10 Nonfiction Pageturners to Ignite Your Summer Reading

This nautical cliffhanger begins in 1740, with His Majesty's Ship the Wager setting sail from England on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. When the ship crashes off the coast of Patagonia, the marooned crew quickly falls into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for control. After two opposing groups wash up on the coast of Brazil a few months apart, accusations of mutiny and murder are tossed by each side, and a court martial is assembled to determine who to set free and who to hang. “For fascinating and gripping voyages into the past, few do it better than David Grann,” wrote Tobias Carroll for InsideHook.

With Joan Didion as an aunt, Carrie Fisher as a best friend, and acting and production roles in Martin Scorsese's After Hours, few people have had as much access to the intimate lives of America's cultural aristocracy as Griffin Dunne. On the page, all the glitz and glamour, combined with the devastating killing of his younger sister and the high-profile trial which followed, make for a complicated, eclectic, and fascinating read about a singular life.

In this practical and heartfelt guide to forging better connections with others, the longtime New York Times columnist draws on psychology, neuroscience, theater, philosophy and history. Bill Gates added this to his must-read list for the summer and declared, “I liked David’s previous book, The Road to Character, but this one is even better. His key premise is one I haven't found elsewhere: that conversational and social skills aren't just innate traits—they can be learned and improved upon…It’s more than a guide to better conversations; it’s a blueprint for a more connected and humane way of living.”

Curious about the secretive world of artists, curators, gallerists and collectors? The New York Times bestselling author of Cork Dork was as well, so she took a series of jobs in the art world to craft this “plucky and hilarious account of years working as a gallery girl, studio assistant, and guard at the Guggenheim museum . . . [Bosker] doesn't sit with and sift through her material so much as plunge headlong into it, gatecrashing cloistered ecosystems that want nothing to do with her, and emerging as a foremost expert," declared The Guardian.

You'll never look at plants the same way again after reading this eye-opening investigation into the intelligence of our photosynthetic friends by an Atlantic climate writer. "A stunning book,” hailed Scientific American, that “will transform how you see not only plants but the nature of all life."

In a mix of memoir and social critique, the noted intellectual behind No Logo and The Shock Doctrine turns her incisive gaze inward to probe the most personal and unsettling issues of the modern age. "If I had to name a single book that makes sense of these last few dark years, it would be this one," exclaimed The New York Times Book Review.

Can we still love a Picasso painting despite the undeniable pain he caused women, or groove to MJ in light of the sexual abuse claims against him? In the age of #MeToo and cancel culture, it’s become next to impossible to separate art from the person making it, an issue the author tackled in her viral Paris Review essay in 2017. Here she digs deeper for a thought-provoking take on how modern audiences grapple with the work of “monstrous” geniuses like Woody Allen, Miles Davis, Roman Polanski and other deeply flawed artists.

Everyone knows the White House Situation Room, but few know what goes on inside. George Stephanopoulos takes us inside the Situation Room during the most critical moments in US history, from JFK's assassination to 9/11, as well as the events on January 6th, with a first-ever report. Booklist called this a "must-read for any history and policy wonk."

Stop doom scrolling the latest political headlines and jump back in time to another divided era in US history with the bestselling author of The Devil in the White City and The Splendid and the Vile, who brings readers to the volatile shores of Charleston, South Carolina in the five pivotal months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the start of the Civil War. People Magazine was moved by this “all-too-prescient tale of tension and tragedy, clashing egos, miscommunication, power, and betrayal."

After growing up in Columbus, Ohio during the 1990s and watching local legends like LeBron James, this poet, essayist, and cultural critic reflects on the game of basketball and explores what it means to be a role model, expectation versus execution, sports stardom, and more.