Books Update: 'The Better Angels of Our Nature'

On the Cover of Sunday's Book Review from New York Tines

'The Better Angels of Our Nature'

By STEVEN PINKER
Reviewed by PETER SINGER

In his new book, Steven Pinker's central thesis is that our current era is less violent, less cruel and more peaceful than any previous period of human existence.

•  Excerpt: 'The Better Angels of Our Nature'

•  Up Front: Helen Schulman

'Knocking on Heaven's Door'

By LISA RANDALL
Reviewed by JIM HOLT

Developments in physics have the potential to radically change our understanding of the world.

'Lucky Bruce'

By BRUCE JAY FRIEDMAN
Reviewed by JOHN LELAND

Bruce Jay Friedman - writer, editor, actor - reflects on an era.

'A Thousand Lives'

By JULIA SCHEERES
Reviewed by ALAN RIDING

Julia Scheeres follows the experiences of five Peoples Temple members who went to Jonestown.

'Boundaries'

By ELIZABETH NUNEZ
Reviewed by ZOE SLUTZKY

In this novel, an editor from the Caribbean makes a life in Manhattan.

'Luminous Airplanes'

By PAUL LA FARGE
Reviewed by KATHRYN SCHULZ

In this novel, a programmer unmoored by the death of his grandfather returns to the town where he spent childhood summers.

'Elizabeth and Hazel'

By DAVID MARGOLICK
Reviewed by AMY FINNERTY

Two of the figures in a famous photograph come to complicated life.

'Lennon'

By TIM RILEY
Reviewed by JAMES PARKER

A biographer tries to make sense of John Lennon's pain.

'River Of Smoke'

By AMITAV GHOSH
Reviewed by CHANDRAHAS CHOUDHURY

This sequel to "Sea of Poppies" unfolds in the Chinese trading outpost of Canton.

'Alibis: Essays on Elsewhere'

By ANDRE ACIMAN
Reviewed by TEJU COLE

The scent of lavender is André Aciman's madeleine, connecting him with the past.

'Death in the City of Light'

By DAVID KING
Reviewed by GENE SANTORO

A crime history of Marcel Petiot, a serial killer in Nazi-occupied Paris.

'Grand Pursuit'

By SYLVIA NASAR
Reviewed by JUSTIN FOX

Sylvia Nasar traces the evolution of modern economic thought, from John Maynard Keynes to Amartya Sen.

'The Matter With Morris'

By DAVID BERGEN
Reviewed by POLLY MORRICE

A newspaper columnist and grieving father turns to letter writing in this novel.

'The Reactionary Mind'

By COREY ROBIN
Reviewed by SHERI BERMAN

Conservatism at its core, this book argues, is about subjugating the lower orders.

'The Night Circus'

By ERIN MORGENSTERN
Reviewed by STACEY D'ERASMO

In Erin Morgenstern's historical novel, two lovestruck magicians are engaged in a battle of imagination and will.

•  Excerpt: 'The Night Circus'

'You Are an Ironman'

By JACQUES STEINBERG
Reviewed by JAY JENNINGS

Jacques Steinberg profiles six everyday athletes and their attempts to complete an Ironman triathlon.

'A Small Hotel'

By ROBERT OLEN BUTLER
Reviewed by JOANNA SMITH RAKOFF

Instead of signing her divorce papers, a woman checks into the New Orleans hotel "thick with the ghosts" of her marriage.

'Political Evil'

By ALAN WOLFE
Reviewed by JONATHAN RAUCH

Moralizing is not the best way of dealing with political evil, Alan Wolfe writes.

'Your Medical Mind'

By JEROME GROOPMAN AND PAMELA HARTZBAND
Reviewed by DANIEL J. LEVITIN

The decisions we make as patients have a lot to do with our personal histories.

'Letters From an Unknown Woman'

By GERARD WOODWARD
Reviewed by JINCY WILLETT

A World War II British family deals with its privations in unsettling ways.