The Liberation of Lord Byron Jones

This mid-60s novel by Jesse Hill Ford will be in the running for my best book read in 2023. It is a racial story loaded with vivid and believable characters, and it pulls no punches in finding fault in all concerned.

Chain-Gang All-Stars

This is a novel set in the near future in which prisoners battle each other to the death in a televised gladiatorial spectacle. It puts one in mind of dystopian films like Rollerball or The Running Man, and I'm guessing it was written with an eye to the film rights. The characters don't convince, however.

The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece

Tom Hanks' first time out as a novelist is a qualified success. His writing style is no worse than Stephen King's, and this book has the advantage of giving the reader a step-by-step behind-the-scenes account of how movies are made. 

Poverty, by America

Matthew Desmond makes a strong case for the proposition that poverty exists in America because most Americans are comfortable with it. He marshals figures showing how the poor are taxed more heavily than the rich, how banks take advantage of the poor, and why poverty programs are undersubscribed (hint: that's how we the people want it).

Ignorance: A Global History

 Peter Burke's survey of ignorance reveals where it can be helpful as well as harmful. 

Incident at Vichy

Arthur Miller's one-act play is especially relevant today, a time of rising fascism. Every citizen must stand and be counted.

The Pornography Wars

Kelsy Burke's history of porn is evenhanded to a fault and gives good historical context for the current debate on sex workers and exploitation.

Getting Past the Past

While it is much too vaporous in many spots, this account by Lewis Hyde of the uses of forgetting nevertheless makes a strong case for why it's often best to just let things go.

Conquest of the Useless

Werner Herzog's diaries of his making of Fitzcarraldo provide a vivid picture of the monomania of the film director.

Unscripted

Unscripted tells the tawdry tale of Sumner Redstone and Les Moonves. Redstone was virtually held captive by sleazy gold-diggers as he approached death, and Moonves is revealed as a sick, slick pig. 

Monster

Subtitled "Living Off the Big Screen," this account by John Gregory Dunne tells the fascinating and labyrinthine tale of how the film Up Close and Personal got made – after many years, dozens of rewrites, and financial shenanigans by the studios. What started out as a biopic of doomed anchorwoman Jessica Savitch became something else entirely as executives waffled, demanded rewrites, and lied. That the film was made at all seems a miracle after reading this account.

The Big Myth

The myth of the title of this historical account by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway is the idea that government does nothing well and private industry does everything well. In addition, the authors give a well-deserved thrashing to the idea that the "free market" has flourished without government help. The Big Myth provides a detailed and at times numbingly dense narrative of how the American public has been hoodwinked by PR into believing a set of facts that are opposed to their own self-interests. And the campaign began decades before Reagan set the myth into stone.