1. In Defense of Elitism: Why I’m Better Than You and You’re Better Than Someone Who Didn’t Buy This Book by Joel Stein (Grand Central)

With his smart, self-deprecating humor, former Time columnist Stein investigates the correlation between the rise of populism and the delegitimization of expertise, and how this conflict manifested itself in the presidential election of Donald Trump. Diving into the cultural divide, Stein leads a congenial tour through a resistance party in Hollywood and a Texas county that went for Trump by over 90 percent; TED Talks; Dilbert creator Scott Adams, who espouses primordial manhood; and Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson ranting about diversity. In listening to them, he subverts stereotypes. He believes in practical problem-solvers like Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. In a world that seems so fragile, Stein makes a witty case for trained and trustworthy people running it.

2. Still Here: The Madcap, Nervy, Singular Life of Elaine Stritch by Alexandra Jacobs (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Jacobs’ biography of free-spoken actress, singer, and entertainer Elaine Stritch exudes a love for musical theater and an understanding of a woman who was somewhat out of time, defying stereotypes of gender and age, “projecting both feminine and masculine and refusing the slow fade accorded most of her profession (along with plastic surgery).” Jacobs, a New York Times editor and writer, traces the uneven arc of Stritch’s life, from her middle-class Catholic childhood in Detroit to a boozy career in nightclubs and theater in New York. Stritch had a reputation for being difficult and drinking too much, but she was also a star in Woody Allen, Stephen Sondheim and Noel Coward productions and won a Tony Award for her remarkable one-woman show At Liberty. Jacobs’ insightful, engaging chronicle, which reflects her understanding of shifts in both American society and the business of Broadway, captures Stritch as a complicated, demanding, but insecure woman who had “wit, resilience, unusual forthrightness, and courage” – yet remembered best for her star turn as Alec Baldwin’s mother in 30 Rock and her rendition of just one song: “I’m Still Here,” from Sondheim’s Company.

3. Out Loud: A Memoir by Mark Morris and Wesley Stace (Penguin Press)

Inspired by a performance at the Seattle Opera House when he was 6, Morris stuffed his feet into Tupperware juice cups to walk en pointe, as the celebrated dancer, choreographer, and director recounts at the beginning of his beguiling memoir, written with novelist Stace, creator of Wesley Stace’s Cabinet of Wonders. Rather than tracing his career in a linear style, Morris takes a conversational approach into the evolution of his curious mind, outspoken style, original vision, collaboration with international stars such as Mikhail Baryshnikov and Yo-Yo Ma, and formation of the Mark Morris Dance Group. His legacy? Creation of “Dances for the Future,” works that he choreographs now but will not premiere during his lifetime.

4. Crack: Rock Cocaine, Street Capitalism, and the Decade of Greed by David Farber (Cambridge University Press)

At the dawn of Ronald Reagan’s “Morning Again in America,” crack cocaine swept the nation’s cities, and Farber’s compelling book documents and explains the phenomenon. A University of Kansas historian, Farber draws on interviews and his experience living in Philadelphia at the time to bring an important, original perspective to this moment and argues that a new class of ruthless entrepreneurs created an innovative, community-based criminal enterprise to distribute crack, which was punished more harshly than distributing powdered cocaine. Farber reveals how crack was sold in Chicago by gangs, in contrast with New York’s “start-up operations” that functioned more like franchises, and across these regional differences, he recognizes crack’s role in decimating urban America and leading to a record wave of incarceration of young black men.

5. What Is Missing by Michael Frank (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Frank’s psychologically astute, engrossing debut novel demonstrates his keen instinct for family dynamics that was evident in his fascinating memoir, The Mighty Franks, which focused on his bewitching, powerful screenwriter aunt. At the center of What Is Missing are a divorced father who is a famous fertility specialist, his long-limbed adolescent son, and a dazzling Italian American translator, recently widowed – each marked by disappointment, profoundly burdened by deeply held secrets, and yearning for family. From Florence to the New York’s Upper East Side, Frank’s compelling characters each contend with their inchoate sense of self and their abiding need for family.