Category: NON FICTION

June 2, 2025

Red Scare by Clay Risen *** (of 4)

Clay Risen's thorough recounting of the Red Scare, which began well before Joseph McCarthy's rise to infamy, makes clear that right wing opposition to progressive...

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May 1, 2025

An African History of Africa by Zeinab Badawi *** (of 4)

A much needed, and enthusiastically rendered account of the history of Africa as seen through the eyes of Africans. Badawi, a native of Sudan, and...

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May 1, 2025

Bomb by Steve Sheinkin *** (of 4)

A young adult award winning (Newberry Honor, Sibert Medal) account of the making of the world’s first nuclear bomb and attempts by the Russians to...

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May 1, 2025

The Hidden Globe by Atossa Araxia Abrahamian *** (of 4)

For hundreds of years, the Swiss have maintained public neutrality. The country did not join the United Nations until 2002. Yet, almost since the end...

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March 18, 2025

A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedarko **** (of 4)

Kevin Fedarko, a native of the degraded coal mining towns near Pittsburgh, and his best friend, photographer, Pete McBride, walk the 750-mile length of the...

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February 25, 2025

A Map of Future Ruins by Lauren Markham *** (of 4)

By necessity, print and visual media focus on the big picture when reporting on human migration -- how many thousands of refugees are crossing the...

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January 16, 2025

Dogland by Tommy Tomlinson *** (of 4)

Dogland is a lighthearted romp through the world of elite dog shows. As Tomlinson makes clear from the outset, the relationship between dog and human...

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January 16, 2025

What the Chicken Knows by Sy Montgomery *** (of 4)

The more I learn about animal cognition, the more I realize how ignorant I have been. (I recently read an article, for example, strongly suggesting...

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January 16, 2025

Keeping the Faith by Brenda Wineapple **** (of 4)

What makes this account of the 1925 Scopes trial in Tennessee so compelling--in which a school teacher was arrested for breaking a state law forbidding...

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