Nonfiction, historical, cultural books

Try these books if you're looking for:

• nonfiction
• historical
• cultural
• similar to books by Anne Fadiman or Timothy Tyson

Guns, Germs and Steel 
By Jared Diamond
303.4 DIA 2005
The author dismantles racially based theories of human history by revealing the environmental factors he feels are responsible for history's broadest patterns.

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America 
By Eric Larson
364.1523 LAR 2003
An account of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 relates the stories of two men who shaped the history of the event--architect Daniel H. Burnham, who coordinated its construction, and serial killer Herman Mudgett.

Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche 
By Ethan Watters
616.89 WAT
Journalist Watters explores the American exportation of how the world goes mad, arguing that as we introduce Americanized ways of treating mental illnesses, we are in fact spreading the diseases.

Civilization: The West and the Rest 
By Niall Ferguson
909.0982 FER 2011
A history of Western civilization's rise to global dominance offers insight into the development of such concepts as competition, modern medicine, and the work ethic, arguing that Western dominance is being lost to cultures who are more productively utilizing Western techniques.