NYT Books

In “The Spinach King,” John Seabrook recounts how his grandfather turned a family farm into an industrial behemoth, and exposes the greed and malfeasance behind the prosperous facade.

Kevin Sack chronicles the Charleston, S.C., congregation that was the target of a brutal 2015 hate crime, and the church’s central role in the larger saga of the South.

In Austin Taylor’s novel “Notes on Infinity,” the speed of success prevents undergraduate founders from reflecting on, let alone fixing, an original sin.

In “I’ll Tell You When I’m Home,” the Palestinian American writer Hala Alyan draws on her life experiences and her family’s multiple displacements across generations.

“Is a River Alive?,” the new book by Robert Macfarlane, is gorgeously written but also windy and sentimental.

In “When It All Burns,” Jordan Thomas brings an anthropologist’s eye to the life-or-death struggle with fire.

In “Deep House,” Jeremy Atherton Lin uses the story of his own life as a catalyst for a kaleidoscopic survey of legal flash points regarding gay rights and immigration.

“The Listeners” follows a resort manager forced to shelter Axis diplomats, who threaten to disturb the magical springs that make the property a success.

“Flashlight,” by Susan Choi, spans several decades and nations to tell a story of exile in its multiple forms.

A new biography of the Republican legislator details his legal mind and his personal struggles.