Alta’s Top Book Reviews of 2020
New books from Mike Davis and Jon Wiener, Lynell George, Juan Felipe Herrera, Laila Lalami, Felicia Luna Lemus, Attica Locke, Roberto Lovato, Kay Ryan, Rebecca Solnit, and Tom Zoellner captured the hearts of our critics.
Alta books editor David L. Ulin selects his favorite print and online reviews of the past year.
Highway 59 Revisited
Attica Locke’s new mystery offers a consequential commentary on contemporary politics.
The Art of Rebecca Solnit’s Essay
What makes Rebecca Solnit’s essays so popular? That they’re probably so right. And that’s a problem.
A Poet in Her Element
With the essays in Synthesizing Gravity, Kay Ryan pulls back the covers on her verse.
True Stories of L.A. in the 1960s
Mike Davis and Jon Wiener revisit the turbulence of Los Angeles in the 1960s—and come correct.
The Book of Love
Felicia Luna Lemus’s Particulate Matter is a memoir of intimacy and grace.
The Wounds of History
Roberto Lovato’s Unforgetting chronicles public and private wars.
Drive, He Said
Tom Zoellner’s The National Road seeks to take the measure of America.
The Better Angels of His Nature
In Every Day We Get More Illegal, Juan Felipe Herrera doubles down on hope.
Kindred Spirits
Lynell George channels Octavia E. Butler in A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky.
Beth Spotswood is Alta's special projects director. In addition to her work for Alta, Spotswood has contributed to 7x7 Magazine, San Francisco Magazine, Discovery Channel, Slow News Day, KGO Radio, SFist and the San Francisco Chronicle, where she had her own weekly column in the Thursday edition of the newspaper. Spotswood's work in Alta has been recognized by the San Francisco Press Club, Los Angeles Press Club, and the FOLIO Awards.
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