Two new books delve into the life and work of a man who couldn't silence his political conscience.

"Is Journalism Worth Dying For?" is a marvelous testament to murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya's courage and skill. It picks up where her previous book left off.

The author of "Euphemania: Our Love Affair with Euphemisms" recognizes the dangers to a society of relying on euphemisms -- of, for example, "mincing words" (one chapter title) and using "brave new words" (another chapter title) to create an ambiguous and maybe downright harmful brave new world.

The new book "Punching Out" is brilliant Detroit-style immersion journalism.

Innocent Americans are routinely convicted and incarcerated. The new book "False Justice" explains how.

Tracy Kidder's focus in "Strength in What Remains" shines on an individual humanitarian rather than a process.

Tim Weiner's history of the CIA criticizes George W. Bush for shredding the credibility of an agency his father once ran.

Like almost everything William Vollmann has written, "Poor People" is experimental in its form, daunting in its intellectual range, shot through with self-deprecation, occasionally annoying because of its digressions, and always unfailingly interesting.

A book about the serious matters of religion and nationalism and politics and war is not usually laugh-out-loud funny. "A Match Made in Heaven" shatters that stereotype.

In a remarkable biography, Myra MacPherson reveals the real I.F. Stone.

Dan Fesperman's fourth novel fulfills the dream of so many newspaper reporters -- writing fiction during off-hours while chronicling real-life events during salaried working hours.

Chicago Lawyer Joseph Marguiles' "Guantanamo and the Abuse of Presidential Power" is about as convincing an indictment of Bush, Rumsfeld, and Cheney as can be imagined in an atmosphere of government secrecy.

Never has a how-to home improvement manual contained so much deep thinking. Or, phrased another way, never has a philosophical tract about the relationship between human and house contained so much how-to home improvement advice.

Marion Nestle, the high-profile, controversial nutritionist, has become to the food industry what Rachel Carson became to the pesticide industry and Ralph Nader became to the automobile industry: a well-informed, accessible watchdog.

James C. McCloskey, executive director of Centurion Ministries, has helped exonerate 36 men and women convicted of murder, including four on death row.

Taylor Branch has delivered one of the most heavily researched, best written, compelling biographies in the history of book publishing.

Author Ned Blakeslee's book is hard evidence that police, prosecutors, judges and jurors who place winning convictions above justice have played roles in sending thousands of innocent people to prison.

Thomas Paine has become something of an historical stick figure, like so many other Founding Fathers. But in one of the most unsually constructed biographies every written, Paul Collins has made Paine flesh again by following his bones, literally.

Mark Anderson's book argues that Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon could not have written the body of work that is traditionally credited to him.

Readers who pick up the biography of Strom Thurmond with no clear pre-existing opinion about the "conservative titan" will be rewarded with first-rate reporting, crisp writing and enough interpretation to conclude that--love him or hate him--the Senator's life mattered.