Frank Bruni

"An examination of the ways in which grievance has come to define our current culture and politics, on both the right and left. More and more Americans are convinced that they're losing because somebody else is winning. More and more tally their slights, measure their misfortune, and assign particular people responsibility for it. The blame game has become very popular. Grievance needn't be bad. But what happens when people take their grievances to...

Over the last few decades, Americans have turned college admissions into a terrifying and occasionally devastating process, preceded by test prep, tutors, all sorts of stratagems, all kinds of rankings, and a conviction among too many young people that their futures will be determined and their worth established by which schools say yes and which say no. That belief is wrong. It's cruel. And in this book, Frank Bruni explains why, giving students...

A matter of taste takes an intimate look inside the world of an immensely talented and driven young chef, Paul Liebrandt. At 24, he was awarded three stars by The New York Times for unforgettable and hyper-modern dishes such as "eel, violets and chocolate," "espuma of calf brains and foie gras," and "beer and truffle soup." Times critic William Grimes likened Paul to "a pianist who seems to have found a couple of dozen extra keys." Conversely, Gourmet...