Keeping tabs on authors in LINKcat: Tracy Kidder

 

New York Times, 3/25/2026

John Schwartz reports:

In a market increasingly dominated by quick hits and hot takes, Mr. Kidder’s immersive narratives stood apart. He highlighted people who had mastered their realms, placing them as characters in accounts that rang true because they were based on staggering amounts of research. 

For “Among Schoolchildren” (1989), he spent an entire school year in a Massachusetts classroom. For “Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World” (2003), Mr. Kidder followed Dr. Farmer — the founder of Partners in Health, an organization that provides care to some of the world’s poorest people — to his hospital in Haiti as well as to Peru, Cuba, Russia and elsewhere. 

His most lauded book, “The Soul of a New Machine,” introduced readers to the physical parts and electronic bits that go into creating a business computer. The book arrived just as the PC revolution was gearing up.

The 52 member libraries of LINKcat

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2026

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Paul Ehrlich.  (3/16)

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Roland Huntford.  (2/13)

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Barbara G. Walker.  (1/25)

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2025

Melody Beattie.  (3/24)

Sue Bender.  (12/23)

John Carlos Blake.  (2/4)

Barbara Taylor Bradford.  (1/6)

Lou Cannon.  (12/23)

John Casey.  (3/5)

Edward Countryman.  (5/8)

Marilyn Diamond.  (9/15)

Nathalie Dupree.  (1/19)

John Feinstein. (3/21)

Edna Ferber.  (1/15)

Frederick Forsyth.  (6/23)

Lynn Freed.  (6/11)

Jane Gardam.  (5/2)

Susan Griffin.  (10/17)

Christopher Jencks.  (2/15)

Paulette Jiles.  (7/21)

Sam Keen.  (4/8)

William Leuchtenburg.  (2/2)

Phyllis Lee Levin.  (12/31)

David Lodge.  (1/6)

Martin E. Marty.  (3/5)

Dennis McDougal.  (3/20)

Joseph S. Nye, Jr.  (6/8)

Tom Robbins.  (2/11)

Martin Cruz Smith.  (7/20)

John Russell Taylor.  (11/9)

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Daniel Woodrell.  (12/11)

2024

Best books on politics.  (9/2)

Dorothy Allison.  (11/13)

Paul Auster.  (5/9)

Lynne Reid Banks. (4/10)

Donald L. Barlett.  (10/15)

John Barth.  (4/3)

David Boaz.   (6/13)

Caleb Carr.  (5/26)

Shirley Conran.  (5/25)

Robert Coover.  (10/12)

Frederick Crews.  (6/28)

Charles R. Cross.  (8/25)

Nelson DeMille.  (10/3)

Daniel C. Dennett.  (4/22)

Anne Edwards.  (2/4)

Richard Ellis.  (6/1)

Edward Jay Epstein.  (1/18)

Helen E. Fisher.  (9/6)

H. Bruce Franklin.  (6/9)

Sandra M. Gilbert.  (11/24)

Ellen Gilchrist.  (2/15)

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Cristina Henriquez . (3/6)

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Barbara Howard . (8/8)

Sue Johnson.  (6/7)

Barry Kemp.  (6/1)

Elias Khoury.  (10/4)  

Ella Leffland.  (10/9)

Hal Lindsey.  (12/6)

Alice Munro.  (5/19)

Stanley Pottinger.  (12/18)

Terry Robards.  (6/8)

Thomas Rockwell.  (10/14)

Tom Shales.  (1/21)

Ross Terrill.  (8/14)

Vernor Wing . (4/1)

Dan Wakefield , (3/17)

Alexander Waugh.  (8/7)

Westheimer, Dr. Ruth . (7/14)

2023

Martin Amis . (5/31)

Richard Anobile.  (3/18)

Russell Banks.  (1/11)

A. S. Byatt.  (11/18)

Ted Bell.  (2/8)

Carol Higgins Clark.  (7/13)

Natalie Zemon Davis . (10/27)

Tim Dorsey.  (12/10)

Herbert Gold.  (11/24)

David Harris.  (2/8)

Paul Johnson.  (1/15)

Milan Kundera . (7/17)

Harold S. Kushner.  (4/30)

Cormac McCarthy.  (6/19)

Kevin Phillips.  (10/19)

Betty Rollin.  (11/26)

Norman Rush.  (4/7)

Mimi Sheraton.  (4/9)

Charles Simic.  (1/16)

Donald Spoto . (2/18)

D. M. Thomas.  (3/31)

John Underwood.  (5/8)

Fay Weldon.  (2/2)

Bill Zehme.  (4/1)

2022

Roger Angell.  (5/24)

Melissa Bank . (8/7)

Raymond Briggs.  (8/20)

Thomas Cahill. (11/16)

Philip K. Dick.  (11/20)

Bruce Duffy,  (3/13)

Todd Gitlin . (2/8)

Rebecca Godfrey.  (11/11)

Ron Goulart.  (2/7)

Doris Grumbach . (11/10)

Robert Hicks.  (3/8)

Thomas Hoving.  (12/19)

Maureen Howard.  (3/19)

Dominique Lapierre . (12/11)

Hilary Mantel.  (9/26)

Nancy Mitford.  (4/4)

P. J. O'Rourke.  (2/24)

John J. Osborn Jr.  (11/4)

Julie Powell.  (11/5)

Thomas Pynchon.  (12/17)

Dennis Smith.  (1/27)

Susie Steiner . (7/27)

Larry Woiwode . (5/19)

2021

Joan Walsh Anglund.  (4/3)

F. Lee Bailey.  (6/11)

Katherine Barber.  (5/26)

Mary Catherine Bateson.  (1/26)

Rosalind Cartwright.  (3/21)

Kim Chernin . (1/10)

Beverly Cleary.  (4/8)

Angelo Codevilla.  (10/10)

Christina Crosby.  (1/31)

Geoff Crowther.  (5/17)

Eric Jerome Dickey.  (1/9)

Morrie Dickstein . (3/31)

Scott Donaldson.  (1/11)

Stephen Dunn.  (6/29)

Lawrence Ferlinghetti.  (2/24)

James R. Flynn.  (1/30)

Larry Flynt.  (2/12)

Lucinda Franks.  (5/11)

Joseph Galloway.  (8/25)

Norman Golb.  (2/22)

Lawrence Graham.  (3/9)

Charles Grodin.  (5/20)

Maria Guarnascheilli , book editor. (2/18)

James Gunn.  (2/21)

Tony Hendra . (3/7)

Robert L. Herbert (2/12)

Norman Juster.   (3/16)

Donald Kagan.  (8/20)

His King . (4/9)

Lyn Macdonald.  (5/15)

Janet Malcolm.  (6/18)

Peter Manso , (4/10)

Jason Matthews.  (5/4)

Margaret Maron.  (3/13)

Larry McMurtry.  (4/2)

Ved Mehta.   (1/12)

Robert Middlekauff.  (9/3)

Marie Mongan.  (3/22)

John Naisbitt.  (4/21)

Sharon Kay Penman.  (2/8)

Steven B. Oates.  (9/1)

Robert Quackenbush.  (7/7)

Deborah Rhode.  (1/28)

James Ridgeway.  (2/16)

Naomi Rosenblum  (3/6)

Donald Rumsfeld.  (7/6)

Charles Saunders.  (2/4)

David Swensen . (5/13)

Bryan Sykes.  (1/14)

Athan Theoharis.  (6/14/)

Ed Ward.  (5/16)

Michael Thomas.  (8/19)

Steven Weinberg.  (8/5)

Adam Zagajewski.  (3/27)

2020

Patricia Bosworth.  (4/6)

Ben Bova.  (12/17)

Mary Higgins Clark.  (2/4)

Clive Cussler.  (2/29)

Betty Dodson  (11/11)

David Graeber.  (9/6)

Shirley Ann Grau . (8/11)

Pete Hamill.  (8/6)

Shere Hite. (9/13)

A, E, Hotchner.  (2/18)

Roger Kahn.  (2/15)

Randall Kenan.  (9/29)

John Le Carre . (12/23/2020)

Johanna Lindsey.  (1/15)

Barry Lopez.  (12/29)

Alison Lurie.  (12/7)

Sylvia Jukes Morris.  (1/20)

Charlers Portis.  (2/19)

Julia Reed.  (9/8)

John Rothchild.  (1/22)

Gail Sheehy.  (9/3)

George Steiner.  (2/6)

Jill Paton Walsh.  (11/29)

Charles Webb.  (6/30)

Elizabeth Wurtzel.  (1/11)

2019

Warren Adler . (4/23)

Kate Braverman.  (10/28)

Stephen Dixon.  (11/12)

Ernest J. Gaines.  (11/8)

And Jenkins . (3/10)

Judith Krantz.  (6/27)

Paule Marshall.  (8/27)

Robert K. Massie.  (12/4)

Martin Mayer.  (8/3)

Wright Morris.  (7/25)

Toni Morrison.  (8/12)

Anthony Price.  (6/17)

James I. Robertson.  (11/20)

Anne Rivers Siddons.  (9/19)

John Simon.  (12/1)

Sol Stein.  (9/30)

Brad Watson.  (8/2)

Lonnie Wheeler.  (7/15)

Herman Wouk . (5/20)

Nearly forgotten "sociological megahits" of 1970.  (6/18)

2018

Neal Thompson.  (6/17)

Barbara Kafka.   (6/8)

Weeding or historical sanitization at LINKcat libraries?  (6/2)

2017

Aline Countess of Romanones.  (12/17)

Kit Reed.  (10/1)

Carol J. Adams shares feminist classics from her personal library.  (9/8)

2016

E. M. Nathanson.  (4/10)

2015

Gunter Grass (1927-2015).  (4/15)

2014

Thomas Berger  (1924-2014).  (7/23)

Peter Matthiessen (1927-2014)   (4/8)

2013

Barbara Branden.   (12/26)