Politicians

Two new dramas fueled by intrigue premiere this week: The Americans on FX and House of Cards on Netflix. While The Americans has its moments, House of Cards is the show that's going to make television history.

Greg Berlanoti's new series on the USA Network stars Sigourney Weaver as the secretary of state and former first lady. Critic John Powers says he suspects that "even a Martian" would realize Weaver's character is based on Hillary Clinton -- and that's not a bad thing.

Critic David Edelstein says the new newspapers-and-politicos thriller is stuck in the 1970s — but don't expect All the President's Men. This is one Beltway time bomb that never explodes.

A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan is the new history from Michael Kazin. Bryan has been described by Kazin as "one of the most crucial Americans never to win a presidential election."

Critic at large John Powers reviews the two-DVD edition of the 1939 classic film Young Mr. Lincoln, directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan review Martin Amis's nimble, cynical novel, The Information.

Critic Maureen Corrigan says the best she can say about Barnes's "Porcupine," about deposed communist leaders on trial in Eastern Europe, is that she "didn't not like it."

Ward Just is a former journalist who now writes fiction about the inner workings of American politics. Book critic John Leonard says his unassuming new novel, Jack Gance, about a Congressional candidate, has heart.