New Releases

New Releases is a Substack where I review books written more than 50 years ago that have been published, or re-published, in the past year. This can mean re-issues of well-known classics, books from around the world newly translated into English, or newly discovered manuscripts from long ago.

I’m doing this because one of the most exciting literary trends I’ve seen in my life is the growth in publishers - both small presses, multinationals, and universities - making readily available brilliant books that had long been nearly impossible to obtain. I haven’t seen anyone regularly assess this trend, and I’m excited to do so.

Why 50 years? That has been, in my experience, the cut-off point from which I can be almost guaranteed that a book will be worth reading. That’s not to say that I’ll deploy universal praise on the books I cover in this newsletter - I will explore the flaws in even great works if I see them, and I will make it known if I believe a publisher has erred in its judgment of what books to bring back to the public.

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Reviews of recently re-published books first written 50+ (or so) years ago.

People

A writer in New York, author of the newsletter "New Releases."