Nonfiction Coming in June
Looking to learn something new? This month, we’re reading books about the biggest players across politics, the history of blood and tomatoes (separately, of course), biographies about the biggest 80’s rockstars, a memoir from a massively successful stand-up comic and much, much more. These are the nonfiction books coming to the world in June.
From #1 New York Times bestselling author and cohost of Pod Save America—how to combat political disinformation and dangerous lies of the right-wing propaganda machine. Pfeiffer explains how and why the Republicans have come to depend on culture war grievances, crackpot conspiracies, and truly sinister propaganda as their primary political strategies,
The New York Times bestselling author of Origin Story, who Bill Gates has “long been a fan of,” turns his attention to the future of humanity — and how we think about it — in this ambitious book. In Future Stories, he casts his sharp analytical eye forward, offering an introduction to the strange world of the future, and a guide to what we think we know about it at all scales, from the individual to the cosmological.
The dazzling story of the Greenwich Village feminists who blazed the trail for the movement’s most radical ideas. Hotbed is the never-before-told story of the bold women whose audacious ideas and unruly acts transformed a feminist agenda into a modern way of life.
The left’s partisan push to pack the Supreme Court with liberal justices has fully migrated from the fringes into the mainstream of Democratic politics. Mike Lee, a respected member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, warns of the dangerous norm-shattering precedent that would be set by politically motivated attempts to turn the Supreme Court into just another partisan weapon.
New York Times bestselling author William Alexander takes readers on the surprisingly twisty journey of the beloved tomato in this fascinating and erudite microhistory. A fascinating story complete with heroes, con artists, conquistadors, and—no surprise—the Mafia, this book is a mouth-watering, informative, and entertaining guide to the food that has captured our hearts for generations.
A revisionist history of medicine, in which blood plays the starring role. Weaving together three thousand years of global history, following bitter feuds and epic alliances, tragic failures and extraordinary advancements, this is a provocative history by a fresh voice in popular science.
A fierce, funny, and revolutionary look at the queens of the animal kingdom. In Bitch, Cooke tells a new story. Whether investigating same-sex female albatross couples that raise chicks, or murderous mother meerkats, Cooke shows us new evolutionary biology, one where females can be as dynamic as any male.
From a historian and senior editor at Atlas Obscura, a fascinating account of the daring nineteenth-century women who moved to South Dakota to divorce their husbands and start living on their own terms. This story lays bare the journey of the turn-of-the-century socialites who took their lives into their own hands and reshaped the country’s attitudes about marriage and divorce.
The first major biography of Peter Higgs, revealing how a short burst of work changed modern physics. In 2012, the announcement came that one of the longest-running mysteries in physics had been solved: the Higgs boson, the missing piece in understanding why particles have mass, had finally been discovered. On the rostrum, was the particle’s retiring namesake—the only person in history to have an existing single particle named for them, Peter Higgs.
From Tom Segura, the massively successful stand-up comedian and co-host of chart-topping podcasts “2 Bears 1 Cave” and “Your Mom’s House,” hilarious real-life stories of parenting, celebrity encounters, youthful mistakes, misanthropy, and so much more. I’D LIKE TO PLAY ALONE, PLEASE will have readers laughing out loud and nodding in agreement with Segura’s message: in a world where everyone is increasingly insane, sometimes you just need to be alone.
You know Kenny Loggins for his megahit soundtrack themes and chart-topping collaborations. Now you can know him through the intimate stories behind his five-decade career as a legendary songwriter and pop icon. In Still Alright, Kenny Loggins gives fans a candid and entertaining perspective on his life and career as one of the most noteworthy musicians of the 1970s and ’80s.
From coronavirus lockdowns to critical race theory in the classroom, it has become crystal clear that America’s schools aren’t working for America’s students and parents. No one knows this better than Betsy DeVos. For students, families and concerned citizens, DeVos shares a roadmap for reclaiming education and securing the futures of our kids – and America.
In a tale as twisted as any spy thriller, discover how three women delivered critical evidence of Axis war crimes to Allied forces during World War II. In 1944, news of secret diaries kept by Italy’s Foreign Minister, Galeazzo Ciano, had permeated public consciousness. What wasn’t reported, however, was how three women—a Fascist’s daughter, a German spy, and an American banker’s wife—risked their lives to ensure the diaries would reach the Allies, who would later use them as evidence against the Nazis at Nuremberg.
A gripping account of the billion-dollar timber black market—and how it intersects with environmentalism, class, and culture. In Tree Thieves, Lyndsie Bourgon takes us deep into the underbelly of the illegal timber market. As she traces three timber poaching cases, she introduces us to tree poachers, law enforcement, forensic wood specialists, the enigmatic residents of former logging communities, environmental activists, and more.
WHEN THE MOON TURNS TO BLOOD examines the culture of end times paranoia and a trail of mysterious deaths surrounding former beauty queen Lori Vallow and her husband, grave digger turned doomsday novelist, Chad Daybell.
Baynard Woods thought he had escaped the backwards ways of the South Carolina he grew up in, a world defined by country music, NASCAR, and the confederacy. He’d fled the South long ago, transforming himself into a politically left-leaning writer and educator. Then he was accused of discriminating against a Black student at a local university. How could I be racist? he wondered. In this gripping and perceptive memoir, Woods takes us along on his journey to understand how race has impacted his life. Unflinching and uninhibited, Inheritance explores what it means to reckon with whiteness in America today and what it might mean to begin to repair the past.
175 countries, four billion dollars, one scam: the thrilling rise and fall of the biggest cryptocurrency con in history and the woman behind it all. In The Missing Cryptoqueen, acclaimed tech journalist Jamie Bartlett tells the story he began in his smash hit BBC podcast, entering the murky worlds of little-regulated cryptocurrencies and multilevel marketing schemes. It’s the inside story of the smartest and biggest scam of the 21st Century—and the genius behind it, who is still on the run.
A tale of Gilded Age corruption and greed from the frontier of Alaska to America’s capital. Through a bold set of characters and a captivating narrative, Paul Starobin examines power and rampant corruption during a pivotal time in America, drawing undoubted parallels with present-day politics and society.
South Dakota governor Kristi Noem tells her rough and tumble story of growing up on a ranch, and how a blessed life of true grit taught her how to lead. From humorous barnyard battles with feisty cattle and rodeo horses, to the tragic and untimely death of her larger-than-life father, to her decision to her decision to return and run the farm and ranch with her family, Noem invites readers into a life defined by work, faith, and helping others.
Lifelong fans and interested newcomers will love this stunning biography of Duran Duran by the bestselling author of Gold Dust Woman and Hammer of the Gods. Featuring exclusive interviews with the band and never-before-published photos from personal archives, Please Please Tell Me Now offers a definitive account of one of the last untold sagas in rock and roll history.
