Battle of the Beach

From Leisure & Arts

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  The Wizard of Houston Street

  Thomas Edison's rival Nikola Tesla was a visionary and dreamer in equal measure. Philip Ball reviews W. Bernard Carlson's "Tesla."

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  E-Reading: Triple-Speak

  How progressives, conservatives and libertarians talk past one another. Barton Swaim reviews Arnold Kling's e-book "The Three Languages of Politics."

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  A Bend in the River

  How a medium-size Midwestern city erected one of the most remarkable monuments on the planet. Mark Lasswell reviews Tracy Campbell's "The Gateway Arch."

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  Mystery Chronicle: Sometimes There's No Escape

  An Oslo-based thriller in which one man's savior is another man's avenger and yet another man's hired assassin. Tom Nolan reviews Jo Nesbo's "The Redeemer," A.X. Ahmad's "The Caretaker" and Charles McCarry's "The Shanghai Factor."

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  Fragments of War

  A memoir of the traumatic chaos of World War II by the late author of "Birdy." Joanna Scutts reviews William Wharton's "Shrapnel."

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  The War Both Sides Wanted

  No account of the Civil War's causes should omit a pertinent fact: The North and South could hardly wait to tear each other's guts out. Andrew Roberts reviews Thomas Fleming's "A Disease in the Public Mind."

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  A Hand Over the Waters

  The Southern segregationist, landlubber and "near-pacifist" who helped transform America's Navy. Robert K. Landers reviews Lee A. Craig's "Josephus Daniels: His Life and Times."

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  Cockpit of the West

  The ceaseless efforts by European nations to dominate their rivals shaped the modern world. Jeffrey Collins reviews Brendan Simms's "Europe."

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  When Stormtroopers Wore Brown

  Politics is bad for business, and that's why studio heads of the 1930s treated European fascists with kids gloves. Christopher Bray reviews Thomas Doherty's "Hollywood and Hitler, 1933-39."

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  cc: posterity

  In the age of e-mail, serious letter-writing may be considered a conscious act
  of cultural contrarianism. D.J. Taylor reviews "Distant Intimacy" by Frederic Raphael and Joseph Epstein and "Here and Now" by Paul Auster and J.M. Coetzee.

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  China's First Modern

  Lu Xun was his country's foremost revolutionary in literature, if not always in politics. Julia Lovell reviews Gloria Davies's "Lu Xun's Revolution."

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  Photo-Op: Glory on Ice

  On the 60th anniversary of the climbing of Mount Everest, never-before-seen photographs from the victorious expedition. A photographic review of George Lowe and Huw Lewis-Jones's "The Conquest of Everest."

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  Out of the Shadowlands

  A new biography of the creator of Narnia offers a fuller portrait of his spiritual life. Tom Shippey reviews Alister McGrath's "C.S. Lewis."

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  Win, Place and Shows

  How not to win a Tony Award for Best Musical. Ethan Mordden reviews Peter Filichia's "Strippers, Showgirls and Sharks."

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  In Brief: Memoir

  An illustrated chronicle of mourning from David Foster Wallace's widow. Martin Riker reviews Karen Green's "Bough Down."

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  Life and Death and Texas

  A grand saga of a family whose rise mirrors that of their home state. Sam Sacks reviews Philipp Meyer's "The Son," Joan Silber's "Fools" and J.M. Ledgard's "Submergence."

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  The Horse That Birthed the Beatles

  The Thoroughbred that links the Aga Khan, an heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune and the mother of the Beatles' first drummer. Maryjean Wall reviews James C. Nicholson's "Never Say Die."

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  Children's Books: Tales of Mystery and Adventure

  Three young-adult books centered on the idea of secrets and discoveries. Meghan Cox Gurdon reviews Phoebe Stone's "Romeo Blue," Meg McKinley's "Below" and Ned Vizzini and Chris Columbus's "House of Secrets," plus a reissue of Palmer Brown's "Hickory."

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  The Original King of Comedy

  Flip Wilson, with his drag alter ego Geraldine, was the first black television superstar. Preston Lauterbach reviews Kevin Cook's "Flip."

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  In Brief: Gastronomy

  A guide to the sauce arsenal of French cuisine and a memoir of baking one's way through depression. Aram Bakshian Jr. reviews Holly Herrick's "The French Cook: Sauces" and Marian Keyes's "Saved by Cake."

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  To the Racket Born

  Like his tennis game, Jimmy Connors's memoir is full of energy and focused force, if not finesse. Edward Kosner reviews "The Outsider."

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  The Alchemy of Smoke and Meat

  A road-trip guide to the temples of Texas barbecue. Travis Waddington reviews Daniel Vaughn's "The Prophets of Smoked Meat."

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  The Race Behind the Races

  Oracle CEO Larry Ellison teamed up with a radiator repairman to win the America's Cup. Angus Phillips reviews Julian Guthrie's "The Billionaire and the Mechanic."

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  Learning the Ropes

  A legendary tightrope-walker explains the joys and intricacies of ropy entanglements. G. Bruce Knecht reviews Philippe Petit's "Why Knot?"

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  Five Best: Joshua Henkin

  The author of, most recently, the novel "The World Without You" recommends portraits of grief.