What should you read this weekend? USA TODAY’s picks for book lovers include a new book celebrating the Women's March, timed to the one-year anniversary.
Together We Rise: Behind the Scenes at the Protest Heard Around the World by the organizers of the Women’s March and Condé Nast; Dey Street, 320 pp.; non-fiction
History has a bad habit of denying women credit for remarkable work. Organizers of last year’s Women’s March on Washington were determined not to suffer the same fate, so they’ve written history themselves, giving voice to the women who channeled pain, forfeited sleep and risked careers to birth a revolution.
Together We Rise chronicles the genesis, execution and immediate aftermath of the largest single-day protest in U.S. history on Jan. 21, 2017.
“Unless women tell our own story, men of privilege will always rewrite history in their favor. We created this book so that no historian, pundit, or politician could claim what was ours. And what was yours,” the Women’s March organizers write.
Jamia Wilson, executive director of the Feminist Press, weaves together interviews from 30 people at the center of the mass demonstration with voices of attendees and spectators, and the book is illustrated with sweeping crowd shots that capture the scope of dissent in sea after sea of pink knit hats.
USA TODAY says ★★★½ out of four. “A testament to the power of women, a rousing reflection on the effort required to stir millions of people… a stunning visual history.”
Hundreds of thousands of people marched in Washington D.C., and in over 600 'sister marches' across the world in solidarity. Time
The Afterlives by Thomas Pierce; Riverhead, 366 pp.; fiction
After a scary incident of cardiac arrest briefly leaves him technically dead, 33-year-old loan officer Jim Byrd becomes obsessed with whether an afterlife awaits us.
USA TODAY says ★★★. “Touching, thought-provoking… a meaningful look at marriage, technology and ghosts.”
How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt; Crown, 320 pp.; non-fiction
Two Harvard professors examine what ails our democracy, both during the Trump era and before, and mine world history for other examples of how authoritarian politicians have distorted their nations' less-robust democracies to enhance their own power.
USA TODAY says ★★★½. “Carefully researched and persuasive.”
Immortal Life: A Soon to be True Story by Stanley Bing; Simon & Schuster, 307 pp.; fiction
In the year 2076, centenarian trillionaire Arthur Vogel is not only working toward life everlasting, à la PayPal’s Peter Thiel: he also aspires to be the supreme mogul behind a giant corporation led by a handful of miserly men.
USA TODAY says ★★★. “Entertaining…Bing’s unsettling account of the future is leavened with wry humor and satire… an engaging and cautionary tale.”
The Man Who Made the Movies by Vanda Krefft; Harper, 755 pp.; non-fiction
A biography of William Fox, the influential and driven immigrant behind what became 20th Century Fox who went from peddling candies as a child of the 1890s to studio head by 1915.
USA TODAY says ★★★★. A “big, brassy production of a book.”
Contributing reviewers: Alia E. Dastagir, Brian Truitt, Ray Locker, David Holahan, Matt Damsker
From real-life political thrillers, juicy memoirs and the life of our American Princess, here’s a sneak peek at the some of the most anticipated books of 2018. Wochit-All
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