I Can't Believe It's Non-Fiction!

This ain't your grandparent's non-fiction.

Narrative and deeply engrossing non-fiction to keep you on the edge of your seat.

Updated August 11, 2023
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"I heard you paint houses" : Frank "the Irishman" Sheeran and the inside story of the Mafia, the Teamsters, and the last ride of Jimmy Hoffa
Brandt, Charles.
Paper Book
New York Times Bestseller  --  #1 True Crime Bestseller The inspiration for the major motion picture, THE IRISHMAN. "The best Mafia book I ever read, and believe me, I read them all." -- Steven Van Zandt "Charles Brandt...
Acid for the children : a memoir
Flea (Musician)
Paper Book
With "virtuosic vulnerability" (The Atlantic), the iconic bassist and Red Hot Chili peppers co-founder pens a love letter to a youth spent wild in Los Angeles in his raw and riveting coming-of-age memoir. In Acid for the Children, Flea...
Altamont : the Rolling Stones, the Hells Angels, and the inside story of rock's darkest day
Selvin, Joel
Paper Book
In this breathtaking cultural history filled with exclusive, never-before-revealed details, celebrated rock journalist Joel Selvin tells the definitive story of the Rolling Stones' infamous Altamont concert, the disastrous historic event that marked the end of the idealistic 1960s. In the...
American predator : the hunt for the most meticulous serial killer of the 21st century
Callahan, Maureen (Journalist)
Paper Book
Israel Keyes was one of the most ambitious and terrifying serial killers in modern history. The FBI considered his behavior unprecedented. Over the course of fourteen years, Keyes would fly to a city, rent a car, and drive thousands of miles in order to kill. He would break into a stranger's house,...
The Anthropocene reviewed : essays on a human-centered planet
Green, John
Paper Book
Goodreads Choice winner for Nonfiction 2021 and instant #1 bestseller! A deeply moving collection of personal essays from John Green, the author of The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down. "The perfect book for right now." -People <...
Birchers : how the John Birch society radicalized the American right
Dallek, Matthew
Paper Book
How a notorious far right organization set the Republican Party on a long march toward extremism   At the height of the John Birch Society's activity in the 1960s, critics dismissed its members as a paranoid fringe. After all, "Birchers" believed that a vast...
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee : an Indian history of the American West
Brown, Dee
Paper Book
Doumented account of the decimation of Native Americans in the last half of the 19th century, told from the Indian viewpoint.
Catch and kill : lies, spies, and a conspiracy to protect predators
Farrow, Ronan
Paper Book
Now an HBO documentary series streaming on HBO Max.  In this instant New York Times bestselling account of violence and espionage, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Ronan Farrow exposes serial abusers and a cabal of powerful interests...
Chaos : Charles Manson, the CIA, and the secret history of the sixties
O'Neill, Tom
Paper Book
A journalist's twenty-year fascination with the Manson murders leads to "gobsmacking" (The Ringer) new revelations about the FBI's involvement in this "kaleidoscopic" (The New York Times) reassessment of an infamous case in American history.   Over two grim nights...
The church of baseball : the making of Bull Durham : home runs, bad calls, crazy fights, big swings, and a hit
Shelton, Ron
Paper Book
LA TIMES BESTSELLER * From the award-winning screenwriter and director of cult classic Bull Durham, the extremely entertaining behind-the-scenes story of the making of the film, and an insightful primer on the art and business of moviemaking. "This book...
Dangerous rhythms : jazz and the underworld
English, T. J.
Paper Book
From T. J. English, the New York Times bestselling author of Havana Nocturne, comes the epic, scintillating narrative of the interconnected worlds of jazz and organized crime in 20th century America. "[A] brilliant and courageous book." --Dr. Cornel West ...
Did ye hear Mammy died? : a memoir
O'Reilly, Séamas
Paper Book
A heart-warming and hilarious family memoir of growing up as one of eleven siblings raised by a single dad in Northern Ireland at the end of the Troubles. Séamas O'Reilly's mother died when he was five, leaving him, his ten (!) brothers and sisters, and their beloved father in their...
Dirty pictures : how an underground network of nerds, feminists, geniuses, bikers, potheads, printers, intellectuals, and art school rebels revolutionized art and invented comix
Doherty, Brian
Paper Book
In the 1950s, comics meant POW! BAM! superheroes, family-friendly gags, and Sunday funnies, but in the 1960s, inspired by these strips and the satire of MAD magazine, a new generation of creators set out to subvert the medium, and with it, American culture. Their "comix,"...
The dirty tricks department : Stanley Lovell, the OSS, and the masterminds of World War II secret warfare
Lisle, John
Paper Book
John Lisle reveals the untold story of the OSS Research and Development Branch--The Dirty Tricks Department--and its role in World War II. In the summer of 1942, Stanley Lovell, a renowned industrial chemist, received a mysterious order to report to an unfamiliar...
The disaster artist : my life inside The room, the greatest bad movie ever made
Sestero, Greg
Paper Book
From the actor who lived through it all and an award-winning narrative nonfiction writer: the inspiring and laugh-out-loud funny story of a mysteriously wealthy social misfit who got past every road block in the Hollywood system to achieve success on his own terms--the making of The Room,...
DJ Screw : a life in slow revolution
Walker, Lance Scott
Paper Book
DJ Screw, a.k.a. Robert Earl Davis Jr., changed rap and hip-hop forever. In the 1990s, in a spare room of his Houston home, he developed a revolutionary mixing technique known as chopped and screwed. Spinning two copies of a record, Screw would "chop" in new rhythms, bring in local rappers to...
Don't call it a cult : the shocking story of Keith Raniere and the women of NXIVM
Berman, Sarah
Paper Book
As seen in Season Two of the HBO docuseries THE VOW They draw you in with the promise of empowerment, self-discovery, women helping women. The more secretive those connections are, the more exclusive you feel. Little did you know, you just joined a cult. Sex...
Dopesick : dealers, doctors, and the drug company that addicted America
Macy, Beth
Paper Book
A Hulu limited series inspired by the New York Times bestselling book by Beth Macy.  Journalist Beth Macy's definitive account of America's opioid epidemic "masterfully interlaces stories of communities in crisis with dark histories of corporate...
Educated : a memoir
Westover, Tara
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, AND BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER * One of the most acclaimed books of our time: an unforgettable memoir about a young woman who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University
Empire of pain : the secret history of the Sackler dynasty
Keefe, Patrick Radden
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR * A grand, devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose reputation was destroyed by OxyContin. From...
Empire of the summer moon : Quanah Parker and the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history
Gwynne, S. C.
Paper Book
The Epic New York Times Bestseller Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award A New York Times Notable Book Winner of the Texas Book Award Winner of the Oklahoma Book Award...
A fever in the heartland : the Ku Klux Klan's plot to take over America, and the woman who stopped them
Egan, Timothy
Paper Book
The Roaring Twenties - the Jazz Age - has been characterized as a time of Gatsby frivolity. But it was also the height of the uniquely American hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. Their domain was not the old Confederacy, but the Heartland and the West. They hated Blacks, Jews, Catholics and immigrants in...
Five days at Memorial : life and death in a storm-ravaged hospital
Fink, Sheri
Paper Book
One of the New York Times's Best Ten Books of the Year Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction Winner of the 2014 J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize,...
Forget the Alamo : the rise and fall of an American myth
Burrough, Bryan
Paper Book
Every nation needs a creation myth, and Texas's myths bite deep. In the past forty-some years, waves of revisionists have come at this topic, and at times have made real progress toward a more nuanced and inclusive story that doesn't alienate anyone. The fight over the Alamo's meaning has become...
Gory details : adventures from the dark side of science
Engelhaupt, Erika
Paper Book
Infused with Mary Roach-style humor and science, this narrative illuminates the gross, strange, morbid, and outright absurd realities of our bodies, the Earth, and universe. Filled to the brim with far-out facts, this wickedly informative narrative from the author of National...
Helter skelter : the true story of the Manson murders
Bugliosi, Vincent.
Paper Book
In the summer of 1969, in Los Angeles, a series of brutal, seemingly random murders captured headlines across America. A famous actress (and her unborn child), an heiress to a coffee fortune, a supermarket owner and his wife were among the seven victims. A thin trail of circumstances eventually...
Homegrown : Timothy McVeigh and the rise of right-wing extremism
Toobin, Jeffrey
Paper Book
The definitive account of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the enduring legacy of Timothy McVeigh, leading to the January 6 insurrection--from acclaimed journalist Jeffrey Toobin. Timothy McVeigh wanted to start a movement. Speaking to his lawyers days after the...
Hotbed : bohemian Greenwich Village and the secret club that sparked modern feminism
Scutts, Joanna
Paper Book
The dazzling story of the Greenwich Village feminists who blazed the trail for the movement's most radical ideas On a Saturday in New York City in 1912, around the wooden tables of a popular Greenwich Village restaurant, a group of women gathered, all of them convinced that they...
I'm glad my mom died
McCurdy, Jennette
Paper Book
* #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER * MORE THAN 2 MILLION COPIES SOLD! A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor--including eating...
The icepick surgeon : murder, fraud, sabotage, piracy, and other dastardly deeds perpetrated in the name of science
Kean, Sam
Paper Book
From a New York Times bestselling author comes the gripping, untold history of science's darkest secrets, "a fascinating book [that] deserves a wide audience" (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Science is a force for good in the world--at least...
In defense of witches : the legacy of the witch hunts and why women are still on trial
Chollet, Mona
Paper Book
Mona Chollet's In Defense of Witches is a "brilliant, well-documented" celebration (Le Monde) by an acclaimed French feminist of the witch as a symbol of female rebellion and independence in the face of misogyny and persecution. Centuries after the infamous witch...
It came from the closet : queer reflections on horror
Vallese, Joe
Paper Book
Through the lens of horror--from Halloween to Hereditary--queer and trans writers consider the films that deepened, amplified, and illuminated their own experiences. ...
Kill anything that moves : the real American war in Vietnam
Turse, Nick.
Paper Book
Based on classified documents and first-person interviews, a startling history of the American war on Vietnamese civilians Americans have long been taught that events such as the notorious My Lai massacre were isolated incidents in the Vietnam War, carried out by "a few bad...
Killers of the Flower Moon : the Osage murders and the birth of the FBI
Grann, David
Paper Book
#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...
Know my name : a memoir
Miller, Chanel
Paper Book
Universally acclaimed, rapturously reviewed, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography, and an instant New York Times bestseller, Chanel Miller's breathtaking memoir "gives readers the privilege of knowing her not just as Emily Doe, but as Chanel Miller the writer,...
Lafayette in the somewhat United States
Vowell, Sarah
Ebook
From the bestselling author of Assassination Vacation and The Partly Cloudy Patriot, an insightful and unconventional account of George Washington's trusted officer and friend, that swashbuckling teenage French aristocrat the Marquis de Lafayette.   ...
Last call : a true story of love, lust, and murder in queer New York
Green, Elon
Paper Book
**WINNER OF THE EDGAR® AWARD FOR BEST FACT CRIME** A "terrific, harrowing, true-crime account of an elusive serial killer who preyed upon gay men in the 1990s." -The New York Times (Editor's Pick) "In this astonishing and powerful work of...
Last call : the rise and fall of Prohibition
Okrent, Daniel
Paper Book
A brilliant, authoritative, and fascinating history of America's most puzzling era, the years 1920 to 1933, when the US Constitution was amended to restrict one of America's favorite pastimes: drinking alcoholic beverages. From its start, America has been awash in drink. The...
The last honest man : the CIA, the FBI, the mafia, and the Kennedys--and one senator's fight to save democracy
Risen, James
Paper Book
For decades now, America's national security state has grown ever bigger, ever more secretive and powerful, and ever more abusive. Only once did someone manage to put a stop to any of it. Senator Frank Church of Idaho was an unlikely hero. He led congressional opposition to the...
Leave the gun, take the cannoli : the epic story of the making of the Godfather
Seal, Mark
Paper Book
This "wickedly pacey page-turner" (Total Film) unfurls the behind-the-scenes story of the making of The Godfather, fifty years after the classic film's original release. The story of how The Godfather was made is as dramatic, operatic, and entertaining...
The library book
Orlean, Susan
Paper Book
A REESE WITHERSPOON x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB PICK A WASHINGTON POST TOP 10 BOOK OF THE YEAR * A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER and NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2018 "A constant pleasure to read...Everybody who loves books...
A little devil in America : notes in praise of black performance
Abdurraqib, Hanif
Paper Book
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST * A sweeping, genre-bending "masterpiece" (Minneapolis Star Tribune) exploring Black art, music, and culture in all their glory and complexity--from Soul Train, Aretha Franklin, and James Brown to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Whitney...
Madhouse at the end of the Earth : the Belgica's journey into the dark Antarctic night
Sancton, Julian
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The "exquisitely researched and deeply engrossing" (The New York Times) true survival story of an early polar expedition that went terribly awry--with the ship frozen in ice and the crew trapped inside for the entire sunless, Antarctic winter ...
Missoula : rape and the justice system in a college town
Krakauer, Jon.
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * "A devastating exposé of colleges and local law enforcement.... A substantive deep dive into the morass of campus sex crimes, where the victim is too often treated like the accused." --Entertainment Weekly Missoula, Montana, is a typical college...
Monsters : a fan's dilemma
Dederer, Claire
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A timely, passionate, provocative, blisteringly smart interrogation of how we make and experience art in the age of cancel culture, and of the link between genius and monstrosity. Can we love the work of controversial classic and...
The nineties : a book
Klosterman, Chuck
Paper Book
In The Nineties, cult author Chuck Klosterman makes a home in every element of 90s culture: the film, the music, the sports, the TV, the politics, the changes regarding race and class and sexuality, the yin/yang of Oprah and Alan Greenspan. In perhaps no other book ever written could the sentence,...
Nixonland : the rise of a president and the fracturing of America
Perlstein, Rick
Paper Book
'Nixonland' is a new account of the Nixon era, from his 1968 election to his spectacular 1974 demise.
Quackery : a brief history of the worst ways to cure everything
Kang, Lydia
Paper Book
What won't we try in our quest for perfect health, beauty, and the fountain of youth? Well, just imagine a time when doctors prescribed morphine for crying infants. When liquefied gold was touted as immortality in a glass. And when strychnine--yes, that strychnine, the one used in rat poison--was...
The right stuff
Wolfe, Tom.
Paper Book
"Tom Wolfe at his very best" (The New York Times Book Review), The Right Stuff is the basis for the 1983 Oscar Award-winning film of the same name and the 8-part Disney+ TV mini-series. From "America's nerviest journalist" (Newsweek)--a breath...
The road to Jonestown : Jim Jones and Peoples Temple
Guinn, Jeff
Paper Book
2018 Edgar Award Finalist--Best Fact Crime By the New York Times bestselling author of Manson, the comprehensive, authoritative, and tragic story of preacher Jim Jones, who was responsible for the Jonestown Massacre--the largest murder-suicide in American history. ...
Rock concert : an oral history as told by the artists, backstage insiders, and fans who were there
Myers, Marc
Paper Book
A lively, entertaining, wide-ranging oral history of the golden age of the rock concert based on over ninety interviews with musicians, promoters, stagehands, and others who contributed to the huge cultural phenomenon that is live rock  Decades after the rise of rock music in the...
Rogues : true stories of grifters, killers, rebels and crooks
Keefe, Patrick Radden
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the award-winning author of Empire of Pain and Say Nothing--and one of the most decorated journalists of our time--twelve enthralling true stories of skulduggery and intrigue "An excellent collection of Keefe's detective...
The shattering : America in the 1960s
Boyle, Kevin
Paper Book
On July 4, 1961, the rising middle-class families of a Chicago neighborhood gathered before their flag-bedecked houses, a confident vision of the American Dream. That vision was shattered over the following decade, its inequities at home and arrogance abroad challenged by powerful civil rights...
Silent spring revolution : John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the great environmental awakening
Brinkley, Douglas
Paper Book
New York Times bestselling author and acclaimed presidential historian Douglas Brinkley chronicles the rise of environmental activism during the Long Sixties (1960-1973), telling the story of an indomitable generation that saved the natural world under the leadership of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon...
So many roads : the life and times of the Grateful Dead
Browne, David
Paper Book
Fifty years after they first came together and changed the sound of rock 'n' roll, the Grateful Dead remain one of rock's most beloved bands--a musical and cultural phenomenon that spans generations and paved the way for everything from the world of jam bands and the idea of independently...
The Sullivanians : sex, psychotherapy, and the wild life of an American commune
Stille, Alexander
Paper Book
FINALIST FOR THE 2024 GOTHAM BOOK PRIZE The devolution of the Sullivan Institute, from psychoanalytic organization to insular, radical cult. In the middle of the Ozzie and Harriet 1950s, the birth control pill was introduced and a maverick...
Tranny : confessions of punk rock's most infamous anarchist sellout
Grace, Laura Jane
Ebook
ONE OF BILLBOARD'S "100 GREATEST MUSIC BOOKS OF ALL TIME": The provocative transgender advocate and lead singer of the punk rock band Against Me! provides a searing account of her search for identity and her true self. It began in a bedroom in Naples, Florida, when a misbehaving...
Trick mirror : reflections on self-delusion
Tolentino, Jia
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "From The New Yorker's beloved cultural critic comes a bold, unflinching collection of essays about self-deception, examining everything from scammer culture to reality television."--Esquire   Book Club Pick for...
Trust the plan : the rise of QAnon and the conspiracy that unhinged America
Sommer, Will
Paper Book
"Punchy and well-reported....Sommer is the perfect person to tell this story." --New York Times "A story so bizarre, only Will Sommer could report it." --Molly Jong-Fast The definitive book on QAnon from the reporter knows them best; Will Sommer explains what it is, how it has...
Victim F : from crime victims to suspects to survivors
Huskins, Denise
Audiobook
The shocking true story of a bizarre kidnapping and the victims' re-victimization by the justice system. DON'T MISS THE DOCUMENTARY AMERICAN NIGHTMARE−NOW STREAMING ON NETFLIX In March 2015, Denise Huskins and her boyfriend Aaron Quinn awoke from a...
Waco : David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a legacy of rage
Guinn, Jeff
Paper Book
"Impressively researched and written with storytelling verve" (The Wall Street Journal), this is the definitive account of the disastrous siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, featuring never-before-seen documents, photographs, and interviews, from former...
The Wager : a tale of shipwreck, mutiny and murder
Grann, David
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * 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...
Watergate : a new history
Graff, Garrett M.
Paper Book
Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "Do we need still another Watergate book? The answer turns out to be yes--this one." --The Washington Post * "Dazzling." --The New York Times Book Review From the...
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 *...

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