Recent Nonfiction

Try these books if you're looking for:

• Nonfiction
• Books published in the last 10 years

The Post-American World
By Fareed Zakaria
303.49 ZAK
The author of the bestselling "The Future of Freedom" describes a world in which the U.S. will no longer dominate the global economy. He sees the "rise of the rest" as the great story of our time, and one that will reshape the world.

Outliers: The Story of Success
By Malcolm Gladwell
302 GLA
The best-selling author of Blink identifies the qualities of successful people, posing theories about the cultural, family, and idiosyncratic factors that shape high achievers, in a resource that covers such topics as the secrets of software billionaires, why certain cultures are associated with better academic performance, and why the Beatles earned their fame.

The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008
By Thomas E. Ricks
956.7044 RIC
"The Gamble," the story of Gen. David Petraeus and the American military, reveals that many high-level officials were opposed to the 2003 invasion.

Unholy Business: A True Tale of Faith, Greed & Forgery in the Holy Land
By Nina Burleigh
933 BUR
This tale of faith, greed & forgery revolves around a couple of artifacts that surfaced in 2002: the so-called “James Ossuary” and the “Jehoash Tablet”. The first was touted as the first archaeological evidence of Jesus existence. The other item, the “Jehoash Tablet” purported to be an artifact dating from the time of and relating to the Temple of Solomon.

Agent ZigZag: a True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal
By Ben McIntyre
Bio Chapman
Eddie Chapman was a criminal who talked his way out of a Nazi prison by offering to spy for Germany during World War II. He trained extensively and intensively with his German handler and then parachuted into England on a secret spy mission. He immediately turned himself in to the British Secret Service, and proceeded to dupe the Germans with false radio reports from England. Not content to stay in England, he returned to occupied France and offered to execute another mission for Germany. Cool under extreme pressure, he was interrogated over and over by the Germans to be sure he hadn’t turned on them and managed to retain their trust, training other spies for Germany and returning once again to England on a mission for the Nazis.

Lords of Finance: The Bankers who Broke the World
By Liaquat Ahamed
332.1092 AHA
With penetrating insights for today, this vital history of the world economic collapse of the late 1920s offers unforgettable portraits of four men--Montagu Norman, Amile Moreau, Hjalmar Schacht, and Benjamin Strong--whose personal and professional actions as heads of their respective central banks changed the course of the twentieth century.

Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human
By Richard Wrangham
394.12 WRA
In this stunningly original book, renowned primatologist Richard Wrangham argues that "cooking" created the human race. At the heart of "Catching Fire" lies an explosive new idea: The habit of eating cooked rather than raw food permitted the digestive tract to shrink and the human brain to grow, helped structure human society, and created the male-female division of labor.

The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington
By Jennet Conant
940.5486 CON
Conant tells the story of young writer Roald Dahl who is assigned by His Majesty's Government to Washington, D.C., as a diplomat to gather intelligence about America's isolationist circles. In the course of his "spying," he meets or works closely with David Ogilvy, Ian Fleming, and the great spymaster William Stephenson (aka Intrepid).

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
By Michael Pollan
613 POL
Pollan suggests that if we would pay more for better, well-grown food, but buy less of it, we'll benefit ourselves, our communities, and the environment at large. Taking a clear-eyed look at what science does and does not know about the links between diet and health, he proposes a new way to think about the question of what to eat that is informed by ecology and tradition rather than by the prevailing nutrient-by-nutrient approach.