Notable Books - Non-Fiction

2008

The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story

Diane Ackerman

The Canon

Natalie Angier

Super Crunchers

Ian Ayres

When a Crocodile Eats the Sun

Peter Godwin

How Doctors Think

Jerome Groopman

Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations

Georgina Howell

Einstein: His Life and Universe

Walter Isaacson

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

Barbara Kingsolver

Oil on the Brain

Lisa Margonelli

The World Without Us

Alan Weisman

2007

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

Alison Bechdel

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

Timothy Egan

The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth

Tim Flannery

There Is No Me Without You: One Woman's Odyssey To Rescue Africa's Children

Melissa Fay Greene

Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China's Past and Present

Peter Hessler

Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City

Jed Horne

The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World of Impressionism

Ross King

Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change

Elizabeth Kohlberg

Mayflower: A Story of Courage Community, and War

Nathaniel Philbrick

The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon

Julie Phillips and James Tiptree, Jr.

The Heartless Stone: A Journey Through the World of Diamonds, Deceit, and Desire

Tom Zoellner

2006

Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster

Svetlana Alexievich, translator: Keith Gessen

A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City

Anonymous, translator: Philip Boehm

Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America

Fergus Bordewich

The Fly in the Cathedral

Brian Cathcart

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

Jared Diamond

Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story

Kurt Eichenwald

New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery and Conspiracy in Eighteenth-Century Manhattan

Jill Lepore

Human Cargo: A Journey Among Refugees

Caroline Moorehead

The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq

George Packer

The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life

Tom Reiss

John Brown, Abolitionist: The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights

David S. Reynolds

Shockwave: Countdown to Hiroshima

Steven Walker

The Glass Castle

Jeannette Walls

2005

• Alexander Hamilton Ron Chernow
• One with Nineveh: Politics, Consumption, and the Human Future Paul R. and Anne E. Ehrlich
• Washington's Crossing David Hackett Fischer
• Pandora's Baby: How the First Test Tube Babies Sparked the Reproductive Revolution Robin Marantz Henig,
• Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib Seymour M. Hersh
• 1968: The Year That Rocked the World Mark Kurlansky
• Outwitting History: How One Man Rescued a Million Books and Saved a Civilization Aaron Lansky
• Civil Wars: A Battle for Gay Marriage David Moats
• The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorists Attacks upon the United States National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States
• Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery: The U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 Nathaniel Philbrick
• The Ticket Out: Darryl Strawberry and the Boys of Crenshaw Michael Sokolove
• One Man's Castle: Clarence Darrow in Defense of the American Dream Phyllis Vine

2004

• Wrapped in rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston Valerie Boyd
• Naked in the Promised Land: A Memoir Lillian Faderman
• Beyond the River: The Untold stroy of the heroes of the Underground Railroad Ann Hagedorn
• Flat Broke with children: Women in the age of welfare reform Sharon Hays
• Mountains beyond mountains: The Quest of Dr Paul Farmer, a man who would cure the world Tracy Kidder
• Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling Ross King
• Under the banner of heaven: A Story of violent faith Jon Krakauer
• Random family: Love, drugs and coming of age in the Bronx Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
• Food Inc: Mendel to Monsanto - The Promises and perils of the biotech harvest Peter Pringle
• Monster of God: The Man-eating predator in the jungles of history and the mind David Quammen
• Krushshev: The Man and his era William Taubman
• Triangle: The Fire that changed America David Von Drehle

2003

• The Complete Works of Isaac Babel Isaac Babel
• Selected essays John Berger
• Blood Diamonds: tracing the deadly path of the world's most precious stones Greg Campbell
• Master of the Senate: The years of Lyndon Johnson vol. 3 Robert Caro
• Complications: A Surgeon's notes on an imperfect science Atul Gawande
• Can't be satisfied: the life and times of Muddy Waters Robert Gordon
• Theodore Rex Edmund Morris
• Wilful murder: the sinking of the Lusitania Diana Preston
• Jesse James: Last rebel of the Civil War T. J. Stiles
• The Future of the past Alexander Stille
• The Future of life Edward O. Wilson

2002

• American Chica: Two worlds, one childhood Marie Arana
• Aztec treasure house: New and selected essays Evan Connell
• An Unexpected light: Travels in Afghanistan Jason Elliot
• War in a time of peace: Bush, Clinton and the generals David Halberstam
• Going up the river: Travels in a prison nation Joseph T. Hallinan
• River Town: Two years on the Yangtze Peter Hessler
• Seabiscuit: an American legend Laura Hillenbrand
• The Breast cancer wars: Hope, fear & the pursuit of a cure in twentieth-century America Barron H Lerner
• Crossing over: A Mexican family on the migrant trail Ruben Martinez
• John Adams David McCullough
• Fast food nation: The Dark side of the All-American meal Eric Schlosser
• Grant Jean Edward Smith
• The Noonday demon: An Atlas of depression Andrew Solomon

2001

• From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present Jacques Barzun
• A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Dave Eggers
• Barrow's Boys Fergus Fleming
• Collaborator: The Trial and Execution of Robert Brasillach Alice Yaeger Kaplan
• Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters Matt Ridley
• Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran Elaine Sciolino
• Bruce Chatwin Nicholas Shakespeare
• In Siberia Colin Thubron

2000

• Show me a hero: A Tale of murder, suicide, race and redemption Lisa Belkin
• Black Hawk Down: A Story of modern war Mark Bowden
• Embracing defeat: Japan in the wake of World War II John Dower
• The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, hidden dimensions, and the quest for the Ultimate Theory Brian Greene
• How to read a poem and fall in love with poetry Edward Hirsch
• I Will bear witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years, 1933–1941 Victor Klemperer
• Journey beyond Selene: Remarkable expeditions past our moon and to the ends of the solar system Jeffrey Kluger
• The Orchid Thief: A True story of beauty and obsession Susan Orlean
• Passage to Juneau: A Sea and its meanings Jonathan Raban
• King of the world: Muhammad Ali and the rise of an American hero David Remnick
• A Clearing in the distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the nineteenth century Witold Rybczynski
• Vera (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov) Stacy Schiff

1999

• The Life of Thomas More Peter Ackroyd
• Lindbergh A. Scott Berg
• Pillar of fire: America in the King Years, 1963-65 Taylor Branch
• Titan: The Life of John D. Rockfeller Ron Chernow
• The Road to Ubar: Finding the Atlantis of the sands Nicholas Clapp
• Articles of faith: A Frontline history of the Abortion Wars Cynthia Gorney
• King Leopold's ghost: A Story of greed, terror, and heroism in colonial Africa Adam Hochschild
• Ship of gold in the deep blue sea Gary Kinder
• A Beautiful mind Sylvia Nasar
• A Hope in the unseen: An American odyssey from the inner city to the Ivy League Ron Suskind

1998

• T. Rex and the crater of doom Walter Alvarez
• All over but the shoutin' Rick Bragg
• Blood Rites: Origins & history of the passions of war Barbara Ehrenreich
• A People's tragedy: A History of the Russian Revolution Orlando Figes
• Next of kin: What chimpanzees have taught me about who we are Roger Fouts with Stephen Tukel Mills
• Ornament and silence: Essays on women's lives Kennedy Fraser
• The Perfect storm: A True story of men against the sea Sebastian Junger
• Into Thin air: A Personal account of the Mt. Everest disaster Jon Krakauer
• American scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence Pauline Maier
• Bad Land: An American romance Jonathan Raban 
• Utopia parkway: The Life and work of Joseph Cornell Deborah Solomon
• The River at the Center of the World: A Journey Up the Yangtze and Back in Chinese Time Simon Winchester