Nonfiction You’ve Always Meant to Read

A truly unique figure, Robert Moses has never been as deeply explored as in The Power Broker. This is a full character portrait of the man who built modern New York City, and the status that came with it. It’s the story of power, progress and politics, and it is riveting.

From China to the Mediterranean and beyond, Peter Frankopan explores the Silk Roads, the ancient routes that were a crucial component in shaping human civilization into what it is today.

This is the story of one man’s hilarious, thought-provoking, occasionally catastrophic, and always enlightening trip along the Appalachian Trail. Bill Bryson’s droll humor and gifts of observation are unmatched, and here he is at the top of his game.

The story of William Finnegan and his life as a surfer with so many delicious layers in between. It’s a deeply personal narrative with real-life adventures that will keep you glued to the page as you learn more about this wild character and the friendships he forged.

Grief ebbs and flows and takes all kinds of unexpected shapes; MacDonald’s striking memoir blends nature writing with personal memoir in fresh new ways.

Anyone who has ever dealt with any sort of trauma (or anyone merely curious of the subject) absolutely must read this. This scientific exploration redefines modern understanding, showing how the body and brain literally change from trauma, and what you can do to treat it.

A chilling and very real true crime story from the turn of the 20th century that reads like a thriller. It’s a tale of gruesome detail set against the festive backdrop of the World Fair that gives us a window into a terrifying villain who may or may not have also been Jack the Ripper.

That magic recipe of harrowing nonfiction that reads with the gusto of well-plotted fiction. It’s the story of a crashed WWII gunner stranded in the Pacific and his unlikely—nay, impossible—journey to survival. The human spirit is impenetrable, and nowhere is that better seen than here.

In a dazzling feat of biography, history, science and politics, Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin tell the extraordinary story of Robert Oppenheimer — physicist, Director of Los Alamos, “father of the atomic bomb,” colleague to Enrico Fermi and Albert Einstein, and victim of McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities Committee. An epic and intimate tale of a complex, consequential life, this is a grand page turner from start to finish.

At times harrowing but always hopeful, discover how an undocumented child worked her way from an off-grid, survivalist upbringing to exceeding even her own wildest dreams.

Beautiful, brutal, and often banned – this modern classic gives an unflinching view of a childhood rooted in pain that flowers into a tale of redemption and hope.

A heartbreaking and critically acclaimed work of narrative nonfiction. David Grann’s writing reads like a novel. However, make no mistake — the history here is very real and Grann sets the bar high in bringing these events to light.

What is love? Beyond the addictive refrain from Haddaway that is now stuck in your head, it is a multitudinous concept that is difficult if not impossible to fully grasp. And yet, in All About Love, the first of three parts, we’re given an exploration of love that will grant an unexpected clarity, pushing you to seek a deeper meaning of love, and how it can heal the fissures that divide us.

If you’re not familiar with the name Michelle Zauner, you may recognize her band, Japanese Breakfast. Zauner is an amazing songwriter and her writing chops are on full display in this often wistful memoir describing life as a rebellious youth trying to reconcile her Asian heritage in a very white Eugene, Oregon.

Wisdom that transcends time. The long dead Roman emperor’s thoughts and fancies are still so relevant to your everyday ups and downs. Delivered in digestible bits, read one a day to set your mind right, or binge them all and let simmer over time.

A fascinating read about the Comanche tribe and one of its most well-known chieftains, Quanah. For anyone looking to learn more about the United States’ westward expansion and the Native American tribe fighting to keep their lands, this is the perfect read.

Writing from a hospital bed, Suleika Jaouad began a nightmarish four-year journey battling leukemia at the young age of 22. Her experiences were documented in The New York Times which turned her into an object of concern and admiration for many of her readers. After her cancer went into remission, Jaouad begins a road trip with her dog to seek out a number of the caring people who wrote to her about her story. What she discovers is that the key to survival is not a journey you take alone but one which requires all of us — the sick and the healthy — to make us whole.

An ode to New York City and those drawn to its allure, Patti Smith’s narrative mastery is on display in this true tale of two young, in-love artists as they rise through the many circles in the city on their way to fame.

With illuminating insights from both sides of the war, Rick Atkinson brings fresh perspectives to the first 21 months of the American Revolution. 

What if everything you believed about being human was just part of who we are? With fascinating insight and informative dives into unexplained mysteries linked to our existence, Harari may just change your perception of humankind. 

Look through a child’s eyes at the most tumultuous and cataclysmic years in Iran’s modern history in this terrifying and ultimately hopeful memoir.