Washington Independent Review of Books

The Independent is a nonprofit platform focused on book reviews and discussions about the literary world. It is a passion project created by a dedicated group of writers and editors primarily based in the Washington, DC area, who are concerned about the decline of quality book reviews in major newspapers. We update our site daily with: - Insightful reviews of newly released books. - Special content, including interviews with prominent authors, essays on various literary themes, and other enjoyable reading-related articles we believe you'll love. - Information on literary events taking place in and around Washington, DC, including Baltimore.

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Of Novellas & Other Niches

1 week ago | washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com | Caroline Bock

Cue “Pomp and Circumstance”! Ready the tassels and caps! With graduation season underway, I thought it timely to speak with another student-run literary press, George Mason University’s Stillhouse Press.
Flight of the Wild Swan

1 week ago | washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com | Carrie Callaghan

When she is 7 years old, young Florence hears the piteous cries of an ensnared hare outside her wealthy family’s house. She disentangles the animal and finds herself deeply moved by the terror in its eyes, only to have the poor creature die, bloody, in her arms as she rushes home. Her family’s sensible housekeeper naturally serves the hare for dinner.
Eminent Jews: Bernstein, Brooks, Freidan, Mailer

2 weeks ago | washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com | Eugene Meyer

What does it mean in 2025 to be a Jew in America? It is sometimes to be demonized by the far right and the radical left. Or to be a pawn in the political wars, where antisemitism has become not so much anathema as, in the hands of demagogues, opposition to it has become a cynical tool, an excuse to achieve other ends — like withdrawing federal funds from universities or criminalizing free speech. But it wasn’t always so.
When the World Explodes: Essays

2 weeks ago | washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com | Alice Stephens

By the age of 7, Amy Lee Scott has experienced the loss of two mothers: one through adoption from South Korea to the United States, and the other to cancer. In her debut collection of essays, When the World Explodes, Scott sees the violence and disruption of her personal history reflected in global catastrophes. Adopted as an infant into a white family which eventually grew to include six children, the author writes, “My childhood was riddled with a series of disasters, natural and otherwise.
The Watermark: A Novel

3 weeks ago | washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com | Drew Gallagher

Once upon a time, a fairy princess named Taylor Swift held random drawings on a fan website, and a few lucky Swifties would be chosen and invited to meet with her in Nashville to listen to new songs. For those happy few, it was a magical trip to the chocolate factory without having to buy a candy bar. The concept behind The Watermark is similar: A reclusive Welsh author, Augustus Fate, invites fans Rachel and Jaime to an exclusive meeting at his cottage for talks, interviews, and a spot of tea.
The Franklin Stove: An Unintended American Revolution

3 weeks ago | washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com | Stephen Case

Benjamin Franklin’s “stoves” — meant for heating, not cooking — were heavy cast-iron contraptions about the “size of a side table,” writes Joyce E. Chaplin. Burning fewer logs than other devices, they boasted ingeniously located metal plates that channeled the fire to radiate more heat and expel smoke more efficiently than other woodstoves. Harvard history professor Chaplin, a superb scholar, has written in The Franklin Stovea reader-friendly, fact-packed, and meaty book.
The Maverick’s Museum: Albert Barnes and His American Dream

1 month ago | washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com | Blake Gopnik

“The Barnes.”The culturally literate — readers of the Independent, for example — command a range of stock phrases they can bandy about as needed: “white whale,” “theory of relativity,” “for whom the bell tolls.” And more likely than not (depending on age, reading habits, line of work, and degree of inebriation), they can also retrieve an associated tag: Moby-Dick or maybe even “obsessive pursuit,” etc. But much of the time, that’s probably the extent of it.
Fear No Pharaoh: American Jews, the Civil War, and the Fight to End Slavery

1 month ago | washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com | Eugene Meyer

Is it good for the Jews? The question, somewhat nervously asked by and among American Jews, is not just Borscht Belt shtick. It reflects the chronic insecurity of Jews in America. Even among those who are secular and assimilated, there is always an underlying fear of resurgent antisemitism unfairly triggered by stereotypes and unleased by external events beyond their control. The stresses posed by slavery and the Civil War were no different. Like other Americans, Jews on both sides held strong views.
Washington Independent Review of Books

1 month ago | washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com | Darrell Delamaide

The British are big on detective series, whether it’s television or books. There is the wonderful TV show “Shetland,” based on the book series by Ann Cleeves, but there’s also a raft of others. A recent find is the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths about a forensic archeologist in Norfolk, England, who heads the department at the fictional University of North Norfolk.
The Last American Road Trip: A Memoir

1 month ago | washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com | Sarah Kendzior

Sometimes, being a book reviewer feels like being an oracle. Advance copies of tomorrow’s ideas arrive in the mail, and the reviewer takes a guess at how readers will perceive them when they finally enter the world. Of course, this sounds a little self-important, as a survey from the National Endowment for the Arts showed that fewer than half of Americans read even one book in 2022.