The burning of Atlanta, with a memorable assist from Hollywood, is one of those events that resonates. Fires that destroy great cities perhaps are always especially horrific, but in Atlanta’s case the bonfire was also a crucial factor in the defeat of the South. Now, in “The Bonfire: The Siege and Burning of Atlanta,“ journalist Marc Wortman vividly describes the events leading up to the fire, the fire itself and its consequences.

For students of 20th-century history, the title of this book is shorthand for tragedy and disaster. It outlines the self-deceptive, smug and misguided efforts of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to appease the territorial aims of the greatest criminal in recent history, German dictator Adolf Hitler. With Chamberlain in the lead, Britain and France ceded to Hitler significant chunks of Czechoslovakia without the Germans having to take military action and without the participation of the Czech government in the dismemberment of its country.

NONFICTION DES MOINES, Iowa Many people entering retirement envision a life of fun and relaxation, but the opposite can be true. Without the social contacts that come from reporting to an office everyday, some retirees feel isolated. Others feel depression from an emptiness that comes with sudden idle time. Psychologist Nancy K. Schlossberg’s latest of nine books, “Revitalizing Retirement: Reshaping Your Identity, Relationships, and Purpose” says you should spend as much time preparing your psychological portfolio as you do your financial one. In today’s recession, which is leaving millions of workers suddenly jobless, her tips also can help unemployed workers develop a plan for moving on.

Melanie Gideon believes she’s sleepwalking through life. But it’s much worse than that: She’s paralyzed by a fear of the rogue waves—both real and metaphoric—that she’s certain will overtake her family. Never mind that, as she describes her life, she has a loving husband, a well-adjusted 9-year-old son, the means to stay home with him and no reason to expect the worst.

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The Sopranos” and “The Godfather” may have domesticated the Mafia’s image. They looked like people we know, and we understood their problems with family—their own, that is. But as historian and journalist Mike Dash vividly describes in “The First Family,“ the Mafia were not exactly pillars of the PTA. Instead, they terrorized neighborhoods, extorted millions and ruthlessly murdered opponents.

When Adolf Hitler invaded Poland and started World War II, special units went along to seize works of art, says author Robert M. Edsel. Other Europeans hid masterpieces with limited success. The Germans’ booty began what Edsel calls “the greatest treasure hunt in history”—still going on 70 years later. An American-Israeli organization estimates the Germans may have stolen as many as 1.5 million objects, with 100,000 of museum quality still missing.

In the 1960s, an albino groundhog often scampered along the edge of state Route 151 in the Nelson County community of Greenfield. Albino animals were no stranger to the rural area, but longtime residents could not recall a previous albino whistle-pig (as Southerners say; Northerners prefer woodchuck). After several years, the critter was gone, long before author Rita Mae Brown bought a nearby farm—“Virginia, to me, is paradise,“ she writes—and established herself as a permanent resident.

Biblical accounts of Abraham’s relationship with Sarah and Hagar have always been problematical, and even more problematical was Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac. For historian and writer Charlotte Gordon, the challenge in her thoughtful “The Woman Who Named God,“ though, is to understand the men and women in the novella-like drama as individuals. To ask what they did and why, rather than “is it true and what does it mean?“

Fans of the British novelist E.M. Forster, who exhorted his readers to “Only connect,“ should be especially pleased with Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler’s fascinating new book, “Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives.“ Most of us are far more extensively connected than we realize.

Any fan—or, for that matter, nonfan—of Kathy Griffin knows one thing: She never shuts up. If you fall in the nonfan category, that unfiltered yapping is probably the reason you cringe and pummel the remote whenever you accidentally stumble upon her Emmy-winning Bravo reality show, “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List.“

BP, the international oil company, made news in early September with an announcement that it had discovered a “giant” oil field deep below the Gulf of Mexico’s sea floor, bolstering hopes that more discoveries close to the United States might be in the offing. We shouldn’t get too excited about the discovery, though. Experts suggest that retrieving the oil will be a slow process, and it wouldn’t begin to meet oil-hungry consumers’ demands, especially as other oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico continue to decline.

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As Scott Rosenberg’s informative “Say Everything” persuasively suggests, the blogosphere now belongs with those other influential spheres that shape our lives. Initially ridiculed as a passing fad, blogging now threatens traditional media, changes the way political campaigns are run and expands information sources for millions.

NONFICTION Maurice Sendak, now 81 years old, may be the most revered living figure in children’s literature. Generations weaned on “Where the Wild Things Are” retain a soft spot for the book’s wayward hero, Max, even those first readers of the 1963 book. Sendak’s work has been parsed and praised for decades. A live action movie of “Wild Things” is due next month.

Obsessive relationships are often the meat and potatoes of autobiography. But for Frank Bruni, meat and potatoes are the obsession. Along with a never-ending parade of other goodies, from French haute cuisine in all its flavorsome complexity to more basic foodstuff, such as the elongated, chocolate-coated wafers of a KitKat bar, described in reverential, almost spiritual terms.

It can be hard to square the stories with the life. Flannery O’Connor wrote 31 tales and two novels that find the bizarre in everyday life. She was a sheltered Southern woman, confined to her mother’s house by the autoimmune disease lupus, a debilitating affliction that would eventually kill as it had her father when she was a child.