2010 Best Nonfiction: The Top 25

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. Full review >

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by Alan Brinkley

A thoroughly researched, nuanced appreciation of a complex, talented and troubled man. Full review >

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by Andrew Burstein and Nancy Isenberg

A superb book that greatly deepens our understanding of these founders. Full review >

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by Rosanne Cash

An excellent memoir that ends on an encouraging note: “More to come.” Full review >

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by Richard Cohen

Apollo, Ra, Inti or Huitzilopochtli—all would rock with delight at Cohen’s sweeping endeavor. Full review >

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by George Dohrmann

A landmark achievement in basketball journalism. Full review >

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by Philip Dray

In the end, Dray’s account is evenhanded—not all bosses are bad, not all activists good—but it is clear where his sympathies... Full review >

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by Ian Frazier

A dense, challenging, dazzling work that will leave readers exhausted but yearning for more. Full review >

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by Tom Grimes

Without wasting a word, Grimes presents a thoroughly readable view of how stories—and writers, at least of a certain... Full review >

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by Christopher Hitchens

Revealing and riveting. There's little about his brother, his two marriages or his children, but other memoirs may follow. Full review >

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by Yunte Huang

Multilayered, provocative and highly accessible, this will appeal to Chan fans, scholars and general readers. Full review >

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by Eric Metaxas

A definitive Bonhoeffer biography for the 21st century. Full review >

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by Edmund Morris

Roosevelt never fails to fascinate, and Morris provides a highly readable, strong finish to his decades-long marathon. Full review >

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by Daniel Lanois

There’s really nothing like this oft-rapturous work in the canon of musical memoirs. Full review >

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by Daniel Okrent

Intoxicating. Full review >

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by David Remnick

Remnick’s fluent writing makes this expansive, significant book move along swiftly. Readers will look forward to the sequel,... Full review >

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by Stacy Schiff

Successfully dissipating all the perfume, Schiff finds a remarkably complex woman—brutal and loving, dependent and... Full review >

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by David Shields

As nonfiction increasingly verges on novelistic narrative and fiction continues to draw inspiration from “real life”... Full review >

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by Hampton Sides

An expertly written study in true crime, vividly recapturing the mood of 1968. Full review >

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by Rebecca Skloot

Skloot's meticulous, riveting account strikes a humanistic balance between sociological history, venerable portraiture and... Full review >

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by Patti Smith

Riveting and exquisitely crafted. Full review >

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by Larry Stempel

Not just a catalog or reference book, but a highly astute, integrative cultural history. Full review >

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by Ed Vulliamy

An impressively rendered, nightmare-inducing account. Full review >

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by Gene Weingarten

Every page is a pleasure. Full review >

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by Isabel Wilkerson

An impressive take on the Great Migration, and a truly auspicious debut. Full review >

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