Every
year
I
commit
a
column
to
describing
a
few
nonfiction
books
that
I
deem
worth
reading.
It
used
to
be
my
top
15
I’d
read
that
calendar
year,
then,
as
I
failed
to
narrow
it
down,
my
top
20.
Now
I’m
simply
going
to
put
out
a
list
as
soon
as
I
get
to
20
heartily
worthwhile
nonfiction
reads.
As
always,
I’ll
include
links
to
lists
from
previous
years
at
the
end
in
case
you
need
even
more
options,
and
even
though
I’ll
link
a
lot
to
Amazon
for
ease
of
use
on
many
of
these
titles,
I’d
encourage
you
to
go
to
your
local
independent
bookstore
if
you
can
to
actually
purchase
any
of
these.
With
that,
in
no
particular
order,
here
are
20
nonfiction
books
I
can
recommend
as
worth
your
time
this
summer
at
the
lake,
on
vacation,
or
nowhere
in
particular.
Devil
in
the
Grove:
Thurgood
Marshall,
the
Groveland
Boys,
and
the
Dawn
of
a
New
America
by
Gilbert
King
The
Minnesota
GOP
just
held
an
ill-conceived
moment
of
silence
for
convicted
murderer
Derek
Chauvin,
but
even
a
monster
like
him
almost
looks
like
a
Teddy
bear
compared
to
the
crooked,
racist
cop
at
the
center
of
this
story.
On
the
other
hand,
Thurgood
Marshall
and
his
noble
colleagues
might
just
restore
your
faith
in
humanity,
not
to
mention
lawyers.
The
Call
of
the
Weird:
Travels
in
American
Subcultures
by
Louis
Theroux
Speaking
of
white
supremacy,
documentarian
Louis
Theroux
focuses
pretty
heavily
on
it
in
this,
his
first
book.
Theroux
has
a
pretty
hot
film
out
on
Netflix
right
now
about
the
manosphere,
and
here
you
can
get
some
useful
insight
into
his
earlier
work.
The
Man
They
Wanted
Me
to
Be:
Toxic
Masculinity
and
a
Crisis
of
Our
Own
Making
by
Jared
Yates
Sexton
We’re
not
starting
out
with
traditional
beach
reads
here.
Still,
wouldn’t
you
rather
come
home
from
the
beach
with
a
sunburn
and
a
better
understanding
of
how
to
combat
toxic
masculinity
than
only
a
sunburn?
A
Terrible
Splendor:
Three
Extraordinary
Men,
a
World
Poised
for
War,
and
the
Greatest
Tennis
Match
Ever
Played
by
Marshall
Jon
Fisher
Hey,
tennis,
that’s
kind
of
summery.
Nazis,
less
so.
Unfortunately,
Nazis
play
a
prominent
role
in
this
drama,
mainly
in
how
they
infected
every
area
of
life
prior
to
WWII,
including
dictating
who
could
and
couldn’t
play
sports.
That
sound
at
all
familiar?
Draw:
The
Greatest
Gunfights
of
the
American
West
by
James
Reasoner
Now
here’s
one
that
you
really
can
breeze
through
while
sipping
a
piña
colada.
I
don’t
know
what
it
is
about
cowboys
murdering
each
other
in
the
Old
West
that
makes
for
light
reading.
Some
things
just
are
the
way
they
are.
Crow
Killer:
The
Saga
of
Liver-Eating
Johnson
by
Raymond
W.
Thorp
Jr.
and
Robert
Bunker
Part
historical
figure,
part
folk
hero,
all
man:
Liver-Eating
Johnson
is
certainly
not
going
to
dispel
any
lingering
toxic
masculinity.
As
you
can
imagine,
parts
of
Johnson’s
saga
are
pretty
racist.
However,
you
will
nonetheless
be
surprised,
and,
dare
I
say
touched,
at
his
broader
arc
of
forgiveness.
Sea
of
Grass:
The
Conquest,
Ruin,
and
Redemption
of
Nature
on
the
American
Prairie
by
Dave
Hage
and
Josephine
Marcotty
The
prairie
has
long
been
a
neglected
landscape.
The
authors
try,
and
succeed,
in
portraying
America’s
once
great
prairies
with
the
majesty
they
deserve.
The
White
Darkness
by
David
Grann
While
prairies
were
once
wrongly
portrayed
as
desolate,
Antarctic
can
hardly
be
described
in
any
other
way.
This
snappy
little
adventure
biography
of
an
Antarctica
obsessive
is
both
exciting
and
moving.
By
the
Waters
of
Minnetonka
by
Eric
Dregni
There
is
a
lot
more
to
the
premier
lake
of
the
Twin
Cities
than
a
little
fishing
and
boating.
Prince
had
it
figured
out:
so
should
you.
Greater
Minnesota:
Exploring
the
Land
of
Sky-Blue
Waters
by
Patrick
Hicks
Indulge
me
with
another
Minnesota-themed
title
on
this
list
—
it’s
been
a
tough
year
for
Minnesotans
like
me.
We
deserve
to
wallow
in
a
little
state
pride.
This
one
will
take
you
well
beyond
the
Twin
Cities.
A
History
of
New
York
in
101
Objects
by
Sam
Roberts
I
won’t
leave
out
the
Big
Apple
in
my
regional
histories
this
year.
I
picked
up
my
copy
at
a
thrift
shop
on
the
Upper
West
Side,
and
it
proved
as
idiosyncratic
as
the
store
it
came
from.
Resurrecting
the
Shark:
A
Scientific
Obsession
and
the
Mavericks
Who
Solved
the
Mystery
of
a
270-Million-Year-Old
Fossil
by
Susan
Ewing
This
tale
of
getting
to
the
bottom
of
a
mysterious
swirl
of
teeth
preserved
in
stone
is
every
bit
as
arresting
as
a
detective
novel.
The
world
is
a
strange
place,
and
it
has
been
many
strange
places
before.
Submerge
yourself
in
one
of
them.
A
Rum
Affair:
A
True
Story
Of
Botanical
Fraud
by
Karl
Sabbagh
It’s
not
literally
about
rum,
but
feel
free
to
go
back
to
that
piña
colada
from
a
few
paragraphs
ago
if
you’d
like.
You’ll
get
a
stark
reminder
never
to
trust
anyone
who
claims
their
supposed
good
character
means
they
are
necessarily
honest
in
all
things.
Newton’s
Tyranny:
The
Suppressed
Scientific
Discoveries
of
Stephen
Gray
and
John
Flamsteed
by
David
H.
Clark
and
Stephen
H.
P.
Clark
Also
remember
that
a
person
being
brilliant
in
one
area
of
knowledge
does
not
make
that
person
decent
or
indicate
that
said
person
knows
anything
at
all
when
it
comes
to
other
areas
of
expertise.
Sir
Isaac
Newton
was
a
dick.
Although
the
advancements
he
made
in
physics
were
astounding
for
his
time,
he
still
managed
to
singlehandedly
set
our
progress
on
electrical
technologies
back
by
at
least
a
couple
decades
through
his
pure,
unadulterated
dickishness.
Find
out
how
within.
A
Very
Punchable
Face:
A
Memoir
by
Colin
Jost
I
am
very
picky
about
memoirs.
Fortunately
I
wanted
to
punch
Colin
Jost
less
by
the
time
I
finished
his.
The
Art
of
War
by
Sun
Tzu
I
do
still
want
to
punch
the
cabinet
member
Colin
Jost
has
been
portraying
on
SNL
lately,
mainly
because
he
seemingly
hasn’t
read
this
or
anything
else
about
successfully
orchestrating
a
war.
It’s
really
amazing
how
many
of
these
lessons
remain
relevant
today,
and
how
little
anyone
in
the
Trump
administration
applied
any
of
them
in
the
war
with
Iran.
Separation
of
Church
and
Hate:
A
Sane
Person’s
Guide
to
Taking
Back
the
Bible
from
Fundamentalists,
Fascists,
and
Flock-Fleecing
Frauds
by
John
Fugelsang
As
much
as
I
like
John
Fugelsang,
I
really
didn’t
want
to
read
this
book,
because
I
already
knew
that
the
majority
of
people
who
believe
themselves
to
be
Christians
do
not
even
attempt
to
follow
the
actual
teachings
of
Jesus
Christ.
It’s
an
important
work,
though,
and
is
really
useful
in
going
right
to
the
Bible
to
demonstrate
how
the
phrase
“conservative
Christian”
is
an
oxymoron.
Too
bad
none
of
the
people
who
need
to
read
it
the
most
will.
King
Leopold’s
Ghost:
A
Story
of
Greed,
Terror
and
Heroism
in
Colonial
Africa
by
Adam
Hochschild
This
is
about
as
good
an
argument
as
you’re
going
to
find
against
colonialism.
Leopold’s
sheer
depravity
shocks
the
conscience
more
than
a
century
hence.
Gentlemen
of
the
Woods:
Manhood,
Myth,
and
the
American
Lumberjack
by
Willa
Hammitt
Brown
Ah,
the
misunderstood
lumberjack
of
yore.
Meticulously
researched,
enticingly
readable,
this
ballad
of
the
Northwoods
peels
aside
the
misplaced
romanticism
to
get
right
on
down
to
the
often
harsh
reality.
The
Floor
of
Heaven:
A
True
Tale
of
the
Last
Frontier
and
the
Yukon
Gold
Rush
by
Howard
Blum
A
Pinkerton,
a
prospector,
and
a
washed
up
grifter
with
one
last
chance
to
score
big
cross
paths
during
the
course
of
a
series
of
grand
adventures.
It’s
a
delight.
Enjoy
the
summer.
Here
are
the
links
to
previous
lists
if
you
need
even
more
nonfiction
book
recommendations:
20
Nonfiction
Book
Recommendations,
Most
Written
By
Women,
For
Holiday
Gifts
And
The
Year
Ahead
15
Best
Nonfiction
Books
To
Read
Yourself
Or
Give
As
Gifts,
None
Of
Them
Memoirs
Or
About
Politics
15
Best
General-Interest
Nonfiction
Books
You
Dare
Not
Overlook
For
Your
2024
Reading
List
15
Of
The
Best
General-Interest
Nonfiction
Books
To
Add
To
Your
Reading
List
In
2023
And
Beyond
15
More
Excellent
General-Interest
Nonfiction
Books
Read
During
The
Second
Year
Of
The
Pandemic
15
Best
General-Interest
Nonfiction
Books
Read
During
The
Worst
Year
Of
Everyone’s
Life
Jonathan
Wolf
is
a
civil
litigator
and
author
of Your
Debt-Free
JD (affiliate
link).
He
has
taught
legal
writing,
written
for
a
wide
variety
of
publications,
and
made
it
both
his
business
and
his
pleasure
to
be
financially
and
scientifically
literate.
Any
views
he
expresses
are
probably
pure
gold,
but
are
nonetheless
solely
his
own
and
should
not
be
attributed
to
any
organization
with
which
he
is
affiliated.
He
wouldn’t
want
to
share
the
credit
anyway.
He
can
be
reached
at [email protected].