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Nonfiction Recs for Fiction Lovers
29
items Fast-paced, fascinating, fantastic non-fiction! Staying educated is sexyyyyy
Sections
5
What You Missed in History Class
Politics for the Curious
Gimme that Ole Time Religion
Scintillating Science
Poppity Pop Culture
What You Missed in History Class
Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.
This is The Heart of Darkness except a nonfiction book. By the end you will hate the King of Denmark, colonization, and the entire concept of rubber. Highly recommend.
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild
Pirates are the real libertarians… is what I would say if I respected libertarians. For fans of One Piece, Pirates of the Caribbean, Our Flag Means Death.
Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia by David Graeber
Horror as a genre can shape cultural fears and reflect cultural zeitgeist… What happens when it starts to critique a country as a whole? America's horror media from inception to modern day offers biting critiques to American imperialism. With mixed r...
Dark Carnivals: Modern Horror and the Origins of American Empire by W. Scott Poole
Reframing the USA as a Turtle Island colonizer and looking at all of the people's affected by the spread of America that were here before America was America.
An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
gulp
Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History by Bill Schutt
What goes up must come down, am I right?
The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of Their Lost World
Finding a random stone in an archaeological build that unlocks an entire ancient language and millennia of history? It's more likely than you think
The Writing of the Gods: The Race to Decode the Rosetta Stone by Edward Dolnick
After watching The Great I got obsessed with Catherine the Great and let me tell you: girlie was VERY lucky to not be beheaded. But we love a progressive (ish) queen.
Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K Massie
A wonderful basic text on Asian American history, fundamental to understanding American culture
The Making of Asian America: A History by Erika Lee
Tearing down the Scarlett O'Hara myth of the Innocent White Woman in favor of the truth
They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South by Stephanie E. Jones
I think about the ancient city that's underneath Chicago on a daily basis.
Four Lost Cities by Annalee Newitz
“We're the granddaughters of the witches you couldn't burn” but also we are the witches your witches knew would come
The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present by Ronald Hutton
Politics for the Curious
don't you wanna be involved??
The Internet is Forever… and also it's the wild west. Progressive writer Naomi Klein finds another Naomi Klein on the internet that is the exact opposite politically… and then starts getting more well known. This explores internet culture, cancel cul...
Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein
Propaganda shaping people's perceptions and therefore politics is nothing new, but American mass media has made into a grotesque art
Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media by Edward S. Herman
The Opioid Epidemic can be traced to a billionaire dynasty called the Sacklers. I'd like to smack each member of the Sackler family with a sockful of coins.
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Redden Keefe
a non-boring but highly suspect look at the private cooks of the world's most hated men
How to Feed a Dictator: Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin, Enver Hoxha, Fidel Castro, and Pol Pot Through the Eyes of Their Cooks by Witold Szablowski
Essential Reading for the Modern Teacher
Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by Bell Hooks
A look into the inner workings of the money that rules all of us, which is usually lining the pockets of people we'll never meet
Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer
How our opinions and thoughts are shaped on purpose with media… and how it's been going on for a VERY long time. This was fascinating.
Propaganda by Edward Bernays
“Why do bad people get good things” this is why
The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita
Gimme that Ole Time Religion
as an atheist, pls tell me more about god
Fascinating look at the spread of Evangelicalism and White Supremacism in America, especially in the South. Taking Jesus and using it as a means of controlling the masses. You know, that ole' time religion.
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Men
Parses out the difference between killing for God and Religion and killing for People Reasons. (Spoilers: both end up with ppl dead.)
Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence by Karen Armstrong
Tripping Balls on Mushrooms as a Religion
The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name by Brian C Muraresku
The relationship between Religion and The Prison Industrial Complex/Mass Incarceration. This one was incredible.
Break Every Yoke: Religion, Justice, and the Abolition of Prisons by Joshua Dubler
Scintillating Science
Ms Frizzle would love these
mushrooms mushrooms everywhere you eat them they eat you!
Entangled Life: The Illustrated Edition: How Fungi Make Our Worlds by Merlin Sheldrake
Poppity Pop Culture
movies, stars, and what's happening where we are
A memoir by the nerd queen of the millennials, this is the sweet and funny book that will have you thinking… wait… should I start playing Dungeons and Dragons?
You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost): A Memoir by Felicia Day
A history of Black cinema told in really interesting deep-dive stories as well as a great overview. Keep a pen nearby, you'll come out of it with a watch list.
Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World by Wil Haygood
Falling rocks from space gave us Donkey Kong and human culture as a whole??? It's more likely than you think! This is actually one of the most fun nonfiction books I've ever read.
Impact: How Rocks from Space Led to Life, Culture, and Donkey Kong
I too like to watch (tv of course)
I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution by Emily Nussbaum