Check out some of the month’s best nonfiction! In addition to May’s slate of Peak Picks, there are moving memoirs, guides to self care for the mind and body, American history in anticipation of the nation’s 250th anniversary, and so much more.
In memoir, Patricia Cornwell, author of the Kay Scarpetta series, tells the story that rivals all of the works that precede it – her own – in True Crime while author Siri Hustvedt pens a searing memoir of love and grief centered around the loss of Siri Hustvedt’s husband, Paul Auster, in Ghost Stories. Isaac Fitzgerald walks the trail of Johnny Appleseed in American Rambler and Pulitzer Prize-winner Ada Ferrer delivers a heartbreaking yet redemptive memoir about migration, separation, and the love of one family forcing its way through the fissures of history in Keeper of My Kin. Anna Konkle, the co-creator of Hulu’s brilliant Pen15 grapples with the reappearance of her estranged father–and whether it’s possible to reconnect before it’s too late in The Sane One; Joshua Kendall profiles the cartoonist who turned the news into art in Trudeau & Doonesbury; and martial arts legend Jet Li shows readers the way of true freedom in Beyond Life and Death. “The Sopranos” star Jamie Lynn Sigler opens up about the vicissitudes of life in And So It Is… and Geoffrey Cain tells the untold story of NeXT and the remaking of an American visionary with Steve Jobs in Exile.
Jesmyn Ward, two-time winner of the National Book Award, collects creative nonfiction in the essay collection On Witness and Respair while Turkish writer Ece Temelkuran embarks on a personal exploration of exile in Nation of Strangers, long-listed for the Women’s Prize for Nonfiction. Wall Street Journal columnist Joanna Stern chronicles her year of using AI to do (almost) everything in I Am Not a Robot. And Michael Schur teams up with Joe Posnanski travel the world in a hilarious and heartwarming celebration of sports fans and the things they love in Big Fan.
In American history, Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. confronts how race shadows the nation’s anniversaries in America, USA; from law professor Melissa Murray comes a comprehensive and annotated guide to The U.S. Constitution; Ben Rhodes surveys the battle for American identity through 15 historical speeches in All We Say; and Zayd Ayers Dohrn, the son of Weather Underground radicals, tells the story of a childhood on the run and a half-century of revolutionary struggle in America in Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young. In world history, Adrian Goldsworthy discusses the rivalry that shaped Ancient Greece in Athens and Sparta; Thomas Asbridge brings to life the global history of humanity’s most devastating pandemic in The Black Death; and Patrick Wyman offers a new look at humanity’s deep past, showing us how our world was built not by inevitability, but by trial and error on a global scale in Lost Worlds.
Turning to current events, James Lasdun provides an immersive account of Alex Murdaugh’s transformation from into a “family annihilator” in The Family Man; Josh Tyrangiel shows how real people are using artificial intelligence to fix things that matter in AI for Good; MS NOW legal analyst Andrew Weissmann shows the way to stop Trump’s deceit and save America in Liar’s Kingdom; and Theo Baker, winner of the George Polk Award for his investigation that brought down Stanford’s president, Theo Baker offers a revelatory and gripping account of Silicon Valley hubris in How to Rule the World.
From Manoush Zomorodi, host of NPR’s TED Radio Hour, comes a timely investigation into how screens and sitting are reshaping our bodies–and how a simple shift can change everything in Body Electric while Courtney Conley helps readers rediscover the most natural way to boost health and longevity–one step at a time–in Walk. Dr. Howard Schubiner leads readers to a new understanding of how the mind affects pain and physical and emotional health in Unlearn Your Pain and Mickey Trescott uses an anti-inflammatory approach, including 75 recipes, to regain vitality in The New Autoimmune Protocol. Jen Hamilton, the internet’s favorite labor nurse, shares stories and strategies for an empowered birth in Birth Vibes. And Erin Phillips playfully turns everyday life into a videogame, offering practical tips for autistic, ADHD and AuDHD individuals in Stuck on Hard Mode.
David Epstein shows people and organizations how constraints make us better in Inside the Box; productivity expert Laura Vanderkam returns with a mind-opening and schedule-expanding guide to making the most of every hour in Big Time; and Simone Stolzoff promotes the value of uncertainty in a world that demands answers in How to Not Know. Alexandra Elle teaches readers how to foster closeness, show up intentionally, and genuinely care for the people in our lives with The Company We Keep while Bruce Feiler demonstrates how ritual created the world–and how it can save us–in A Time to Gather. From Haley Sacks, better known as Mrs. Dow Jones, comes Future Rich Person, a groundbreaking, judgment-free personal finance guidebook about how to grow wealth on your own terms; from celebrity stylist Erin Walsh comes The Art of Intentional Dressing, an essential style guide for manifesting a magnetic life; from Katharine K. Wilkinson comes Climate Wayfinding, a compassionate and empowering guide to navigating from ache to action, doubt to possibility; and from Tia Levings comes I Belong to Me, a survivor’s guide to recovery and hope after religious trauma. Lucy Hone asks How Will I Ever Get Through This?, Aacompassionate and practical guide to living with loss and navigating grief, while Naomi Kanakia asks What’s So Great About Great Books? and explains why we should read classic literature.
~posted by Frank. All descriptions provided by publisher.