Paperback Nonfiction

by Erik Larson (Crown, ISBN: 9780385348768); Last week: 2; Weeks on List: 2 "Larson brings to life the pivotal five months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the start of the Civil War--a slow-burning crisis that finally tore a deeply divided nation in two."

by Chloe Dalton (Vintage, ISBN: 9780593689004); Last week: 1; Weeks on List: 4 "A moving and fascinating meditation on freedom, trust, loss, and our relationship with the natural world, explored through the story of one woman's unlikely friendship with a wild hare."

by Jennette McCurdy (Simon & Schuster, ISBN: 9781982185831); Last week: 5; Weeks on List: 18 "Jennette McCurdy's heartbreaking and hilarious memoir about her struggles as a former child actor--including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother--and how she retook control of her life."

by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Milkweed Editions, ISBN: 9781571313560); Last week: 3; Weeks on List: * "Drawing on her life as an Indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices."

by Timothy Snyder (Crown, ISBN: 9780804190114); Last week: 4; Weeks on List: * "Today, our political order faces new threats, not unlike the totalitarianism of the 20th century. We are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience."

by bell hooks (William Morrow Paperbacks, ISBN: 9780060959470); Last week: 7; Weeks on List: * "All About Love is a revelation about what causes a polarized society and how to heal the divisions that cause suffering."

by Michael Finkel (Vintage, ISBN: 9781984898456); Last week: 8; Weeks on List: * "This is a riveting story of art, crime, love, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost."

by Rebecca Solnit (Haymarket Books, ISBN: 9798888904510); Last week: 6; Weeks on List: 3 "Rebecca Solnit offers a thrilling account of the sheer breadth and scale of social, political, scientific, and cultural change over the past three quarters of a century."

by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. (Penguin, ISBN: 9780143127741); Last week: 9; Weeks on List: * "van der Kolk transforms our understanding of trauma and offers a bold new paradigm for healing."

by David Grann (Vintage, ISBN: 9780307742490); Last week: 10; Weeks on List: * "The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by David Grann, one of our greatest nonfiction writers."