A funny and engaging look at American dog culture.
A humorist comments on contemporary American life as seen through the eyes of canines.
“When I first arrived in the United States,” writes Okine, “I expected culture shocks…What I didn’t expect was the dogs.” From rural to urban America, East Coast to West Coast, dogs are a ubiquitous aspect of life in the U.S.A.; our furry companions often live lives of luxury as they are carted around in strollers, travel on flights, wear customized accessories and clothing, and have access to a myriad of organic food options. Checking in with a range of pooches from fun-loving surfing dogs in California to stern law-enforcement canines in Wyoming, this book takes a humorous look at America’s obsession with man’s best friend. Taking readers on an alphabetically organized tour of all 50 states (plus Washington, D.C.), the author devotes a chapter to each and revels in the absurdity of American dog culture. In Colorado’s outdoorsy society, for instance, Okine came across dozens of dogs on a hiking trail “bounding from boulder to boulder with the confidence of tiny sherpas.” In a genteel boutique in downtown Savannah, Georgia, the author recalls a spaniel who only drank chilled cucumber water, and in North Carolina, he encountered a beagle who joined a statewide debate on barbeque. At the Kentucky Derby, the author found a myriad of dogs in sunglasses, seersucker suits, rose garlands, and miniature hats, often coordinated to match the outfits of their owners.
While the book’s anecdotes poke fun at America’s devotion to dogs, Okine astutely notes that the power of his stories lies in what they reveal about us as a nation—“about how we live, how we care, and who we let get comfy on the couch.” Each chapter features a vignette about a specific dog in each state and concludes with a section titled “What This Says About America.” In Alabama, for example, the author writes about the proclivity of dogs to ride shotgun in pickup trucks with their heads out the window. This is, to Okine, a “statement of values,” as it evokes the South’s emphasis on kinship and loyalty (“dogs here are as much a part of the family as the Sunday casserole recipe”) as well as an affirmation of personal freedom that eschews seatbelts as the pups “stick their head[s] out the window with no apologies.” The book gently teases Americans, but it is all in good fun, and the author is never mean-spirited (though maintaining this tone leads him to gloss over serious, systemic issues of class and race that divide Americans). Okine, whose previous book took readers on a tour of the food and grocery-store mores of all 50 states, has an admirable grasp on the subtle nuances that define each state’s unique culture. The author alludes to his birth outside of the U.S., but his country of origin is never mentioned in the text—a deeper discussion of the contrasts between American dog culture and those of other countries around the globe (including Okine’s own) might have further underscored (particularly for American readers) the ridiculously elevated status of dogs in the U.S. Still, the engaging narrative more than accomplishes its goal of taking readers on a diverting and amusing canine-themed tour of America, “One state at a time, one bark at a time.”
A funny and engaging look at American dog culture.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 181
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A dauntless, moving account of a kidnapping and the horrors that followed.
Enduring the unthinkable.
This memoir—the first by an Israeli taken captive by Hamas on October 7, 2023—chronicles the 491 days the author was held in Gaza. Confined to tunnels beneath war-ravaged streets, Sharabi was beaten, humiliated, and underfed. When he was finally released in February, he learned that Hamas had murdered his wife and two daughters. In the face of scarcely imaginable loss, Sharabi has crafted a potent record of his will to survive. The author’s ordeal began when Hamas fighters dragged him from his home, in a kibbutz near Gaza. Alongside others, he was held for months at a time in filthy subterranean spaces. He catalogs sensory assaults with novelistic specificity. Iron shackles grip his ankles. Broken toilets produce an “unbearable stink,” and “tiny white worms” swarm his toothbrush. He gets one meal a day, his “belly caving inward.” Desperate for more food, he stages a fainting episode, using a shaving razor to “slice a deep gash into my eyebrow.” Captors share their sweets while celebrating an Iranian missile attack on Israel. He and other hostages sneak fleeting pleasures, finding and downing an orange soda before a guard can seize it. Several times, Sharabi—51 when he was kidnapped—gives bracing pep talks to younger compatriots. The captives learn to control what they can, trading family stories and “lift[ing] water bottles like dumbbells.” Remarkably, there’s some levity. He and fellow hostages nickname one Hamas guard “the Triangle” because he’s shaped like a SpongeBob SquarePants character. The book’s closing scenes, in which Sharabi tries to console other hostages’ families while learning the worst about his own, are heartbreaking. His captors “are still human beings,” writes Sharabi, bravely modeling the forbearance that our leaders often lack.
A dauntless, moving account of a kidnapping and the horrors that followed.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780063489790
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Harper Influence/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
A familiar format, but a timely reminder that cities are made up of individuals, each with their own stories.
Portraits in a post-pandemic world.
After the Covid-19 lockdowns left New York City’s streets empty, many claimed that the city was “gone forever.” It was those words that inspired Stanton, whose previous collections include Humans of New York (2013), Humans of New York: Stories (2015), and Humans (2020), to return to the well once more for a new love letter to the city’s humanity and diversity. Beautifully laid out in hardcover with crisp, bright images, each portrait of a New Yorker is accompanied by sparse but potent quotes from Stanton’s interviews with his subjects. Early in the book, the author sequences three portraits—a couple laughing, then looking serious, then the woman with tears in her eyes—as they recount the arc of their relationship, transforming each emotional beat of their story into an affecting visual narrative. In another, an unhoused man sits on the street, his husky eating out of his hand. The caption: “I’m a late bloomer.” Though the pandemic isn’t mentioned often, Stanton focuses much of the book on optimistic stories of the post-pandemic era. Among the most notable profiles is Myles Smutney, founder of the Free Store Project, whose story of reclaiming boarded‑up buildings during the lockdowns speaks to the city’s resilience. In reusing the same formula from his previous books, the author confirms his thesis: New York isn’t going anywhere. As he writes in his lyrical prologue, “Just as one might dive among coral reefs to marvel at nature, one can come to New York City to marvel at humanity.” The book’s optimism paints New York as a city where diverse lives converge in moments of beauty, joy, and collective hope.
A familiar format, but a timely reminder that cities are made up of individuals, each with their own stories.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781250277589
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
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