2023 Staff Picks for Adults--Nonfiction

Updated January 3, 2024
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A fever in the heartland : the Ku Klux Klan's plot to take over America, and the woman who stopped them
Egan, Timothy
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...
The anthropocene reviewed essays on a human-centered planet
Green, John 1977-
"Masterful. The Anthropocene Reviewed is a beautiful, timely book about the human condition--and a timeless reminder to pay attention to your attention." --Adam Grant, #1 bestselling author of Think Again and host of the podcast Re:Thinking Instant #1...
The art thief : a true story of love, crime, and a dangerous obsession
Finkel, Michael
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * One of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of the twenty-first century: the story of the world's most prolific art thief, Stéphane Breitwieser. * "The Art Thief, like its title character, has confidence, élan, and a great sense of timing."--...
Better living through birding : notes from a Black man in the natural world
Cooper, Christian
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Central Park birder Christian Cooper takes us beyond the viral video that shocked a nation and into a world of avian adventures, global excursions, and the unexpected lessons you can learn from a life spent looking up. "Wondrous . . ....
Cultish : the language of fanaticism
Montell, Amanda
The author of the widely praised Wordslut analyzes the social science of cult influence: how cultish groups from Jonestown and Scientology to SoulCycle and social media gurus use language as the ultimate form of power. What makes "cults" so intriguing and...
I'm glad my mom died
McCurdy, Jennette 1992-
* #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...
Enchantment : awakening wonder in an anxious age
May, Katherine
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER "When I tell you that I dogeared almost every page in this book, I'm telling God's honest truth. I didn't know how much I needed someone else to validate what I was going through. The sense that I had lost my curiosity, my imagination, my ability to make...
The good life : lessons from the world's longest scientific study of happiness
Waldinger, Robert J. 1951-
A New York Times Bestseller What makes for a happy life, a fulfilling life? A good life? In their "captivating" (The Wall Street Journal) book, the directors of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest scientific study of happiness ever...
The heat will kill you first : life and death on a scorched planet
Goodell, Jeff
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! NATIONAL BESTSELLER Finalist for The Los Angles Times Book Prize in Science & Technology Finalist for the Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism ...
Friends, lovers, and the big terrible thing : a memoir
Perry, Matthew 1969-
INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER The BELOVED STAR OF FRIENDS takes us behind the scenes of the hit sitcom and his struggles with addiction in this "CANDID, DARKLY FUNNY...POIGNANT" memoir (The New York Times) ...
King : a life
Eig, Jonathan
A finalist for the 2023 National Book Critics Circle Award Named one of the ten best books of 2023 by The Washington Post | Chicago Tribune | Time A New York Times bestseller and notable book of 2023 | One of Barack Obama's...
The last folk hero the life and myth of Bo Jackson
Pearlman, Jeff
A New York Times Bestseller By the author of Showtime--the source for HBO's Winning Time--the definitive biography of mythic multi-sport star Bo Jackson. "A legendary tome on a legendary athlete." --Chris Herring, author of Blood in the Garden From the mid-1980s...
Poverty, by America
Desmond, Matthew
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Evicted reimagines the debate on poverty, making a "provocative and compelling" (NPR) argument about why it persists in America: because the rest of us benefit from it. A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR...
Surrender : 40 songs, one story
Bono 1960-
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * Bono--artist, activist, and the lead singer of Irish rock band U2--has written a memoir: honest and irreverent, intimate and profound, Surrender is the story of the remarkable life he's lived, the challenges he's faced, and the friends and family who...
The unidentified : mythical monsters, alien encounters, and our obsession with the unexplained
Dickey, Colin
"Absolutely perfect for the current moment." --Buzzfeed America's favorite cultural historian and author of Ghostland takes a tour of the country's most persistent "unexplained" phenomena In a world where rational, scientific explanations are more...
What an owl knows : the new science of the world's most enigmatic birds
Ackerman, Jennifer 1959-
An instant New York Times bestseller! A New York Times Notable Book of 2023 Named a Best Book of 2023 by Publishers Weekly From the author of The Genius of Birds and The Bird Way, a brilliant scientific investigation into...

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