Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). Reviewed by Kitty Kelley. “Now comes an eloquent celebration of his centenary in Nicholas Boggs’ spellbinding Baldwin: A Love Story. This mammoth tribute celebrates the artist’s life — personal and professional — by dividing it into four parts, each led by the first name of the man beloved by Baldwin at the time: ‘Beauford: The Greenwich Village Years, 1940-1948’; ‘Lucien: The Paris Years, 1948-1955’; ‘Engin: The Transatlantic Years, 1957-1970’; and ‘Yoran: The Saint Paul-de-Vence Years, 1971-1976.’ It’s a life story that is at once erotic and erudite.”

The Mapmaker: A Novel of World War II by Tom Young (Knox Press). Reviewed by Lawrence De Maria. “Each chapter is built around a character. Frenchwoman Charlotte Denneau, the book’s titular mapmaker, draws critical maps for the Allies and is being hunted by the Gestapo. She’s one step ahead of the Nazis and their collaborator henchmen. In her scramble across occupied France, she must balance the lives of the Resistance fighters helping her against the need to protect her drawings of potential bombing targets. D-Day is approaching, and her sketches may be crucial to the Allied effort.”

The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley, and the Partnership that Rocked the World by Peter Guralnick (Little, Brown and Company). Reviewed by Arthur Ivan Bravo. “In his work, Guralnick has shed light on previously neglected or unknown aspects of Elvis’ life and legacy, and he does so again in The Colonel and the King. A main point of contention in this revisionist history is just what role Elvis’ infamous manager, Tom Parker (aka ‘the Colonel’), truly played in his protégé’s ascendance. Was the Colonel — as per his commonly held reputation — a self-serving, conniving opportunist who prioritized his own profit over Elvis’ aspirations? Or was he actually the only person who could’ve taken the young performer to such unprecedented heights?”

Too Good to Be Altogether Lost: Rediscovering Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House Books by Pamela Smith Hill (University of Nebraska Press). Reviewed by Jan Kilby. “As an adult, Wilder, whose resilience and self-sufficiency were fueled by her upbringing, worked as a teacher and journalist before authoring her series. Hill considers her a ‘pioneer’ as a novelist, given that her books, though written for children, nonetheless address ‘mature themes,’ including ‘sacrifice and survival, growth and maturity, illness and disability, feminism, coming-of-age, sexuality and marriage.’ Perhaps more importantly, they boast ‘unforgettable characters, powerful settings, lyrical descriptions and unprecedented emotional realism.’”

Rehab: An American Scandal by Shoshana Walter (Simon & Schuster). Reviewed by William Rice. “The pursuit of profit has overridden the duty to provide humane and effective care in too many cases, Walter finds. And lethargic or nonexistent government regulation — by bureaucrats with an interest in not being bothered — has let it happen. Her answer is an old and simple one: generate enough public pressure through work like hers to force legislators and regulators to do their jobs and make rehabilitation programs the boons to private and public health they’re supposed to be. The author has a track record of bringing scandals to light.”

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