New Nonfiction Roundup – May 2024

George Stephanopolous recounts the inside story of 12 presidents during moments of crisis, from JFK to Biden, in The Situation Room while historian Jon Meacham reflects on the life of George H.W. Bush in The Call to Serve. Former White House Press Secretary and current MSNBC host Jen Psaki shares lessons from work, the White House, and the world in Say More; Ukrainian journalist Illia Ponomarenko presents a vivid account of Kyiv in Wartime in I Will Show You How it Was; and A.J. Jacobs embarks on a humble quest to follow the Constitutions’ original meaning in The Year of Living Constitutionally.

In celebrity memoir, Whoopi Goldberg pens a memoir reflecting on the influence of her monther and brother Bits & Pieces; Hootie & the Blowfish lead singer Darius Rucker looks to his past and the music that influenced him in Life’s Too Short; comedian Paul Scheer comes to terms with his messed-up childhood and finds joy in embracing his authentic self in Joyful Recollections of Trauma; actor and ’80s heartthrob Tom Selleck looks back at his accidental career in You Never Know; Tiffany Haddish returns with another essay collection that gets real about the highs and lows of her life in I Curse You With Joy; controversial comedian and TV host Bill Maher takes on American life, politics and culture in What This Comedian Said Will Shock You; and former Doobie Brother Michael McDonald teams up with actor Paul Reiser to tell the story of his life as a blue-eyed soul musician in What a Fool Believes. In literary memoir, Sebastian Junger (The Perfect Storm) comes face to face with the idea of an afterlife following a near-fatal health emergency with In My Time of Dying; Daniel Handler traces his challenging but amusing path toward a spectacularly successful writing career as Lemony Snicket in And Then? And Then? What Else?; and Pulitzer Prize-winner Nicholas D. Kristof presents a gripping memoir about his life in journalism in Chasing Hope.

In history, Caroline Alexander recounts a deadly World War II mission over the Himalayas in Skies of Thunder while Tom Clavin and Bob Drury tell the true tale of Jedediah Smith and the Mountain Men who explored the American frontier in Throne of Grace. Edward O’Keefe considers the influence of women in the life of an icon of rugged masculinity in The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt and Larry Tye presents a sweeping portrait of how Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Count Basie transformed America in The Jazzmen. Victor Davis Hanson charts how and why societies chose to destroy their foes in The End of Everything. And Adam Higginbotham presents a minute-by-minute account of heroism and disaster at the edge of space in Challenger.

Craig Foster, of My Octopus Teacher fame, inspires readers to reclaim their inner wildness in Amphibious Soul. Sean Carroll continues to dissect modern physics for a broad audience with Quanta and Soul while Caroline Harper presents stunning new images of space from the James Webb Space Telescope in Unseen Universe. And Jamaica Kincaid teams up with illustrator Kara Walker to offer an ABC of the plants that define our world and reveal the often brutal history behind them in An Encyclopedia of Gardening for Colored Children.

Casey Means explains the connection between metabolism and limitless health in Good Energy while Stephen Perrine’s latest, The Full-Fat Body Fix, presents a seven-day plan to cool inflammation, heal your gut, and build a healthier, leaner you. Stephanie Harrison encourages us to turn our focus away from achieving our own success – the “old happy” – and help others lead fulfilling lives in The New Happy while Sahaj Kaur Kohli rethinks traditional therapy and helps readers navigate mental health, identity, love, and family between cultures in But What Will People Say? Lawrence Ingrassia recounts how a family misfortune revealed a deadly medical mystery in A Fatal Inheritance while Johann Hari offers a revelatory look at the extraordinary benefits and disturbing risks of the new weight-loss drugs in Magic Pill. Finally, Sarah Thornton considers what sex workers, milk bankers, plastic surgeons, bra designers, and witches tell us about breasts in Tits Up.

As always, don’t forget to check out this month’s Peak Picks!

~posted by Frank B. All descriptions were provided by publishers.

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