Most anticipated nonfiction of 2024

From stirring investigations to dazzling memoirs, searing cultural criticism to deeply researched histories, our nonfiction cups overfloweth in 2024.

Available 1/16/2024

John Lewis

By Raymond Arsenault

The newest title in the Yale University Press Black Lives series, John Lewis: In Search of the Beloved Community is the first comprehensive biography of the titular civil rights icon and congressman. Drawing on archival materials and interviews with Lewis and his friends, family and associates, Raymond Arsenault offers an essential, mesmerizing narrative of a man who never lost sight of his vision for a just society, and whose legacy continues to inspire generations to “get in the way.”

Available 1/23/2024

American History, Black History, History

Madness

By Antonia Hylton

In 1911, 12 Black men were delivered to the forest in rural Maryland and began building their new residence, the State Hospital for the Negro Insane. During its near century of existence, the hospital (re-named Crownsville) held patients in prisonlike conditions without offering them adequate medical attention, food, space or safety. In Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum, Emmy-winning journalist Antonia Hylton summoned extensive archival research and conducted dozens of interviews with former patients and staff, as well as their descendants, to offer an unsparing reckoning with history.

Available 2/20/2024

Splinters

By Leslie Jamison

Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy Exams and The Recovering, is back with a new memoir, Splinters, in which she reflects on early motherhood in tandem with her relationship with her own mother. Sharp and honest, Jamison tries to reconcile the person she is with the stories she has internalized about herself, and in doing so, she shares a perspective on motherhood that teems with insight.

Available 2/27/2024

Grief Is for People

By Sloane Crosley

Novelist, essayist, humorist and critic Sloane Crosley shows a remarkable willingness to face the dark questions that follow a suicide.

Available 3/05/2024

The House of Hidden Meanings

In his refreshing memoir, drag superstar and pop culture icon RuPaul tells his life story with a tender clarity that renders a larger-than-life figure unforgettably human.

Available 3/19/2024

One Way Back

By Christine Blasey Ford

History will remember the four hours that a woman testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee as it considered the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court. In her long-awaited memoir, Christine Blasey Ford recounts her decision to publicly accuse the justice of sexual assault, the overwhelming aftermath and how she’s continued to persevere since.

Available 3/19/2024

No Judgment

By Lauren Oyler

Saying “no judgment” is a cover for our desire to judge, posits Lauren Oyler. As a cultural critic for the New York Times, The New Yorker, Harper’s and other such publications, Oyler is in the business of judging, and she doesn’t hold back in her debut collection of essays. TED Talks, Goodreads reviewers, the “vulnerability” trend, that thing Martin Scorsese said about Marvel—her takes would be dizzying if she were not so skilled in constructing solid arguments that deepen our understanding of cultural criticism. No Judgment is deeply funny and wise.

Available 3/19/2024

Black History, History

The Black Box

By Henry Louis Gates

Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s Harvard introductory course in African American Studies is legendary. Who among us would hesitate to attend a lecture with the award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist and cultural critic? The Black Box distills the lessons of the seminar as Gates tracks the Black authors who have sought self-definition through writing across genres to create places of belonging.

Available 3/19/2024

History, Middle Eastern History, Women's History

Woman, Life, Freedom

By Una Dimitrijevic, By Marjane Satrapi

Persepolis author Marjane Satrapi’s new anthology offers a look at the human toll of Iran’s authoritarian regime, and a people’s heroic, ongoing movement against it.

Available 3/19/2024

The Exvangelicals

By Sarah McCammon

The election of Donald Trump to the highest office in the land had many Americans questioning their choices. Sarah McCammon, NPR political correspondent and co-host of “The NPR Politics Podcast,” found herself at a tipping point. In The Exvangelicals, she writes about growing up in an evangelical church and leaving it. Intertwining journalism with memoir, McCammon sheds light on a religious movement that is on the brink.

Available 3/26/2024

There’s Always This Year

By Hanif Abdurraqib

Hanif Abdurraqib’s captivating There’s Always This Year is a powerful meditation on place and community.

Available 4/16/2024

Knife

By Salman Rushdie

More than 30 years after an Iranian leader called for his assassination, master storyteller and literary icon Salman Rushdie was repeatedly stabbed at a public appearance in 2022, suffering life-threatening wounds. He describes the attack and his recovery in Knife. Rushie has called it “a necessary book for me to write: a way to take charge of what happened, and to answer violence with art.”

Available 4/23/2024

The Rulebreaker

Biographer Susan Page paints a colorful portrait of trailblazer Barbara Walters in her compulsively readable The Rulebreaker.

Available 4/23/2024

The White Bonus

By Tracie McMillan

Journalist Tracie McMillan’s latest investigates how five families—including her own—benefit from systemic white privilege.

Available 4/30/2024

The Demon of Unrest

In The Demon of Unrest, Erik Laron crafts a tale of hold-your-breath suspense about the crucial three months leading up to the Civil War.

Available 4/30/2024

Cultural History, History

Silk

By Aarathi Prasad

Aarathi Prasad’s entertaining and enlightening history of silk brims with story and scientific detail, revealing a surprising history well worth knowing.

Available 5/7/2024

The Dead Don’t Need Reminding

By Julian Randall

In The Dead Don’t Need Reminding, Chicago poet Julian Randall braids memoir, history and cultural criticism, revealing himself to be a gifted storyteller.

Available 6/11/2024

Thank You, More Please

You know it, we know it: Most dating books belong in the trash. Clouded by old-fashioned, patriarchal norms and expectations, they seem to hold little value to those of us dating in 2024. But proven matchmaker Lily Womble’s Thank You, More Please promises something more: A fresh perspective on dating that advises you to trust your gut and find joy.

Available 6/11/2024

Traveling

Ann Powers’ biography of Joni Mitchell is a travelogue of one of the greatest artistic journeys ever taken, and it’s a pleasure to go along for the ride.

Available 6/4/2024

I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This

By Chelsea Devantez

Comedy writer Chelsea Devantez romps through personal embarrassments, traumas and triumphs in her memoir, I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This.

Available 7/15/2024

Tiger, Tiger

By Peter de Jonge, By James Patterson

James Patterson and Peter de Jonge have collaborated before on Miracle at St. Andrews and other novels about golf, and they join forces again with a biography that documents the rise and fall of Tiger Woods.

Available 8/06/2024

Circle of Hope

By Eliza Griswold

Eliza Griswold’s Circle of Hope is the intimate story of one small, progressive church, but it carries profoundly relevant lessons for all people of faith.

Most anticipated by genre

Previous most anticipated nonfiction

Recent nonfiction reviews

Book jacket image for Irena's Gift by Karen Kirsten

Irena’s Gift

Weaving history with mystery, Karen Kirsten uncovers her family’s traumatic experiences during the Holocaust in her remarkable memoir, Irena’s Gift.

Book jacket image for Reap the Whirlwind by Peter Houlahan

Reap the Whirlwind

The piercing Reap the Whirlwind chronicles a historic 1985 homicide, and shows how perspectives on law enforcement and innocence shift depending on who you are.

Book jacket image for The Bluestockings by Susannah Gibson

The Bluestockings

Meticulously researched and beautifully written, The Bluestockings recounts the lives of 18th-century women who forged a path for feminist movements to come.

Book jacket image for A Sense of Shifting by Coco Romack

A Sense of Shifting

The triumphant photo-essay book A Sense of Shifting shows how queer dance is pushing boundaries and destabilizing traditions.

4 spirited essay collections tussle with modern life

R. Eric Thomas, Mia Mercado and more spill their secrets and make savvy observations.

Book jacket image for The Genius of Judy by Rachelle Bergstein

The Genius of Judy

More than just a fan letter to Judy Blume, The Genius of Judy shows how the groundbreaking author’s work has impacted multiple generations of women.

Meet the Neighbors

Brandon Keim’s awe-inspiring Meet the Neighbors exhorts us to consider that all animals, from dolphins to salamanders, are just as capable of thinking and feeling as we are.

Book jacket image for The Incorruptibles by Dan Slater

The Incorruptibles

Dan Slater’s vibrant The Incorruptibles chronicles the homegrown vice squad that took down New York City’s most notorious turn-of-the-century gangsters.

What the Wild Sea Can Be

Helen Scales’ inspiring What the Wild Sea Can Be addresses climate-caused threats to our oceans, while providing a glimmer of light in a darkening world.

Book jacket image for Sharks Don't Sink by Jasmin Graham

Sharks Don’t Sink

In Sharks Don’t Sink, marine biologist Jasmin Graham pushes for diversity in her field while also celebrating her deep, abiding love for the titular fish.

The Art of Gothic Living

The devil is in the details in Paul Gambino’s survey of modern gothic decor, The Art of Gothic Living.

Book jacket image for Parachute by Alexis Walker

Parachute

The dynamic, photo-heavy Parachute shows the titular brand’s influence on fashion and culture.

A Fatal Inheritance

Listeners will find A Fatal Inheritance to be an effective overview of research on cancer and hereditary predisposition, one that achieves serious investigation while remaining intensely human.