Jeanine Cummins’s bestselling novel ‘American Dirt’ has elicited protests over the author’s belonging to the wrong group to be allowed to write Mexican characters, writes Tony Daniel. He finds this ridiculous, and thinks the real problem is that the book is plodding moralistic melodrama—and thus perfectly suited to be an Oprah’s Book Club selection.
Read the review here.
Uncle Hugo’s and Uncle Edgar’s were legendary among the community of science fiction, fantasy, and mystery readers—and now they’re gone. Rioters burned the Minneapolis mainstay to ruins. Daniel includes an account by owner, Don Blyly.
In the article, Tony Daniel reflects: “The hustle and bustle of the street, the shops and restaurants and churches and halfway houses and all the rest engender this hustle and bustle. When you burn such places down. . . you are not clearing for renewal. You are destroying the very possibility for growth and change in a community. You are killing hope.”
Read the article here.
Tony Daniel argues that the Wolf Hall series is a landmark of historical fiction. He says that if you spend a while in the head of the Thomas Cromwell of Hilary Mantel, you may even find yourself questioning whether you might have done the same things yourself. Read the review here.
Tony Daniel says Mike Rowe’s new book, which arises from Rowe’s popular podcast, reminds him of the great Paul Harvey’s “The Rest of the Story” broadcasts from his youth. Rowe also divides the biographical sketches in the book with tales of his own coming of age and professional ups and downs, which are amusing and at times touching. Tony calls the book a pitch for a certain amused, easy way of looking at life, and a tale told by a smart, polished communicator who has figured out how to tug at your heartstrings and whack your funny bone without trying to stick a knife in your back in the process. Read the review here.
Tony Daniel’s reviews A State At Any Cost: The Life of David Ben Gurion by Tom Segev, translated by Haim Watzman, at the Federalist. Tony says the book supports an important political lesson from the twentieth century : nationalism, for all its flaws, helped humans survive what could have been a machine-age, science-based Armageddon, and socialism, for all its claims to virtue, nearly wiped out the human species.
The interview is here.
Tony Daniel says Deceiving the Sky, longtime U.S. national security reporter Bill Gertz’s book on mainland China’s aggression toward the U.S., is a helpful tonic to decades of wishful thinking regarding China by many in the West.
Read the review here.
Tony Daniel and Christopher Ruocchio edited science fiction anthology Star Destroyers is now out in mass market paperback format.
Get it here.
Tony Daniel details how the new book by former Yale Law School Dean Anthony Kronman, The Assault on American Excellence, bizarrely avoids placing the blame where it squarely belongs—our morally bankrupt educational systems.
Read the review here.
The press release is here.
The Dragon Hammer, Book 1 of Tony Daniel’s young adult high fantasy Wulf’s Saga series, is now available as an audiobook from Recorded Books. The Dragon Hammer is also available at Audible.com.
At Recorded Books:
At Audible:
Tony Daniel 