Top 10 Best Books Voted by New York Times

This is a slender book but delves deeply into a fascinating topic: war. Margaret MacMillan examines how war has impacted human society and in turn, how changes in political organization, technology, or ideology have influenced how and why we fight.

War explores controversial questions such as: When does war begin? Is human nature inherently violent, driving us to fight each other? Why is war described as the most organized of all human activities? Why are warriors almost always men? Is war ever within our control?

MacMillan argues that while war has led to some of humanity's greatest tragedies, it has also led to some of our greatest achievements. Drawing lessons from wars throughout human history, from ancient times to the present day, MacMillan reveals many facets of war—how it shapes our past, our future, our view of the world, and indeed our very sense of self.

James Shapiro, a true Shakespearean scholar with numerous research works on the legendary playwright. However, in his latest book Shakespeare in a Divided America, he ventures into new territory.

Throughout a story spanning centuries, from the revolutionary era to the present day, eminent scholar James Shapiro sheds light on the unparalleled role of Shakespeare's over 400-year-old tragedies and comedies in elucidating many concerns that have shaped America's identity.

Reflecting on how Shakespeare has been invoked and sometimes weaponized at pivotal moments in history, Shapiro takes us from President John Quincy Adams's repulsion of interracial marriage with Desdemona and Othello to Abraham Lincoln's and his assassin John Wilkes Booth's competing obsessions with Shakespearean plays, through heated debates about central themes like same-sex marriage and love in adaptations like Kiss Me, Kate and Shakespeare in Love.

His narrative reaches its climax in the 2017 controversy over the staging of Julius Caesar in Central Park, where a Trump-like leader is assassinated. It's fair to say the book is not just about Shakespeare and his plays; it's about the very history of the United States.

Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener recounts her journey from being an editor to stepping into the tech companies in Silicon Valley to reimagine a bygone era. Wiener's memoir offers a rare firsthand glimpse into the daring entrepreneurial culture at a time when ambition runs unchecked and political power rises.

Anna astutely maps the tech industry's shift from a self-appointed world savior to a legally perilous force undermining democracy, along with a personal narrative of ambition, surrounding atmosphere, and disillusionment.

Unrelenting and resolute, the Uncanny Valley is a vigilant tale and an unflinching interrogation of a world whose unintended consequences designers are only beginning to grasp. With candid yet fierce prose, Uncanny Valley serves as a warning for a future whose repercussions remain unforeseen.

Hidden Valley is the true story of an American family with twelve children, six of whom were diagnosed with schizophrenia. This family became the first to be studied by the American Mental Health Institute, hoping to provide scientific explanations for this phenomenon.

What unfolds inside the Hidden Valley home is truly extraordinary. Their story unveils a dark history of the science of schizophrenia, from the era of institutionalization, abdominal surgeries, and the mother inducing schizophrenia to the quest for genetic markers for this illness, perpetuating profound disagreements about its nature. And the Galvins remain unaware that their DNA samples have informed decades of genetic research, continuing to this day, offering methods for treatment, prediction, and even eradication of the illness for future generations.

With lucidity and compassion, bestselling and award-winning author Robert Kolker has unearthed the unforgettable legacy of a family about pain, love, and hope.

A Promised Land is a memoir by Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States from 2009 to 2017. Published on November 17, 2020, by the Crown Publishing Group, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House, in the United States and Viking, owned by Penguin Random House, in the United Kingdom, it is the first volume of a planned two-volume set.

Focusing on his political career, the president's memoir chronicles Obama's life from his early years through events surrounding the killing of Osama bin Laden in May 2011.

What sets Barack Obama's memoir apart from those of other presidents lies in the inner thoughts. Obama takes readers inside his mind as he deliberates on matters of national security, scrutinizing every detail in his decision-making process. He also describes the ordeal of navigating a fraught legislative system and offers his thoughts on healthcare reform as well as the economic crisis.

The book has received critical acclaim and has been featured on The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Guardian lists of the best books of the year. Commercially, it has been a resounding success and as of January 24, 2021, it has been the New York Times bestselling non-fiction book for eight consecutive weeks.

Homeland Elegies is a deeply personal yet politically charged work. It blends reality and imagination to tell an epic story of longing and usurpation in the wake of the 9/11 world. Part family drama, part social essay, part wilderness novel, its core revolves around the debate between an American son and an immigrant father about the country they both call home.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ayad Akhtar crafts a new narrative voice to grasp a nation where debt has wrecked countless lives and financial titans reign, where immigrants live in fear, and where the nation's unhealed wounds wreak havoc worldwide. Akhtar attempts to understand it all through the lens of a family tale, from a heartland town in America to opulent European suites to the probing of guerilla fighters in the Afghan mountains, sparing no one, least of all himself, in the process.

The New York Times lauds Homeland Elegies as a quintessentially American novel, echoing shades of The Great Gatsby with all its entanglements about the American landscape.

The Vanishing Half narrates the story of two identical twin sisters from a small town in the American South. However, one lives in a black community, while the other passes for white with a much wider world.

Brit Bennett masterfully constructs a tightly woven and nuanced plot to address the pressing issue of racial discrimination in America. Through this, each character gets a chance to reflect on their own identity and essence. Just like with her bestselling debut novel on The Mothers, Brit Bennett brings a captivating narrative about family and relationships, rich and provocative, tender and wise.

James McBride đã tái hiện lại Brooklyn vào những năm 1960 qua một tiểu thuyết trinh thám tội phạm nhiều tầng ý nghĩa. Một ông trùm ma túy đột ngột bị bắn chết dẫn đến cuộc điều tra trên diện rộng và mở ra một xã hội đầy hỗn loạn.

Vào tháng 9 năm 1969, một phó tế nhà thờ cũ lóng ngóng, cáu kỉnh được gọi là Sportcoat đi vào sân của dự án nhà ở Cause Houses ở phía nam Brooklyn, rút một khẩu từ trong túi của anh ta và trước mặt mọi người bắn ngay kẻ buôn ma túy của dự án. Lý do cho sự bùng nổ bạo lực tuyệt vọng này và hậu quả bắt nguồn từ Deacon King Kong , cuốn tiểu thuyết hài hước, cảm động của James McBride và là cuốn sách đầu tiên của ông kể từ khi ông đoạt Giải thưởng Sách Quốc gia The Good Lord Bird.

Trong Deacon King Kong, McBride mang đến cuộc sống sống động cho những người bị ảnh hưởng bởi vụ xả súng: nạn nhân, những cư dân Mỹ gốc Phi và Latinh đã chứng kiến vụ đó, những người hàng xóm da trắng, cảnh sát địa phương được giao nhiệm vụ điều tra, các thành viên của Nhà thờ Baptist Five Ends nơi Sportcoat làm phó tế, những tên cướp Ý của khu phố, và chính Sportcoat. Khi câu chuyện đi vào chiều sâu, rõ ràng là cuộc đời của các nhân vật bị cuốn vào vòng xoáy hỗn loạn của New York những năm 1960 chồng chéo lên nhau theo những cách không ngờ.

Khi sự thật lộ ra, McBride cho chúng ta thấy rằng không phải tất cả bí mật đều được che giấu, cách tốt nhất để trưởng thành là đối mặt với sự thay đổi mà không sợ hãi, hạt giống của tình yêu nằm trong hy vọng và lòng trắc ẩn. Mang đến những trang sách này với kỹ năng kể chuyện bậc thầy và niềm tin kiên định của mình vào nhân loại, James McBride đã viết một cuốn tiểu thuyết từng chút liên quan đến The Good Lord Bird và chân thực về mặt cảm xúc như Màu của nước . Được kể bằng cái nhìn sâu sắc và dí dỏm, Deacon King Kong thể hiện rằng tình yêu và niềm tin luôn sống trong tất cả chúng ta.

Hamnet narrates the story of Shakespeare's son based on real events. The book begins with the death of an 11-year-old boy and delves into the relationship between Hamnet, his mother Agnes, and his father, the renowned playwright William Shakespeare. It suggests that Hamnet may have been the inspiration for Shakespeare's famous play, Hamlet, later on.

The novel depicts the endless pain of a mother witnessing her son's departure from life without his father by his side. However, what sets the book apart is that throughout Hamnet, the name of the great playwright Shakespeare is not mentioned even once.

A Children’s Bible ranks among New York Times' top ten books of the year, offering an unforgettable novel about adolescent alienation and adult complacency in a bright world.

This outstanding novel by Lydia Millet was a Pulitzer Prize finalist – her first novel since winning the National Book Award for Young Lions.

Scorned by parents who have indulged in days of alcohol, drugs, and sex, the children feel abandoned and suffocated. When a devastating storm hits the summer compound, the group's leaders, including Eve, who narrates the story, decide to flee, leading the young on a perilous foray into the chaotic apocalypse outside.

As the scenes of destruction begin to mimic events in the dog-eared Bible carried by her beloved younger brother, Eve devotes herself to keeping him safe from harm.

A Children’s Bible is a prophetic, heartrending tale of generational divide and haunting visions. Through her gentle prose, Millet delivers an allegorical story of climate change, breathing new meaning into ancient myths, along with much hope.