Nobodies

By John Bowe

(Random House, 304 pages, $26)

By looking at home—central Florida; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Saipan, a Pacific island in the U.S. Commonwealth—Bowe finds globalization’s underbelly. His focus is American “labor slavery”—in which workers, most of them migrants, are caught up in labor scams or cowed by tyrannical bosses into working for less than a living wage. Nobodies shines when Bowe is closest to his sources: the Mexican orange pickers tormented by labor-camp owner El Diablo, or the karaoke-club-going factory managers in Saipan. The book shifts from gritty reporting to unfocused commentary, which hurts its momentum, but the vividness of Bowe’s local stories might make you think twice before reaching for that cheap fruit or pair of discount socks. —Mary Bridges

Rigged

By Ben Mezrich

(William Morrow, 304 pages, $26)

Mezrich’s unique brand of nonfiction tells of young, savvy subjects in extraordinary circumstances. His stories come from headlines, though he gives his characters fictitious names. In Rigged, he tells the tale of David Russo (a.k.a. John D’Agostino), who became vice president of the New York Mercantile Exchange at 25 and was vital in creating the Dubai Mercantile Exchange. Russo is a superb guide through the madness of the Nymex and the rapidly growing city of Dubai. Though Rigged is laden with information, it reads like a sharp business thriller. —Jennifer Close

PHOTO & ART

Paris-New York-Shanghai

(Aperture, 240 pages, $50)

Photographs by Hans Eijkelboom, introduction by Martin Parr, essay by Tony Godfrey

The noted Dutch artist gathers images from three cities that see themselves as cultural capitals of the world. Above, comparative business attire.

The Art of the American Snapshot, 1888–1978

By Sarah Greenough and Diane Waggoner

(Princeton University Press, 294 pages, $55)

This book surveys the contribution of Kodaks and other cameras to America’s most ubiquitous art form. Featured here: Oakland Bay Bridge (1940s) and Bill’s 20th Birthday (1967).

30,000 Years of Art

(Phaidon, 1,065 pages, $50)

This tome’s thousand images span art’s history. Left, George Caleb Bingham’s 1845 painting of fur traders on the Missouri; Altamira Bison, a cave drawing in Spain.