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Editors' Fall Preview Nonfiction Picks

After the dog days of summer, the book industry is ready to wow readers with some of the best books of the year. We've culled through our starred reviews to choose ten in nonfiction to pay special attention to and present them here.

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Cover art for FIRE IN THE ASHES
NONFICTION
Released: Aug. 28, 2012
Kirkus Star FIRE IN THE ASHES: TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AMONG THE POOREST CHILDREN IN AMERICA
by Jonathan Kozol
"Cleareyed, compassionate and hopeful."
The award-winning author of Death at an Early Age (1967) tells the stories of the later lives of poor children who grew up in the Bronx. Read full book review >
Cover art for MORTALITY
NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 4, 2012
Kirkus Star MORTALITY
by Christopher Hitchens
"Certainly, Hitchens died too soon. May this moving little visit to his hospital room not be the last word from him."
A jovially combative riposte to anyone who thought that death would silence master controversialist Hitchens (Hitch-22, 2010, etc.). Read full book review >
Cover art for EVERY LOVE STORY IS A GHOST STORY
NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 4, 2012
Kirkus Star EVERY LOVE STORY IS A GHOST STORY: A LIFE OF DAVID FOSTER WALLACE
by D.T. Max
"A stellar biography of a complicated subject: Max's portrait skillfully unites Wallace's external and internal lives."
A thorough, understated account of the life of the pioneering author and how his addictions and fiction intersected. Read full book review >
Cover art for WHEN AMERICA FIRST MET CHINA
NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 10, 2012
Kirkus Star WHEN AMERICA FIRST MET CHINA: AN EXOTIC HISTORY OF TEA, DRUGS, AND MONEY IN THE AGE OF SAIL
by Eric Jay Dolin
"A rich, highly readable examination of the seeds of poppies, trade, greed, grandeur and an international partnership that remains uneasy and perilous."
The author of Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America (2010) returns with the story of America's first voyages to the Middle Kingdom, where Americans and Chinese looked at each other with wonder, alarm and calculation. Read full book review >
Cover art for LIFE AFTER DEATH
NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 18, 2012
Kirkus Star LIFE AFTER DEATH
by Damien Echols
"Essential reading for anyone interested in justice or memoir."
Exceptional memoir by the most famous of the West Memphis Three. Read full book review >
Cover art for SHORT NIGHTS OF THE SHADOW CATCHER
NONFICTION
Released: Oct. 9, 2012
Kirkus Star SHORT NIGHTS OF THE SHADOW CATCHER: THE EPIC LIFE AND IMMORTAL PHOTOGRAPHS OF EDWARD CURTIS
by Timothy Egan
"Lucent prose illuminates a man obscured for years in history's shadows."
New York Times Pulitzer Prize–winning writer Egan (The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America, 2009, etc.) returns with the story of the astonishing life of Edward Curtis (1868–1952), whose photographs of American Indians now command impressive prices at auction. Read full book review >