated as half American.’”


4. Diane Kiesel’s review of Antonia Fraser’s The Case of the Married Woman: Caroline Norton and Her Fight for Justice for Women (Pegasus Books). “Caroline Sheridan Norton was the granddaughter of playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan (‘The Rivals,’ ‘The School for Scandal’), who, in 1827, married George Norton, a lawyer, a Tory member of Parliament, and a wife-beater. Lord Melbourne was the Whig prime minister whose flirtation — and maybe more — with Norton led to the breakup of her marriage, the loss of her children, and her transformation from society maven to radical activist. Today’s divorced women who win custody of their children have Norton, in large part, to thank. They should thank her, too, for the ability to get divorced in the first place.”


5. “Announcing the 2024 Washington Writers Conference.” “You know that manuscript you’ve been toiling over for months and months (if not years and years)? Well, it’s finally time to DO something with it! Attend the 2024 Washington Writers Conference (May 3-4) in Rockville, MD, and pitch your book to literary agents!”

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