Best Nonfiction of 2012: History

by Steve Coll

Leaks, reserves, PACs, hydrofracking, bloated corporate profits and more: all pertinent concerns nicely handled by Coll in... Full review >

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by Alan Light

A masterful work of critical journalism. Full review >

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by David Talbot

Though he’s a little too enamored with “angel-headed hipsters” and “fairy dust,” Talbot takes the reader much deeper than... Full review >

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by Bernard Wasserstein

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by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy

In a well-researched, disinterested analysis, the authors show that collisions of ego, personality and politics can often... Full review >

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by Yuval Taylor & Jake Austen

An innovative, marvelous book about comedy, stereotypes and the struggle to steer through the sometimes-fierce internal... Full review >

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by Eric Jay Dolin

A rich, highly readable examination of the seeds of poppies, trade, greed, grandeur and an international partnership that... Full review >

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by Alan Ryan

Provocative, illuminating and entertaining—an exemplary work of philosophy and history whose author's deep learning is... Full review >

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by Philip Taubman

Will the partnership prevail? Stay tuned, but hope for the best—for, they warn, “[i]f urgent steps are not taken to rein in... Full review >

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by David Crist

Some casual readers may be turned off by the page count, but this is likely to be the authoritative history of the origins... Full review >

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by Anne Applebaum

A dark but hopeful chronicle that shows how even humanity’s worst can fracture and fall. Full review >

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by Jill Lepore

A superb examination of the never-ending effort to enhance life, as well as the commensurate refusal to ever let it go. Full review >

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by Andrew Preston

A frank, exhaustive, marvelously readable study. Full review >

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by Scott W. Berg

A captivating tale of an oft-overlooked, morally ambiguous moment in American history. Full review >

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by David Rothkopf

Rothkopf delivers a lively, accessible treatment of a multifaceted, complex subject. Full review >

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