Nonfiction for Readers

From GRPLpedia

The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America Brinkley, Douglas. 2009. (Biography Roosevelt, Theodore)

An extraordinary and timeless biography that looks at the influence the natural world played on Theodore Roosevelt. Evaluates Theodore Roosevelt's role in launching modern conservationsim, identifying the contributions of such influences as James Audubon and John Muir while describing how Roosevelt's exposure to natural wonders in his early life shaped his environmental values.

Columbine Cullen, David. 2009. (373.788 C897c)

Ten years in the making and a masterpiece of reportage, "Columbine" is an award-winning journalist's definitive account of one of the most shocking massacres in American history.

Zeitoun Eggers, Dave. 2009. (976.335064 Eg33z)

"Zeitoun offers a transformative experience to anyone open to it, for the simple reasons that it is not heavy-handed propaganda, not eat-your-peas social analysis, but an adventure story, a tale of suffering and redemption, almost biblical in its simplicity, the trials of a good man who believes in God and happens to have a canoe. Anyone who cares about America, where it is going and where it almost went, before it caught itself, will want to read this thrilling, heartbreaking, wonderful book." -- Neil Steinberg, Chicago Sun-Times

This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War Faust, Drew Gilpin. 2008. (973.71 F275t)

Renowned historian and president of Harvard University Faust grapples with the meaning of death in the Civil War as no scholar has done before. ... Beautifully written, honest, and penetrating, Faust's book about "the work of death" in fact brings death to life. --Randall M. Miller, Library Journal

Outliers: The Story of Success Gladwell, Malcolm. 2008. (302 G455o)

The best-selling author of Blink identifies the qualities of successful people, posing theories about the cultural, family, and idiosyncratic factors that shape high achievers, in a resource that covers such topics as the secrets of software billionaires, why certain cultures are associated with better academic performance, and why the Beatles earned their fame.

Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City Grandin, Greg. 2009. (307.76809 G764f)

The stunning, never-before-told story of the quixotic attempt to recreate small-town America in the heart of the Amazon, "Fordlandia" depicts a desperate quest to salvage the bygone America that the Ford factory system did much to dispatch.

Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood Harris, Mark. 2008. (791.430973 H242p)

A miracle of perception and concision, this book is, quite simply, the best book on Hollywood in more than a decade. Harris finds a turning point in studio history in 1967 and highlights the difference between "old" Hollywood and "new" Hollywood. --Welsh, J. M., CHOICE

A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World Horwitz, Tony. 2008. (970.01 H789v)

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Horwitz has presented what could be described as a guide for those who are historically ignorant of the "lost century" between the first voyage of Columbus and the establishment of Jamestown in 1607. --Jay Freeman, BookList

Traveling With Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story Kidd, Sue Monk. 2009. (818.6 K537t)

A wise and involving book about feminine thresholds, spiritual growth, and renewal, "Traveling with Pomegranates" is a revealing self-portrait by the beloved author of "The Secret Life of Bees" and her daughter, a writer in the making.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life Kingsolver, Barbara. 2007. (641.0973 K617a)

Novelist Kingsolver recounts a year spent eating home-grown food and, if not that, local. ... A well-paced narrative and the apparent ease of the beautiful prose makes the pages fly. --Nina Planck, Publishers Weekly

Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman Krakauer, Jon. 2009. (Biography Tillman, Pat)

Krakauer draws on Pat Tillman's journals and letters, interviews with his wife and friends, conversations with the soldiers who served alongside him, and extensive research on the ground in Afghanistan to render an intricate mosaic of this driven, complex, and uncommonly compelling figure as well as the definitive account of the events and actions that led to his death.

The Library at Night Manguel, Alberto. 2008. (020 M317L)

This is a book for those who delight in books and libraries. In 15 evocative essays, Manguel (A History of Reading), an Argentine-born writer and editor now living in France, explores the world of words, books, libraries, literature, and imagination. Libraries serve as his focal point as he weaves together quotations, memories, biography, mythology, and illustrations. --Jan Blodgett, Library Journal

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir Murakami, Haruki. 2008. (895.635 M931w)

In 1982, having sold his jazz bar to devote himself to writing, Murakami began running to keep fit. A year later, he'd completed a solo course from Athens to Marathon, and now, after dozens of such races, not to mention triathlons and a dozen critically acclaimed books, he reflects upon the influence the sport has had on his life and--even more important--on his writing.

Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting Perry, Michael. 2009. (977.5092 P429c)

In over his head with two pigs, a dozen chickens, and a baby due any minute, the acclaimed author of Truck: A Love Story gives us a humorous, heartfelt memoir of a new life in the country.

Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen Powell, Julie. 2005. (641.5092 P871j)

Julie Powell, nearing thirty and trapped in a dead-end secretarial job, resolves to reclaim her life by cooking in the span of a single year, every one of the 524 recipes in Julia Child's legendary Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Her unexpected reward: not just a newfound respect for calves' livers and aspic, but a new life-lived with gusto.

American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon Rinella, Steven. 2008. (599.643 R472a)

A narrative tale of [Michigan native] Rinella's hunt for this animal in the Alaskan wilderness. But beyond that, it is the story of the many ways in which the buffalo has shaped our national identity. Rinella takes us across the continent in search of the buffalo's past, present, and future.

At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream Rouse, Wade. 2009. (306.7662092 R762a)

Finally fed up with the frenzy of city life and a job he hates, Wade Rouse decided to make either the bravest decision of his life or the worst mistake since his botched Ogilvie home perm: to uproot his life and try, as Thoreau did some 160 years earlier, to "live a plain, simple life in radically reduced conditions." [Here] is a sidesplitting and heartwarming look at taking a risk, fulfilling a dream, and finding a home–with very thick and very dark curtains.

Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption Thompson-Cannino, Jennifer. 2009. (362.8830922 T372p)

The story behind the unlikely friendship which developed between the accused rapist Ronald Cotton--who served eleven years in prison for a crime he didn't commit--and his accuser, Jennifer Thompson, raped at knifepoint by a man who broke into her apartment while she slept.

The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World Weiner, Eric. 2008. (910.4 W431g)

[Weiner] uses a mixture of travel, psychology, science and humor to investigate not what happiness is, but where it is. --from publisher description

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