Magazines covering non-fiction books?

July 8, 2007 9:37 AM

What magazines are devoted to reviewing non-fiction books?

I subscribe to The Economist, and my favorite section is Books and Arts where they review new non-fiction books. Are there any other magazines or websites that would have a similar, concise look at what's new in non-fiction?

posted by pb to media & arts (8 comments total)

American Scientist (not to be confused with Scientific American) reviews lots of science books.
posted by neuron at 10:12 AM on July 8, 2007

The New York Review of Books has reviews of both fiction and non-fiction. Same goes for The London Review of Books.
posted by CKZ at 10:12 AM on July 8, 2007

See also Bookforum.
posted by CKZ at 10:14 AM on July 8, 2007

It's really a matter of taste, since any single publication's reviews section is is only a "concise look" at a very sharp skinny pie slice of the market. The London Review of Books, The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, Dissent, The Boston Review, and Foreign Affairs are some of the places where I find nonfiction reviews that interest me. If you're really a glutton for nonfiction book reviews you can graduate to the big social science journals like American Historical Review, American Political Science Review, and so on.

You can also approach this question scientifically: Make a list of the ten nonfiction books that most interested you in the last ten years and look them up in Book Review Index to see what magazines reviewed them.
posted by gum at 10:17 AM on July 8, 2007

TNR (mostly nonfiction)

Foreign Affairs
posted by jejune at 10:17 AM on July 8, 2007

The guardian review on Saturdays is always pretty good as well. I find it interesting even if you don't actually read the books.

See here for a sample
posted by cgfoz at 10:24 AM on July 8, 2007

Booklist has an online archive. Just look under 'adult books'. Unfortunately, the service requires a subscription, but they let you try it out for free.
posted by B-squared at 12:56 PM on July 8, 2007

Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly, New York Times Book Review, Library Journal offer concise reviews. New York Review, London Review, TNR are not concise.
posted by HotPatatta at 1:14 PM on July 8, 2007