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2010 Best Nonfiction: The Top 25

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Cover art for JUST KIDS
NONFICTION
Released: Jan. 19, 2010
Kirkus Star JUST KIDS
by Patti Smith
"Riveting and exquisitely crafted."
Musician, poet and visual artist Smith (Trois, 2008, etc.) chronicles her intense life with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe during the 1960s and '70s, when both artists came of age in downtown New York. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS
NONFICTION
Released: Feb. 9, 2010
Kirkus Star THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS
by Rebecca Skloot
"Skloot's meticulous, riveting account strikes a humanistic balance between sociological history, venerable portraiture and Petri dish politics."
A dense, absorbing investigation into the medical community's exploitation of a dying woman and her family's struggle to salvage truth and dignity decades later. Read full book review >
Cover art for REALITY HUNGER
NONFICTION
Released: Feb. 23, 2010
Kirkus Star REALITY HUNGER: A MANIFESTO
by David Shields

The subtitle of David Shields' Reality Hunger categorizes it as "a manifesto," which is a little like calling a nuclear bomb "a weapon." Read full book review >
Cover art for MURDER CITY
NONFICTION
Released: April 1, 2010
Kirkus Star MURDER CITY: CIUDAD JUÁREZ AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY’S NEW KILLING FIELDS
by Charles Bowden
"A potent book that readers won't soon forget, and a warning of what can come of an insatiable market that knows no borders."
GQ and Mother Jones contributing editor Bowden (Some of the Dead Are Still Breathing: Living in the Future, 2009, etc.) digs into the complexities behind the ominous escalation of violence in Ciudad Juárez, a city across the border from El Paso that now has the tragic distinction of being the most dangerous city in the world. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE BRIDGE
NONFICTION
Released: April 6, 2010
Kirkus Star THE BRIDGE: THE LIFE AND RISE OF BARACK OBAMA
by David Remnick
"Remnick's fluent writing makes this expansive, significant book move along swiftly. Readers will look forward to the sequel, eight years from now."
From New Yorker editor Remnick (Reporting: Writings from The New Yorker, 2006, etc.), a world-ranging, eye-opening, comprehensive life to date of the 44th President of the United States Read full book review >
Cover art for BONHOEFFER
NONFICTION
Released: April 20, 2010
Kirkus Star BONHOEFFER: PASTOR, MARTYR, PROPHET, SPY
by Eric Metaxas
"A definitive Bonhoeffer biography for the 21st century."
A welcome new biography of one of the 20th century's leading lights. Read full book review >