Best 2023, Best Books, Best Year-End, Nonfiction

The Best Books of 2023 – Nonfiction (A Year-End List Aggregation)

“What are the best Nonfiction books released in 2023?” We looked at 428 of the top Nonfiction books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!

The top 51 books, all appearing on 3 or more “Best Nonfiction” book lists, are ranked below by how many times they appear. The remaining 375+ titles, as well as the sources we used, are in alphabetical order on the bottom of the page.

Our other Best Of 2023 Articles:

Previous Years: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015

Happy Scrolling!



Top 51 Best Nonfiction Books From 2023



51.) A Living Remedy written by Nicole Chung

A Living Remedy by Nicole Chung

Lists It Appears On:

  • Celadon
  • Electric Lit
  • Powell’s

From the bestselling author of ALL YOU CAN EVER KNOW comes a searing memoir of family, class and grief–a daughter’s search to understand the lives her adoptive parents led, the life she forged as an adult, and the lives she’s lost….



50.) A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial written by Viet Thanh Nguyen

A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial by Viet Thanh Nguyen

Lists It Appears On:

  • BookPage
  • Electric Lit
  • NPR

With insight, humor, formal invention, and lyricism, in A Man of Two Faces Viet Thanh Nguyen rewinds the film of his own life. He expands the genre of personal memoir by acknowledging larger stories of refugeehood, colonization, and ideas about Vietn…



49.) Elon Musk written by Walter Isaacson

Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • Kirkus Review
  • Shepherd

When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars wer…



48.) Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution written by Cat Bohannon

Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon

Lists It Appears On:

  • Chicago Public Library
  • Goodreads
  • NYPL

A myth-busting, eye-opening landmark account of how humans evolved, offering a paradigm shift in our thinking about what the female body is, how it came to be, and how this evolution still shapes all our lives today “A page-turning whistle-stop tour …



47.) Everything/Nothing/Someone written by Alice Carriere

Everything/Nothing/Someone by Alice Carriere

Lists It Appears On:

  • Kirkus Review
  • Publishers Weekly
  • Shepherd

Alice Carrière tells the story of her unconventional upbringing in Greenwich Village as the daughter of a remote mother, the renowned artist Jennifer Bartlett, and a charismatic father, European actor Mathieu Carrière. From an early age, Alice is for…



46.) Gator Country: Deception, Danger, and Alligators in the Everglades written by Rebecca Renner

Gator Country: Deception, Danger, and Alligators in the Everglades by Rebecca Renner

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • BookPage
  • Chicago Public Library

To catch a Florida Man, you have to become one, and that’s what Officer Jeff Babauta did. As his ponytailed, whiskey-soaked alter ego, he established Sunshine Alligator Farm. His goal? Infiltrate the shady world of illegal poachers in the Florida Eve…



45.) Hijab Butch Blues: A Memoir written by Lamya H

Hijab Butch Blues: A Memoir by Lamya H

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Riot
  • Electric Lit
  • NPR

When fourteen-year-old Lamya H realizes she has a crush on her teacher—her female teacher—she covers up her attraction, an attraction she can’t yet name, by playing up her roles as overachiever and class clown. Born in South Asia, she moved to the Mi…



44.) Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew From It written by Greg Marshall

Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew From It by Greg Marshall

Lists It Appears On:

  • NPR
  • Powell’s
  • Washington Post

Greg Marshall’s early years were pretty bizarre. Rewind the VHS tapes (this is the ’90s) and you’ll see a lopsided teenager limping across a high school stage, or in a wheelchair after leg surgeries, pondering why he’s crushing on half of the Utah Ja…



43.) Lesbian Love Story: A Memoir In Archives written by Amelia Possanza

Lesbian Love Story: A Memoir In Archives by Amelia Possanza

Lists It Appears On:

  • NPR
  • Publishers Weekly
  • Shelf Awareness

When Amelia Possanza moved to Brooklyn to build a life of her own, she found herself surrounded by queer stories: she read them on landmark placards, overheard them on the pool deck when she joined the world’s largest LGBTQ swim team, and even watche…



42.) Lou Reed: The King of New York written by Will Hermes

Lou Reed: The King of New York by Will Hermes

Lists It Appears On:

  • Kirkus Review
  • NPR
  • Washington Post

Since his death ten years ago, Lou Reed’s living presence has only grown. The great rock-poet presided over the marriage of Brill Building pop and the European avant-garde, and left American culture transfigured. In Lou Reed: The King of New York, Wi…



41.) Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity written by Peter Attia MD

Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia MD

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • Goodreads
  • Shepherd

Wouldn’t you like to live longer? And better? In this operating manual for longevity, Dr. Peter Attia draws on the latest science to deliver innovative nutritional interventions, techniques for optimizing exercise and sleep, and tools for addressing …



40.) Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People written by Tracy Kidder

Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People by Tracy Kidder

Lists It Appears On:

  • BookPage
  • Chicago Public Library
  • NPR

After Jim O’Connell graduated from Harvard Medical School and was nearing the end of his residency at Massachusetts General, the hospital’s chief of medicine made a proposal: Would he defer a prestigious fellowship and spend a year helping to create …



39.) Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock written by Jenny Odell

Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock by Jenny Odell

Lists It Appears On:

  • Chicago Public Library
  • Electric Lit
  • Gentleman’s Journal

In her first book, How to Do Nothing, Jenny Odell wrote about the importance of disconnecting from the “attention economy” to spend time in quiet contemplation. But what if you don’t have time to spend?…



38.) Spare written by Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex

Spare by Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex

Lists It Appears On:

  • NPR
  • Shepherd
  • Washington Post

It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow—and horror. As Princess Diana was laid to rest, billions wondered what Prince William and…



37.) The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church written by Rachel L. Swarns

The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church by Rachel L. Swarns

Lists It Appears On:

  • Chicago Public Library
  • Kirkus Review
  • Washington Post

In 1838, a group of America’s most prominent Catholic priests sold 272 enslaved people to save their largest mission project, what is now Georgetown University. In this groundbreaking account, journalist, author, and professor Rachel L. Swarns follow…



36.) The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, Mit, and the Fight for Women in Science written by Kate Zernike

The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, Mit, and the Fight for Women in Science by Kate Zernike

Lists It Appears On:

  • Kirkus Review
  • Shelf Awareness
  • Shepherd

In 1963, a female student was attending a lecture given by Nobel Prize winner James Watson, then tenured at Harvard. At nineteen, she was struggling to define her future. She had given herself just ten years to fulfill her professional ambitions befo…



35.) The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration written by Jake Bittle

The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration by Jake Bittle

Lists It Appears On:

  • Chicago Public Library
  • NPR
  • NYPL

Even as climate change dominates the headlines, many of us still think about it in the future tense—we imagine that as global warming gets worse over the coming decades, millions of people will scatter around the world fleeing famine and rising seas….



34.) The Great White Bard: How to Love Shakespeare While Talking About Race written by Farah Karim-Cooper

The Great White Bard: How to Love Shakespeare While Talking About Race by Farah Karim-Cooper

Lists It Appears On:

  • Kirkus Review
  • NPR
  • Publishers Weekly

Combining piercing analysis of race, gender and otherness in famous plays from Antony and Cleopatra to The Tempest with a radical reappraisal of Elizabethan London, The Great White Bard asks us neither to idealize nor bury Shakespeare but instead to …



33.) The People’s Hospital: Hope and Peril in American Medicine written by M.D. Ricardo Nuila

The People's Hospital: Hope and Peril in American Medicine by M.D. Ricardo Nuila

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • Kirkus Review
  • Washington Post

Here, we follow the lives of five uninsured Houstonians as their struggle for survival leads them to a hospital that prioritizes people over profit. First, we meet Stephen, the restaurant franchise manager who signed up for his company’s lowest price…



32.) The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth written by Elisabeth Rush

The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth by Elisabeth Rush

Lists It Appears On:

  • BookPage
  • NPR
  • Shelf Awareness

In 2019, fifty-seven scientists and crew set out onboard the Nathaniel B. Palmer. Their destination: Thwaites Glacier. Their goal: to learn as much as possible about this mysterious place, never before visited by humans, and believed to be both rapid…



31.) The Story of Art Without Men written by Katy Hessel

The Story of Art Without Men by Katy Hessel

Lists It Appears On:

  • Chicago Public Library
  • Kirkus Review
  • Shepherd

How many women artists do you know? Who makes art history? Did women even work as artists before the twentieth century? And what is the Baroque anyway?…



30.) The Talk written by Darrin Bell

The Talk by Darrin Bell

Lists It Appears On:

  • Kirkus Review
  • NPR
  • Shelf Awareness

A Coretta Scott King Author Honor winner! As a little boy grows into a bigger boy, ready to take on the world, he first must have that very difficult conversation far too familiar to so many Black and Brown Americans in this gentle and ultimately hop…



29.) Thin Skin: Essays written by Jenn Shapland

Thin Skin: Essays by Jenn Shapland

Lists It Appears On:

  • Chicago Public Library
  • NYPL
  • Publishers Weekly

Recognizing how deeply vulnerable we all are to our surroundings, she becomes aware of the impacts our tiniest choices have on people, places, and species far away. She can’t stop seeing the ways we are enmeshed and entangled with everyone else on th…



28.) Waiting to Be Arrested at Night written by Tahir Hamut Izgil

Waiting to Be Arrested at Night by Tahir Hamut Izgil

Lists It Appears On:

  • BookPage
  • LitHub
  • Washington Post

One by one, Tahir Hamut Izgil’s friends disappeared. The Chinese government’s brutal persecution of the Uyghur people had continued for years, but in 2017 it assumed a terrifying new scale. The Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim minority group in wester…



27.) What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds written by Jennifer Ackerman

What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds by Jennifer Ackerman

Lists It Appears On:

  • Chicago Public Library
  • Chicago Public Library
  • Publishers Weekly

For millennia, owls have captivated and intrigued us. Our fascination with these mysterious birds was first documented more than thirty thousand years ago in the Chauvet Cave paintings in southern France. With their forward gaze and quiet flight, owl…



26.) Wifedom written by Anna Funder

Wifedom by Anna Funder

Lists It Appears On:

  • LitHub
  • Readings
  • Shepherd

At the end of summer 2017, Anna Funder found herself at a moment of peak overload. Family obligations and household responsibilities were crushing her soul and taking her away from her writing deadlines. She needed help, and George Orwell came to her…



25.) Winnie and Nelson written by Jonny Steinberg

Winnie and Nelson by Jonny Steinberg

Lists It Appears On:

  • Kirkus Review
  • LitHub
  • Washington Post

One of the most celebrated political leaders of a century, Nelson Mandela has been written about by many biographers and historians. But in one crucial area, his life remains largely untold: his marriage to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. During his years…



24.) All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me written by Patrick Bringley

All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by Patrick Bringley

Lists It Appears On:

  • Book Riot
  • NPR
  • NYPL
  • Shepherd

Millions of people climb the grand marble staircase to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art every year. But only a select few have unrestricted access to every nook and cranny. They’re the guards who roam unobtrusively in dark blue suits, keeping a w…



23.) Liliana’s Invincible Summer: A Sister’s Search for Justice written by Cristina Rivera Garza

Liliana’s Invincible Summer: A Sister’s Search for Justice by Cristina Rivera Garza

Lists It Appears On:

  • Electric Lit
  • NPR
  • Time
  • Washington Post

October 18, 2019. Cristina Rivera Garza travels from her home in Texas to Mexico City, in search of an old, unresolved criminal file. “My name is Cristina Rivera Garza,” she writes in her request to the attorney general, “and I am writing to you as a…



22.) Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom written by Ilyon Woo

Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom by Ilyon Woo

Lists It Appears On:

  • Chicago Public Library
  • Kirkus Review
  • NPR
  • Shepherd

In 1848, a year of international democratic revolt, a young, enslaved couple, Ellen and William Craft, achieved one of the boldest feats of self-emancipation in American history. Posing as master and slave, while sustained by their love as husband an…



21.) Ordinary Notes written by Christina Sharpe

Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe

Lists It Appears On:

  • Barnes & Noble
  • Electric Lit
  • Kirkus Review
  • NPR

A singular achievement, Ordinary Notes explores profound questions about loss and the shapes of Black life that emerge in the wake. In a series of 248 notes that gather meaning as we read them, Christina Sharpe skillfully weaves artifacts from the pa…



20.) Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World written by Malcolm Harris

Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World by Malcolm Harris

Lists It Appears On:

  • Electric Lit
  • Gentleman’s Journal
  • Kirkus Review
  • Powell’s

Palo Alto’s weather is temperate, its people are educated and enterprising, its corporations are spiritually and materially ambitious and demonstrably world-changing. Palo Alto is also a haunted toxic waste dump built on stolen Indian burial grounds,…



19.) The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean written by Susan Casey

The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean by Susan Casey

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • BookPage
  • Chicago Public Library
  • Shepherd

For all of human history, the deep ocean has been a source of wonder and terror, an unknown realm that evoked a singular, compelling question: What’s down there? Unable to answer this for centuries, people believed the deep was a sinister realm of fi…



18.) Quietly Hostile: Essays written by Samantha Irby

Quietly Hostile: Essays by Samantha Irby

Lists It Appears On:

  • Celadon
  • Chicago Public Library
  • Electric Lit
  • NPR
  • Powell’s

Samantha Irby’s career has taken her to new heights. She dodges calls from Hollywood and flop sweats on the red carpet at premieres (well, one premiere). But nothing is ever as it seems online, where she can crop out all the ugly parts….



17.) The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession written by Michael Finkel

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • Goodreads
  • Indigo
  • Publishers Weekly
  • Washington Post

In this spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, the best-selling author of The Stranger in the Woods brings us into Breitwieser’s strange world—unlike most thieves, he never stole for money, keeping all his treasures in a single room wh…



16.) The Creative Act: A Way Of Being written by Rick Rubin

The Creative Act: A Way Of Being by Rick Rubin

Lists It Appears On:

  • Celadon
  • Chicago Public Library
  • Goodreads
  • Indigo
  • Shepherd

Many famed music producers are known for a particular sound that has its day. Rick Rubin is known for something else: creating a space where artists of all different genres and traditions can home in on who they really are and what they really offer….



15.) The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History written by Ned Blackhawk

The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History by Ned Blackhawk

Lists It Appears On:

  • Chicago Public Library
  • NPR
  • Powell’s
  • Shepherd
  • Washington Post

The most enduring feature of U.S. history is the presence of Native Americans, yet most histories focus on Europeans and their descendants. This long practice of ignoring Indigenous history is changing, however, as a new generation of scholars insist…



14.) To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul written by Tracy K. Smith

To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul by Tracy K. Smith

Lists It Appears On:

  • Barnes & Noble
  • Chicago Public Library
  • Powell’s
  • Time
  • Washington Post

In 2020, heartsick from constant assaults on Black life, Tracy K. Smith found herself soul-searching and digging into the historical archive for help navigating the “din of human division and strife.” With lyricism and urgency, Smith draws on several…



13.) We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America written by Roxanna Asgarian

We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America by Roxanna Asgarian

Lists It Appears On:

  • Chicago Public Library
  • Chicago Public Library
  • NPR
  • Publishers Weekly
  • Washington Post

On March 26, 2018, rescue workers discovered a crumpled SUV and the bodies of two women and several children at the bottom of a cliff beside the Pacific Coast Highway. Investigators soon concluded that the crash was a murder-suicide, but there was mo…



12.) You Could Make This Place Beautiful written by Maggie Smith

You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith

Lists It Appears On:

  • Electric Lit
  • NPR
  • Shelf Awareness
  • Shepherd
  • Time

In her memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful, poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself. The book begins with one woman’s personal heartbreak, but its circles widen into a reckoning with …



11.) Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World written by John Vaillant

Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World by John Vaillant

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • Chicago Public Library
  • NPR
  • Shepherd
  • Time
  • Washington Post

In May 2016, Fort McMurray, the hub of Canada’s oil industry and America’s biggest foreign supplier, was overrun by wildfire. The multi-billion-dollar disaster melted vehicles, turned entire neighborhoods into firebombs, and drove 88,000 people from …



10.) How to Say Babylon written by Safiya Sinclair

How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair

Lists It Appears On:

  • Kirkus Review
  • NPR
  • Powell’s
  • Publishers Weekly
  • Shelf Awareness
  • Time

Throughout her childhood, Safiya Sinclair’s father, a volatile reggae musician and militant adherent to a strict sect of Rastafari, became obsessed with her purity, in particular, with the threat of what Rastas call Babylon, the immoral and corruptin…



9.) Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World written by Naomi Klein

Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • Barnes & Noble
  • Electric Lit
  • Goodreads
  • LitHub
  • Powell’s
  • Time

What if you woke up one morning and found you’d acquired another self–a double who was almost you and yet not you at all? What if that double shared many of your preoccupations but, in a twisted, upside-down way, furthered the very causes you’d devo…



8.) King: A Life written by Jonathan Eig

King: A Life by Jonathan Eig

Lists It Appears On:

  • BookPage
  • Kirkus Review
  • LitHub
  • NPR
  • Publishers Weekly
  • Shepherd
  • Time

King mixes revelatory new research with accessible storytelling to offer an MLK for our times. Vividly written and exhaustively researched, Jonathan Eig’s King: A Life is the first major biography in decades of the civil rights icon Martin Luther Kin…



7.) Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino” written by Héctor Tobar

Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino” by Héctor Tobar

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • Barnes & Noble
  • BookPage
  • Chicago Public Library
  • Kirkus Review
  • NPR
  • Powell’s

Investigating topics that include the US-Mexico border “wall,” Frida Kahlo, urban segregation, gangs, queer Latino utopias, and the emergence of the cartel genre in TV and film, Tobar journeys across the country to expose something truer about the me…



6.) Pageboy: A Memoir written by Elliot Page

Pageboy: A Memoir by Elliot Page

Lists It Appears On:

  • Celadon
  • Electric Lit
  • Indigo
  • Powell’s
  • Readings
  • Shepherd
  • Washington Post

With Juno’s massive success, Elliot became one of the world’s most beloved actors. His dreams were coming true, but the pressure to perform suffocated him. He was forced to play the part of the glossy young starlet, a role that made his skin crawl, o…



5.) When Crack Was King: A People’s History of a Misunderstood Era written by Donovan X. Ramsey

When Crack Was King: A People's History of a Misunderstood Era by Donovan X. Ramsey

Lists It Appears On:

  • Chicago Public Library
  • Chicago Public Library
  • Electric Lit
  • NPR
  • NYPL
  • Publishers Weekly
  • Washington Post

A poignant and compelling re-examination of a tragic era in America history . . . insightful . . . and deeply moving.”–Bryan Stevenson, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Just Mercy A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR The crack epidemi…



4.) A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them written by Timothy Egan

A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan

Lists It Appears On:

  • BookPage
  • Celadon
  • Chicago Public Library
  • Kirkus Review
  • NPR
  • NYPL
  • Shepherd
  • Washington Post

A historical thriller by the Pulitzer and National Book Award-winning author that tells the riveting story of the Klan’s rise to power in the 1920s, the cunning con man who drove that rise, and the woman who stopped them. The Roaring Twenties–the Ja…



3.) Poverty, by America written by Matthew Desmond

Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • Barnes & Noble
  • Chicago Public Library
  • Goodreads
  • NPR
  • Powell’s
  • Shepherd
  • Time

The United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Why does this land of plenty allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and…



2.) Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma written by Claire Dederer

Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer

Lists It Appears On:

  • Barnes & Noble
  • Chicago Public Library
  • Electric Lit
  • Goodreads
  • Kirkus Review
  • LitHub
  • NPR
  • Powell’s
  • Publishers Weekly
  • Shepherd
  • Washington Post

This unflinching, deeply personal book expands on Claire Dederer’s instantly viral Paris Review essay, “What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men?” Can we love the work of artists such as Hemingway, Sylvia Plath, Miles Davis, Polanski, or Picasso? …



1.) The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder written by David Grann

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • BookPage
  • Celadon
  • Chicago Public Library
  • Chicago Public Library
  • Gentleman’s Journal
  • Indigo
  • LitHub
  • NPR
  • Shepherd
  • Washington Post

From the author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on The Wager, show…




The 375+ Additional Best Nonfiction Books Released In 2023



52) A Day in the Life of Abed Salama – Nathan Thrall List: (Chicago Public Library, Time)

53) Althea – Sally H. Jacobs List: (Kirkus Review, Washington Post)

54) America the Beautiful?: One Woman in a Borrowed Prius on the Road Most Traveled – Blythe Roberson List: (Book Riot, NPR)

55) American Gun – Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson List: (Kirkus Review, Washington Post)

56) American Whitelash: A Changing Nation and the Cost of Progress – Wesley Lowery List: (Kirkus Review, NPR)

57) An Amerikan Family: The Shakurs and the Nation They Created – Santi Elijah Holley List: (Kirkus Review, NPR)

58) An Inconvenient Cop: My Fight to Change Policing in America – Edwin Raymond, with Jon Sternfeld List: (Publishers Weekly, Washington Post)

59) Anansi’s Gold: The Man Who Looted the West, Outfoxed Washington, and Swindled the World – Yepoka Yeebo List: (Kirkus Review, NPR)

60) Artificial: A Love Story – Amy Kurzweil List: (Kirkus Review, NPR)

61) August Wilson: A Life – Patti Hartigan List: (Kirkus Review, Publishers Weekly)

62) Becoming Ella Fitzgerald: The Jazz Singer Who Transformed American Song – Judith Tick List: (Kirkus Review, NPR)

63) Biting the Hand: Growing Up Asian in Black and White America – Julia Lee List: (Kirkus Review, NYPL)

64) Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America – Michael Harriot List: (Chicago Public Library, Kirkus Review)

65) Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, and THE WASHINGTON POST – Martin Baron List: (Amazon, Washington Post)

66) Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America – Heather Cox Richardson List: (Kirkus Review, Washington Post)

67) Fatherland: A Memoir of War, Conscience and Family Secrets – Burkhard Bilger List: (Kirkus Review, Washington Post)

68) Fear Is Just a Word: A Missing Daughter, a Violent Cartel, and a Mother’s Quest for Vengeance – Azam Ahmed List: (Amazon, Chicago Public Library)

69) Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery’s Borderland – Scott Shane List: (Celadon, Chicago Public Library)

70) Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things – Adam M. Grant List: (Celadon, Goodreads)

71) How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family’s Story of Hope and Survival in the American South – Esau McCaulley List: (Amazon, Shepherd)

72) Impossible People: A Completely Average Recovery Story – Julia Wertz List: (Kirkus Review, NPR)

73) Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food – Fuchsia Dunlop List: (NPR, Shepherd)

74) Judgment at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia – Gary J. Bass List: (Chicago Public Library, NPR)

75) Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell – Sy Montgomery List: (Chicago Public Library, Washington Post)

76) On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good – Elise Loehnen List: (Amazon, Goodreads)

77) Opinions: A Decade of Arguments, Criticism, and Minding Other People’s Business – Roxane Gay List: (Chicago Public Library, Goodreads)

78) Owner of a Lonely Heart – Beth Nguyen List: (BookPage, NPR)

79) Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal – Bettina L. Love List: (Barnes & Noble, Goodreads)

80) Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs – Jamie Loftus List: (NPR, Powell’s)

81) Red Memory: Living, Remembering and Forgetting China’s Cultural Revolution – Tania Branigan List: (Chicago Public Library, Kirkus Review)

82) Rikers – Graham Rayman and Reuven Blau List: (Gentleman’s Journal, Kirkus Review)

83) Rivermouth – List: (Chicago Public Library, Kirkus Review)

84) Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair – Mercury Stardust List: (NPR, NYPL)

85) Sink – Joseph Earl Thomas List: (Electric Lit, Powell’s)

86) Skinfolk – Matthew Pratt Guterl List: (Kirkus Review, Shepherd)

87) Some People Need Killing – Patricia Evangelista List: (Chicago Public Library, Time)

88) Spies – Calder Walton List: (Kirkus Review, Shepherd)

89) The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions – Jonathan Rosen List: (Kirkus Review, Washington Post)

90) The Burning of the World – Scott W. Berg List: (Chicago Public Library, Shepherd)

91) The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight – Andrew Leland List: (NPR, Washington Post)

92) The Declassification Engine – Matthew Connelly List: (Kirkus Review, Shepherd)

93) The Dictionary People: The unsung heroes who created the Oxford English Dictionary – Sarah Ogilvie List: (Chicago Public Library, Washington Post)

94) The Great Escape: A True Story of Forced Labor and Immigrant Dreams in America – Saket Soni List: (Amazon, NPR)

95) The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise – Pico Iyer List: (Gentleman’s Journal, NPR)

96) The In-Betweens: A Lyrical Memoir – Davon Loeb List: (Electric Lit, Shepherd)

97) The Loneliness Files – Athena Dixon List: (Electric Lit, Powell’s)

98) The Parrot and the Igloo: Climate and the Science of Denial – David Lipsky List: (Chicago Public Library, Publishers Weekly)

99) The Upside-Down World: Meetings with the Dutch Masters – Benjamin Moser List: (Kirkus Review, Washington Post)

100) The Wounded World – Chad L Williams List: (Shepherd, Washington Post)

101) Ultra-Processed People: The Science Behind Food That Isn’t Food – Chris van Tulleken List: (Goodreads, NPR)

102) Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation – Tiya Miles List: (NYPL, Publishers Weekly)

103) Without Children: The Long History of Not Being a Mother – Peggy O’Donnell Heffington List: (NPR, Washington Post)

104) Worm: A Cuban American Odyssey – Edel Rodriguez List: (Kirkus Review, NPR)

105) You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live: Ten Weeks in Birmingham That Changed America – Paul Kix List: (Celadon, Kirkus Review)

106) 8 Rules of Love: How to Find It, Keep It, and Let It Go – Jay Shetty List: (Goodreads, Shepherd)

107) A Brutal Reckoning – Peter Cozzens List: (Shepherd)

108) A Burning House – Brandon Washington List: (Shepherd)

109) A DARKER WILDERNESS – Erin Sharkey List: (Kirkus Review)

110) A DEATH IN MALTA – Paul Caruana Galizia List: (Kirkus Review)

111) A Life of One’s Own: Nine Women Writers Begin Again – Joanna Biggs List: (Electric Lit)

112) A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe – Mark Dawidziak List: (Shepherd)

113) A Pocketful of Happiness – Richard E. Grant List: (Shepherd)

114) A Rome of One’s Own: The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire – Emma Southon List: (Publishers Weekly)

115) A Slow, Calculated Lynching: The Story of Clyde Kennard – Devery S. Anderson List: (NPR)

116) A Woman I Know: Female Spies, Double Identities, and a New Story of the Kennedy Assassination – Mary Haverstick List: (Barnes & Noble)

117) Absent Friend – John MacKenna List: (Shepherd)

118) Adam Nicolson – Farrar, Straus & Giroux List: (New Yorker)

119) Adam Shatz – Verso List: (New Yorker)

120) Adam Welz – Bloomsbury List: (New Yorker)

121) Adventures in the Radio Trade – Joe Mahoney List: (Shepherd)

122) Affinities: On Art and Fascination – Brian Dillon List: (Washington Post)

123) AFTER THE MIRACLE – Max Wallace List: (Kirkus Review)

124) Alexa Hagerty – Crown List: (New Yorker)

125) All the Gold Stars: Reimagining Ambition and the Ways We Strive – Rainesford Stauffer List: (Electric Lit)

126) Alone: The Journeys of Three Young Refugees – Paul Tom, illustrated by Mélanie Baillairgé, List: (NPR)

127) America’s Black Capital: How African Americans Remade Atlanta in the Shadow of the Confederacy – Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar List: (Publishers Weekly)

128) American Grunt – Kevin Cramer List: (Shepherd)

129) AMERICAN INHERITANCE – Edward J. Larson List: (Kirkus Review)

130) American Ramble: A Walk of Memory and Renewal – Neil King Jr. List: (Barnes & Noble)

131) Among the Bros: A Fraternity Crime Story – Max Marshall List: (Amazon)

132) Amy Dockser Marcus – Riverhead List: (New Yorker)

133) Amy Kurzweil – Catapult List: (New Yorker)

134) An American Story – Kwame Alexander. Illustrated by Dare Coulter. List: (NPR)

135) An Army Afire: How the US Army Confronted Its Racial Crisis in the Vietnam Era – Beth Bailey List: (Shepherd)

136) AND FINALLY – Henry Marsh List: (Kirkus Review)

137) Annie Cohen-Solal – Farrar, Straus & Giroux List: (New Yorker)

138) Annie Ernaux – Yale List: (New Yorker)

139) Aparna Nancherla – Viking List: (New Yorker)

140) Arrested Adolescence – Erik Rebain List: (Shepherd)

141) Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art – Lauren Elkin List: (Readings)

142) Asian Americans in an Anti-Black World – Claire Jean Kim List: (NPR)

143) Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune – Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe List: (NPR)

144) Atlas of Classical History – Richard Talbert List: (Shepherd)

145) Baking Yesteryear: The Best Recipes from the 1900s to the 1980s – B. Dylan Hollis List: (Shepherd)

146) Becoming a Matriarch – Helen Knott List: (Indigo)

147) Being Henry: The Fonz…and Beyond – Henry Winkler List: (Celadon)

148) bell hooks: The Last Interview: And Other Conversations – bell hooks List: (Electric Lit)

149) Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World – Christian Cooper List: (Shelf Awareness)

150) BFF – Christie Tate List: (Shepherd)

151) BIOGRAPHY OF A PHANTOM – Robert “Mack” McCormick List: (Kirkus Review)

152) Bipolar General – Gregg F. Martin List: (Shepherd)

153) BIRCHERS – Matthew Dallek List: (Kirkus Review)

154) Birdgirl – Mya-Rose Craig List: (Celadon)

155) Black Ball: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Spencer Haywood, and the Generation That Saved the Soul of the NBA – Theresa Runstedtler List: (Publishers Weekly)

156) Black On Madison Avenue – Mark S. Robinson List: (Shepherd)

157) Black Women Writers At Work – Claudia Tate List: (Electric Lit)

158) Blood Memory: The Tragic Decline and Improbable Resurrection of the American Buffalo – Dayton Duncan List: (Chicago Public Library)

159) BOOTSTRAPPED – Alissa Quart List: (Kirkus Review)

160) Brave the Wild River – Melissa L. Sevigny List: (Shepherd)

161) Breaking Through: My Life in Science – Katalin Karikó List: (Kirkus Review)

162) Broadway Bodies: A Critical History of Conformity – Ryan Donovan List: (NPR)

163) BROTHERS – Nico Slate List: (Kirkus Review)

164) Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier – Arthur C. Brooks List: (Goodreads)

165) Built From the Fire – Victor Luckerson List: (Washington Post)

166) Burkhard Bilger – Random House List: (New Yorker)

167) Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood – Maureen Ryan List: (NPR)

168) But Will You Love Me Tomorrow: An Oral History of the ’60s Girl Groups – Laura Flam and Emily Sieu Liebowitz List: (NPR)

169) Butts: A Backstory – Heather Radke List: (Goodreads)

170) Camera Girl – Carl Sferrazza Anthony List: (Shepherd)

171) Chad L. Williams – Farrar, Straus & Giroux List: (New Yorker)

172) CHINESE PRODIGAL – David Shih List: (Kirkus Review)

173) Choosing Family: A Memoir of Queer Motherhood and Black Resistance – Francesca T. Royster List: (NPR)

174) Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives – Siddharth Kara List: (Goodreads)

175) Comedy Book: How Comedy Conquered Culture – and the Magic That Makes It Work – Jesse David Fox List: (NPR)

176) Congratulations, The Best Is Over!: Essays – R. Eric Thomas List: (NPR)

177) Correction – Ben Austen List: (Washington Post)

178) CREEP – Myriam Gurba List: (Kirkus Review)

179) Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet – Ben Goldfarb List: (Kirkus Review)

180) Cuckoo in the Nest – Fran Hill List: (Shepherd)

181) Deadly Quiet City – Murong Xuecun List: (Kirkus Review)

182) Deliver Me From Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska – Warren Zanes List: (NPR)

183) Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will – Robert M. Sapolsky List: (Barnes & Noble)

184) Did I Ever Tell You This? A Memoir – Sam Neill List: (Readings)

185) Dionne Ford – Bold Type List: (New Yorker)

186) Don’t Let’s Be Beastly to the Germans – Daniel Cowling List: (Shepherd)

187) Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You – Lucinda Williams List: (Washington Post)

188) Dyscalculia: A Love Story of Epic Miscalculation – Camonghne Felix List: (Electric Lit)

189) Easily Slip into Another World: A Life in Music – Henry Threadgill and Brent Hayes Edwards List: (NPR)

190) Egg: A Dozen Ovatures – Lizzie Stark List: (NPR)

191) Emmanuel Iduma – Algonquin List: (New Yorker)

192) EMPIRELAND – Sathnam Sanghera List: (Kirkus Review)

193) Encounterism – Andy Field List: (Shepherd)

194) End Times – Peter Turchin List: (Shepherd)

195) Endangered Eating: America’s Vanishing Foods – Sarah Lohman List: (Amazon)

196) Enlightened Transsexual Comix – Sam Szabo List: (Shelf Awareness)

197) EVERYTHING I LEARNED, I LEARNED IN A CHINESE RESTAURANT – Curtis Chin List: (Kirkus Review)

198) Explaining Successes in Africa – Erin Accampo Hern List: (Shepherd)

199) Extremely Online – Taylor Lorenz List: (Powell’s)

200) Eyeliner: A Cultural History – Zahra Hankir List: (Electric Lit)

201) Family Style: Memories of an American From Vietnam – Thien Pham List: (NPR)

202) Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age, in Five Extraordinary Hacks – Scott J. Shapiro List: (Amazon)

203) FASHION KILLA – Sowmya Krishnamurthy List: (Kirkus Review)

204) Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture – Virginia Sole-Smith List: (Book Riot)

205) Feel-Good Productivity – Ali Abdaal List: (Celadon)

206) FIELDWORK – Reuven Blau List: (Kirkus Review)

207) Fortune’s Bazaar – Vaudine England List: (Shepherd)

208) FOUNDING PARTISANS – H.W. Brands List: (Kirkus Review)

209) Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence – Paul Scharre List: (NPR)

210) Fraiche Food, Fuller Hearts: Wholesome Everyday Recipes Made With Love – Jillian Harris List: (Indigo)

211) France on Trial – Julian Jackson List: (Shepherd)

212) Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson’s Creek – Thea Glassman List: (Shepherd)

213) Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents―and What They Mean for America’s Future – Jean M. Twenge PhD List: (Amazon)

214) George: A Magpie Memoir – Frieda Hughes List: (Washington Post)

215) Girls and Their Monsters – Audrey Clare Farley List: (Shepherd)

216) Glitter Everywhere! Where It Came From, Where It’s Found & Where It’s Going – Chris Barton, illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat List: (NPR)

217) God Is An Octopus – Ben Goldsmith List: (Shepherd)

218) Good Girls: A Story and Study of Anorexia – Hadley Freeman List: (Kirkus Review)

219) Goodbye, Eastern Europe – Jacob Mikanowski List: (BookPage)

220) Gray Areas: How the Way We Work Perpetuates Racism and What We Can Do to Fix It – Adia Harvey Wingfield List: (Publishers Weekly)

221) Gun Country – Andrew C. McKevitt List: (Washington Post)

222) He/she/they – List: (Chicago Public Library)

223) Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing – Emily Lynn Paulson List: (NPR)

224) Hi Honey, I’m Homo!: Sitcoms, Specials, and the Queering of American Culture – Matt Baume List: (NPR)

225) Hit Girls: Women of Punk in the USA, 1975-1983 – Jen B. Larson List: (NPR)

226) Horse Barbie – Geena Rocero List: (Book Riot)

227) How Canada Works: The People Who Make Our Nation Thrive – Peter Mansbridge List: (Indigo)

228) How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures – Sabrina Imbler List: (Goodreads)

229) How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World – Deb Chachra List: (Publishers Weekly)

230) HOW NOT TO BE A POLITICIAN – Rory Stewart List: (Kirkus Review)

231) How Not to Kill Yourself – Clancy Martin List: (Kirkus Review)

232) HOW TO BE – Adam Nicolson List: (Kirkus Review)

233) How to Protect Bookstores – Danny Caine List: (Powell’s)

234) How to Say Goodbye – Wendy MacNaughton List: (NPR)

235) HOW TO STAY MARRIED – Harrison Scott Key List: (Kirkus Review)

236) Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope – Sarah Bakewell List: (Publishers Weekly)

237) I Must Be Dreaming – Roz Chast List: (NPR)

238) I Saw Death Coming: A History of Terror and Survival in the War Against Reconstruction – Kidada E. Williams List: (BookPage)

239) I’d Rather Not – Robert Skinner List: (Readings)

240) I’ve Been Thinking – Daniel C. Dennett List: (Shepherd)

241) Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks – a Cool History of a Hot Commodity – Amy Brady List: (NPR)

242) In Levittown’s Shadow: Poverty in America’s Wealthiest Postwar Suburb – Tim Keogh List: (Publishers Weekly)

243) Infidelity and Other Affairs – Kate Legge List: (Shepherd)

244) It. Goes. So. Fast. – Mary Louise Kelly List: (Shepherd)

245) Jovita Wore Pants: The Story of a Mexican Freedom Fighter – Aida Salazar, illustrated by Molly Mendoza List: (NPR)

246) Killing for Country – David Marr List: (Readings)

247) Knife Drop – Nick DiGiovanni List: (Shepherd)

248) Knowing What We Know – Simon Winchester List: (Shepherd)

249) Larry McMurtry: A Life – Tracy Daugherty List: (Kirkus Review)

250) Last on His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century – Adrian Matejka List: (NYPL)

251) Law: The Way of the Ancestors (First Knowledges) – Marcia Langton & List: (Readings)

252) Lessons Learned – Deborah Shlian List: (Shepherd)

253) Life in Two Worlds: A Coach’s Journey from the Reserve to the NHL and Back – Ted Nolan List: (Indigo)

254) Limitless: The Federal Reserve Takes on a New Age of Crisis – Jeanna Smialek List: (NPR)

255) Live to See the Day – Nikhil Goyal List: (Shepherd)

256) Lives of the Wives – Carmela Ciuraru List: (Washington Post)

257) Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America – Russell Moore List: (NPR)

258) Madame Restell – Jennifer Wright List: (Shepherd)

259) Madonna: A Rebel Life – Mary Gabriel List: (NPR)

260) MAESTROS & MONSTERS – Robert Boyers List: (Kirkus Review)

261) Magic: The Life of Earvin “Magic” Johnson – Roland Lazenby List: (Celadon)

262) Mass Supervision: Probation, Parole, and the Illusion of Safety and Freedom – Vincent Schiraldi List: (NPR)

263) Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City – Jane Wong List: (Powell’s)

264) Mexikid – Pedro Martín List: (NPR)

265) MoneyZen: The Secret to Finding Your ‘Enough’ – Manisha Thakor with Lisa Sweetingham List: (NPR)

266) Mott Street: A Chinese American Family’s Story of Exclusion and Homecoming. – Ava Chin List: (Kirkus Review)

267) My Friend Anne Frank – Hannah Pick-Goslar List: (Shepherd)

268) My Hijacking – Martha Hodes List: (Shepherd)

269) My Name Is Barbra – Barbra Streisand List: (NPR)

270) My Picture Diary – Fujiwara Maki, translated by Ryan Holmberg List: (NPR)

271) National Dish – Anya von Bremzen List: (Shepherd)

272) Never Finished: Unshackle Your Mind and Win the War Within – David Goggins List: (Goodreads)

273) Next-Generation Memory and Ukrainian Canadian Children’s Historical Fiction – Mateusz Swietlicki List: (Shepherd)

274) Night Vision: Seeing Ourselves through Dark Moods – Mariana Alessandri List: (NPR)

275) Number Go Up – Zeke Faux List: (Washington Post)

276) OCME – Bruce Goldfarb List: (Kirkus Review)

277) Old Buildings, New Ideas – Francoise Astorg Bollack List: (Shepherd)

278) ON GREAT FIELDS – Julia Wertz List: (Kirkus Review)

279) ON MARRIAGE – Devorah Baum List: (Kirkus Review)

280) On Minimalism: Documenting a Musical Movement – Kerry O’Brien and William Robin (editors) List: (NPR)

281) Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever – Matt Singer List: (NPR)

282) Organizing Occupy Wall Street – Marisa Holmes List: (Shepherd)

283) ORPHAN BACHELORS – Fae Myenne Ng List: (Kirkus Review)

284) Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears – Michael Schulman List: (NPR)

285) Out Of Silence, Sound. Out Of Nothing, Something. – Susan Griffin List: (Shepherd)

286) Out of the Ashes – Louisa Scarr List: (Shepherd)

287) Outrageous: A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars – Kliph Nesteroff List: (NPR)

288) Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues – Jonathan Kennedy List: (Gentleman’s Journal)

289) Pax: War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age – Tom Holland List: (Shepherd)

290) Perplexing Plots – David Bordwell List: (Shepherd)

291) Pockets: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close – Hannah Carlson List: (NPR)

292) Politics On the Edge – Rory Stewart List: (Shepherd)

293) Portico: Cooking and Feasting in Rome’s Jewish Kitchen – Leah Koenig List: (Shepherd)

294) Practicing New Worlds – Andrea Ritchie List: (Powell’s)

295) President Garfield – C.W. Goodyear List: (Washington Post)

296) Quartet – Leah Broad List: (Kirkus Review)

297) Question 7 – Richard Flanagan List: (Readings)

298) RADICAL BY NATURE – James T. Costa List: (Kirkus Review)

299) Real Self-Care: A Transformative Program for Redefining Wellness (Crystals, Cleanses, and Bubble Baths Not Included) – Pooja Lakshmin List: (NPR)

300) Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better – Jennifer Pahlka List: (NPR)

301) Rest Easy: Discover Calm and Abundance through the Radical Power of Rest – Ximena Vengoechea List: (Book Riot)

302) Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking – Tyson Yunkaporta List: (Readings)

303) Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America – Abraham Josephine Riesman List: (NPR)

304) Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II – Evan Thomas List: (NPR)

305) Romney: A Reckoning – McKay Coppins List: (NPR)

306) Saved – Benjamin Hall List: (Shepherd)

307) SAY THE RIGHT THING – Kenji Yoshino List: (Kirkus Review)

308) Saying It Loud – Mark Whitaker List: (Washington Post)

309) Sedition Hunters: How January 6th Broke the Justice System – Ryan J. Reilly List: (Publishers Weekly)

310) Shitty Craft Club – Sam Reece List: (Powell’s)

311) SLEEPING WITH THE ANCESTORS – Joseph McGill Jr. List: (Kirkus Review)

312) Small Fires – Rebecca May Johnson List: (Powell’s)

313) Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden – Camille T. Dungy List: (NPR)

314) SONIC LIFE – Thurston Moore List: (Kirkus Review)

315) Space Crone – Ursula K. Le Guin List: (Shepherd)

316) Starkweather – Harry N MacLean List: (Washington Post)

317) Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook – Sohla El-Waylly List: (NYPL)

318) STEWDIO – Chuck D List: (Kirkus Review)

319) Still Life With Bones – Alexa Hagerty List: (BookPage)

320) Still Pictures: On Photography and Memory – Janet Malcolm List: (LitHub)

321) Stone Soup – Anita Lobel List: (Shepherd)

322) Sunshine: A Graphic Novel – Jarrett J. Krosoczka List: (NPR)

323) Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere – Maria Bamford List: (NPR)

324) Tabula Rasa – John McPhee List: (Electric Lit)

325) THE – David Grann List: (Kirkus Review)

326) The Bathysphere Book: Effects of the Luminous Ocean Depths – Brad Fox List: (Publishers Weekly)

327) The Battle for Your Brain – Nita A. Farahany List: (Shepherd)

328) The Big Break – Ben Terris List: (Washington Post)

329) The Book of (More) Delights – Ross Gay List: (Electric Lit)

330) The Boy From Kyiv: Alexei Ratmansky’s Life in Ballet – Marina Harss List: (NPR)

331) The Bronx Nobody Knows – William B. Helmreich List: (Shepherd)

332) The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year – Margaret Renkl List: (Shelf Awareness)

333) THE COST OF FREE LAND – Rebecca Clarren List: (Kirkus Review)

334) The Critic’s Daughter – Priscilla Gilman List: (Washington Post)

335) The Dawn of a Mindful Universe – Marcelo Gleiser List: (Shepherd)

336) THE DEAD ARE GODS – Eirinie Carson List: (Kirkus Review)

337) The Evangelical Imagination – Karen Swallow Prior List: (Shepherd)

338) The Ghost at the Feast: America and the Collapse of World Order, 1900-1941 – Robert Kagan List: (NPR)

339) The Girl Before Her – Line Papin, translated by Adriana Hunter and Ly Lan Dill List: (NPR)

340) The Golden Ticket – Irena Smith List: (Shepherd)

341) The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness – Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz List: (Goodreads)

342) The Heartbreak Years: A Memoir – Minda Honey List: (Electric Lit)

343) The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet – Jeff Goodell List: (NPR)

344) THE HUMANITY ARCHIVE – Amy Finkelstein List: (Kirkus Review)

345) THE HUNGRY SEASON – Lisa M. Hamilton List: (Kirkus Review)

346) The Illiterate – Ágota Kristóf, translated by Nina Bogin List: (NPR)

347) The Kneeling Man – Leta McCollough Seletzky List: (BookPage)

348) The Language of Transition in Leadership – Jakob van Wielink List: (Shepherd)

349) THE LAST ISLAND – Adam Goodheart List: (Kirkus Review)

350) The Last Ships from Hamburg: Business, Rivalry and the Race to Save Russia’s Jews on the Eve of World War I – Steven Ujifusa List: (Publishers Weekly)

351) THE LONG RECKONING – George Black List: (Kirkus Review)

352) The Long View: Why We Need to Transform How the World Sees Time – Richard Fisher List: (Shepherd)

353) The Madman in the White House – Patrick Weil List: (Shepherd)

354) The Male Gazed: On Hunks, Heartthrobs, and What Pop Culture Taught Me About (Desiring) Men – Manuel Betancourt List: (NPR)

355) The Marriage Question: George Eliot’s Double Life – Clare Carlisle List: (LitHub)

356) The Memoirs of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle – Kent Monkman and Gisèle Gordon List: (Indigo)

357) The Migrant Chef: The Life and Times of Lalo García – Laura Tillman List: (NPR)

358) The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, a Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity – Nicholas Day, illustrated by Brett Helquist List: (NPR)

359) The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I – Douglas Brunt List: (Chicago Public Library)

360) The Palace: From the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 Years of History at Hampton Court – Gareth Russell List: (Shepherd)

361) The Picnic – Matthew Longo List: (Kirkus Review)

362) The Political Economy of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in East Africa – Simon Zufle List: (Shepherd)

363) The Possibility of Life – Jaime Green List: (Washington Post)

364) The Queer Film Guide: 100 great movies that tell LGBTQIA+ stories – Kyle Turner, illustrated by Andy Warren List: (NPR)

365) The Real Work – Adam Gopnik List: (Gentleman’s Journal)

366) The Red Hotel: The Untold Story of Stalin’s Disinformation War – Alan Philps List: (Washington Post)

367) The Right Call: What Sports Teach Us About Work and Life – Sally Jenkins List: (NPR)

368) The Road Years: A Memoir, Continued . . . – Rick Mercer List: (Indigo)

369) The Rooster House: A Ukrainian Family Memoir – Victoria Belim List: (Kirkus Review)

370) The Russo-Ukrainian War – Serhii Plokhy List: (Shepherd)

371) The Secret Gate – Mitchell Zuckoff List: (Washington Post)

372) The Slip – Prudence Peiffer List: (Chicago Public Library)

373) The Story of a Life – Konstantin Paustovsky List: (Washington Post)

374) The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy, and the Wild Life of an American Commune – Alexander Stille List: (Kirkus Review)

375) The Tango of Ethics – Jonathan Leighton List: (Shepherd)

376) THE TEACHERS – Alexandra Robbins List: (Kirkus Review)

377) The Times – Adam Nagourney List: (Kirkus Review)

378) The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Essays on Desire and Consumption – Katy Kelleher List: (NPR)

379) The Ugly Truth – L.C. North List: (Shepherd)

380) The Upstairs Delicatessen: On Eating, Reading, Reading About Eating, and Eating While Reading – Dwight Garner List: (Powell’s)

381) The War Came To Us – Christopher Miller List: (Shepherd)

382) The West: A New History of an Old Idea – Naoíse Mac Sweeney List: (Kirkus Review)

383) THE WISE HOURS – Miriam Darlington List: (Kirkus Review)

384) The Woman in Me – Britney Spears List: (NPR)

385) The World Central Kitchen Cookbook: Feeding Humanity, Feeding Hope – José Andrés List: (NPR)

386) The World: A Family History of Humanity – Simon Sebag Montefiore List: (Kirkus Review)

387) The Wreck: A Daughter’s Memoir of Becoming a Mother – Cassandra Jackson List: (NPR)

388) There Was a Party for Langston – Jason Reynolds, illus. by Jerome and Jarrett Pumphrey List: (NPR)

389) There Will Be Fire: Margaret Thatcher, the IRA, and Two Minutes That Changed History – Rory Carroll List: (NPR)

390) Thicker than Water: A Memoir – Kerry Washington List: (NPR)

391) This Country: Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America – Navied Mahdavian List: (NPR)

392) This Is Not Miami – List: (Chicago Public Library)

393) Thunderclap: A Memoir of Art and Life & Sudden Death – Laura Cumming List: (LitHub)

394) Time to Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children – Hannah Barnes List: (Shepherd)

395) Time’s Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance – Jeremy Eichler List: (NPR)

396) To Name the Bigger Lie: A Memoir in Two Stories – Sarah Viren List: (NPR)

397) Toxic Superfoods – Sally Norton List: (Shepherd)

398) Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral – Ben Smith List: (Gentleman’s Journal)

399) Trail of the Lost: The Relentless Search to Bring Home the Missing Hikers of the Pacific Crest Trail – Andrea Lankford List: (Goodreads)

400) TRANS CHILDREN IN TODAY’S SCHOOLS – Aidan Key List: (Kirkus Review)

401) Transplant: A Memoir – Bernardine Watson List: (NPR)

402) True West – Robert Greenfield List: (Kirkus Review)

403) TWIST – Adele Bertei List: (Kirkus Review)

404) Two Lights – James Roberts List: (Shepherd)

405) UFO – Garrett M. Graff List: (Washington Post)

406) Under the Eye of Power – Colin Dickey List: (Washington Post)

407) Underground Lovers – Alison Pouliot List: (Readings)

408) Unraveling: What I Learned About Life While Shearing Sheep, Dyeing Wool, and Making the World’s Ugliest Sweater – Peggy Orenstein List: (NPR)

409) Unreliable Narrator: Me, Myself, and Impostor Syndrome – Aparna Nancherla List: (NPR)

410) Wasteland: The Secret World of Waste and the Urgent Search for a Cleaner Future – Oliver Franklin-Wallis List: (Gentleman’s Journal)

411) We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir – Raja Shehadeh List: (NPR)

412) WE MAY DOMINATE THE WORLD – Cameron McWhirter List: (Kirkus Review)

413) WE’VE GOT YOU COVERED – Liran Einav List: (Kirkus Review)

414) WEATHERING – Arline T. Geronimus List: (Kirkus Review)

415) What the Dead Know: Learning About Life as a New York City Death Investigator – Barbara Butcher List: (NPR)

416) What Was Shakespeare Really Like? – Stanley Wells List: (Shepherd)

417) What’s That Lady Doing? – Lou Sanders List: (Shepherd)

418) What’s The Worst That Can Happen? – James McDonald List: (Shepherd)

419) When Winter Came – Mary Beth Sartor Obermeyer List: (Shepherd)

420) While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence – Meg Kissinger List: (Celadon)

421) Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports’ Biggest Mess – Evan Drellich List: (NPR)

422) Wolfish: Wolf, Self, and the Stories We Tell About Fear – Erica Berry List: (Powell’s)

423) Womb: The Inside Story of Where We All Began – Leah Hazard List: (Publishers Weekly)

424) WOMEN WE BURIED, WOMEN WE BURNED – Rachel Louise Snyder List: (Kirkus Review)

425) World War II – Robert Oulds List: (Shepherd)

426) Young and Restless: The Girls Who Sparked America’s Revolutions – Mattie Kahn List: (NPR)

427) Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us – Susan Magsamen List: (Shepherd)

428) Zero at the Bone – Christian Wiman List: (Shelf Awareness)



22 Best Nonfiction Book Sources/Lists



SourceArticle
Amazon Best Nonfiction Books of 2023
Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble’s Best Literary Nonfiction Books of 2023
Book Riot Best Books Of 2023
BookPage The Best Nonfiction of 2023
Celadon 14 Best Nonfiction Books Of 2023
Chicago Public Library Must-Read Books of 2023: Nonfiction
Electric Lit Electric Lit’s Best Nonfiction of 2023
Gentleman’s Journal These are the most fascinating non-fiction books of 2023
Goodreads Best Nonfiction 2023
Indigo Top 10 Non-Fiction Books
Kirkus Review Best Nonfiction Books of the Year
LitHub The Best Reviewed Nonfiction of 2023
New Yorker THE BEST BOOKS OF 2023
NPR Books We Love
NYPL Best Books for Adults 2023
Powell’s Best Books of 2023: Nonfiction
Publishers Weekly Best Nonfiction of 2023
Readings Best nonfiction of 2023
Shelf Awareness Shelf Awareness’s Best Adult Books of 2023
Shepherd The 100 best nonfiction books of 2023
Time The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023
Washington Post Washington Post: 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2023