John Leonard

Book Critic John Leonard will review Beloved, the new novel by Toni Morrison, the author of Tar Baby and Song of Solomon, winner of the 1978 Book Critics Circle Award for fiction.

Fresh Air book critic John Leonard reviews a new book by Robin W. Winks, which tells the story of the OSS and CIA's recruitment of scholars at Yale University.

The Nobel Prize-winning author condensed 600 pages of notes into a slim biography of filmmaker Miguel Littin, who traveled throughout Chile to salvage footage of life under Augusto Pinochet. Book critic John Leonard says LIttin is lucky to be the subject of Garcia Marquez's "magic" writing.

Bruce Duffy substantial debut novel is about the real-life philosopher, who wrote little about his own life. Book critic John Leonard says it's astonishing--and never reductive.

Book critic John Leonard says that Robert Stuart Nathan's new mystery book, The White Tiger, features a memorable portrayal of Beijing, and makes for fine summer reading.

Book critic John Leonard says that all of Gunter Grass's work can be seen as a sometimes fanciful examination of his country's brutal history. Case in point: Grass's new book, The Rat, is a science fiction-inspired novel about the end of the world.

Book critic John Leonard says many of the conclusions about indigenous culture in Bruce Chatwin's The Songlines are wishful thinking. But that doesn't mean the book isn't a great read.

Book critic John Leonard recommends Wilfrid Sheed's new novel The Boys of Winter. Set in the Hamptons, in questions the nature of authorship, narrative, and creativity.

Book critic John Leonard says that the collected letters of humorist S.J. Perelman reveal a surprising amount of vitriol directed toward a number of notable film and literary figures. But it's not all doom and gloom.

Book critic John Leonard says that Annie Cohen-Solal's examination of the philosopher's life is both thoughtful and exhaustive. Ronald Hayman, on the other hand, seeks to tear down the French writer, to unclear ends.