Hard Stuff To Swallow

My picks from this week's New York Times Book Review all deal with cultural history, as popular or unpopular as it gets:

Fiction

The Book of Lies - Brad Meltzer; "The murder of the father of Superman's creator, Jerry Siegel, is linked to the biblical story of Cain and Abel."

The Ugly American - William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick; "Spent 76 weeks on the best-seller list and helped spur the creation of the Peace Corps."

Nonfiction

How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'N' Roll: An Alternative History of American Popular Music - Elijah Wald; "Concentrating on what was actually popular, and to figure out why people - not critics or historians but the people who bought the sheet music and the records, listened to the songs on the radio and went to dances - liked it."

The Post-American World - Fareed Zakaria; "The rise of China and India and the global distribution of power."