Curated category · 2006—2025

Best nonfiction

Award-winning and editorially recommended nonfiction across twenty years, organized for discovery rather than sales ranking.

Selections: 1591
Authors: 1442
Lists & prizes: 4

Showing 1201–1248 of 1591

2016Nonfiction

Hamilton: The Revolution

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeremy McCarter

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Hero Of The Empire: The Boer War, A Daring Escape And The Making Of Winston Churchill

Candice Millard

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Hidden Figures: The American Dream And The Untold Story Of The Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win The Space Race

Margot Lee Shetterly

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir Of A Family And Culture In Crisis

J. D. Vance

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

How To Be A Person In The World: Ask Polly's Guide Through The Paradoxes Of Modern Life

Heather Havrilesky

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

How To Be A Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide To Tudor Life

Ruth Goodman

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us And A Grander View Of Life

Ed Yong

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, And The Sterilization Of Carrie Buck

Adam Cohen

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

In the Darkroom

Susan Faludi

The New York Times — 10 Best Books

2016Nonfiction

Joe Gould’s Teeth

Jill Lepore

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Kill 'Em And Leave: Searching For James Brown And The American Soul

James McBride

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

KooKooLand

Gloria Norris

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Lab Girl

Hope Jahren

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Landmarks

Robert Macfarlane

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Listen To The Moon

Rose Lerner

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Little Labors

Rivka Galchen

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Louisa: The Extraordinary Life Of Mrs. Adams

Louisa Thomas

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Lucky Bastard: My Life, My Dad, And The Things I'm Not Allowed To Say On TV

Joe Buck

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Madonnaland: And Other Detours Into Fame And Fandom

Alina Simone

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Mastering The Art Of Japanese Home Cooking

Masaharu Morimoto

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Molly On The Range: Recipes And Stories From An Unlikely Life On A Farm

Molly Yeh

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Moonglow: A Novel

Michael Chabon

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

My Marathon: Reflections On A Gold Medal Life

Frank Shorter, with John Brant

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Native: Dispatches From An Israeli-Palestinian Life

Sayed Kashua

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Originals: How Non-Conformists Move The World

Adam Grant

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Party Of One: A Memoir In 21 Songs

Dave Holmes

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Patient H.M.: A Story Of Memory, Madness, And Family Secrets

Luke Dittrich

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Pit Bull: The Battle Over An American Icon

Bronwen Dickey

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History Of Punk

Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Possession: The Curious History Of Private Collectors From Antiquity To The Present

Erin Thompson

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Rogue Heroes: The History Of The SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged The Nazis And Changed The Nature Of War

Ben Macintyre

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Secondhand Time: The Last Of The Soviets

Svetlana Alexievich, translated by Bela Shayevich

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Seven Brief Lessons On Physics

Carlo Rovelli

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Sex Object: A Memoir

Jessica Valenti

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life

Ruth Franklin

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Shock And Awe: Glam Rock And Its Legacy, From The Seventies To The Twenty-first Century

Simon Reynolds

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Shrill: Notes From A Loud Woman

Lindy West

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Small Victories: Recipes, Advice + Hundreds Of Ideas For Home Cooking Triumphs

Julia Turshen

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Smashed, Mashed, Boiled, And Baked — And Fried, Too! A Celebration Of Potatoes In 75 Irresistible Recipes

Raghavan Iyer

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Sous Vide At Home: The Modern Technique For Perfectly Cooked Meals

Lisa Q. Fetterman

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

Ibram X. Kendi

National Book Award for Nonfiction

2016Nonfiction

Sweetbitter: A Novel

Stephanie Danler

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

Terror In The City Of Champions: Murder, Baseball, And The Secret Society That Shocked Depression-era Detroit

Tom Stanton

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

The ABCs Of How We Learn: 26 Scientifically Proven Approaches, How They Work, And When To Use Them

Daniel L. Schwartz, Jessica M. Tsang, Kristen P. Blair

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

The Abundance: Narrative Essays Old And New

Annie Dillard

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

The Bad-Ass Librarians Of Timbuktu: And Their Race To Save The World’s Most Precious Manuscripts

Joshua Hammer

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

The Bitch Is Back: Older, Wiser, And (Getting) Happier

Cathi Hanauer (editor)

NPR Books We Love

2016Nonfiction

The Book Of Magic: From Antiquity To The Enlightenment

Brian Copenhaver (editor)

NPR Books We Love