Go To Picks - Nonfiction
Books staff think are so good they would suggest them to almost any type of reader. These are titles staff just couldn't put down!

The worst hard time : the untold story of those who survived the great American dust bowl
by Timothy Egan

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist brings together an oral history of the American Dust Bowl that devastated the Great Plains during the Great Depression, following several families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region and their desperate struggle to persevere despite the devastation.
The liar's club : a memoir
by Mary Karr

A trenchant memoir of a troubled American childhood from the child's point of view describes growing up in a an East Texas refinery town, life in the midst of a turbulent family of drunks and liars, a schoolyard rape, and other dark secrets, in a tenth anniversary edition of the landmark autobiography.
American pain : how a young felon and his ring of doctors unleashed America's deadliest drug epidemic
by John Temple

Chronicles the rise and fall of a game-changing Florida pill mill—where tattooed muscle-bound men served as security, former strippers manned the pharmacy and the doctors carried guns—and how it helped tip the nation into its current opioid crisis, the deadliest drug epidemic in American history.
In cold blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
by Truman Capote

A special anniversary edition presents Capote's masterful account of the senseless 1959 murders of four members of a farm family in Holcomb, Kansas, and the search for the killers, Richard Eugene Hickock and Perry Edward Smith.
The seasons on Henry's farm : a year of food and life on a sustainable farm
by Terra Brockman

Part farm journal, part memoir, this book is accented with culinary, historical, scientific, and literary reflections and a bounty of seasonal recipes, in an impassioned illustration of the virtues and possibilities of locally produced food.
Zeitoun
by Dave Eggers

Documents the story of a long-time New Orleans resident who was forced to stay behind during Hurricane Katrina while the rest of his family evacuated, describing how he spent days after the storm traveling by canoe to feed abandoned animals before he was inexplicably arrested.
Columbine
by David Cullen

Discusses the school shooting at Columbine High School in 1999, reflecting on the killers' histories and and the portrayal of the event by the media
Into the wild
by Jon Krakauer

A portrait of Chris McCandless chronicles his decision to withdraw from society and adopt the persona of Alexander Supertramp, offering insight into his beliefs about the wilderness and his tragic death in the Alaskan wilderness.
A short history of nearly everything
by Bill Bryson

The author traces the Big Bang through the rise of civilization, documenting his work with a host of the world's most advanced scientists and mathematicians to explain why things are the way they are
Short nights of the Shadow Catcher : the epic life and immortal photographs of Edward Curtis
by Timothy Egan

A narrative account of the pioneering photographer's life-risking effort to document a disappearing North American Indian nation offers insight into the danger and resolve behind his venture, his elevation to an impassioned advocate and the posthumous discovery of his considerable achievements.
Isaac's storm : a man, a time, and the deadliest hurricane in history
by Erik Larson

An account of the September 8, 1900 hurricane in Galveston, Texas, which killed more than six thousand people and is noted as the worst natural disaster in American history, is presented from the records of U.S. Weather Bureau meteorologist Isaac Cline.
Don't let's go to the dogs tonight : an African childhood
by Alexandra Fuller

The author describes her childhood in Africa during the Rhodesian civil war of 1971 to 1979, relating her life on farms in southern Rhodesia, Malawi, and Zambia with an alcoholic mother and frequently absent father
Dreamland : the true tale of America's opiate epidemic
by Sam Quinones

An explosive true account of addiction, marketing and the making of an epidemic weaves together the story of Purdue Pharma's campaign to market OxyContin, while, at the same time, a massive influx of black tar heroin took the county by storm through an almost unbreakable marking and distribution system.
The road from Coorain
by Jill K. Conway

A woman of intellect and ambition describes growing up on an Australian ranch, coping with her father's death and her mother's depression, her intellectual awakening at the university, and her path to becoming Smith College's first woman president
Thunderstruck
by Erik Larson

A vivid portrait of the Edwardian era recounts two parallel stories--the case of Dr. Hawley Crippen, who murdered his wife and fled the country with his mistress to build a new life in America, and Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of wireless communication--as the new technology is used to capture a killer.
The holy or the broken : Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the unlikely ascent of "Hallelujah"
by Alan Light

A Rolling Stone and Spin editor presents a history of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" that cites its play in a diverse range of movies and television shows as well as its selection as a tribute song, noting its coverage by hundreds of artists while offering insight into its rise from early obscurity.
Curse of the Narrows
by Laura MacDonald

Traces the 1917 disaster in Nova Scotia during which a collided and grounded ship exploded and devastated the city under circumstances that would later be studied for the making of the atomic bomb, in an account that also describes the subsequent relief mission and trial of the ship's captain.
A midwife's tale : the life of Martha Ballard, based on her diary, 1785-1812
by Laurel Ulrich

Presents the life of Martha Ballard, a midwife in Maine during the eighteenth century, by drawing on the detailed diary she kept for twenty-seven years of her life
Nicholas and Alexandra
by Robert K. Massie

An incisive account of the last of the Romanov dynasty details the love affair of Tsar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra, their family, their involvement with Rasputin, and the revolution that transformed imperial Russia.

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