Welcome to November’s list of notable nonfiction! The fall publishing season wraps up with dozens of new titles to consider, including some memoirs and self care guides from your favorite entertainers. History, poetry and some exciting new cookbooks round out the month’s picks. Here we go!
“Rocktober” may be over, but November has a host of music books to check out. Paul McCartney tells the story of a band on the run in Wings; Dolly Parton celebrates her iconic career on stage in Star of the Show; Patti Smith revisits her teenage years in Bread of Angels; The Band’s Robbie Robertson discusses his collaborations with Martin Scorsese in Insomnia; and Kenny Chesney explores the quest to find himself as an artist and a man in Heart Life Music. In reality TV, Taran Armstrong goes inside the world of “Big Brother” in Behind the Mirror; “Golden Bachelor” Gerry Turner shares what he’s learned from love and loss in Golden Years; and “Dance Moms” star Nia Sioux reveals how she persevered and redefined success for herself in Bottom of the Pyramid. Actor Anthony Hopkins delves into his illustrious career, difficult childhood, and path to sobriety in We Did Ok, Kid; Dick Van Dyke reflects on how he’s maintained a zest for life in 100 Rules for Living to 100; Wicked’s Cynthia Erivo show us how to embrace being “too much” and live up to the fullest iteration of ourselves in Simply More; actor/comedia Rob Riggle delivers a Marine’s guide to comedy and life in Grit, Spit & Never Quit; Lucie Arnaz shares never-before-seen love letters between her parents, Lucy & Desi; and Cheryl Hines – “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star, and wife of Secretary of Health & Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – showcases her unpredictable life in Unscripted.
In memoir, Margaret Atwood, one of the greatest storytellers of our time, turns to herself in Book of Lives, while author and home cook Bee Wilson considers how kitchen objects influence the way we live in The Heart-Shaped Tin. Palestinian scholar Tareq Baconi pens a memoir of political and queer awakening in Fire in Every Direction and Jen Percy explores the misunderstood ways women survive and forever carry trauma in Girls Play Dead.
In history, Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns collaborate on a richly illustrated, human-centered history of America’s founding struggle, to accompany a landmark six-part PBS series to air this month, in The American Revolution, while biographer Walter Isaacson reveals the origins of the most revolutionary sentence in the Declaration of Independence in The Greatest Sentence Ever Written. W. David Marx embarks on a cultural history of the 21st century in Blank Space, while Colin Woodard reveals how clashing regional cultures shattered America in Nation’s Apart. Sven Beckert unravels the past thousand years of human history in a landmark history of Capitalism and David McWilliams charts the relationship between humans and money — from clay tablets in Mesopotamia to cryptocurrency in Silicon Valley — in The History of Money. Mark Cooper Jones and Jay Foreman — aka The Map Men — deliver a fun and fascinating journey into maps that messed up, big time, in This Way Up, while Mike Bird pens a new history of the world’s oldest asset in The Land Trap. If microhistories are your thing, be sure to check out Simon Winchester’s thought-proviking history of wind in The Breath of the Gods.
Turning to current events, Michael Steinberger brings us into the world of controversial technology firm Palantir and its outspoken CEO Alex Karp in The Philosopher in the Valley, while Tim Wu explores how tech platforms conquered the economy and threaten our future prosperity in The Age of Extraction. Pulitzer Prize winners Carol Leonning & Aaron C. Davis investigate how politics and fear vanquished America’s Justice Department in Injustice and Elizabeth Kolbert collects her most important pieces about climate change and the natural world in Life on a Little Known Planet.
Padma Lakshmi shares tales, travels, and recipes from the Hulu series “Taste the Nation” in Padma’s All American, while Sean Sherman uncovers the foods and traditions of the Indigenous peoples of North America in Turtle Island. Kardea Brown returns with tasty new recipes from favorite old-school meals in Make Do With What You Have and Alison Roman shares deceptively simple, casually stylish, impossibly delicious recipes that make the most of your pantry in Something From Nothing. Clare de Boer presents a stunning collection of simple and elegant seasonal recipes from the beloved New York restaurant in The King Cookbook. Jackie Hartlaub shares simple, high-protein recipes with The Powered by Protein Cookbook. If you’re more of a style maven than a home cook, Nate Berkus explores how history, character, and vision come together to make a home at once timeless and personal in Foundations and Michelle Obama takes readers on a stunning journey through the former first lady’s style evolution, in her own words for the first time, in The Look.
Ruchika T. Malhotra motivates us to reject competition and unlock success in Uncompete; Jack Kornfield shares stories and teachings for loving each other and our world in All in This Together; Julia Cameron inspires with a year’s worth of creative inspiration in The Daily Artist’s Way; and psychic medium Laura Lynne Jackson reveals the secret path to an illuminated life in Guided. Sophie Lucido Johnson reframes how we think about intimate relationships with practical steps to build community and reconsider what family means in Kin. Scott Galloway offers a path forward for men and parents of boys, who he says are currently in crisis, in Notes on Being a Man. Beth Pinsker provides a comprehensive, compassionate guide for navigating end-of-life financial decisions in My Mother’s Money.