The Top 10 Nonfiction Books

From Girls and Sex to Known and Strange Things

  • 10. Girls and Sex, Peggy Orenstein

    Harper

    Orenstein examines the current state of affairs for teen girls, their social health and their cultural sexuality. Her examination of “hook-up culture” questions the role of porn in the expectations girls set for themselves, and it grapples with the conditions surrounding assault.

    Get it now

  • 9. The Constitution Today, Akhil Reed Amar

    Basic Books

    A book on the Constitution may not have felt so urgent or timely in any other year, but in the wake of the Khan family’s appearance at the Democratic National Convention—and the president-elect’s subsequent affront—Amar’s expert framework of our nation’s most fundamental document feels desperately needed.

    Get it now

  • 8. Kill ‘Em and Leave, James McBride

    Spiegel & Grau

    The author pursues the truth about the godfather of soul, revealing details of his mysterious childhood and his personal influence on everyone from Al Sharpton to Michael Jackson.

    Get it now

  • 7. Lab Girl, Hope Jahren

    Knopf

    Jahren, a geobiologist who has built three labs, has had some challenges unique to her status as a woman in science. She’s also had many inspiring moments and one especially meaningful professional relationship. Her memoir is an ode to her profession and to the natural world.

    Get it now

  • 6. Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life, Ruth Franklin

    Liveright

    The author of The Haunting of Hill House gets the biographical treatment in a book that explores her work and life, from an interest in witchcraft to a complicated marriage.

    Get it now

  • 5. Hidden Figures, Margot Lee Shetterly

    HarperCollins World

    During WWII, America desperately needed coders for the aeronautics industry. A group of supremely talented African American women answered the call to a challenging job, while racism bubbled in culture. This is their story.

    Get it now

  • 4. Known and Strange Things, Teju Cole

    Random House

    The novelist turns to nonfiction for a collection of essays on a broad range of subjects: fellow authors, such as W. G. Sebald; the death of the last Tasmanian tiger; the African-American photographer Roy DeCarava; and a Nazi performance of Beethoven.

    Get it now

  • 3. You’ll Grow Out of It, Jessi Klein

    Grand Central Publishing

    The head writer for Inside Amy Schumer brings her sense of humor to her essay collection that takes on her misfit childhood, her relationship with lingerie and modern womanhood at large.

    Get it now

  • 2. Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance

    Harper

    The author pays tribute to his family, who aspired to transcend their white working class roots, while investigating issues like domestic abuse, poverty and alcoholism that plague the culture they came from.

    Get it now

  • 1. March Vol. 3, John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell

    Top Shelf Productions

    The U.S. Congressman concludes his trilogy of graphic memoir with this, about his Civil Rights activism. The comic book, which recently won the National Book Award for young people’s literature (though it is for adults as well), begins with the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing and continues through the emotional inauguration of Barack Obama.

    Get it now

Your browser is out of date. Please update your browser at http://update.microsoft.com