At 88, historian David Levering Lewis, a biographer of W.E.B. DuBois, has filled in gaps in his knowledge of his own family line, and he takes readers along on the journey.

The musician writes unflinchingly about her life before and through music — including those formative Chicago years.

A short story collection is often among the most difficult works of fiction to review. Unlike in a novel, where the decisions of a cast of characters over time reveal a story’s underlying motifs and ...