books

E-books, as they say, are having a moment. Sales were up 16.5% for the first 10 months of 2020, according to the Association of American Publishers, and several months into the pandemic, e-book checkouts from libraries shot up more than 50%.

Ever heard of a local colony of settlers in Clermont County washed away and killed by the river, only to remain at that site in a new specter form?

If you've ever toyed with the notion of writing the next bestseller, now may be the time. The pandemic is ripe for inspiration, and now you finally have the time to hideaway for months typing on your laptop.

We are increasingly under surveillance in our society. Online, we willingly surrender our privacy, granting corporations and our government huge privileges over us. But in his new book, Life After Privacy, Firmin DeBrabander questions whether privacy is really so important to political liberty and asks, "if not with privacy, how else can we protect democracy?"

From the origins of Graeter's Ice Cream and the city's famed chili (and all its varieties), to some of our most acclaimed chefs and restaurants, a new book explores the history of food in Cincinnati.

Like the book that inspired it, the film version of J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy is drawing mixed reactions from people who grew up in the Appalachian community. For some local Appalachian authors, Vance's book and the movie are a damaging portrayal of a region and its people.

Kentucky politics is ripe with colorful figures and scandals from each period of its more than 200-year-old history.

A new Baldwin Wallace poll has President Donald Trump with a two-point lead over Joe Biden in Ohio, which is within the margin of error, making the state a toss-up in the presidential contest. Both candidates have been campaigning in Ohio, just as past presidential candidates have paid close attention to the Buckeye State as a key battleground.

Election Day is nearing. Here's one scenario that could play out: Just as Hillary Clinton did in 2016, Former Vice President Joe Biden wins the popular vote, but still fails to become the 46th president. That has happened two times in the past 20 years, due to the Electoral College.

Of all the seasons to go walking in Burnet Woods, Rama Kasturi most enjoys the winter. It's when the trees are bare, exposing the beauty of the forest, frozen rain covers the branches after a winter storm, and it's quiet with few people in the park. Kasturi explores the woods with her cell phone camera, snapping close-ups along the trail for her book, Four Seasons in Burnet Woods, a photo essay of the park.

What if there were one billion of us?

Writer and podcast host Matthew Yglesias suggests that that would be a positive development for the country in his new book One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger.

To Kill a Mockingbird has remained one of Americans' most beloved novels since its release in 1960, but its author, Harper Lee, produced only one other book, Go Set a Watchman, which was supposed to have been released after her death.

With the 2020 presidential election upon us, election scholars are now predicting several dire scenarios. Along with the threat of Russian hackers, some are now worried that should President Trump lose, he may refuse to concede. Legal scholar Richard Hasen points to four dangers threatening the voting process in 2020 in his book Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy.

On June 24, 1973, the patrons of the Up Stairs Lounge enjoyed an evening of socializing in a bar that was their refuge from anti-gay abuse. But that evening, a fire set on the steps leading up to the lounge, killed 32 people. The arson remains unsolved.

Former advisor to Hillary Clinton, Jennifer Palmieri writes for the Washington Post, "I am proud to declare that I have been a woman struggling to succeed in a man's world and even more proud to declare my independence from it." In her new book, She Proclaims: Our Declaration of Independence from a Man's World, Palmieri offers a manifesto for women seeking empowerment outside patriarchy.

Our friend and contributor David Delegator shares some of his pandemic reading list. Many of the books can be found at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

The Ohio River in the early and mid-19th century was a dangerous place, even for passengers among the ubiquitous steamboats.

Senator Mitch McConnell is one of the most powerful politicians in America and one of Kentucky's most consequential leaders sent to Washington, D.C. But the Republican majority leader is not the only Kentuckian to rise into significant power in the U.S. Congress's upper chamber.

Former Vice President Joe Biden is on the hunt for someone to fill the post he held for eight years under President Barack Obama. Biden already established that he will pick a woman as vice presidential nominee on the Democratic side of the 2020 presidential election.

But which woman?

And does it even matter?

A summer reading program in Richmond, Indiana, says it was able to reach nearly 80 children this summer despite limitations created by the coronavirus pandemic. Every Child Can Read's Third Grade Academy helps rising fourth graders improve their reading skills.

In the national conversation about race borne out of the uprisings against deadly police violence targeted at Black Americans, one particular book is getting renewed attention.

In recent years, Cincinnati has celebrated its lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community through parades, official resolutions, flags and legislation.

In David Pepper's third novel, The Voter File, foreign interference threatens our elections. Recently unemployed political reporter Jack Sharpe follows a lead about a special election in Wisconsin with a suspicious outcome and uncovers a plot to change the results of U.S. elections all over the country.

What is left to say about a woman who has faced endless scrutiny on the written page and the world's stage?

Richard Cordray was the nation's first director of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) when it was created a decade ago during the administration of President Barack Obama. 

Prohibition took away legal alcohol in America, but brought with it opportunity for clever criminals, including George Remus, who built his bourbon empire with feet on both sides of the Ohio River. He lived in a grand mansion in Price Hill, and later died in the care of a nurse in Covington.

Cincinnati Edition speaks with author Don Bentley about his new book, Without Sanction, and how his real life experiences flying Apache helicopters in Afghanistan, being awarded a Bronze Star, and working for FBI intelligence helped inspire the fictional story.

Cincinnati Edition speaks with New York Times bestselling author Adam Cohen about his new book, Supreme Inequality: The Supreme Court's Fifty-Year Battle for a More Unjust America, which explores how the court's rulings contributed to inequality in the U.S.