Best Nonfiction of 2011

Eric Liebetrau, Editor

Choosing any “best-of” list is always a monumental undertaking, a task guaranteed to involve plenty of discussion, heated debate and perhaps even controversy. This year proved no less difficult, mainly due to the remarkable number of outstanding books published in 2011. Of course, you won’t hear any complaints from me—exposure to such important literature is the most rewarding part of my job.


by Charles C. Mann
by Adam Goodheart
by Dorian Lynskey
by Doug Saunders

by Peter Englund
by David Deutsch
by John Berger
by Gabrielle Hamilton
by Joan Didion

by Jonathan D. Moreno
by Martin Meredith
by Dan Barry
by Jim Rasenberger
by Claire Tomalin

by Paul A. Offit
by Curt Stager
by Candice Millard

by Jonathan Lethem
by Rob Young
by Marc Kaufman
by Andrea Wulf

by Erik Larson
by David McCullough
by Will Potter
by Michael Palin
by Harold Holzer

by Tim Flannery
by Joseph Braude
Kirkus Star HOT
by Mark Hertsgaard
by Mark Ribowsky
by Max Hastings

by Brooke Gladstone
by Janet Reitman
by Patricia Bosworth
by James Carroll
by Anna Politkovskaya

by Tim Riley
by Peter L. Bergen
by Mitchell Zuckoff
by Mary Gabriel

by Mira Bartók
by David S. Reynolds
by Francis Fukuyama
by Steven Levy
by John McMillian

by David Brooks
by Andrew Roberts
by Stephen Greenblatt
by David Welky
by Garrett M. Graff

by Margaux Fragoso
by Rosamund Bartlett
by Andre Dubus III
by Mary Johnson
by Peter Van Buren

by Julie Salamon
by Robert Jay Lifton
by Emma Forrest