John Powers

Maya Jasanoff weaves together biography, history, literature and her own travels in a new book about the globe-trotting author. Reviewer John Powers says Jasanoff's portrait of Conrad is terrific.

The eight stories in Carmen Maria Machado's new collection feature women in extremis — physical danger, psychological meltdown, treacherous love or close encounters of a ghostly kind.

Emma Stone stars as King in a breezy new film that carries us back to '73, and the heyday of the women's lib movement. Critic John Powers says the message of Battle of the Sexes still resonates today.

The TV series' second season takes place four years after its first, and begins with an unknown Asian woman's body washing up (in a suitcase) on a beach near Sydney.

The 1950 film starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame was adapted from a lesser-known 1947 novel by Dorothy B. Hughes, who belongs in the crime-writing pantheon. The novel's just been re-released.

Newly released on DVD and Blu-ray, the 1985 film follows a well-heeled LA couple who decide to become free-spirited wanderers. Critic John Powers says Lost In America is a comedy for the ages.

In Lawrence Osborne's new novel Beautiful Animals, two entitled girls vacationing on a chic Greek island get involved with a mysterious stranger - with wholly unexpected results. Critic John Powers says, if you haven't read Osborne, this is a great place to start.

The new documentary about Cary Grant is a fascinating look at the contrast between Grant's personal unhappiness, and onscreen persona.

Critic-at-large John Powers reviews the autobiographical novel which has become a big bestseller and has been translated into 20 languages. John says the novel is as relevant in America as it is in its home country.

Back in 2014, Laura Poitras brought out Citizenfour, her Oscar-winning documentary about Edward Snowden's revelations of the NSA's illegal surveillance program. Unfolding like a thriller, the film knew exactly what it was about — Snowden's heroism, the evils of clandestine government snooping and the virtues of making such hidden programs known.