Every book is a book review. By imitating and innovating on what came before, any book is an implicit critique of its predecessors.

The reverse is not necessarily true: not every book review is a book. But this month our winning book reviews almost feel long enough to fill a tome. Reviewing such big personalities as Rachel Maddow, Salman Rushdie, and David Foster Wallace, and tackling such weighty subjects as American warmongering, Islamic fundamentalism, and the fate of literature in a televisual age, they could easily grow unwieldy. But given the circumstances our winners remain remarkably concise.

Click here to see the latest winners.

– Brian Hurley