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T.E. Lawrence, the British officer who played a key role in the Middle East during World War I, served as one of that war's few romantic champions. Scott Anderson's Lawrence in Arabia explains how Lawrence used his knowledge of Arab culture and medieval history to advance British causes.

Ben Dolnick's coming-of-age tales themselves mature in the new At the Bottom of Everything, which chronicles a teenaged friendship that's faded after a terrible event. Reviewer Drew Toal says that despite some missteps, Dolnick has a strong sense of his characters and their shared trauma.

The Bone Season kicks off a new fantasy series about a clairvoyant girl in a future dystopia. Author Samantha Shannon was a student when she started writing — now, she's being touted as the next J. K. Rowling. And reviewer Jane Ciabattari says her work lives up to the hype.

Aimee Bender's new story collection, The Color Master, is full of fractured fairy tales that flavor everyday lives and neuroses with a liberal dash of magic. Reviewer Alan Cheuse says Bender's work is "akin to the best of Italo Calvino in its matter-of-fact treatment of the fantastic."

Mark Kurlansky's Ready for a Brand New Beat chronicles the spectacular success of the 1964 Motown hit "Dancing in the Street." Reviewer Cord Jefferson says that while much of the book feels like filler, it sings when Kurlansky examines all the controversy one song created.

Late lunches and literary rock stars: Such were the early days of publishing house Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Elissa Schappell says Boris Kachka's Hothouse (an expose of this cherished publisher) is a star-studded tell-all about the "good old, bad old days."

Japanese crime writer Natsuo Kirino's latest veers into myth and legend: The Goddess Chronicle retells Japan's creation story with a feminist perspective. Reviewer Annalisa Quinn says it's a dark and lovely tale, unfortunately marred by stiff, awkward writing.

Sheri Fink's Five Days At Memorial, describes the horrific conditions at a New Orleans hospital shortly after Hurricane Katrina. Facing floodwaters and corporate mismanagement, some staffers euthanized sick patients. Fink's judgment of those actions is admirably — and frustratingly — nuanced.

Back in the 1990s, Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff were tired of the super sweet iced teas available in stores. So they started their own company to cater to "more sophisticated, grown-up tastes." They chronicle their adventures and misadventures in a graphic novel called Mission In A Bottle.

In the early 1960s, psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted a controversial study in which participants were led to believe they were administering painful, high-voltage shocks to other subjects. Gina Perry, author of Behind the Shock Machine, says the study has "taken on a life of its own."