John McMurtrie

San Francisco

Nonfiction Editor at Kirkus Reviews

Nonfiction editor, @KirkusReviews. General editor of LITERARY JOURNEYS, published by @princetonupress.

Articles

Pride Month Reads: 5 New LGBTQ+ Nonfiction Books

1 month ago | kirkusreviews.com | John McMurtrie

Four months after it was founded in January 1871, the nation-state of Germany enacted Paragraph 175, which criminalized consensual sex between men; tens of thousands were prosecuted under the notorious law, which stayed on the books until 1994. Magnus Hirschfeld was 3 years old when Paragraph 175 took effect. Not long afterward, the boy knew he was different from many of his peers: He was attracted to other boys.
Bonnie Tsui Brings Brains to the Topic of Brawn

1 month ago | kirkusreviews.com | John McMurtrie

Bonnie Tsui has a commute—of sorts. Before dawn, five days a week, she leaves her house in Berkeley, in the San Francisco Bay Area, and drives for an hour to the seaside community of Pacifica. There, she dons a wetsuit, grabs her surfboard, and strides into the ocean as the sun is rising. It’s a ritual that has Tsui doing something she loves; she’s 48 and has been surfing for the past 18 years. As you might imagine, it also gives her a strenuous workout.
5 Essential New Books That Challenge Big Tech

1 month ago | kirkusreviews.com | John McMurtrie

“There is a large graveyard filled with my enemies.” In 2023, so boasted Elon Musk on X, the dumpster fire of a site that he had bought for $44 billion a year earlier. Fittingly, the line opens Faiz Siddiqui’s scathing portrait of the tech mogul, Hubris Maximus: The Shattering of Elon Musk (St. Martin’s, May 6).
6 Eye-Opening New Books on Power and Politics

2 months ago | kirkusreviews.com | John McMurtrie

Last year, the Washington Post published a popular series that celebrated public servants who accomplish great deeds for their fellow citizens—but do so out of the limelight, with little recognition. Edited by Michael Lewis, the series is now out as a book: Who Is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service (Riverhead, March 18).
Best of the Century: ‘Reading Lolita in Tehran’

Mar 29, 2025 | kirkusreviews.com | John McMurtrie

Reading Lolita in Tehran drew admirers around the world when it came out in 2003. A rousing account of young women secretly gathering to read Western classics—against the dictates of a repressive regime in Iran—the book was appealing to anyone who believed in the power of literature and the fundamental principle that anyone should have the right to access it.
Best of the Century: ‘Alexander Hamilton’

Mar 29, 2025 | kirkusreviews.com | John McMurtrie

Ron Chernow, who grew up in a middle-class neighborhood in Queens, bought a place last year in the Dakota, the storied Manhattan apartment building whose residents have included Lauren Bacall, Leonard Bernstein, and John Lennon. It’s safe to say that most people who live at the exclusive address have made their fortunes in fields more lucrative than historical authorship. But few historians are like Chernow. This year marks the 10th anniversary of that revolutionary work’s off-Broadway premiere.
IRON MAIDEN's BRUCE DICKINSON announces 'The Mandrake Project: Year One' graphic novel

Mar 27, 2025 | revolvermag.com | John McMurtrie

“It has long been obvious to me that comics and metal should be related,” Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson told Revolver in 2024, speaking about his solo album and comic-book series The Mandrake Project. Today (March 27th), the project continues with the announcement The Mandrake Project: Year One graphic novel, which collects the first four issues in the series, along with the prologue (previously only available in the vinyl release of Dickinson's “The Afterglow of Ragnarok” single).
5 Nonfiction Books To Make Your Reading Global

Mar 13, 2025 | kirkusreviews.com | John McMurtrie

Running a cemetery is perhaps not the most obvious route to becoming a bestselling author. But that’s exactly what happened to Benoît Gallot. The curator of Père-Lachaise, the famous cemetery in Paris, Gallot drew praise for his 2022 memoir, La vie secrète d’un cimetière; the book grew out of the buzz he generated in sharing photos of the burial ground during the quiet of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.
Women Are Making History in These Nonfiction Reads

Mar 8, 2025 | kirkusreviews.com | John McMurtrie

It takes initiative to research one’s roots. It takes far more drive—and outright courage—to challenge a world-renowned university to establish ownership of images documenting one’s ancestors.
How Flexible Crystals Are Able To Bend Without Breaking?

Feb 23, 2025 | bizzbuzz.news | Jack K. Clegg |John McMurtrie

The molecules and atoms don't strongly resist changes, making the crystal highly elastic despite its molecular structure which is typical of a regular, inflexible crystal. We could not have learned this with either of the traditional approaches for analysing elasticity We are all familiar with elastic materials – just think of a rubber band that can return to its original shape after being stretched. Humans have used elastic materials for millennia.