The Warlord's Son, by Dan Fesperman (Knopf). Dan Fesperman covered the war in Afghanistan for the Baltimore Sun, and out of that experience he has brought forth this terrific novel of intrigue, duplicity and death in the shadow of the Khyber Pass. -- PA
Who Slashed Celanire's Throat?, by Maryse Condé, translated from the French by Richard Philcox (Atria). The heroine is a black-skinned beauty with a pulsing scar that she keeps hidden beneath a choker or a scarf. Condé's opulent imagination, sublime prose and magical narratives light up Africa's past. -- Donna Bailey Nurse
With, by Donald Harington (Toby). Beautiful, blonde Robin Kerr is 7 1/2 when the novel opens. A recluse stalks and snatches her, installing her in a wonderland where she will begin her metamorphosis from spoiled city girl to nature goddess. As whimsical as a paper-doll show. -- Steven Moore
You Remind Me of Me, by Dan Chaon (Ballantine). Chaon chronicles the peculiar convergence of Nora's two sons, the one she raised and the one she gave up for adoption. . . . an apparently claustrophobic novel that feels paradoxically large, generous and, ultimately, quite moving. -- Tom Perrotta
NONFICTION
Against All Enemies, by Richard A. Clarke (Free Press). Beginning with the Reagan administration's support of the resistance to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Clarke shows how Washington's military and intelligence sachems consistently underestimated the threat that a growing global network of Islamic extremists posed to America's security. -- Chris Lehmann
Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow (Penguin). Brings to life the Founding Father who did more than any other to create the modern United States. . . . magisterial. -- Michael Lind
America the Vulnerable: How Our Government Is Failing to Protect Us from Terrorism, by Stephen Flynn (HarperCollins). Informed by analytical insight, real anecdotes, possible scenarios and hands-on experience. He has the courage -- rare among national-security experts -- to think large. -- John Tirman
American Mafia, by Thomas Reppetto (Henry Holt). We begin this sinister and bloody sewer tour toward the end of the next-to-last century, but it really gets interesting in the 1920s. Be prepared for a deluge of evil, and killers with nicknames like "The Enforcer" and "Cherry Nose." -- Robert Sherrill
The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin, by Gordon S. Wood (Penguin). Relies heavily -- though never heavy-handedly -- on psychology. . . . an exceptionally rich perspective on one of the most accomplished, complex and unpredictable Americans. -- Jonathan Yardley
Anatomy of Hope, by Jerome Groopman (Random House). Groopman became convinced of the centrality of hope to the process of recovery early on in his 30-year career treating disease. Marvelously written and backed, in the final chapter, by a highly readable dose of hard science. -- Judith Warner
Anthony Burgess, by Roger Lewis (Thomas Dunne). An extremely lively book, an avalanche of factual revelation, vitriolic wit and personal disappointment that buries poor Burgess and then posts a sign, Hic Jacet. -- Michael Dirda
Arts and Letters, by Edmund White (Cleis). Certainly, anyone who loves "arts and letters" even half as much as Edmund White will enjoy this fine collection by this admirable American writer. -- MD
The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter That Saved Western Civilization, by Barry Strauss (Simon & Schuster). A clear and fascinating account, made easy to follow by his sketch-maps, of the maneuvers that led up to the battle. -- Bernard Knox
Blue Blood, by Edward Conlon (Riverhead). Conlon is a cop's cop, and his book, a dazzling epic of street life and rough camaraderie, is far more rewarding than any disgruntled Serpico-style tell-all could ever be. -- Zac Unger
Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin, by Marion Meade (Doubleday). Shows why so many young Americans after the '20s wanted to grow up to be writers. Free love! Staying up late! Dancing and drinking! Dorothy Parker, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Edna Ferber and Zelda Fitzgerald are visited once again, with wonderful results. -- Carolyn See
Cary Grant, by Marc Eliot (Harmony). So how did a poor Bristol boy named Archie Leach acquire the spit and polish and know-how of a toff? A portrait that shows the dark shadows behind the gleaming façade. -- Molly Haskell
Chronicles: Volume One, by Bob Dylan (S&S). The work of a masterful essayist. We knew Dylan could write; we simply didn't know that he could write so well, or that the professional curmudgeon could revisit his back pages with such warmth, compassion and insight. -- Richard Harrington
The Cyanide Canary, by Joseph Hilldorfer and Robert Dugone (Free Press). This story of industrial crime and punishment on a minuscule scale was so unattractively packaged that I avoided reading it for review until the very last second. Once I opened it I literally couldn't put it down. -- CS
Death of Innocence, by Mamie Till-Mobley and Christopher Benson (RH). By the mother of 14-year-old Emmett Till, murdered by two white citizens of Tallahatchie County, Miss., in 1955. Beautifully and simply written -- as eloquent as the diary of Anne Frank. -- Gail Buckley
Exuberance: The Passion for Life, by Kay Redfield Jamison (Knopf). For Jamison, the origins and mystery of creativity have long been her holy grail, and she argues -- with her usual wit, ingenuity and panache -- that exuberance is one of its wellsprings. -- Nancy Schoenberger
The Fall of Baghdad, by Jon Lee Anderson (Penguin). Artfully captures the often surprising ambiguity and complexity in human relationships between Iraqi civilians and Americans in Iraq. Never before have we seen Iraq from this perspective and in such depth. -- John Whiteclay Chambers
The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary, by Robert Alter (Norton). Thrilling and constantly illuminating: After the still, small voices of so many tepid modern translations, here is a whirlwind. -- MD
Flesh in the Age of Reason, by Roy Porter (Norton). A work of entertaining yet authoritative history and a brilliantly compact precis of philosophical thought in Britain from the Renaissance to the 19th century. -- MD
For the Survival of Democracy: Franklin Roosevelt and the World Crisis of the 1930s, by Alonzo L. Hamby (Free Press). A useful refresher course on the global prologue to the war. A concise intellectual history of popular political thinking in the '30s. -- Jon Meacham
Freedom Just Around the Corner: A New American History, 1585-1828, by Walter A. McDougall (HarperCollins). You can read any five pages of this book and feel that you are encountering the American story through fresh eyes. -- Michael Beschloss
The Freedom Line: The Brave Men and Women Who Rescued Allied Airmen from the Nazis During World War II, by Peter Eisner (Morrow). Exciting and highly readable. He writes with an eye for characterization and vivid detail. -- John Whiteclay Chambers II
Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism, by Susan Jacoby (Metropolitan). The great virtue of this book is that it succeeds so well in its original intent: showing that secularism, agnosticism and atheism are as American as cherry pie. -- Christopher Hitchens
George Balanchine, by Robert Gottlieb (HC). Gottlieb saw his first performance of a Balanchine ballet in 1948. He watched it all unfold. This personal view lends an elegance to his book. . . . graceful. -- Laura Jacobs
Ghost Wars, by Steve Coll (Penguin). A long -- and long overdue -- look at the peaks and valleys of the CIA's presence in Afghanistan throughout the decades. . . . a well-written, authoritative, high-altitude drama with a cast of few heroes, many villains, bags of cash and a tragic ending. -- James Bamford
