Nonfiction Book Discussion Kits

If you have your own book group, we'd love to share our book kits! Extra copies are located in storage, so please place holds online or ask at our front desk for the entire set. Most sets have at least 8 copies or more.

Updated October 30, 2024
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Animal, vegetable, junk : a history of food, from sustainable to suicidal
Bittman, Mark
Paper Book
From hunting and gathering to GMOs and ultra-processed foods, this expansive tour of human history rewrites the story of our species and points the way to a better future. The history of Homo sapiens is usually told as a story of technology or...
The brewer's tale : a history of the world according to beer
Bostwick, William
Paper Book
Winner of 2014 U.S. Gourmand Drinks Award -- Taste 5,000 years of brewing history as a time-traveling homebrewer rediscovers and re-creates the great beers of the past. The Brewer's Tale is a beer-filled journey into the past: the story of brewers gone by and one brave writer...
Brain on fire : my month of madness
Cahalan, Susannah.
Paper Book
An anniversary edition of the award-winning memoir and instant New York Times bestseller that goes far beyond its riveting medical mystery, Brain on Fire is the powerful account of one woman's struggle to recapture her identity--with a new note to readers by the author. ...
Between the world and me
Coates, Ta-Nehisi.
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER * NAMED ONE OF TIME'S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE * PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST * NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST * ONE OF OPRAH'S "BOOKS THAT HELP ME THROUGH" * NOW AN HBO ORIGINAL SPECIAL EVENT...
We keep the dead close : a murder at Harvard and a half century of silence
Cooper, Becky
Paper Book
FINALIST FOR THE J. ANTHONY LUKAS BOOK PRIZE FINALIST FOR THE ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION NATIONAL BESTSELLER Named One of The Best Books of 2020 by NPR's Fresh Air * Publishers Weekly * Marie Claire *...
The undocumented Americans
Cornejo Villavicencio, Karla
Paper Book
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST * One of the first undocumented immigrants to graduate from Harvard reveals the hidden lives of her fellow undocumented Americans in this deeply personal and groundbreaking portrait of a nation. "Karla's book sheds light on people's personal...
Storm Lake : a chronicle of change, resilience, and hope from a heartland newspaper
Cullen, Art
Paper Book
When The Storm Lake Times, a tiny Iowa twice-weekly, won a Pulitzer Prize for taking on big corporate agri-industry for poisoning the local rivers and lake, it was a coup on many counts. In this candid and timely book, Art Cullen describes how the rural prairies have changed dramatically. Politics,...
The Gulf : the making of an American sea
Davis, Jack E.
Paper Book
When painter Winslow Homer first sailed into the Gulf of Mexico, he was struck by its "special kind of providence." Indeed, the Gulf presented itself as America's sea--bound by geography, culture, and tradition to the national experience--and yet, there has never been a comprehensive history of...
The good girls : an ordinary killing
Faleiro, Sonia
Paper Book
A shattering, utterly immersive work of investigative journalism, The Good Girls slips behind political maneuvering, caste systems and codes of honour in a village in northern India to tell the real story behind the tragic deaths of two teenage girls and an epidemic of violence against...
Conan Doyle for the defense : the true story of a sensational British murder, a quest for justice, and the world's most famous detective writer
Fox, Margalit
Paper Book
"A wonderfully vivid portrait of the man behind Sherlock Holmes . . . Like all the best historical true crime books, it's about so much more than crime."--Tana French, author of In the Woods   A sensational Edwardian murder. A scandalous wrongful...
Talking to strangers : what we should know about the people we don't know
Gladwell, Malcolm
Paper Book
Malcolm Gladwell, host of the podcast Revisionist History and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Outliers, offers a powerful examination of our interactions with strangers--and why they often go wrong.  A Best Book of the...
Killers of the Flower Moon : the Osage murders and the birth of the FBI
Grann, David
Other
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history, from the author of The Wager and The Lost City of Z, "one of the preeminent adventure and true-crime writers working today."--New...
Spying on the South : an odyssey across the American divide
Horwitz, Tony
Paper Book
The New York Times-bestselling final book by the beloved, Pulitzer-Prize winning historian Tony Horwitz.   With Spying on the South, the best-selling author of Confederates in the Attic returns to the South and the Civil War era for an epic...
How we fight for our lives : a memoir
Jones, Saeed
Paper Book
From award-winning poet Saeed Jones, How We Fight for Our Lives--winner of the Kirkus Prize and the Stonewall Book Award--is a "moving, bracingly honest memoir" (The New York Times Book Review) written at the crossroads of sex, race, and power. One of the best...
When breath becomes air
Kalanithi, Paul
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST * This inspiring, exquisitely observed memoir finds hope and beauty in the face of insurmountable odds as an idealistic young neurosurgeon attempts to answer the question, What makes a life worth living? ...
Hidden Valley Road inside the mind of an American family
Kolker, Robert.
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK * ONE OF GQ's TOP 50 BOOKS OF LITERARY JOURNALISM IN THE 21st CENTURY * The heartrending story of a midcentury American family with twelve children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that became science's great hope...
In the shadow of statues : a white southerner confronts history
Landrieu, Mitch
Paper Book
'There is a difference between remembrance of history and reverence for it.' When Mitch Landrieu addressed the people of New Orleans in May 2017 about his decision to take down four Confederate monuments, including the statue of Robert E. Lee, he struck a nerve nationally, and his speech has now...
Dead wake : the last crossing of the Lusitania
Larson, Erik
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the bestselling author and master of narrative nonfiction comes the enthralling story of the sinking of the Lusitania "Both terrifying and enthralling."--Entertainment Weekly"Thrilling, dramatic and powerful."...
The splendid and the vile : a saga of Churchill, family, and defiance during the blitz
Larson, Erik
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake delivers an intimate chronicle of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz--an inspiring portrait of courage and leadership in a time of...
The fate of food : what we'll eat in a bigger, hotter, smarter world
Little, Amanda
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE 2019 NAUTILUS BOOK AWARD  In the fascinating story of the sustainable food revolution, an environmental journalist and professor asks the question: Is the future of food looking bleak--or better than ever?   "In The...
Hitler's furies : German women in the Nazi killing fields
Lower, Wendy.
Paper Book
Wendy Lower's stunning account of the role of German women on the World War II Nazi eastern front powerfully revises history, proving that we have ignored the reality of women's participation in the Holocaust, including as brutal killers. The long-held picture of German women holding down the home...
Toxic charity : how churches and charities hurt those they help (and how to reverse it)
Lupton, Robert D.
Paper Book
Veteran urban activist Robert Lupton reveals the shockingly toxic effects that modern charity has upon the very people meant to benefit from it. Toxic Charity provides proven new models for charitable groups who want to help--not sabotage--those whom they desire to serve. Lupton, the founder of FCS...
Kill 'em and leave : searching for James Brown and the American soul
McBride, James
Paper Book
National Book Award winner James McBride goes in search of the "real" James Brown after receiving a tip that promises to uncover the man behind the myth. His surprising journey illuminates not only our understanding of this immensely troubled, misunderstood, and complicated soul genius but the...
The pioneers : the heroic story of the settlers who brought the American ideal west
McCullough, David G.
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestseller by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important chapter in the American story that's "as resonant today as ever" (The Wall Street Journal)--the settling of the Northwest Territory by courageous pioneers who...
The sum of us : what racism costs everyone and how we can prosper together
McGhee, Heather C.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD * One of today's most insightful and influential thinkers offers a powerful exploration of inequality and the lesson that generations of Americans have failed to learn: Racism has a cost for everyone--not just for people of...
Like family : growing up in other people's houses : a memoir
McLain, Paula.
Paper Book
In the tradition of Jo Ann Beard's "Boys of My Youth," and Mary Karr's"The""Liar's Club," Paula McLain has written a powerful and haunting memoir about the years she and her two sisters spent as foster children. In the early 70s, after being abandoned by both parents, the girls were made wards of...
The lost city of the Monkey God : a true story
Preston, Douglas J.
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, named one of the best books of the year by The Boston Globe and National Geographic: acclaimed journalist Douglas Preston takes readers on a true adventure deep into the Honduran rainforest in this riveting narrative about the discovery of...
Dreamland : the true tale of America's opiate epidemic
Quinones, Sam
Paper Book
Winner of the NBCC Award for General NonfictionNamed on Slate's 50 Best Nonfiction Books of the Past 25 Years, Amazon's Best Books of the Year 2015--Michael Botticelli, U.S. Drug Czar (Politico) Favorite Book of the Year--Angus Deaton, Nobel Prize Economics (Bloomberg/WSJ<...
Street of Eternal Happiness : big city dreams along a Shanghai road
Schmitz, Rob.
Paper Book
An unforgettable portrait of individuals who hope, struggle, and grow along a single street cutting through the heart of Shanghai, from one of the most acclaimed broadcast journalists reporting on China.   Modern Shanghai: a global city in the midst of a renaissance, where...
Heartland : a memoir of working hard and being broke in the richest country on Earth
Smarsh, Sarah
Paper Book
*Finalist for the National Book Award and the Kirkus Prize* *Instant New York Times Bestseller* *Named a Best Book of 2018 by NPR, The New York Post, BuzzFeed, Shelf Awareness, Bustle, and Publishers Weekly* An essential read for...
The Gatekeeper
Smith, Kathryn.
Paper Book
The "fine biography" and "compelling personal story" (The Wall Street Journal) of arguably the most influential member of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's administration, Marguerite "Missy" LeHand, FDR's de facto chief of staff, who has been misrepresented, mischaracterized, and overlooked...
Chesapeake requiem : a year with the waterman of vanishing Tangier Island
Swift, Earl
Paper Book
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER  A brilliant, soulful, and timely portrait of a two-hundred-year-old crabbing community in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay as it faces extinction. A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Washington Post, NPR, Outside, Smithsonian, Bloomberg,...
Blood in the water : the Attica prison uprising of 1971 and its legacy
Thompson, Heather Ann
Paper Book
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER * The definitive history of the infamous 1971 Attica Prison uprising, the state's violent response, and the victim's decades-long quest for justice. * Thompson served as the Historical Consultant on the Academy Award-nominated documentary feature ATTICA
City of light, city of poison : murder, magic, and the first police chief of Paris
Tucker, Holly
Paper Book
Appointed to conquer the "crime capital of the world," the first police chief of Paris faces an epidemic of murder in the late 1600s. Assigned by Louis XIV, Nicolas de La Reynie begins by clearing the streets of filth and installing lanterns throughout Paris, turning it into the City of Light.<...
Hillbilly elegy : a memoir of a family and culture in crisis
Vance, J. D.
Paper Book
Hillbilly Elegy recounts J.D. Vance's powerful origin story... From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate now serving as a U.S. Senator from Ohio and the Republican Vice Presidential candidate for the 2024 election, an incisive account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that...

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