Among the outstanding books featured in today's issue, we take a closer look at The Indian Card: Who Gets to Be Native in America by Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz, a wry, frank, and funny examination of Native American identity and public policy that blends history, social science, and memoir; as well as The Universe in Verse: 15 Portals to Wonder Through Science & Poetry by Maria Popova, a slim, luminous essay collection about scientists, their discoveries, and how the wonders therein can provide instruments for knowing the world more intimately and loving it more deeply. Plus, Jandy Nelson's new YA family saga, When the World Tips Over, is a sumptuous example of fabulim about a multi-generational family curse and a mysterious rainbow-haired stranger.
Meanwhile, acclaimed essayist Daniel Lavery brings his quick wit and thoughtful perspective to The Writer's Life, as he considers the memorable array of financially independent women who reside in the titular Women's Hotel of his first novel.