Strikingly Similar: Plagiarism and Appropriation from Chaucer to Chatbots by Roger Kreuz (Cambridge University Press). Reviewed by William Rice. “It’s only with the regimentation of copyright protection over the past two centuries or so that our current conception of plagiarism has taken hold. Now that we all at least pay lip service to the idea that stealing words and ideas is as bad as stealing someone’s wallet, the response to a charge of plagiarism ranges from angry denial to admission accompanied by a plea of mitigating circumstances. (Sloppy note-taking is a popular excuse.)”

Cromwell’s Spy: From the American Colonies to the English Civil War: The Life of George Downing by Dennis Sewell (Pegasus Books). Reviewed by Stuart Kay. “His bribing and blackmailing in the Low Countries to send to the gallows erstwhile comrades on the Republican side cemented his infamous reputation among contemporaries. He would become one of the richest men in the kingdom. Sewell’s focus in Cromwell’s Spy is, as he explains, primarily on Downing’s spying and scheming as opposed to his public-finance reforms and involvement in great-power diplomacy.”

Evelyn in Transit: A Novel by David Guterson (W.W. Norton & Company). Reviewed by Marcie Geffner. “The secret of their connection is revealed late in the novel when a trio of Tibetan lamas arrives at Evelyn’s home with some startling news: They believe her 5-year-old son, Cliff, born 10 months after Tsering’s death from heart failure, is the seventh Norbu Rinpoche. The lamas’ hope is that Evelyn will take the child to Nepal to live in the Thaklung monastery and eventually become its abbot.”

Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America by Howard Bryant (Mariner Books). Reviewed by E. Ethelbert Miller. “The integration of professional baseball during the Cold War coincided with the growing Civil Rights Movement in the United States. How could America be an advocate for equality around the world if Black people at home were denied it? The Robinson story was, therefore, more than a tale about a Black person playing on a white team; it was a symbol of success in America (and of the success of America). Robeson was similarly celebrated, at least until he made those controversial remarks in Paris. Was the famed performer really just a communist pawn?”

Across the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of the Crossword Puzzle by Natan Last (Pantheon). Reviewed by Antoaneta Tileva. “Above all, the book is an ebullient celebration of crosswordese — a language replete with florid wordplay, puns, palindromes, and various other jocular antics. Seasoned cruciverbalists know, for instance, that the words oboe, epee, and ocher often make appearances (oboe, in fact, has been used in over 200 New York Times crosswords). Another clue I see quite often is ‘a real humdinger’: beaut.”

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