Past Book Club Titles: Narrative Nonfiction
Here is an alphabetical list of titles we have read since the book club began in September, 2009. The month we discussed each book is noted in parenthesis.
There are so many great books here, you’re sure to find something to suit any nonfiction mood you might be in!
18 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics by Bruce Goldfarb (August, 2023)
97 Orchard: an edible history of five immigrant families in one New York tenementby Jane Ziegelman (August, 2018)
1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft & Debs – the election that changed the country by James Chace (Oct., 2012)
About Alice by Calvin Trillin (Dec., 2009)
Across Many Mountains, a memoir by Yangzom Brauen (Dec., 2017)
Ada Blackjack: a true story of survival in the arctic by Jennifer Niven (Aug., 2016)
The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth and Power by Deirdre Mask (May, 2022)
After Visiting Friends: a son’s story by Michael Hainey (Dec., 2015)
Agent Garbo: the brilliant, eccentric secret Aaent who tricked Hitler and saved D-Day
by Stephen Talty (Oct., 2013)
Agent Josephine: American Beauty, French Hero, British Spy by Damien Lewis (July 2023)
Alive: the story of the Andes survivors by Piers Paul Read (Sept., 2013)
All Blood Runs Red: the Legendary Life of Eugene Bullard – Boxer, Pilot, Soldier, Spy by Phil Keith with Tom Clavin (July, 2021)
Alva Myrdal: a daughter’s memoir by Sissela Bok (Mar. , 2012)
American Fire: love, arson, and life in a vanishing land by Monica Hesse (Apr., 2018)
American Jezebel: the uncommon life of Ann Hutchinson, the woman who defied the Puritans
by Eve LaPlante (Nov., 2011)
The American Way of Eating: undercover at Walmart, Applebee’s, farm fields and the dinner table
by Tracie McMillan (July, 2015)
Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America by Eliza Griswold (Feb., 2022)
The Art of Scandal: the life of Isabella Stewart Gardner by Douglass Shand-Tucci (Feb., 2012)
The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and A Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel (April, 2024)
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell (Sept., 2011)
Ava’s Man by Rick Bragg (Apr., 2012)
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu and Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammer (Nov., 2021)
Bad Blood: secrets and lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou (March, 2020)
The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek by Howard Markel (Nov., 2018)
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: life, death, and hope in a Mumbai undercity by Katherine Boo (Nov., 2016)
The Big Oyster: history on the half-shell by Mark Kurlansky (Oct., 2018)
Black Boy by Richard Wright (May, 2012)
Blindsided: lifting a life above illness: a reluctant memoir by Richard M. Cohen (Sept., 2014)
Blink: the power of thinking without thinking by Malcolm Galdwell (Sept., 2012)
The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad, translated by Ingrid Christopher (Mar., 2014)
Born A Crime: Stories From A South African Childhood by Trevor Noah (Oct. 2021)
Bossypants by Tina Fey (March, 2013)
The Botany of Desire: a plant’s -eye view of the world by Michael Pollan (July, 2011)
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Oct. 2022)
Brutal Journey: the epic story of the first crossing of North America by Paul Schneider (Oct., 2019)
Buried in the Sky: The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2’s Deadliest Day by Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan (Jan., 2022)
Cape Cod by Henry David Thoreau (June, 2014)
Catch and Kill: lies, spies and a conspiracy to protect predators by Ronan Farrow (Oct., 2020)
Confederates in the Attic: dispatches from the unfinished Civil War by Tony Horwitz (July, 2017)
Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner (Mar. 2023)
Daring Young Men: the heroism and triumph of the Berlin airlift, June, 1948 – May, 1949 by Richard Reeves (June, 2017)
Dark Tide: the great Boston molasses flood of 1919 by Stephen Puleo (Dec., 2012)
Deep Down Dark: the untold stories of 33 men buried in a Chilean mine and the miracle that set them free by Hector Tobar (Aug., 2019)
The Devil’s Teeth: a true story of obsession and survival among America’s great white sharks by Susan Casesy (July, 2019)
Dispatches From the Edge: a memoir of war, disasters and survival by Anderson Cooper
Doctored: the disillusionment of an American physician by Sandeep Jauhar (Aug., 2015)
Dogtown: death and enchantment in a New England ghost town by Elyssa East (Aug., 2010)
Driving Mr. Albert: a trip across America with Einstein’s brain by Michael Paterniti (July, 2014)
Duel with the Devil: the true story of how Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr teamed up to take on America’s first sensational murder mystery by Paul Collins (July, 2018)
The Eastern Stars: how baseball changed the Dominican town of San Pedro de Macoris
by Mark Kurlansky (Apr., 2011)
Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s history-making race around the world by Mark Goodman (Apr., 2019)
The Elephant Company: the inspiring story of an unlikely hero and the animals who helped him save lives in WWII by Vicki Croke (May, 2015)
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe (Oct. & Nov. 2023)
Enrique’s Journey: the true story of a boy determined to reunite with his mother
by Sonia Nazario (Apr., 2014)
Evicted: poverty and profit in the American city by Matthew Desmond (Oct., 2017)
The Falcon Thief: a true tale of adventure, treachery and the hunt for the perfect bird by Joshua Hammer (May, 2021)
The Feather Thief: beauty, obsession and the natural history heist of the century by Kirk Wallace Johnson (Sept., 2020)
Finder’s Keepers: a tale of archaeological plunder and obsession by Craig Childs (Nov., 2013)
Finding Chika: a little girl, an earthquake, and the making of a family
by Mitch Albom (Jan., 2021)
Flu: the story of the great influenza pandemic of 1918 and the search
for the virus that caused it by Gina Kolata (Nov., 2009)
For All the Tea in China: how England stole the world’s favorite drink and changed history
by Sarah Rose (Feb., 2015)
For the Time Being by Annie Dillard (May, 2010)
Full Body Burden: growing in the nuclear shadow of Rocky Flats by Kristen Iversen (Mar., 2015)
The Gardner Heist: the true story of the world’s largest unsolved art theft by Ulrich Boser (June, 2011)
The Glass House: the 1% economy and the shattering of the all-American town by Brian Alexander (Feb., 2018)
The Hare with Amber Eyes: a family’s century of art and loss by Edmund de Waal (Aug., 2013)
Hidden Figures: the American dream and the untold story of the black women mathematicians who helped win the space race by Margot Lee Shetterly (Sept., 2017)
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker (Dec., 2021)
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald (June, 2019)
House of Stone: a Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East by Anthony Shadid (June, 2021)
The Hungry Ocean: a swordboat captain’s journey by Linda Greenlaw (Nov., 2014)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (Dec., 2013)
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer (Sept. 2021)
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong (Sept. 2023)
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (Aug., 2014)
In Cold Blood: a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences by Truman Capote (Oct., 2016)
In Montmarte: Picasso, Matisse, and modernism in Paris, 1900 – 1910 by Sue Roe (May, 2016)
In the Heart of the Sea: the tragedy of the whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick (Feb., 2017)
In the Hurricane’s Eye: the genius of George Washington and the victory at Yorktown (Sept., 2019)
In the Sanctuary of Outcasts by Neil White (June, 2010)
Into Africa: the epic adventures of Stanley and Livingstone by Martin Dugard
Into the Planet: my life as a cave diver by Jill Heinerth (Feb., 2021)
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (Jan., 2013)
The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto (Oct., 2009)
Joan of Arc by Mary Gordon (Oct., 2011)
Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption by Bryan Stevenson (Nov., 2017)
The Kelloggs: the battling brothers of Battle Creek by Howard Market (Nov., 2018)
Killers of the Flower Moon: the Osage murders and the birth of the FBI
by David Grann (May, 2019)
The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World by Riley Black (Dec. 2023)
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow (July, 2013)
The Last Train to Zona Verde: my ultimate African safari by Paul Theroux (Oct., 2015)
The Light of the World a memoir by Elizabeth Alexander (Feb., 2019)
The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story by Douglas Preston (Aug., 2021)
The Lost City of Z: a tale of deadly obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
The Lost German Slave Girl: the extraordinary true story of the slave Sally Miller and her fight for freedom by John Bailey (Apr., 2010)
Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker (Nov., 2022)
Love in the Driest Season by Tucker Neely (June, 2012)
Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica’s Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night by Julian Sancton (Sept. 2022)
The Mapmaker’s Wife: a true tale of love, murder and survival in the Amazon by Robert Whitaker (Mar., 2016)
The Map Thief: the gripping story of an esteemed rare map dealer who made millions stealing priceless maps by Michael Blanding
Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom by Ilyon Woo (Jan. 2024)
Maybe You Should Talk To Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb (May, 2023)
Mayflower: a story of courage, community and war by Nathaniel Philbrick (Nov., 2020)
Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham
(July, 2022)
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: a Savannah story by John Berendt (Jan., 2017)
The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator by Timothy C. Winegard (Feb. 2023)
The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II by Buzz Bissinger (May 2024)
Mrs. Adams in Winter: a journey in the last days of Napoleon by Michael O’Brien (Sept., 2015)
Mrs. Sherlock Homes: the true story of New York City’s greatest female detective and the 1917 missing girl case that captivated a nation by Brad Ricca (Sept., 2018)
The Millionaire and the Bard by Andrea Mays (July, 2016)
My Father’s Secret War by Lucinda Franks (Mar., 2011)
My Green Manifesto: down the Charles River in pursuit of a new environmentalism by David Gessner (Jan., 2017)
Never Caught: the Washingtons’ relentless pursuit of their runaway slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar (Dec., 2020)
Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat (Jan., 2010)
Notes From a Small Island by Bill Bryson (Sept., 2010)
Nomadland: surviving America in the twenty-first century by Jessica Bruder (Mar., 2021)
Nothing to Envy: ordinary lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick (Feb., 2016)
Obsessive Genius: the inner world of Marie Curie by Barbara Goldsmith (Jan., 2012)
Oneida: from free-love Utopia to the well set table by Ellen Wayland-Smith (Mar., 2018)
On the Map: a mind expanding exploration of the way the world looks by Simon Garfield (Dec., 2018)
The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean (May, 2011)
The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: a woman in world history by Linda Colley (Dec., 2011)
Outwitting History: the amazing adventures of a man who rescued a million Yiddish books by Aaron Lansky (Apr., 2013)
Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World’s Largest Owl by Jonathan C. Slaght (Apr., 2022)
Packing for Mars: the curious science of life in the void by Mary Roach (Feb., 2020)
Passing Strange: a gilded age tale of love and deception across the color line by Martha A. Sandweiss
The Pirate Hunters: the search for the Golden Fleece by Robert Kurson (Apr., 2016)
The Pirate’s Wife: The Remarkable True Story of Sarah Kidd by Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos (Feb., 2024)
The Planets by Dava Sobel (July, 2012)
Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond (June 2024)
The Professor and the Madman: a tale of murder, insanity and the making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester (Jan., 2015)
The Psychopath Test: a journey through the madness industry by Jon Ronson (Jan., 2014)
The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incrediable Rivalry that Built America’s First Subway by Doug Most (Apr., 2023)
The Radium Girls: the dark story of America’s shining women by Kate Moore (Mar., 2019)
Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting by Lisa Genova (Jan., 2023)
Rise of the Rocket Girls: the women who propelled us, from missiles, to the moon to Mars by Nathalie Hold (Aug., 2017)
River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile by Candice Millard (June, 2023)
The Road to Ubar by Nicholas Clapp (June, 2013)
Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People by Tracy Kidder (Mar. 2024)
The Routes of Man: how roads are changing the world and the way we live today by Ted Conver (Aug., 2011)
Sacco and Vanzetti: the men, the murder, and the judgement of mankind by Bruce Watson (Dec., 2014)
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe (Mar., 2022)
The Secret Life of Lobsters: how fishermen and scientists are unraveling the mysteries of our favorite crustacean by Trevor Corson (Nov., 2019)
Seabiscuit: an American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand (Dec., 2016)
Sea Change: alone across the Atlantic in a wooden boat by Peter Nichols (Feb., 2014)
Seldom Disappointed, a memoir by Tony Hillerman (Dec., 2019)
Sex on the Moon by Ben Mezrich (Sept., 2016)
Shakespeare Saved My Life: ten years in solitary with the bard a memoir by Laura Bates (Apr., 2015)
Shallows: what the Internet is doing to our brains by Nicholas Carr (Jan., 2020)
Something Must Be Done about Prince Edward County: a family, a Virginia town, a civil rights debate by Kristen Green (June, 2016)
The Soul of an Octopus: a surprising exploration into the wonder of consciousness by Sy Montgomer (Apr., 2017
Spook: science tackles the afterlife by Mary Roach (Nov., 2012)
Strength in What Remains: a journey of remembrance and forgiveness by Tracy Kidder (May, 2014)
Sudden Sea: the great hurricane of 1938 by R. A. Scotti (Feb., 2013)
Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl (Feb., 2010)
The Terrible Hours by Peter Maas (July, 2010)
The Tipping Point: how little things can make a big difference by Malcolm Gladwell (May, 2013)
Trapped Under the Sea: one engineering marvel, five men, and a disaster ten miles into the darkness
by Neil Swidey, (Oct., 2014)
Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy by Nathaniel Philbrick (Dec., 2022)
Truffle Hound: On the Trail of the World’s Most Seductive Scent, with Dreamers, Schemers, and Some Extraordinary Dogs by Rowan Jacobsen (Aug. 2022)
Two Old Women: an Alaskan legend of betrayal, courage and survival by Velma Wallis (Mar., 2010)
Unbowed: a memoir by Wangari Maathai (Mar., 2017)
The Ungrateful Refugee: what immigrants never tell you by Dina Nayeri (July, 2020)
An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison (Nov., 2010)
Voices in the Ocean: a journey into the wild and haunting world of dolphins by Susan Casey (May, 2017)
A Walk in the Woods: rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson (Nov., 2015)
West with the Night, a memoir by Beryl Markham (Aug., 2020)
When Paris Went Dark: the City of Light under German occupation, 1940-1944 by Ronald C. Rosbottom (Jan., 2016)
The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell (Jan., 2019)
Yellow Bird: oil, murder, and a woman’s search for justice in Indian County by Sierra Crane Murdoch (Apr. 2021)
The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom (Jun., 2022)
Young Men and Fire: A True Story of the Mann Gulch Fire by Norman Maclean (Aug., 2012)