Michael Patrick Brady

Review | When photography was born, fascination, obsession and danger followed In “Flashes of Brilliance,” Anika Burgess takes us back to the 19th century to showcase the artists and innovators who developed the revolutionary technology.

I reviewed Anika Burgess's fun new history of early photography for The Washington Post: www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/0...

My most anticipated books for (the rest of) 2025 22 titles I’m looking forward to in the second half of this year.

bradymp.substack.com/p/my-most-an...

Does Gauguin need to be redeemed? A review of “Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin” by Sue Prideaux

Sue Prideaux’s new Gauguin biography plays fast and loose with history so bourgeois art lovers can enjoy their pretty pictures in blissful ignorance.

‘Proto’ Review: Ancient Speech, Carried Far Scholars believe a language used 5,000 years ago on the Asian steppe was the source of many of the world’s modern tongues.

My review of Laura Spinney's "PROTO: How One Ancient Language Went Global" is up at the Wall Street Journal. www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

“The Sleepers” by Matthew Gasda | Book Review Identikit politics.

Matthew Gasda’s The Sleepers is out today. Check out the review that commenters begrudgingly called “fair” and “generous.”

“The Sleepers” by Matthew Gasda | Book Review Identikit politics.

I went on a real journey with this book.

“The Sleepers” by Matthew Gasda | Book Review Identikit politics.

I went on a real journey with this book.

Drowned in the stream of consciousness Review: "let me tell you" and "let me go on" by Paul Griffiths (NYRB, April)

I wrote about Paul Griffiths’ oulipian Ophelia novels.

7 Reasons I Panned Your Book It’s a dirty job but someone’s got to do it.

Over on Substack, I thought a bit about negative reviews and what the books I've reviewed negatively have in common.

In Reed’s ‘Terrestrial History,’ homesick for an abandoned Earth - The Boston Globe A new novel by Joe Mungo Reed asks what humanity owes our home planet — and what we owe each other.

And most recently, I wrote about Joe Mungo Reed’s Terrestrial History—a speculative, but emotionally grounded exploration of climate collapse and interplanetary colonization for @bostonglobe.com.

The discreet charm of the bohemian bourgeoisie A review of Vincenzo Latronico’s “Perfection” (NYRB, March 2025)

On Substack, I did a deep dive on Vincenzo Latronico's "Perfection" and its withering dissection of my very own microgeneration.

Benjamin Franklin set out to conquer climate in the colonial era In her new book, “The Franklin Stove: An Unintended American Revolution,” Harvard professor Joyce E. Chaplin reveals how this relatively modest invention prefigures the ascent of the United States as ...

I got to interview Joyce E. Chapin about her comprehensive history, "The Franklin Stove," which explores not just the titular invention, but the very origins of the American quest for consumable comfort. @wbur.org

A look back at when art was revolutionary - The Boston Globe Art-world insider Morgan Falconer ponders today’s dull scene.

@bostonglobe.com, I wrote about Morgan Falconer's "How To Be Avant-Garde" and what past might be able to tell us about the future of art.

Portrait of a Fascist: Rebecca West’s “Radio Treason” Out February 11 from McNally Editions.

At bradymr.substack.com, I wrote about @mcnallyeditions.com's all-too-timely reissue of Rebecca West's "Radio Treason."

A collection of illustrator Edward Gorey's works shared in new book “From Ted to Tom: The Illustrated Envelopes of Edward Gorey” brings together 50 illustrations that Gorey sent to his friend, Tom Fitzharris, at the height of their friendship in 1974 and 1975.

I had a lot of fun reading and reviewing @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social's "From Ted to Tom: The Illustrated Envelopes of Edward Gorey" @wbur.org.

Boston author Eric LaRocca's latest novel delves into the horror of grief “At Dark, I Become Loathsome” tells the story of a man whose grief over the loss of his family, and struggle with accepting his own sexuality, has sent down a dark path from which there might be no co...

Later that month, I reviewed Eric Larocca's latest "splatterpunk" novel and discussed the promise and pitfalls of transgressive fiction, also @wbur.org.

'Save Our Souls' is a gripping tale of a 19th century Pacific shipwreck The improbable but all-too-true story behind Matthew Pearl’s latest nonfiction effort, “Save Our Souls: The True Story of a Castaway Family, Treachery, and Murder,” takes readers on a rollicking adven...

In January, I spoke to author Matthew Pearl about “Save Our Souls,” his extraordinary tale of fraud and malfeasance in 19th century merchant sailing practices @wbur.org

In Reed’s ‘Terrestrial History,’ homesick for an abandoned Earth - The Boston Globe A new novel by Joe Mungo Reed asks what humanity owes our home planet — and what we owe each other.

And most recently, I wrote about Joe Mungo Reed’s Terrestrial History—a speculative, but emotionally grounded exploration of climate collapse and interplanetary colonization for @bostonglobe.com.

The discreet charm of the bohemian bourgeoisie A review of Vincenzo Latronico’s “Perfection” (NYRB, March 2025)

On Substack, I did a deep dive on Vincenzo Latronico's "Perfection" and its withering dissection of my very own microgeneration.

Benjamin Franklin set out to conquer climate in the colonial era In her new book, “The Franklin Stove: An Unintended American Revolution,” Harvard professor Joyce E. Chaplin reveals how this relatively modest invention prefigures the ascent of the United States as ...

I got to interview Joyce E. Chapin about her comprehensive history, "The Franklin Stove," which explores not just the titular invention, but the very origins of the American quest for consumable comfort. @wbur.org

A look back at when art was revolutionary - The Boston Globe Art-world insider Morgan Falconer ponders today’s dull scene.

@bostonglobe.com, I wrote about Morgan Falconer's "How To Be Avant-Garde" and what past might be able to tell us about the future of art.

Portrait of a Fascist: Rebecca West’s “Radio Treason” Out February 11 from McNally Editions.

At bradymr.substack.com, I wrote about @mcnallyeditions.com's all-too-timely reissue of Rebecca West's "Radio Treason."

A collection of illustrator Edward Gorey's works shared in new book “From Ted to Tom: The Illustrated Envelopes of Edward Gorey” brings together 50 illustrations that Gorey sent to his friend, Tom Fitzharris, at the height of their friendship in 1974 and 1975.

I had a lot of fun reading and reviewing @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social's "From Ted to Tom: The Illustrated Envelopes of Edward Gorey" @wbur.org.

Boston author Eric LaRocca's latest novel delves into the horror of grief “At Dark, I Become Loathsome” tells the story of a man whose grief over the loss of his family, and struggle with accepting his own sexuality, has sent down a dark path from which there might be no co...

Later that month, I reviewed Eric Larocca's latest "splatterpunk" novel and discussed the promise and pitfalls of transgressive fiction, also @wbur.org.

'Save Our Souls' is a gripping tale of a 19th century Pacific shipwreck The improbable but all-too-true story behind Matthew Pearl’s latest nonfiction effort, “Save Our Souls: The True Story of a Castaway Family, Treachery, and Murder,” takes readers on a rollicking adven...

In January, I spoke to author Matthew Pearl about “Save Our Souls,” his extraordinary tale of fraud and malfeasance in 19th century merchant sailing practices @wbur.org

These things, not others | Michael Patrick Brady | Substack Books, literature, and writing. Find me at www.michaelpatrickbrady.com. Click to read These things, not others, by Michael Patrick Brady, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.

Here's a quick thread of the books I've covered so far this year for @wbur.org, @bostonglobe.com, and over on my Substack, at bradymp.substack.com.

When books lie On James W. Loewen and the cultivation of informed skepticism.

Did two indigenous Americans visit Holland in 60 BC? Was a British woman convicted for witchcraft in 1944? What did Sinead O’Connor say when she tore up the pope’s photograph? Am I part Spanish? Read on for the answers to these obscure mysteries.

Come Out and Play - Uncharted It was one of those preposterous summer nights when the sun forgot to set. We swarmed through the endless yellowed yards, a dirty dozen of us, defeating countless forbidding fences in pursuit of our p...

New Thriller by Michael Patrick Brady!

"It was one of those preposterous summer nights when the sun forgot to set. We swarmed through the endless yellowed yards, a dirty dozen of us, defeating countless forbidding fences in pursuit of our prey."

www.unchartedmag.com/stories/come...

In Reed’s ‘Terrestrial History,’ homesick for an abandoned Earth - The Boston Globe A new novel by Joe Mungo Reed asks what humanity owes our home planet — and what we owe each other.

Our critic Michael Patrick Brady loved TERRESTRIAL HISTORY by Joe Mungo Reed, out today. In Brady's smart review in the @bostonglobe.com he writes that "Reed asks us to consider what might be easier to change — the laws of physics or human nature?"

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/08/a...