What We're Reading: Recommendations from Dean Baquet, executive editor

Pulitzers, Poetry and Peele View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Tuesday, April 11, 2017 [NYTimes.com »]( [Pulitzers, Poetry and Peele]( We’re trying something new: an occasional issue of What We’re Reading focused on recommendations from a single journalist at The Times, along with a selection of other great suggestions at the bottom. Let us know what you think at wwr@nytimes.com. Today, we talk with Executive Editor Dean Baquet. [Mr. Baquet, above center, celebrating the Pulitzers at The Times on Monday.]Mr. Baquet, above center, celebrating the Pulitzers at The Times on Monday. Sam Hodgson for The New York Times PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING JOURNALISM: "I thought the Pulitzers showed the richness of The New York Times, and that our job is to show people things that are sometimes uncomfortable and unpleasant, but also that our job is to explain the world. All three of our winning pieces explain the world." [“Russia’s Dark Arts,”]( an investigative series on how Vladimir V. Putin projects power, including the back story of how he influenced the American election. [“The Fighter,”]( C.J. Chivers]( following a young combat veteran’s trouble with the law. [“They Are Slaughtering Us Like Animals,”]( Daniel Berehulak’s photographs of the Philippine war on drugs. "This year’s prizes were also a great tribute to local news organizations, which I worry about financially. But boy there were some great stories, little newspapers taking on big big subjects and big corporations. It was a reminder of why journalism matters and why local journalism matters in particular. [[Full list of winners]( "Outside of daily journalism, I try to mainly read fiction, and poetry. "It’s a relief. It nurtures the part of the brain that loves language for language’s sake as opposed to language that’s trying to inform. In the case of poetry and art, it’s a little bit of peace." BOOKS: “Richard Nixon: The Life,” by John Aloysius Farrell. "It’s just sensational. "I was reluctant, because I read so little nonfiction. But our critic [Jen Senior captured it so fabulously](. "It feels relevant because it’s about an outsider who ends up becoming president of the United States. But it’s also about a period of American history that I knew less about than I thought. And it’s a reminder of what California was like right after World War II, the California Richard Nixon grew up in and had a difficult childhood in. But the California where anything could happen." [[Excerpt]( Patricia Wall/The New York Times “The Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded: Poems,” by Molly McCully Brown. "It’s her first book of poetry. She imagines life inside an asylum that existed in Virginia through the ‘50s in which eugenics were practiced. It’s beautiful writing, and she really captures the cruelty. Our critic [Dwight Garner’s review quotes extensively from it]( “Absolutely Nothing to Get Alarmed About: The Complete Novels of Charles Wright.” "It’s an old collection of short shorts, vignettes, by a black writer [Dwight also wrote about](. One of these guys who had a burst of creativity as a young man, then flamed out. "They feel a bit unformed, ragged and raw, but they’re these really great, jarring portraits of New York in the ‘60s. I had to go on Amazon and pay like 50 bucks for a used paperback." [[Essay with excerpts]( BEYOND THE PRINTED WORD: Benjamin Norman for The New York Times [The Whitney Biennial](. "The controversial piece about Emmett Till, [Dana Schutz’s “Open Casket,”]( is much more powerful when you’re up close. Very, very jarring. "There’s a painter who has tons of really remarkable work, [Henry Taylor]( large-scale figurative paintings of everyday life in California." Elizabeth Weinberg for The New York Times The film [“Get Out,”]( directed by Jordan Peele. "I just thought it was a brilliant satire. Put down your computer and go see it right now." ______ And More Great Reads Demetrius Freeman for The New York Times Anna Dubenko, our senior digital strategist, invites you to [take a break from the news]( with stories of flirting ghostwriters, the high cost of testosterone, and wigs. Or you can read about how the other side thinks, with [partisan writing you may have missed](. Today, arguments against intervention from the right and left, why it’s O.K. that Trump has no “doctrine,” and the case for liberals to defend the Second Amendment. New York Times reporters and editors are highlighting great stories from around the web. Let us know how you like it at [wwr@nytimes.com](mailto:wwr@nytimes.com?subject=Newsletter%200106%20Feedback). Make a friend’s day: Forward this email. Get this from a friend? [Sign up here](. You can also read us [on the web]( Share your feedback on What We’re Reading. Email us at wwr@nytimes.com. 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