It might be the shortest month of the year, but there’s no shortage of amazing nonfiction to check out. From biography and memoir to self care, February has got it all.
In memoir, business leader and philanthropist Bill Gates shares his origin story in Source Code while So You Think You Can Dance star Allison Holker tells her life story of love, loss and embracing the light in This Far. Published in the U.S. for the first time, readers can enjoy Fearless and Free, a memoir from the fabulous, rule-breaking, one-of-a-kind Josephine Baker, the iconic dancer, singer, spy, and Civil Rights activist. Susan Morrison profiles Lorne Michaels, the man who invented Saturday Night Live, in Lorne while Mallory O’Meara pens a biography of Helen Gibson, the trick-riding, train-leaping, road-racing Life of Hollywood’s first stuntwoman in Daughter of Daring. Book critic Sarah Chihaya recounts the books that gutted her and how books can change the way you read the world in Bibliophobia while Lidia Yuknavitch reveals how she draws on creativity to heal her past traumas in Reading the Waves. From author and playwright Hanif Kureishi comes an urgent and stunning memoir about rebuilding a new life in the wake of devastating physical loss in Shattered; Kareem Rosser tells an unforgettable and heartreding love story following a devastating accident in When You’re Ready; and Haley Mlotek takes an intimate and candid look at divorce in No Fault. Finally, Sonny Vaccaro, the “Savior of Nike” and the man who discovered Michael Jordan, Sonny Vaccaro recounts his life in Legends and Soles.
Culinary food personality Alton Brown debuts with an essay collection that showcases his flair, wit and insight in Food for Thought while Chelsea Handler returns a new collection of hilarious and tender essays about becoming the woman she always wanted to be in I’ll Have What She’s Having. Podcaster Ira Madison III combines humor and sharpness in the pop-culture manifesto Pure Innocent Fun while Jennifer Finney Boylan examines the divisons and common ground between genders in Cleavage. Poetry editor Kevin Young collects a hundred years’ worth of verse in the anthology A Century of Poetry in the New Yorker; rare book collector Rebecca Romney takes readers on a quest to find the women writers who shaped a legend in Jane Austen’s Bookshelf; and John Warner, former editor of McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, helps us think about writing in the age of AI in More Than Words.
Carl Zimmer’s latest tells the hidden history of the life we breathe in Air-Borne while Riley Black considers longstanding relationship between prehistoric plants and life on Earth in When the Earth Was Green. Meanwhile, investigative journalist Charles Piller reports on fraud, arrogance, and tragedy in the quest to cure Alzheimer’s in Doctored.
In history, Steven M. Gillon chronicles how World War II shaped a generation of presidents, from Eisenhower and JFK through Reagan and Bush, in Presidents at War while Lyndal Roper discusses the German Peasants’ War,the greatest popular uprising in Western Europe before the French Revolution, in Summer of Fire and Blood. Eve L. Ewing’s latest explores the construction of American racism through the miseducation of Black and Native children in Original Sins. Turning to current events, Ukrainian novelist and poet turned war crimes researcher Victoria Amelina, who was killed by a Russian cruise missile, documented the Ukrainian resistance in Looking at Women Looking at War; New York magazine writer Sarah Jones exposes America’s contempt for the underclass in Disposable; Eoin Higgins reveals how Big Tech on the right bought the loudest voices on the left in Owned; and Katherine Stewart goes inside the movement to destroy American democracy in Money, Lies and God.
Last but not least, consider these books that provide guidance during challenging times. Activist Loretta J. Ross urges us to start making change with those you’d rather cancel in Calling In while Tyson Yunkaporta casts an Indigenous lens to face conflict and embrace conversation in Right Story, Wrong Story. Mary-Frances O’Connor reveals how the stress of loss can be an opportunity for healing in The Grieving Body and Nicole J. Sachs delivers readers from hopelessness to freedom with a revolutionary program to release chronic pain and anxiety in Mind Your Body. Minimalist expert Courtney Carver helps readers rest more, stress less, and live the life you actually want in Gentle; Psychologist Shigehiro Oishi urges us to embrace the transformative power of variety and experience in Life in Three Dimensions; and Ethan Kross tackles how to managing your emotions so they don’t manage you in Shift. Sahil Bloom presents a transformative guide to design your dream life with The Five Types of Wealth and Brian Kelly, founder of The Points Guy, helps turn your wanderlust into reality with How to Win at Travel.
Posted by Frank. All descriptions provided by publishers.
Leave a Comment