13 Buzzing New Nonfiction Books for Summer

The multihyphenate musician and author's newest book details the history of hip-hop in 5-year increments. Rigorously researched and peppered with insider anecdotes from a legendary career, The Guardian called it "a wonderful ride, colored by personal digressions and crisp observations."

The bestselling author of The Emerald Mile quit his job to attempt a nearly impossible 750-mile hike through the Grand Canyon, resulting in this “triumph” of a book filled with “page-turning action, startling insights, and the kind of verbal grace that makes multipage descriptions of, say, a flock of pelicans feel riveting and new…Readers will be tempted to visit the canyon just to keep the book's spell alive longer--and to feel Fedarko's company in their awe," raved The New York Times Book Review.

The amazing yet little known story of the poor German woman who pioneered organized crime in the United States is a “fun and fascinating read that blends history and heist,” recounting how an immigrant rag peddler rose to become “a criminal mastermind in 19th century New York, a friend of the political establishment, and a maternal figure to the city’s professional thieves.”

If you’re still reeling from the last presidential debate, you may find some measure of comfort in this illustrated step-by-step guide on how to get more involved in politics during this time of dread and uncertainty (if not outright peril). In ten steps, the former Obama White House staffers will tell you everything you need to know on voting, donating, volunteering, working on campaigns, or even “running for office yourself,” as they suggested to Stephen Colbert during a recent visit with the Late Night host.

The two insiders tasked with bringing Silicon Valley's cutting-edge technology to the US military offer a “riveting reminder of how hard protecting our nation's security can be, and how much depends on the ingenuity of a select few. A must-read," declared bestselling biographer Walter Isaacson.

With Joan Didion as an aunt, Carrie Fisher as a best friend, and a star turn in Scorsese's After Hours, few have had such access to the intimate lives of America's cultural aristocracy. Yet his life was also marked by the devastating killing of his younger sister and the high-profile trial which followed, making for a story that’s “unsparing but also affectionate, alternately flattering and stark, depending on the scene,” according to The Guardian. “What emerges is a novelistic and compelling account of a life, and a self-deprecating guide to the Dunnes’s many highs and lows.”

The longtime war reporter has had many brushes with mortal danger, but none as close as a ruptured aneurysm at home in the summer of 2020. Though he survived, he was left pondering his own death with a combination of “intelligent reporting and flashes of poetry,” according to Air Mail. “This riveting, inspiring volume is an intimate and powerful work sure to prompt reflections in anyone who reads it."

The New York Times praised this eye-opening history of the 1990s that "ditches the familiar narrative about a decade of relative peace and prosperity for a disturbing tale of populists, nativists and demagogues, who, acting on the margins of U.S. politics, helped shatter the post-Cold War consensus and usher in anti-democratic forces that plague the country today."

A New Yorker staff writer and Pulitzer Prize-winning critic examines the origins of reality TV, from radio through Donald Trump in this deeply reported and wildly entertaining history. Carole V. Bell of NPR praised it as combining “the appeal of a page-turning thriller and the heft of serious scholarship. Juicy and thoughtful, it's a must-read for anyone interested in television or popular culture.”

After being diagnosed with lung cancer in 2019, the famed critic published 46 essays reflecting on art and life, against the backdrop of an America marked by pandemic, conflict and social unrest, which The Washington Post called "funny, raw, wise and clipped, The Art of Dying is an astonishingly brave piece of writing, hard-packed with tough truths."