Sig Nordal

All this month we’re featuring a selection of fantastic summer reading selected by the experts at O: The Oprah Magazine. See more topics here.

In a world consumed by wars of all kinds, how do we make sense of the madness? Through peerless on-the-ground reporting, inquiries into the impact of “sanitized” modes of warfare, and fictional adventures and misadventures, these six books invite us to swim against the tides of violence and ask why we so often fail to give peace a chance.

Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War, by Mary Roach (W.W. Norton)

Our most consistently entertaining science journalist wanders into the “corners and crannies” of military technology. Roach goes where other writers wouldn’t dare (witness her classic take on cadavers, Stiff), here eyeing “the parts no one makes movies about—not the killing but the keeping alive.” And her search produces images—a kind of techno poetry—that are hard to forget: a cannon firing chickens into airplanes, urethra replacement surgery, a “brief history of stink bombs.” Start Reading Now on B&N Readouts.

The Way to the Spring, by Ben Ehrenreich (Penguin Press)

An American Jewish writer resides in the West Bank off and on for three years. What follows is an impassioned and humane story of Palestinian resilience in the face of daily humiliations, bloodshed, and a decades-long struggle for home. Start Reading Now on B&N Readouts.

 

 

Native Believer by Ali Eteraz (Akashic)

M.’s life spins out of control after his boss discovers a Qur’an in M.’s house during a party, in this wickedly funny Philadelphia picaresque about a secular Muslim’s identity crisis in a country waging a never-ending war on terror. Start Reading Now on B&N Readouts.

 

 

Love, Sex and Other Foreign Policy Goals by Jesse Armstrong (Blue Rider)

From the Oscar-nominated cowriter of the British film comedy In the Loop comes a blistering satire about a London theater troupe attempting to end the Bosnian conflagration of the mid-’90s, wielding only the weapons of youthful idealism and an unfinished script. Start Reading Now on B&N Readouts.

 

Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, Sebastian Junger (Twelve)

Drawing on his extensive reporting in Afghanistan and marrow-deep empathy for veterans afflicted with post-traumatic stress disorder, Junger argues with candor and grace for the everlasting remedies of community and connectedness. Start Reading Now on B&N Readouts.

 

 

A Hero of France, by Alan Furst (Random House)

Considered one of the premier writers of historical spy fiction, Furst delivers a vivid portrait of a French Resistance fighter in World War II Paris and of a city still alive and very much itself—even as the Nazi grip tightens. Start Reading Now on B&N Readouts.

 

 

Looking for more inspirations for your summer reading? Explore more of The Best Books of Summer from the editors of O: The Oprah Magazine, in the B&N Review or in the pages of this month’s issue of O: The Oprah Magazine.

The Barnes & Noble Review http://ift.tt/29michV