This Month

This month we recommend books about exceptional individuals and singular subjects. Aleksandar Hemon delves self-consciously into Eastern Europe, Richard Price takes a cross section of New York's Lower East Side, and Jennifer 8. Lee offers a time-lapse snapshot of American Chinese food. We also interview A.M. Homes about her recent memoir, which takes a hard look at the biological parents who gave her up for adoption. We close with an appreciation of Studs Terkel, the legendary oral historian. Portraits can be loving, incisive, comprehensive, or critical — the best ones manage to be all of those things at once.