Father's Day Recommendations

You can feel it in the air, sure as longer days and the smell of barbecue: Father's Day is fast approaching. Avail yourself of questionable ties, a forth set of cuff links (does he even own a French-cuff shirt?), and misguided golfing accessories (it's an A.M. radio and a beer cozy golf bag clip-on!) — or, give dad something he might enjoy this year. Like an excuse to sit down, with a book. We recommend:

Arctic Circle
A memoir of travel and the natural world, author Robert Reid finally fulfills his life-long desire to visit the Arctic circle in his sixth decade. Donna Seaman at Booklist writes, “Because of heart-rending losses and tribulations, it took Reid many years to reach Alaska, and he now chronicles his bittersweet journeys in a meditative, affecting, and funny tale of adventure and revelation. . . Spectacular descriptions, charming wit, and forthright reflections on what makes a place sacred become striking testimony to the importance of the Arctic wild and the need to preserve it.”

The Likes of Us
This book collects work from Walker Evans in Louisiana and Alabama, Ben Shahn in West Virginia, Dorothea Lange in California, and others, and unites their photography with shooting scripts, letters, and other archival documents from that great New Deal program, the Farm Security Administration. What emerges, beyond the images themselves, is a complex and vital overview of the FSA at work; not just the work, but how the work evolved and matured. These photographs also present a reminder of the hardships our nation has faced before, and will overcome again. Fittingly, the book concludes with photographs of New Orleans, the only city photographed in depth by these FSA artists.