Now Read This: The Week’s Best New Books, March 18th Edition

X vs. Y: A Culture War, a Love Story
(Abrams image, paperback, $19)
By Eve Epstein and Leonora Epstein
Siblings Eve and Leonora Epstein tackle the differences between the X and Y (Millenial) generations in this anthology of essays and images, covering everything from music and fashion to sex and dating. Eve (Y) Epstein’s writing has appeared in Vanity Fair and Glamour, while Leonora (X) Epstein is an editor at Buzzfeed.com.
Out: March 18

The Bohemians: Mark Twain and the San Francisco Writers Who Reinvented American Literature
(Penguin Press HC, hardcover, $28)
By Ben Tarnoff
San Francisco-born Tarnoff documents the rise of a distinctly American literature through the stories of four western writers and poets: Mark Twain, Bret Harte, Charles Warren Stoddard, and Ina Coolbrith. Tarnoff argues that these authors began to break from the English literary tradition prevalent in the eastern United States, reinforcing Ernest Hemingway’s claim that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was the first work of American literature.
Out: March 20

Freezing People Is (Not) Easy: My Adventures in Cryonics
(Lyons Press, hardcover, $26)
By Bob Nelson, with Kenneth Bly and Sally Magaña
Nelson was working as a television repairman when he learned of cryogenic freezing. He would later become founder and President of the Cryonics Society of California. He later froze the first human.
Out: March 18

Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller’s Tragic Quest for Primitive Art
(William Morrow, hardcover, $27)
By Carl Hoffman
Michael Rockefeller disappeared while on an expedition in New Guinea during the 1960s. Rockefeller’s body was never found, and the fact that he was kin to one of the most powerful families in American history seemed to matter little—the truth of his disappearance was dubbed unattainable. 50 years later, Veteran journalist Hoffman decided to revisit the story and seek the truth on his own, an adventure that brought him through history and to the island that claimed Rockefeller’s life.
Out: March 18

The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words 1000 BC-1492 AD
(Ecco, hardcover, $40)
By Simon Schama
Schama, a professor of history at Columbia University, narrates 2,500 years of Jewish history, from tribal beginnings in arid hill country to the state of the Jewish community by the time Columbus stumbled upon the Americas. Far from taking a pinhole view of one people throughout history, the book highlights the ways Jews have shaped and been shaped by encounters with foreign cultures.
Out: March 18