What is spring if not a time of new beginnings? Among the titles I’m most excited about in early 2026 are four books by first-time authors. Each of them introduces readers to worlds that will be new to most of us.

I’ve been waiting for a book that humanizes the people who take part in the highly choreographed spectacle of professional wrestling—and those who follow it passionately—without ridiculing them. That book is Alison Lyn Miller’s Rough House: A Father, a Son, and the Pursuit of Pro Wrestling Glory (Norton, Jan. 20). Miller, a longtime follower of independent pro wrestling in her home state of Georgia, is well suited for the task. “Her attentiveness yields an illuminating narrative that foregrounds aspiration, perseverance, and community, writes our reviewer, calling the book “an observant study of small-time wrestling, a source of meaning for participants and fans.”

In The Elements of Power: A Story of War, Technology and the Dirtiest Supply Chain on Earth (Penguin Press, Jan. 20), journalist Nicolas Niarchos travels the world to unearth the dark side of the global battery market—much of it fueled by China’s rapid transition away from oil and gas. Today’s “battery wars,” he says, have low-wage “artisanal miners” clawing away for valuable minerals; it’s a process that’s toxic to them and their environments. The book, our reviewer writes, “will have readers rethink the ethics of extraction—you’ll never look at your phone or your EV in quite the same way again.”

Jazmine Ulloa, a New York Times national reporter, writes about her hometown in El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory (Dutton, March 3). Ulloa also tells of her own family’s roots and, in doing so, puts a human face on immigration, which has come to divide Americans. As she sees it, New York Harbor, with its Statue of Liberty, has been celebrated “as a gateway to new beginnings and the American promise.” Those crossing the Mexican border, by contrast, are often viewed “not as symbols of hard work and prosperity but as aliens and criminals, destined to be watched, bound, and shackled.”

When Andy Beta first heard the music of Alice Coltrane, he “couldn’t make heads or tails of it.” Years later, he found it was “exotic, dreamy, immersive, but also turbulent, harrowing. It could be calm as a lake, yes, but also white-knuckled as roaring rapids.” So taken was Beta by Coltrane’s sounds that the music journalist devoted his first book to the artist who was guided by her search for spiritual meaning. Cosmic Music: The Life, Art, and Transcendence of Alice Coltrane (Da Capo, March 3) is a questing, impassioned tribute to a musician who is widely remembered only as the wife of the legendary saxophonist John Coltrane. “Though she was a gifted pianist and harpist, most critical assessments of her music were dismissive if not overtly sexist,” says our review. “But this book not only fills out her life, it goes a long way toward redeeming her as an artist.…In its precision, empathy, and musical understanding, the book scours off the condescension that’s clung to her reputation and reveals her anew.” It took a first-time author to see her in such a new light.

For more nonfiction you don’t want to miss, see our complete spring preview list.

John McMurtrie is the nonfiction editor.