Historian Marion Gibson paints a vivid picture of the cultural hysteria and brutal violence of 17th-century British witch hunts in Witchland.

In charting the exploitation of Kenya’s agricultural lands, the documentary Kikuyu Land “suggests that ordinary consumers take a cold hard look at where their product comes from.” 

Not quite biography, not quite memoir, not quite literary criticism, Emily Ogden’s Darkness Becomes Bright amounts to “an impassioned defense” of Edgar Allan Poe.

Simon Sebag Montefiore’s The Cauldron is “a triumph of blood-and-thunder narrative history” that makes the case for the Middle East’s enduring geopolitical relevance.

Eternal (Live) is the newly released compilation of Joy Division’s live sets that led Pitchfork to question the band’s “dour reputation.”

Journalist Evan Gershkovich’s memoir, This Cursed Beautiful Land, is “a scan of Russia’s soul” that recounts the time he spent in Moscow’s infamous Lefortovo prison.