Adam Gopnik Books

Collects together 65 of the best of Mark Twain's short stories. It opens with The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, a famous early story set on the Western frontier, and spans nearly 50 years during which Twain wrote a variety of short stories.

Bestselling author and New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik embarks on a wildly creative inquiry into perhaps the oldest question: how do we learn a new skill?

Armed with hundreds of blank maps she had painstakingly printed by hand, Becky Cooper walked Manhattan from end to end. Along her journey she met police officers, homeless people, fashion models, and senior citizens who had lived in Manhattan all their lives. She asked the strangers to “map their Manhattan” and to mail the personalized maps back to her. Soon, her P.O. box was filled with a cartography of intimate narratives: past loves, lost homes, childhood memories, comical moments, and surprising confessions. A beautifully illustrated, PostSecret-style tribute to New York, Mapping Manhattan includes 75 maps from both anonymous mapmakers and notable New Yorkers, including Man on Wire aerialist Philippe Petit, New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov, Tony award-winning actor Harvey Fierstein, and many more.Praise for Mapping Manhattan:“What an intriguing project.”—The New York Times“A tender cartographic love letter to this timeless city of multiple dimensions, parallel realities, and perpendicular views.” —Brain Pickings“Cooper’s beautiful project linking the lives of New Yorkers is one that will continue to grow.” —Publishers Weekly online

Sidney Joseph Perelman, a uniquely original and humorous voice in American literature, crafted gags for the Marx Brothers, won an Oscar for screenwriting, and collaborated on five Broadway plays. His distinctive humor shines in the sketches and satires he wrote for The New Yorker and other publications, which editor Adam Gopnik describes as exploring "American vulgarity" in a shocking yet entertaining manner. This collection features parodies, social satires, autobiographical pieces, and selections from the "Cloudland Revisited" series, where Perelman reflects on his youthful encounters with books and movies and the surprises of revisiting them as an adult. In "Scenario," he presents a surreal Hollywood pitch meeting, blending clichés and slang into a continuous paragraph. "Farewell, My Lovely Appetizer" humorously critiques Raymond Chandler's hardboiled detective fiction, while "No Starch in My Dhoti, S'il Vous Plaît" imagines a comical correspondence between Jawaharlal Nehru's father and a Parisian launderer. The volume also includes Perelman's two-act comedy, The Beauty Part, a spoof on money and art that premiered in 1962. Rounding out the collection are profiles of the Marx Brothers, Dorothy Parker, and Nathanael West, along with letters to notable figures like Edmund Wilson and Groucho Marx.

An impassioned defense of the freedom of speech, from Stéphane Charbonnier, a journalist murdered for his convictions On January 7, 2015, two gunmen stormed the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. They took the lives of twelve men and women, but they called for one man by name: "Charb." Known by his pen name, Stéphane Charbonnier was editor in chief of Charlie Hebdo, an outspoken critic of religious fundamentalism, and a renowned political cartoonist in his own right. In the past, he had received death threats and had even earned a place on Al Qaeda's "Most Wanted List." On January 7 it seemed that Charb's enemies had finally succeeded in silencing him. But in a twist of fate befitting Charb's defiant nature, it was soon revealed that he had finished a book just two days before his murder on the very issues at the heart of the attacks: blasphemy, Islamophobia, and the necessary courage of satirists. Here, published for the first time in English, is Charb's final work. A searing criticism of hypocrisy and racism, and a rousing, eloquent defense of free speech, Open Letter shows Charb's words to be as powerful and provocative as his art. This is an essential book about race, religion, the voice of ethnic minorities and majorities in a pluralistic society, and above all, the right to free expression and the surprising challenges being leveled at it in our fraught and dangerous time.

The New York Times-bestselling author offers a stirring defence of liberalism against the dogmatisms of our time

In a series of essays, the author reflects on his family's transition from Paris to New York in fall 2000, capturing the essence of their new urban life. He profiles a diverse cast of characters, including teachers, therapists, and friends, who shape their experiences. The narrative delves into the aftermath of 9/11, the complexities of real estate, and broader philosophical themes about the meaning of life, offering a poignant exploration of community and change in a post-traumatic city.

Collects the thoughts and perspectives of artists, poets, composers, writers, explorers, and scientists on the season of winter, from reflections on snow and God to the future of northern culture.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The finest book on France in recent years.”—Alain de Botton, The New York Times Book Review In 1995, Adam Gopnik, his wife, and their infant son left the familiar comforts and hassles of New York City for the urbane glamour of Paris. In the grand tradition of Stein, Hemingway, Baldwin, and Liebling, Gopnik set out to enjoy the storied existence of an American in Paris—walks down the paths of the Tuileries, philosophical discussions in cafés, and afternoon jaunts to the Musée d’Orsay. But as readers of Gopnik’s beloved and award-winning “Paris Journal” in The New Yorker know, there was also the matter of raising a child and carrying on with la vie quotidienne—the daily, slightly less fabled life. As Gopnik discovers in this tender account, the dual processes of navigating a foreign city and becoming a parent are not completely dissimilar—both promise new routines, new languages, and a new set of rules by which each day is to be lived. With singular wit and insight, Gopnik manages to weave the magical with the mundane in this wholly delightful book that Entertainment Weekly deemed “magisterial.”