Author: Kim Ukura

Happiest of Friday, fellow nonfiction fiends! The weather forecast for this weekend in Minnesota looks pretty rainy, which means I have nothing better to do than hide out in the house with books. I am really excited about that.

This week’s newsletter is a deepish dive into a nonfiction controversy that brings to light one of the dirty little secrets of publishing. After that, I’ve got some Kindle deals you can check out this month!

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Sponsored by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, publishers of Reckoning: The Epic Battle Against Sexual Abuse and Harassment by Linda Hirshman.

Linda Hirshman, acclaimed historian of social movements, delivers the sweeping story of the struggle leading up to #MeToo and beyond: from the first tales of workplace harassment percolating in the 1970s, to the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal—when liberal women largely forgave Clinton, giving men a free pass for two decades. And yet, legal, political, and cultural efforts were quietly paving the way for the takedown of abusers and harassers. Reckoning delivers the stirring tale of a movement catching fire as pioneering women in the media exposed the Harvey Weinsteins of the world, women flooded the political landscape, and the walls of male privilege finally began to crack. This is revelatory, essential social history

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When You Don’t Understand Old Legal Terms…

Last month, author Naomi Wolf was confronted with an embarrassing mistake at the heart of her new book Outrages: Sex, Censorship, and the Criminalization of Love, a look at the criminalization of same-sex relationships in the Victorian Era. During an interview about the book, BBC Radio host Matthew Sweet pointed out one major argument was based on a misunderstanding of a legal term from the 1800s. Yikes!

The phrase in question is “death recorded,” which Wolf took to mean execution. On air, Sweet explained that wasn’t correct: “It was a category that was created in 1823 that allowed judges to abstain from pronouncing a sentence of death on any capital convict whom they considered to be a fit subject for pardon … I don’t think any of the executions you’ve identified here actually happened.” Yikes again!

Since then, Wolf’s publisher has reminded the world that publishers rely on authors to verify their research instead of hiring fact-checkers, and Wolf committed to fact-checking the book on Twitter. That’s a start, although something that major seems like it ought to at least delay publication a bit, right? Three other pieces of note:

• I thought Parul Sehgal’s review of Outrages was a good one, putting Wolf’s writing career in context and giving a pretty damning assessment of this book.
• Karin Wulf also wrote a piece about how this incident and others emphasize the need for trained historians, and that most historians aren’t generalists.
• On NPR, Lynn Neary did a piece about fact-checking, the impact of errors like this in the era of “fake news,” and the economics fact-checking in publishing.

I’m not sure if there will be much more to this story or not, but it’s been an interesting one to watch play out via Twitter and other think-pieces. The lesson I take away from it is to always be a little skeptical about what you’re reading, and take some time to peek into the notes section of any nonfiction book – often, the detail an author includes there will give you a good idea about their sources, methods, and reliability.

Cheap Memoirs to Buy Now

To close, a few ebook deals on memoirs that you can take advantage of this month:

• The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule for $1.99
• The Broken Circle: A Memoir of Escaping Afghanistan by Enjeela Ahmadi-Miller for $1.99
• I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb for $4.99
• Coming Clean: A Memoir by Kimberly Rae Miller for $.99
• Dry: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs for $3.99

While you’re browsing cheap ebooks, check out Book Riot’s Amazon storefront, we’ve put together a selection of our favorite books and bookish stuff for summer!

You can find me on Twitter @kimthedork, on email at kim@riotnewmedia.com, and co-hosting the For Real podcast here at Book Riot. Happy reading! – Kim

Hello and happy Wednesday, nonfiction friends! It’s another full week of new books, although not quite a jam-packed as last week. I’ve pulled 11 new titles I’m particularly curious about to share this week. Onwards!

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Sponsored by Monkfish Publishing

Part memoir, part practical guide, Spiritual Rebel urges, “How can we uncover the most meaning in our lives?” Through witty and thought-provoking personal anecdotes, author Sarah Bowen confesses her challenges with the religion of her birth, descent into addiction, and recovery into a life where everything can be sacred. Next, Sarah mines the world’s philosophical, scientific, and spiritual traditions to offer readers unconventional practices for uncovering more meaningful moments in their own lives. “A balance of careful scholarship and refreshing irreverence” – Mirabai Starr

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Life Finds a Way: What Evolution Teaches Us About Creativity by Andreas Wagner – A biologist looks at the connections between innovation in evolution and cultural creativity, specifically how both are marked by incremental progress over time.

Giants of the Monsoon Forest: Living and Working with Elephants by Jacob Shell – A geographer goes deep into the rainforests of Burma and India to see the relationship between elephants and riders in these mountain communities.

One Giant Leap: The Impossible Mission That Flew Us to the Moon by Charles Fishman – A story of “the trailblazers and the ordinary Americans on the front lines of the epic mission to reach the moon.”

Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age by Darrel J. McLeod – A memoir about growing up in a Cree family in rural Canada and the ways trauma can be handed down through generations.

Love Thy Neighbor: A Muslim Doctor’s Struggle for Home in Rural America by Ayaz Virji and Alan Eisenstock – A memoir by a Muslim doctor about his efforts to support, educate, and connect with the residents of his small, rural community after the 2016 election brought prejudices about Muslims to the surface.

Let Me Not Be Mad: My Story of Unraveling Minds by A. K. Benjamin – A clinical neuropsychologist shares his experiences working with patients who have a mental illness, weaving in his “own sometimes shocking personal experiences.”

More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are, No Matter What They Say by Elaine Welteroth – A memoir by the former editor of Teen Vogue about her rise through journalism and her position as a “barrier-breaker across so many intersections.”

Reckoning: The Epic Battle Against Sexual Abuse and Harassment by Linda Hirshman – A history of the fight against sexual harassment, starting in the 1970s and going through the #MeToo movement.

The Ice at the End of the World: An Epic Journey into Greenland’s Buried Past and Our Perilous Future by Jon Gertner – An exploration of Greenland, including the essential information it contains about our climate. The history of Greenland’s ice starts with 19th-century explorers and continues to scientists today.

Kingdom of Lies: Unnerving Adventures in the World of Cybercrime by Kate Fazzini – “A behind-the-scenes look at the interconnected cultures of hackers, security specialists, and law enforcement,” told by a cybersecurity expert turned journalist.

Childfree by Choice: The Movement Redefining Family and Creating a New Age of Independence by Amy Blackstone – A look at the growing trend of choosing to forgo parenthood, using the author’s personal experience and contemporary research about the childfree movement.

That’s all the new books for this week! One more quick plug – go check out Book Riot’s Amazon storefront, we’ve put together a selection of our favorite books and bookish stuff for summer!

You can find me on Twitter @kimthedork, on email at kim@riotnewmedia.com, and co-hosting the For Real podcast here at Book Riot. This week, Alice and I shared some great reads to celebrate Pride Month. Happy reading! – Kim

Hello and happy Friday, fellow readers! It feels like a quiet-ish week in the world of nonfiction books, but I’ve still got a few bits and pieces to share. Let’s dive in!

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Sponsored by The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang

Schizophrenia is not a single unifying diagnosis, and Esmé Weijun Wang writes not just to her fellow members of the “collected schizophrenias” but to those who wish to understand it as well. In essays that range from using fashion to present as high-functioning to the depths of a rare form of psychosis, and from the failures of the higher education system and the dangers of institutionalization to the complexity of compounding factors such as PTSD and Lyme disease, Wang’s analytical eye, honed as a former lab researcher at Stanford, allows her to balance research with personal narrative. An essay collection of undeniable power, The Collected Schizophrenias dispels misconceptions and provides insight into a condition long misunderstood.

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Murderonios and other true crime lovers… This Bustle interview with My Favorite Murder’s Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark is fun. They talk about the book, how writing is hard, and some of the therapeutic value of writing.

Hillary and Chelsea Clinton are starting a production company! The company is in early stages and doesn’t have a name yet, but “will spotlight stories by and about women.” I’m pretty psyched about this!

Fascinated as I am by the National Spelling Bee? The New York Times offered some book and movie recommendations, including Beeline by Shalini Shankar.

Debbie Harry of Blondie is releasing a memoir in October! The book “blends first-person essays with interviews conducted by journalist Sylvie Simmons.” It also includes new photos and fan art, which seems really fun to me.

Michael Wolff’s next book on the Trump administration is barely out, but he’s already having to defend his reporting. In a nutshell, Wolff claims to have reviewed a “draft indictment” of the president prepared by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team, but a spokesman for the office said that document doesn’t exist. Siege: Trump Under Fire came out on Tuesday.

Simon & Schuster has elected not to publish a book by Tony Robbins after news reports surfaced that Robbins has berated rape and domestic violence victims and has been accused of sexually harassing staffers and fans (you can read more in the link, if so inclined). Good job, Publishing.

Finally, I’ll close with a couple of interesting podcasts to check out:

• Slow Burn is doing a series based on The Queen by Josh Levin, a new nonfiction book about the first “welfare queen” who was actually an accused murderer and fraudster. Levin is one of the editors behind slow burn, so this one makes a lot of sense.
• One of this week’s episodes of The Daily was on “The Legacy of Rachel Held Evans.” Elizabeth Dias, a reporter who covers religion for the New York Times, shared her story and brought in guests who spoke about her impact. It was a moving episode.

Thanks for checking in again this week! You can find me on Twitter @kimthedork, on email at kim@riotnewmedia.com, and co-hosting the For Real podcast here at Book Riot. Happy reading! – Kim

Friends. There are so many books coming out this week, it’s bananas. I haven’t even come close to catching them all, but I had to cut myself off at some point. I arbitrarily decided that number is 14, so there you have it… 14 new nonfiction books out this week. Let’s go!

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Sponsored by The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang

Schizophrenia is not a single unifying diagnosis, and Esmé Weijun Wang writes not just to her fellow members of the “collected schizophrenias” but to those who wish to understand it as well. In essays that range from using fashion to present as high-functioning to the depths of a rare form of psychosis, and from the failures of the higher education system and the dangers of institutionalization to the complexity of compounding factors such as PTSD and Lyme disease, Wang’s analytical eye, honed as a former lab researcher at Stanford, allows her to balance research with personal narrative. An essay collection of undeniable power, The Collected Schizophrenias dispels misconceptions and provides insight into a condition long misunderstood.

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The Truffle Underground: A Tale of Mystery, Mayhem, and Manipulation in the Shadowy Market of the World’s Most Expensive Fungus by Ryan Jacobs – True crime and high cuisine in the world of truffles! I feel like I could just end the list here and be happy… but I won’t.

Leaving the Witness: Exiting a Religion and Finding a Life by Amber Scorah – A third-generation Jehovah’s Witness loses her faith while preaching in China and ends up being cast out of her family and community.

This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrant’s Manifesto by Suketu Mehta – An exploration of anti-immigrant backlash around the world and the benefits immigrants bring to communities.

Naturally Tan: A Memoir by Tan France – Queer Eye’s fashion expert “reveals how an Englishman raised in a traditionally religious home became a fashion icon.”

The Beautiful No: And Other Tales of Trial, Transcendence, and Transformation by Sheri Salata – A producer at The Oprah Winfrey Show leaves her decades-long career to try and “produce” her own life transformation.

Why Cities Lose: The Deep Roots of the Urban-Rural Political Divide by Jonathan Rodden – A look at the divide between urban and rural communities and the economic and political roots of the electoral challenges faced by the Left.

The Last Pirate of New York: A Ghost Ship, a Killer, and the Birth of a Gangster Nation by Rich Cohen – The legend of an under-the-radar New York criminal and his attempt to rob a ship and return home.

The Moon: A History for the Future by Oliver Moon – A look at how we’ve looked at the moon through its history and its place in the future of space exploration.

Formation: A Woman’s Memoir of Stepping Out of Line by Ryan Leigh Dostie – A woman finds space for herself in the Army, only to have her sense of security and camaraderie destroyed after being raped by a fellow soldier.

On Being Human: A Memoir of Waking Up, Living Real, and Listening Hard by Jennifer Pastiloff – A memoir about “how a starved person grew into the exuberant woman she was meant to be all along by battling the demons within and winning.”

Grace Will Lead Us Home: The Charleson Church Massacre and the Hard, Inspiring Journey to Forgiveness by Jennifer Berry Hawes – A narrative account of the shooting at Mother Emanuel AME church and what has happened since.

The Targeter: My Life in the CIA, Hunting Terrorists and Challenging the White House by Nada Bakos with David Coburn – A memoir set in the world of high-stakes foreign intelligence about one analyst’s role in the war against Islamic extremists.

Waking the Witch: Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power by Pam Grossman – A look at the world’s fascination with witches and why they matter now.

Tell Me Who You Are: Sharing Our Stories of Race, Culture, and Identity by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi – Two women travel the United States gathering stories about how racism plays out in communities across the country.

Whew! That’s such a good list. You can find me on Twitter @kimthedork, on email at kim@riotnewmedia.com, and co-hosting the For Real podcast here at Book Riot. Happy reading! – Kim

Hello, fellow nonfiction readers.

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Sponsored by Lion Forge

In Gender Queer, Maia Kobabe has crafted an intensely cathartic autobiography about eir path to identifying as nonbinary and asexual, and coming out to eir family and society. By addressing questions about gender identity—what it means and how to think about it—the story also doubles as a much-needed, useful, and touching guide. Find the graphic novel memoir in stores now from Lion Forge!

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I’m sad to be opening this newsletter with the announcement of another major death in the nonfiction world. Author and journalist Tony Horwitz died Monday at just 60 years old. He was on tour for his latest book, Spying On The South, when he suffered what appeared to be a cardiac arrest. He leaves behind his wife, novelist Geraldine Brooks, and two sons.

Since his death Monday, there’s been an outpouring of writing about Horwitz and his work, particularly admiration for his 1998 book Confederates in the Attic. NPR’s Fresh Air replayed an interview with Horwitz from 1998 talking about the book. It also includes Maureen Corrigan’s review of Spying On The South, a travel narrative that uses the 19th century meanderings of Frederick Law Olmsted as a guide for Horwitz’s own travels through the American South today.

I’m disappointed I haven’t read any of his work so far, but this has been an inspiration to address that hole in my nonfiction reading. His 2002 book, Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before is calling my name.

It again feels weird to be transitioning from that story to lighter news, but that is the nature of a newsletter. Here are a few lists, book announcements, and stories that caught my attention this week:

Time Magazine released a list of the 10 best nonfiction books of the year so far, a list that looks particularly good and includes one of my favorites so far, The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang. Add to your TBR!

Mindy Kaling is publishing a new essay collection 2020. One of the interesting bits about this story is that she’s releasing the collection with Amazon Publishing, which means it’ll be free for all Amazon Prime and Kindle Unlimited customers, and available on Audible. I’m curious to see if the choice of publisher has an impact on sales compared to her previous books.

The Jonas Brothers are releasing a memoir. Blood, co-authored with the guy who wrote Mötley Crüe’s book, will “detail the brothers’ journey as a band, from the group’s inception through their rise, breakup, and comeback.” It’ll be out November 12.

It’s not news that Brené Brown has a Netflix special, but I still like finding stories about it. This piece from Entertainment Weekly about “what’s making Brené Brown feel vulnerable right now,” isn’t super new, but I didn’t catch it back in April and I thought it was interesting.

Love reading about con artists? Bustle has a list of true crime books about con artists for people interested in the Anna Delvey case. Just care about Anna Delvey? Hold out for My Friend Anna, a memoir by one of her former friends that’s coming out on July 23.

That’s all for this week! You can find me on Twitter @kimthedork, on email at kim@riotnewmedia.com, and co-hosting the For Real podcast here at Book Riot. Happy reading! – Kim

Hello and happy end of May, nonfiction nerds! I spent Memorial Day weekend up at my parents’ cabin and managed to read a ton. We had one day of truly beautiful weather, then a couple days where it was cold or rainy, which is a bummer for outdoor activities but great for reading.

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Sponsored by Oxford University Press

On Streisand begins with a broad year-by-year outline of the landmark achievements which is followed by a long essay on how Streisand’s idiosyncratic self-realization marks her as a unique talent. Then, the major part of the book is a work-by-work analysis broken down into separate chapters, each organized chronologically: the stage shows, the television shows and concerts, the recordings, and, finally, the movies. Barbra Streisand said, “I became a singer because I couldn’t get work as an actress,” but she not only became both but revolutionized the two professions forever.

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Before we dive into a few exciting new releases for this week, I wanted to let you know I was a guest on this week’s episode of the All the Books podcast where I got to talk about a couple of nonfiction books you should check out – Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark and Wordslut by Amanda Montell.

And now… more books!

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein – Many experts argue that the best way to become an expert is to start early and specialize, getting in Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hours as soon as possible. In this book, David Epstein argues that the opposite is true – the most successful athletes, thinkers, artists and more are actually generalists. He suggests generalists find their path late, juggle many interests, and are more creative and agile thinkers. I’m really interested in the ideas of this one!

Further Watching: Epstein appeared on CBS This Morning on Monday talking about the book, and shared that he even managed to convince Malcolm Gladwell just a little bit.

Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come: One Introvert’s Year of Saying Yes by Jessica Pan – What might happen if a shy introvert spent a year trying to live like an extrovert? As an introvert myself, this seems horrifying… but that’s exactly the experiment Jessica Pan writes about in this memoir. She turns to extrovert mentors to set her challenges, then tries to explore what she might learn. This one seems like it’ll be like Quiet by Susan Cain meets A.J. Jacobs, and I’m totally here for it.

Further Reading: Pan was interviewed for the Los Angeles Review of Books blog where she talked about gender, self-care versus self-coddling, and more.

Anthony Bourdain Remembered from CNN – If you were a fan of the late Anthony Bourdain, then this is a book you will want to pick up. After his death in 2018, there was an outpouring of love from fans and friends around the world. This book brings together memories and anecdotes from fans like Barack Obama, Ken Burns, Questlove and more, to show his impact around the world.

Further Reading: Travel and Leisure shared seven quotes from the book that “highlight his lasting legacy.” I think it’s going to be a beautiful book.

And finally, a few more titles of the week that might be of interest:

• The Lives of Bees: The Untold Story of the Honey Bee in the Wild by Thomas D. Seeley
• Supernavigators by Davie Barrie
• The Red Ribbon by Nancy Freund Bills
• The Jamestown Brides by Jennifer Potter

That’s all for this week! You can find me on Twitter @kimthedork, on email at kim@riotnewmedia.com, and co-hosting the For Real podcast here at Book Riot. Happy reading! – Kim

Hello and happy holiday Friday, nonfiction friends! I can’t wait to get out of town for the first official weekend of summer. I see books, booze, and a sparkling blue lake in my future!

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Sponsored by Scribd

In 1978, Harper Lee’s fame had reached a fever pitch following the remarkable success of her debut novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, but she had written little of consequence in the nearly two decades since. She was searching for her next book when the perfect story landed in her lap. A call from back home in Alabama lit the match: A reverend — described as “six-feet-four-inches of majesty and dread” —  allegedly murdered five of his family members, without detection. Each time, he got rich off their life insurance policies but reaped no consequences. Vanity Fair’s special correspondent, Mark Seal, retraces the legendary novelist’s return home to Alabama to chase down a true crime mystery for the ages in THE DEVIL AND HARPER LEE.

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But before that, I didn’t want to let Mental Health Awareness Month go by without taking a little bit of space to share some books that have been helpful to me in that area. There aren’t books about mental illnesses specifically, but instead books that I’ve turned to and can recommend as I’ve worked on some of my own mental health challenges.

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski – This spring has been particularly stressful at my day job. About a month ago, I realized all of bad feelings I was having were connected… I was getting burned out. Like any good nerd, I turned to books to help find the answer. Burnout was a huge help. The book specifically looks at what stress is like for women, and offers concrete steps to address it in both the short and long term. Reading it felt like turning on a light bulb.

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb – After life-altering breakup, Lori Gottlieb realized she needed some help, ending up on the couch of a therapist who seemed to come straight from central casting. In the book, Gottlieb talks about her experiences as a patient, her experiences as a therapist, and how therapists do their work to help others. This book is absolutely fascinating, and gives such a good peek into why we sometimes need an outsider to help us get a healthy perspective on our own lives.

Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self by Manoush Zomorodi – Like many smart people, I think that constant connection via our devices can have negative impacts on our mental health. This book is about a 2015 experiment Manoush Zomorodi conducted via her podcast, Note to Self, that encouraged people to “ unplug from their devices, get bored, jump-start their creativity, and change their lives.” The book goes through the different facets of the experiment and offers some applicable tips to combat busyness and find more space on life. It’s a great, concrete way to think about your device and the impact it has on your mental health.

Finally, I want to close out the newsletter with a few tidbits of nonfiction news:

Marie Kondo is writing two new books! She announced the new books on Instagram, then shared that the first one will be a children’s book that “ follows two best friends — Kiki, a collector, and Jax, a sorter — as they work through what it means when their friendship has to navigate things.” Totes adorbs.

Did you know there’s a Nonfiction Women Book Club on Instagram? I did not! It looks cool. You can check out an interview with the co-founders over at Book Riot.

Speaking of book clubs… there’s a club in Iowa planning to read all of the autobiographies written by Democratic candidates running for president. NPR’s Weekend Edition did a short piece about the club and their big project.

Patton Oswalt talked about Michelle McNamara and her book, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, with the Los Angeles Review of Books blog to celebrate the paperback release of the book. I thought his answer about the hybrid nature of the book, part memoir and part true crime, was interesting.

That’s all for this week! You can find me on Twitter @kimthedork, on email at kim@riotnewmedia.com, and co-hosting the For Real podcast here at Book Riot. Happy reading! – Kim

Happy Wednesday, fellow nonfiction nerds! I’ve been experimenting with this radical new idea of not watching as much television so I can read more, and it’s going positively swimmingly. I’ve finished a couple books in the last week, and it’s really reinvigorated my reading mojo. Which is good, because there are always more new books to check out. Let’s dive in to take a look and what’s new this week!

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Sponsored by Scribd

In 1978, Harper Lee’s fame had reached a fever pitch following the remarkable success of her debut novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, but she had written little of consequence in the nearly two decades since. She was searching for her next book when the perfect story landed in her lap. A call from back home in Alabama lit the match: A reverend — described as “six-feet-four-inches of majesty and dread” —  allegedly murdered five of his family members, without detection. Each time, he got rich off their life insurance policies but reaped no consequences.

Vanity Fair’s special correspondent, Mark Seal, retraces the legendary novelist’s return home to Alabama to chase down a true crime mystery for the ages in THE DEVIL AND HARPER LEE.

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The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas – Why yes, I would love to read an academic look at how “the diversity crisis in children’s and young adult media is not only a lack of representation, but a lack of imagination” by looking carefully at four black girl protagonists from popular stories.

Further Reading: Thomas makes some excellent reading recommendations in this interview with School Library Journal.

Sisters and Rebels: A Struggle for the Soul of America by Jacquelyn Dowd Hall – It takes a lot to get me on board with a 600+ page biography, but this one sounds so interesting. This book follows the story of three female descendants (born between 1888 and 1897) of a slaveholding family, and how their paths diverged after two moved North and one stayed in the South.

Further Reading: Dowd was featured by the American Historical Association, where she talked a bit about the book.

Superior: The Return of Race Science by Angela Saini – This book explores “the re-emergence of scientific research into racial differences,” looking at how ideas from eugenics made their way into research into the human genome and how “science is retrofitted to accommodate race.” This seems like a great follow up to Saini’s 2017 book about what science has gotten wrong about women, Inferior.

Further Reading: Saini has an article in The Guardian about the book, perhaps an excerpt, although it’s not called out as one specifically.

The Vinyl Frontier: The Story of the Voyager Golden Record by Jonathan Scott – In 1977 a team was tasked with putting together a record to travel with NASA’s Voyager probe. This record was supposed to represent humanity and paint a picture of Earth for those who might find it. That’s a huge ask! This book puts together the story of that artifact, which sounds so fascinating.

Further Reading: Publisher’s Weekly included the book in a list of books for the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing. Yay, space!

And finally, a few other titles that might be of interest for True Story readers:

• Bossed Up: A Grown Woman’s Guide to Getting Your Sh*t Together Book by Emilie Aries
• The Edge of Every Day: Sketches of Schizophrenia by Marin Sardy
• How to Forget: A Daughter’s Memoir by Kate Mulgrew
• The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth by Josh Levin
• The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation by Brenda Wineapple
• The Naked Truth: A Memoir by Leslie Morgan
• Bitcoin Billionaires: A True Story of Genius, Betrayal and Redemption by Ben Mezrich

That’s all for this week! You can find me on Twitter @kimthedork, on email at kim@riotnewmedia.com, and co-hosting the For Real podcast here at Book Riot. Happy reading! – Kim

Hello, nonfiction friends and readers! I want to start out this week’s newsletter with some sad news I neglected to share last week. Rachel Held Evans, a Christian author, blogger, and thinker, died suddenly on May 4 after a short, tragic illness. She leaves behind a husband, two children, and a legacy of progressive Christianity that challenged Evangelicals and sought to open the church up to those who felt unwelcome.

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Sponsored by Kawaii Craft Life by Sosae Caetano and Dennis Caetano

Kawaii Craft Life is a first-of-its-kind needlecraft book featuring 35 super-cute projects to decorate the home or give as gifts. Add an adorable kawaii touch to your home, dorm room, or office with this charming collection of feltcraft, cross-stitch, and embroidery projects. It includes materials lists and hand-stitching basics, step-by-step instructions and illustrations, printable templates, and beautiful photography. A celebration of all things kawaii style and suitable for both beginners and seasoned crafters alike, you can create dozens of cute and cuddly crafts.

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I haven’t read any of her work, so I have to rely on some others to share their thoughts on her writing, thinking, and legacy:

• The Literary Legacy of Rachel Held Evans at Book Riot
• The Radical Inclusivity of Rachel Held Evans in The New Yorker
• How Rachel Held Evans really should be remembered in the Washington Post
• How progressive Christian blogger Rachel Held Evans changed everything in Vox

I’ve heard excellent things about all of her books, particularly the two most recent – Inspired and Searching for Sunday – so hopefully I can pick one of those up soon.

It feels weird to go from that really sad event to other news, but I guess that’s the nature of a newsletter. This week I’ve got a couple new book announcements and some thoughts on a book festival I attended last weekend. First, new books:

Michael Wolff has written a “sequel” to Fire and Fury, and it’s coming out on June 4. Siege: Trump Under Fire was just announced this week, and is described by the publisher as an “equally essential and explosive book about a presidency that is under fire from almost every side.” It begins at the beginning of Trump’s second year and ends with the completion of the Mueller report. This is a book a lot of people are probably going to read… and I’ll be happy just reading the excerpts that get reported.

Chelsea Manning is writing a memoir. Due next year, the book will be about her childhood, her time as a soldier, and “how her plea for increased institutional transparency and government accountability take place alongside a fight to defend her rights as a trans woman.” Manning also told reporters that she and the publisher are trying to avoid having to submit the manuscript to the government for a classified information review. That’s interesting!

And second, book festival! This weekend was the first annual Wordplay festival in Minneapolis. This event was organized by The Loft, an amazing local literary organization, and was really impressive for a first year. I was able to hear several great authors (mostly nonfiction) talk about their books:

• Mira Jacob (Good Talk) and poet Tina Chang (Hybrida) spoke about raising mixed-race kids, and how some of the most difficult conversations we need to have are with people we love but also deeply disagree with.
• Anika Fajardo (Magical Realism for Nonbelievers) and Vanessa McGrady (Rocks Needs River) shared some of their stories about motherhood, complicated families, and the decisions that get made when writing a memoir.
• Helen Ellis (Southern Lady Code) was hilarious in conversation with comedian/novelist Lorna Landvik, definitely the highlight of my weekend. Her stories about her mother were so great.

And that’s all for this week! You can find me on Twitter @kimthedork, on email at kim@riotnewmedia.com, and co-hosting the For Real podcast  here at Book Riot. Happy reading! – Kim

Hello and welcome to another week of amazing nonfiction reads! I spent the weekend at a book festival — more on that later this week — so feel like I’m a bit behind in even trying to figure out what’s coming out this week. But, I’ve still got three great books to highlight and several more to mention. Let’s dive in!

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Sponsored by The Blink of an Eye: A Memoir of Dying—and Learning How to Live Again by Rikke Schmidt Kjærgaard

It was New Year’s Day. Rikke Schmidt Kjærgaard, a young mother and scientist, was celebrating when she was struck down with a sudden fever. Within hours, she’d suffered organ failure and was clinically dead.

Brought back to the edge of life—trapped in a near-death coma—she was given a 5% chance of survival. She awoke to find herself completely paralyzed, with blinking as her sole means of communicating. The Blink of an Eye is Rikke’s gripping account of being locked inside her body, and what it took to relearn every basic life skill, to truly live again.

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Once More We Saw Stars by Jayson Greene – In this memoir, Jayson Greene reflects on the tragic and accidental death of his two-year-old daughter, the hope and healing he finds after, and the importance of love and partnership.

Further Reading: In Oprah Magazine, Greene shared 10 songs of significance for their family.

Mind and Matter by John Urschel and Louisa Thomas – By the time he was 13, John Urschel was taking college-level calculus. In high school. He found a love of football, ultimately finding a way to follow both his loves to a position on the Baltimore Ravens and the pursuit of a PhD at MIT.

Further Reading: Urschel wrote a piece for the New York Times about how math teachers should be more like football coaches, demanding commitment and accountability from students.

Surprise, Kill, Vanish by Annie Jacobsen – Investigative journalist Annie Jacobsen shares the story of the CIA’s Special Activities Division, “a highly-classified branch of the CIA and the most effective, black operations force in the world.”

Further Reading: Jacobsen was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in history for her book The Pentagon’s Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America’s Top Secret Military Research Agency.

And finally, a few more books coming out this week that might be of interest:

• Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope by Mark Manson
• Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom by Katherine Eban
• Out East: A Memoir of a Montauk Summer by John Glynn
• Spying on the South: An Odyssey Across the American Divide by Tony Horwitz
• The Case for Space: How the Revolution in Spaceflight Opens Up a Future of Limitless Possibility by Robert Zubrin
• Transformed: A Navy SEAL’s Unlikely Journey from the Throne of Africa, to the Streets of the Bronx, to Defying All Odds by Remi Adeleke