Steffens strives mightily to balance the achievements of his subject with other aspects of Trump’s character, such as his “anti-intellectualism,” his “love of splendor and magnificence,” and the behavior that some label as that of “a schoolyard bully” (and others see as evidence of a “fighting spirit”). Steffens dates to 1987 Trump’s public declaration that tariffs burden foreign producers rather than U.S. consumers. Avoiding the word lie, he notes Trump’s predilection for “exaggeration,” and tactfully describes his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic as “unsteady.” He does repeatedly label as “false” Trump’s claims of a stolen 2020 election, however. The book acknowledges the economic successes of the first Trump years and covers his reshaping of the Supreme Court and support from working-class people. Major omissions include accusations of racism and the racial demographics of his supporters as well as his xenophobia, unpaid bills, bankruptcies, failed businesses, self-confessed and adjudicated sexual misconduct, and false claim that Ukraine started the war with Russia. Other overlooked topics—some perhaps due to timing—are Project 2025, DOGE’s failure at cost-cutting, and attacks on free speech, due process, education, and birthright citizenship. Nevertheless, there’s enough material here to spur readers to conduct their own investigations. Steffens won’t please everyone, but he aims for objectivity and sticks mostly to verifiable facts.

Born in St. Louis in 1941, McIntyre spent nearly two decades in the corporate trenches working for Procter & Gamble before branching out on his own for the next 30 years, founding a foodservice sales and marketing agency. In 2010, he was diagnosed with throat cancer and decided to sell his business while undergoing treatment. The story of four life-altering months in 2010, during which he transitioned into retirement while undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment, lie at the center of his first memoir, There Are No Answers Here, Only Questions (2023). In this follow-up, the author covers the next 14 years, from 2010-2024, as he recovered from cancer and forged a new life after retirement. Like many who leave their careers, he grappled with adjusting to a new life. “My company had been my ‘identity,’” he recalls, “But now, with my identity gone, who was I?” As detailed in the book, he ultimately found a new purpose through exercise and community service. Guided by the motto “poco a poco” (little by little), he rebuilt his physical health, first by walking in the backyard, then by traversing a parking lot to get to his car, and eventually by running short distances. Ultimately, he became an avid swimmer and cycler—until he met another setback when he was thrown from his bicycle after being struck by an inattentive driver and sustained a brain injury.

Embracing the Latin maxim Per Adversa Satisfactio Est (“satisfaction through adversity”), McIntyre is relentlessly optimistic, emphasizing how each setback led him to feel greater gratitude for his loved ones. He also found a new post-retirement identity in the act of giving back, working with Habitat for Humanity building houses in Charlotte, North Carolina, and El Salvador. The author’s Christian faith is recurring theme—the work contains multiple biblical references, though McIntyre never proselytizes. Indeed, he embraces a “faith that transcends faith,” emphasizing the “oneness of all things” that “binds us together.” While the text includes the occasional flashback to the author’s years in corporate America or his experiences as a fraternity brother at a small, liberal arts college, the memoir’s unique emphasis on McIntyre’s post-retirement life—with its humbling array of identity crises, health scares, and the author’s decision to move with his wife to a continuous care retirement community—makes the book stand out in a genre stereotypically defined by self-aggrandizement. McIntyre’s writing style blends poignant reflections with often humorous, self-deprecating anecdotes. While inside an MRI machine stripped down to his underwear with a traumatic brain injury, for instance, the author recalls utilizing one of his meditation practices in which he repeated “Gracias a Dios”(Thank God) while taking deep breaths; it was during this moment of Zen focus and gratitude that the medical technician told him to “stop it and breathe like a normal person.” Another chapter recalls his failed attempts at becoming a novelist: He put chapters of a lighthearted rom-com story on his blog until he realized “no one was reading it anymore.” These moments of humorous self-awareness, blended with the author’s emotional maturity, make for a sincere, engaging memoir.

Gallagher begins by quickly recapping football history: the National Football League’s first season in 1920, the growth in popularity of professional football starting in the 1940s, the first televised NFL championship in 1958, the founding of the American Football League in 1960, and the first AFL-NFL World Championship game, dubbed the “Super Bowl,” in 1967. The author rightly notes that more than half of the first 50 Super Bowls were anticlimactic “blowouts.” In the book he highlights games that turned out to be memorable contests, including the New York Jets’ surprise win in Super Bowl III (1969) and the Kansas City Chiefs’ 25-22 squeaker over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII (2024). In accessible prose, he offers accounts of each game’s progress in language that’s pitched to readers who are already at least moderately familiar with football rules and terms. Frequent text boxes add interesting background information: statistics, players from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or the lucrative (Taylor) “Swift Effect,” which has “increased the NFL’s brand value by over $330 million” since the singer started dating Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce. The color photos are too sparse to have much visual impact, but they do present glimpses of coaches and players in action.

Sheen’s introduction explains that despite historically having few rights or protections, women “have taken action to make the world a better place.” She tells the story of Yazidi sex trafficking survivor and human rights campaigner Nadia Murad, who won a Nobel Peace Prize. The following chapters each focus on one distinguished woman. Tech industry leader Sylvia Acevedo overcame racism, sexism, and family difficulties. She received a boost from the Girl Scouts (and later became their CEO), worked at NASA, and earned a master’s from Stanford, fulfilling a childhood dream. World and Olympic champion gymnast Simone Biles experienced family instability. She was diagnosed with ADHD, faced body shaming and racism, and worked through mental health challenges. Illinois senator Tammy Duckworth was born in Thailand; her father was an American serviceman. The family experienced financial struggles. Duckworth served in Iraq, where she lost her legs in combat, and she’s since dedicated her political career to improving people’s lives. As a child, singer and icon Taylor Swift endured bullying and ridicule for her musical pursuits but channeled these experiences into her songwriting. Today she’s a role model for her business skills, philanthropy, support of social causes, and kindness toward her fans. Sheen’s concise, engaging writing emphasizes the subjects’ success in overcoming struggles, offering encouragement and inspiration to readers.

The author became enthralled with woodpeckers at the tender age of 8 or 9 after spying one through his kitchen window; it’s a good bet that readers will grow equally enamored with the intriguing little creatures as well. That’s due to both Bannick’s encyclopedic knowledge of the birds and the often-lyrical prose he uses to describe them. “As the first golden rays of light splintered through bundles of needles on giant red-armored ponderosa pines in Washington’s Cascade Range, I began to hear a cacophonous mixture of shrieks, mewing, churrs, rattles, warbles, cackles, and chipping blended with loud, rhythmic drumming of various cadences and amplitudes,” he writes. The effect of such language is infectious and enough to send one off on a scouting expedition to see what might be uncovered in one’s own backyard. Woodpeckers can be found performing their indispensable handiwork from the Caribbean all the way to the Arctic; the author sets his sights on those living in North America over the course of a year. He calls them “tree doctor[s],” explaining that the birds are beneficial to humans as they control pests and shield trees from destructive budworms and the like. Woodpeckers also create and improve habitats by making sap available to migrating animals, dispersing seeds, and cultivating the soil with the wood chips they produce by hammering their impressive bills into hard tree bark. How do they do this and avoid causing severe harm to themselves? Bannick has the detailed answer to that question, as well as a treasure-trove of many others. The text is fascinating and a delight to read, supplemented by a generous amount of stunning close-up full-color photography by the author. Sadly, some of these marvelous birds are in trouble due to a variety of factors ranging from excessive timber harvesting to climate change—the author hopes that a greater appreciation for woodpeckers and an increased awareness about the perils they face will spur humans to come to their aid.