Check out 17 prints from famed fashion photographer Lillian Bassman, who died just last month, at Books & Books Miami Beach. Now through June 1.Bassman won acclaim in the 1940s and ’50s with high-contrast black-and-white portraits of models that had a dreamy quality. In the 1990s, she rediscovered a stash of lost negatives and emerged as a fine-art photographer.A new book of her work Lillian Bassman: Lingerie has just been published. As Ginia Bellafante put it in the New York Times recently, “In place of heavyset women constraining themselves in what was essentially equipment, Ms. Bassman deployed immeasurably lithe models, conveying a world in which women seemed to linger in the pleasures of their own sensuality.” Fifty years later, these images have lost none of their allure, and the enormous cultural impact of the TV show Mad Men has given them new currency.  1. It’s a Cinch, model: Carmen, Merry Widow by Warner’s, 1951, for Harper’s Bazaar, © Lillian Bassman  2. Southwest Passage—Sunset Pink, pajamas by Kickernick, 1951, for Harper’s Bazaar, © Lillian Bassman   3. The Line Lengthens, lingerie by Lily of France, 1955, for Harper’s Bazaar, © Lillian Bassman     4. Silo, Bra and Panties, 1948 (advertisement for Firestone Contro elastic yarn), © Lillian Bassman   

Senator George McGovern has been a leading figure of the Democratic Party for more than fifty years. From this true liberal comes a thoughtful examination of what being a Democrat really means. McGovern admonishes current Democratic politicians for losing sight of their ideals as they subscribe to an increasingly centrist policy agenda. Applying his wide- ranging knowledge and expertise on issues ranging from military spending to same-sex marriage to educational reform, he stresses the importance of creating policies we can be proud of. Finally, with 2012 looming, McGovern's What It Means to Be a Democrat (Blue Rider, $22.95) offers a vision of the Party's future in which ideological coherence and courage rule.

Swim (PublicAffairs, $25.99) is a celebration of swimming and the effect it has on our lives. It’s an inquiry into why we swim—the lure, the hold, the timeless magic of being in the water. It’s a look at how swimming has changed over the millennia, how this ancient activity is becoming more social than solitary today. It’s about our relationship with the water, with our fishy forebearers, and with the costumes that we wear. You’ll even find a few songs to sing when you push out those next laps.Swimming enthusiast Lynn Sherr explores every aspect of the sport, from the biology of swimming to the fame of Esther Williams; from turquoise pools and wild water to the training of Olympians; and she reveals the secret of buoyancy so that anyone can avoid the example of the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who lamented, “Why can’t I swim, it seems so very easy?” When his friend, the biographer Edward John Trelawny, said, “because you think you can’t,” Shelley plunged into Italy’s Arno River and dropped like a rock. With Swim, you can avoid that happening to you.