Best Narrative Nonfiction for Your Summer Reading Pile
Have you ever read nonfiction that reads like a thriller or like the most immersive novel? That’s narrative nonfiction! Narrative nonfiction uses various craft elements to create a story, not merely a reporting of events. The prose is usually written in a compelling, descriptive literary style while still preserving the facts of the story.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and Into Thin Air are perfect examples of this, along with The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. All of these are true stories, but when you read the book, the authors are pure storytellers, allowing you to lose yourself in the book. They’re great books to read when you’re not sure what you want or if you need to break out of a reading slump.
It can be hard to strike a balance when writing nonfiction: you don’t want to sound like a dry news report, but you also want to stay true to the facts and research. How much leeway do you have when writing narrative nonfiction? When does it start to toe the line or even blur the lines?
Check out some of the best recent narrative nonfiction that you’ll want to read this summer. Throw a book or two into your beach bag or luggage, send a copy of your favorite to your kid at camp, or do a buddy read with a friend or three.
Grab your favorite cold beverage, and let’s dive in, shall we?
The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions by Jonathan Rosen
In 1998, Michael Laudor stabbed his pregnant fiancée to death. Just three years earlier, he had made national headlines for graduating from Yale Law while living with active schizophrenia. Part memoir, part true crime, and part psychological case study, this book chronicles Rosen’s long-term friendship with Laudor, starting when they were kids, and it explores how so many people looked the other way under the guise of good intentions, ignoring the mental health crisis right in front of them that eventually led to murder.
The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped A Nation by Anna Malaika Tubbs
Mothering is hard work, and when raising a child, you hope you’re instilling in them the values and actions to change the world. Tubbs writes about three women who did just that: Berdis Baldwin, Alberta King, and Louise Little—the mothers of James Baldwin, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X. She writes about how these women wanted their children to survive against all odds, to thrive, and to do great things. Tubbs illustrates the challenges these women faced in parenting and gives them their due in history.
Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad by Matthew F. Delmont
Did you know that more than a million Black men and women served in World War II, only to come home and be denied the housing and educational benefits and opportunities their white counterparts received? These stories aren’t the ones we typically hear since they’re not the ones in the history books. Until now. Delmont explores these stories, along with Black heroes like Ella Baker, Benjamin Davis (the leader of the Tuskegee Airmen), and Langston Hughes. This is a much-needed and long-overdue book in our history canon.
The New Guys: The Historic Class of Astronauts That Broke Barriers and Changed the Face of Space Travel by Meredith Bagby
In 1978, NASA admitted an astronaut class like no other: Astronaut Class 8, “The F*cking New Guys,” which included the first American women, the first African Americans, and the first gay person to fly to space. It was just the beginning of a whole new period of exploration. Bagby writes not just about the astronauts themselves but the culture of the space program, the progress made and the inherent pressures and conflicts that came with that, and the devastating events that came with pushing boundaries and ignoring risk.
Liliana’s Invincible Summer: A Sister’s Search for Justice by Cristina Rivera Garza
In 1990, Garza’s sister Liliana was murdered by an abusive ex-boyfriend. In 2019, she requested the unresolved criminal file in the hopes of pursuing justice. But what she also does is create a touching, vibrant picture of her sister’s life in a society that normalizes gender-based violence, using letters, school notebooks, interviews, and much more. Garza also explores her own grief and trauma over the murder. Taken together, this is part memoir and part true crime, both personal and universal, making it a story that needs to be told.
The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World by Riley Black
Even if you’re not typically a dinosaur fan, don’t write this one off too quickly. Black writes about the moment everything changed on Earth and the days and centuries after that. The prose is vividly descriptive, and the story is full of information that is accessible and interesting. Their excitement and passion for the subject matter are evident on the page, sweeping you into the story and making you just as excited.
Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham
If you’ve read Higginbotham’s previous book, Midnight in Chernobyl, you know what you’re in for: an immersive, fact-filled, compelling story that reads like a novel but is all too true. Clocking in at almost 600 pages, it’s clear that he did extensive research, but he manages to weave all of it in seamlessly to create a story of the Challenger disaster and its astronauts that you won’t soon forget. He brings the human stories to life, reminding readers of the immense losses that occurred that day.
The Golden Thread: The Cold War and the Mysterious Death of Dag Hammarskjold by Ravi Somaiya
A dead UN official found in a jungle with a playing card on his body. It sounds like the opening scene of a movie, but it’s real. In 1961, Dag Hammarskjöld, the UN Secretary General, was on a plane in the Congo but was later found in an African jungle with an ace of spades on his body. He had his share of enemies, and Somaiya creates a fast-paced narrative of investigative journalism from evidence, firsthand accounts, interviews, and more to find out who was really behind the murder.
If you’re new to nonfiction, check out this post about how to start reading in the genre, and if you want to add more narrative nonfiction to your TBR, here’s a list of 50 great narrative nonfiction books.
