St Charles Public Library: New Titles & Purchases - Adult Nonfiction: New Nonfiction July 2026

Biography & Memoir

American Alt: A True Story of Madness and Friendship in a Fractured Country
by Chris Lockhart

A glimpse into the mind of an American conspiracy theorist, the schizophrenia, trauma, and misinformation that drove him to the brink, and the friendship that brought him back.

I'm a Lot: Surviving Myself and All the People I've Been
by Alison Leiby

In this witty, absurd, and surprisingly moving memoir-in-essays, comedian Alison Leiby unpacks the multitudes women are told to be--and the joy of refusing to pick just one.

Unsayable: A Life in Writing
by Michael Cunningham

An intimate memoir portraying a life spent trying to describe the indescribable, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hours and Day.

General Nonfiction

Aging Out: An Exploration of Caregiving, Community, and How Americans Grow Old
by Lucy Schiller

A profoundly personal investigation into the current state of eldercare and what it means to grow old in America

Biological War: A Scenario
by Annie Jacobsen

From Annie Jacobsen, the author of the bestselling Nuclear War: A Scenario, a book on a subject that has long orbited her reporting: biological warfare.

Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast
by Pamela Colloff

The riveting, true story of an audacious con man who helped send another man to death row for a murder he did not commit In this mesmerizing debut, Pamela Colloff spins a dark tale of a remorseless and brilliant liar made lethal by a system more concerned with winning convictions than finding the truth.

Exit Stalin: The Soviet Union as a Civilization, 1953-1991
by Mark B. Smith

A magisterial, revisionist narrative history of the Soviet Union in its post-Stalin heyday, bringing a forgotten society to vivid life and offering a new explanation for how it suddenly collapsed.

The Savage Landscape: How We Made the Wilderness
by Cal Flyn

A lyrical exploration of the world's wildest, most forbiddingly remote places--and the humans who have always been there, by an award-winning and critically acclaimed writer.

Sisters of the Midnight Sun: A Murder in Arctic Alaska
by Rebecca Wright Stevens

The stunning true story of a double homicide in the vibrant native Alaskan Iñupiat community at the arctic edge of the United States--written by the public defender at its center.

They Stole a City: Wilmington's White Supremacist Coup and the Families Who Live with Its Legacy
by Lauren Collins

In this ambitious and groundbreaking history, Lauren Collins weaves together stories of four Wilmington, NC, families over 125 years to create a full accounting of the long-term effects of the 1898 white supremacist massacre and coup and its critical role in subverting American democracy.

Miscellaneous

Country of Lords: Neo-Aristocrats, Social Darwinists, Tech Utopians, and the Long Fight Against Equality in America
by Kim Phillips-Fein

A Pulitzer-finalist historian charts a 250-year-old intellectual and political tradition--the conviction that all Americans are NOT created equal.

The Day After: How to Wield Power in a Post-Trump World
by Brian Tyler Cohen

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Shameless, Brian Tyler Cohen explores how Republicans have abused power, how Democrats have refused to exercise power when they held it, and how progressives should wield power if they are fortunate enough to win a free and fair election in a post-Trump world.

The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life
by Ian Bogost

From popular The Atlantic columnist Ian Bogost, a lively reflection on how we've become disconnected from the physical world--and how to reclaim gratification in our day-to-day lives.

A Sudden Flicker of Light: A Revisionist History of Movies
by David Thomson

From one of cinema's wisest and most penetrating observers, an arresting new perspective on the sweep of film history.

Think Less, Sleep More: From Panic & Perfectionism to Stress-Free Sleep
by Stephanie Romiszewski

A smart and sometimes counterintuitive (who cares when you go to bed?) guide that will solve readers' sleep anxiety once and for all.

This Is the Main Event: Discovering the Life You Long for in the Life You Have
by Joshua Luke Smith

A simple mantra to change everything: discover how to encounter God in your everyday, and practice extraordinary presence in an ordinary life.

This Is the Plan: How to End America's Meltdown and Save Democracy
by Ben Wikler

From one of the most successful Democratic strategists of the last decade, a revelatory account of what you--yes, you--can do to defeat Trumpism.