Nonfiction · 2021

Best Nonfiction Books of 2021

A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa was the most-recognized nonfiction book of 2021, named by 11 of the 153 sources we track. The table ranks all 122 by how many sources named them.

Sources is the number of distinct awards and year-end lists that name the book's ISBN, in any year. 2021 is the award or list year in our catalog.

#BookAuthorSourcesNamed by
1A Ghost in the ThroatDoireann Ní Ghríofa11
2Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the LawMary Roach10
3Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993Sarah Schulman5
4Children Under Fire: An American CrisisJohn Woodrow Cox3
5Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and WorkshoppingMatthew Salesses3
6Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass IncarcerationReuben Jonathan Miller3
7Jew-ish: A Cookbook: Reinvented Recipes from a Modern MenschJake Cohen3
8American Baby: A Mother, a Child, and the Shadow History of AdoptionGabrielle Glaser2
9Beautiful Country: A MemoirQian Julie Wang2
10Crying in H Mart: A MemoirMichelle Zauner2
11Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler DynastyPatrick Radden Keefe2
12Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American CityAndrea Elliott2
13People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted PresentDara Horn2
14Putting It Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Created Sunday in the Park with GeorgeJames Lapine2
15Shooting Midnight Cowboy: Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark ClassicGlenn Frankel2
16Somebody's Daughter: A MemoirAshley Ford2
17When Evil Lived in Laurel: The "White Knights" and the Murder of Vernon DahmerCurtis Wilkie2
18All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family KeepsakeTiya Miles1
19Appleseed: A NovelMatt Bell1
20Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White WorldWil Haygood1
21Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to be an AllyEmily Ladau1
22Eat, Habibi, Eat!: Fresh Recipes for Modern Egyptian CookingShahir Massoud1
23On JuneteenthAnnette Gordon-Reed1
24Refugee High: Coming of Age in AmericaElly Fishman1
25Seeing Ghosts: A MemoirKat Chow1
26The Copenhagen Trilogy: Childhood – Youth – DependencyTove Ditlevsen1
27The Family Roe: An American StoryJoshua Prager1
28The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold WarLouis Menand1
29Under a White Sky: The Nature of the FutureElizabeth Kolbert1
30A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient RomeEmma Southon0
    31A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World's Smartest Birds of PreyJonathan Meiburg0
      32A Singing Army: Zilphia Horton and the Highlander Folk SchoolKim Ruehl0
        33Aftershocks: A MemoirNadia Owusu0
          34Against White Feminism: Notes on DisruptionRafia Zakaria0
            35Amoralman: A True Story and Other LiesDerek DelGaudio0
              36Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty & SimpleDorie Greenspan0
                37Better, Not Bitter: Living on Purpose in the Pursuit of Racial JusticeYusef Salaam0
                  38Broken Horses: A MemoirBrandi Carlile0
                    39Castaway Mountain: Love and Loss Among the Wastepickers of MumbaiSaumya Roy0
                      40Certain and Impossible EventsCandace Jane Opper0
                        41Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist's Memoir of the Jim Crow SouthWinfred Rembert and Erin I. Kelly0
                          42Chetna's 30 Minute Indian: Quick and Easy Everyday MealsChetna Makan0
                            43Cook Real Hawai'iSheldon Simeon With Garrett Snyder0
                              44Cook This Book: Techniques That Teach & Recipes to RepeatMolly Baz0
                                45Cultish: The Language of FanaticismAmanda Montell0
                                  46Driving While Brown: Sheriff Joe Arpaio Versus the Latino ResistanceTerry Greene Sterling and Jude Joffe-Block0
                                    47Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War IIDaniel James Brown0
                                      48Flight of the Diamond Smugglers: A Tale of Pigeons, Obsession, and Greed Along Coastal South AfricaMatthew Gavin Frank0
                                        49Flying Blind: The 737 Max Tragedy and the Fall of BoeingPeter Robison0
                                          50FolklornAngela Mi Young Hur0
                                            51Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban AgeAnnalee Newitz0
                                              52Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click AmericaAlec MacGillis0
                                                53Gay Bar: Why We Went OutJeremy Atherton Lin0
                                                  54Gentrifier: A MemoirAnne Elizabeth Moore0
                                                    55House of Sticks: A MemoirLy Tran0
                                                      56How the Word Is PassedClint Smith0
                                                        57Hummingbird Salamander: A NovelJeff VanderMeer0
                                                          58Hurts So Good: The Science and Culture of Pain on PurposeLeigh Cowart0
                                                            59I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final YearCarol Leonnig and Philip Rucker0
                                                              60Invisible ChildAndrea Elliott0
                                                                61Just as I Am: A MemoirCicely Tyson0
                                                                  62Kennedy's Avenger: Assassination, Conspiracy, and the Forgotten Trial of Jack RubyDan Abrams and David Fisher0
                                                                    63Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump PresidencyMichael Wolff0
                                                                      64Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and RenewalGeorge Packer0
                                                                        65Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New YorkElon Green0
                                                                          66Last Chance Texaco: Chronicles of an American TroubadourRickie Lee Jones0
                                                                            67Let Them Lead: Unexpected Lessons in Leadership from America's Worst High School Hockey TeamJohn U. Bacon0
                                                                              68Mike Nichols: A LifeMark Harris0
                                                                                69Mother Grains: Recipes for the Grain RevolutionRoxana Jullapat0
                                                                                  70My Broken Language: A MemoirQuiara Alegría Hudes0
                                                                                    71Names for Light: A Family HistoryThirii Myo Kyaw Myint0
                                                                                      72Nonbinary: A MemoirGenesis P-Orridge0
                                                                                        73Pastoral Song: A Farmer's JourneyJames Rebanks0
                                                                                          74Pregnant Girl: A Story of Teen Motherhood, College, and Creating a Better Future for Young FamiliesNicole Lynn Lewis0
                                                                                            75Real Estate: A Living AutobiographyDeborah Levy0
                                                                                              76Red CometHeather Clark0
                                                                                                77Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of ForgettingLisa Genova0
                                                                                                  78Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost CauseTy Seidule0
                                                                                                    79Rosaline Palmer Takes the CakeAlexis Hall0
                                                                                                      80Sellout: The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore (1994-2007)Dan Ozzi0
                                                                                                        81Shaking the Gates of Hell: A Search for Family and Truth in the Wake of the Civil Rights RevolutionJohn Archibald0
                                                                                                          82Singing Like Germans: Black Musicians in the Land of Bach, Beethoven, and BrahmsKira Thurman0
                                                                                                            83Speak, Okinawa: A MemoirElizabeth Miki Brina0
                                                                                                              84Sumac: Recipes and Stories From SyriaAnas Atassi0
                                                                                                                85Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women Who Revolutionized Food in AmericaMayukh Sen0
                                                                                                                  86Taste: My Life Through FoodStanley Tucci0
                                                                                                                    87Tastes Like War: A MemoirGrace M. Cho0
                                                                                                                      88The Caesars Palace Coup: How a Billionaire Brawl Over the Famous Casino Exposed the Power and Greed of Wall StreetSujeet Indap and Max Frumes0
                                                                                                                        89The Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in HistoryMargalit Fox0
                                                                                                                          90The Cookie BibleRose Levy Beranbaum0
                                                                                                                            91The Crime Without a Name: Ethnocide and the Erasure of Culture in AmericaBarrett Holmes Pitner0
                                                                                                                              92The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup DelusionEliot Brown and Maureen Farrell0
                                                                                                                                93The Dawn of Everything: A New History of HumanityDavid Graeber and David Wengrow0
                                                                                                                                  94The Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became a National CatastropheJosh Mitchell0
                                                                                                                                    95The Good Girls: An Ordinary KillingSonia Faleiro0
                                                                                                                                      96The Great Dissenter: The Story of John Marshall Harlan, America's Judicial HeroPeter S. Canellos0
                                                                                                                                        97The Grizzly in the Driveway: The Return of Bears to a Crowded American WestRobert Chaney0
                                                                                                                                          98The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost StoryKate Summerscale0
                                                                                                                                            99The Isolation Artist: Scandal, Deception, and the Last Days of Robert IndianaBob Keyes0
                                                                                                                                              100The Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation's Neglect of a Deadly DiseaseDaisy Hernández0
                                                                                                                                                101The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's GhettosJudy Batalion0
                                                                                                                                                  102The Loneliest AmericansJay Caspian Kang0
                                                                                                                                                    103The Mirror and the Palette: Rebellion, Revolution and Resilience: Five Hundred Years of Women's Self PortraitsJennifer Higgie0
                                                                                                                                                      104The Natural Mother of the Child: A Memoir of Nonbinary ParenthoodKrys Malcom Belc0
                                                                                                                                                        105The Price You Pay for College: An Entirely New Road Map for the Biggest Financial Decision Your Family Will Ever MakeRob Lieber0
                                                                                                                                                          106The Prisoner: A MemoirHwang Sok-yong, translated by Sora Kim-Russell and Anton Hur0
                                                                                                                                                            107The Red Boat Fish Sauce Cook Book: Beloved Recipes from the Family Behind the Purest Fish SauceCuong Pham with Tien Nguyen and Diep Tran0
                                                                                                                                                              108The Secret History of Home Economics: How Trailblazing Women Harnessed the Power of Home and Changed the Way We LiveDanielle Dreilinger0
                                                                                                                                                                109The Secret of Life: Rosalind Franklin, James Watson, Francis Crick, and the Discovery of DNA’s Double HelixHoward Markel0
                                                                                                                                                                  110The State Must Provide: Why America's Colleges Have Always Been Unequal – And How to Set Them RightAdam Harris0
                                                                                                                                                                    111The Third Pole: Mystery, Obsession, and Death on Mount EverestMark Synnott0
                                                                                                                                                                      112The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a NationAnna Malaika Tubbs0
                                                                                                                                                                        113The Twisted Soul Cookbook: Modern Soul Food with Global FlavorsDeborah VanTrece0
                                                                                                                                                                          114The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans – And How We Can Fix ItDorothy A. Brown0
                                                                                                                                                                            115This is Your Mind on PlantsMichael Pollan0
                                                                                                                                                                              116Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to ReconstructionKate Masur0
                                                                                                                                                                                117Until Proven Safe: The History and Future of QuarantineGeoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley0
                                                                                                                                                                                  118Want Me: A Sex Writer's Journey Into the Heart of DesireTracy Clark-Flory0
                                                                                                                                                                                    119We Are Bridges: A MemoirCassandra Lane0
                                                                                                                                                                                      120We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans & ComedyKliph Nesteroff0
                                                                                                                                                                                        121White Freedom: The Racial History of an IdeaTyler Stovall0
                                                                                                                                                                                          122Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White SupremacyDavid Zucchino0