NONFICTION THAT READS LIKE FICTION

NONFICTION THAT READS LIKE FICTION

All numbers are RC unless otherwise indicated.

46142 ALL OVER BUT THE SHOUTIN’ by Rick Bragg

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bragg recalls how he managed to become a human interest reporter, first in Florida and later in New York. He and his two brothers were reared in poverty in rural Alabama by their mother after their alcoholic father left them.

32028 AND THE SEA WILL TELL by Vincent Bugliosi

In 1974 Mac and Muff Graham arrive on the Pacific island of Palmyra at about the same time as ex-con Buck Walker and Jennifer Jenkins. Buck and Jennifer return to Hawaii in the Graham’s boat but without Mac and Muff. Eventually Muff’s bones are found and Buck and Jennifer stand trial for murder. The author, Jennifer’s defense lawyer, reviews his presentation of the case. Bestseller.

42805 ANGELA’S ASHES: A MEMOIR by Frank McCourt

The author recollects his “miserable Irish Catholic childhood” in the squalor of Limerick. Absent any support from his glib, but shiftless, alcoholic father, the family suffered hunger, cruelty, disease, and death of children. McCourt recounts his story without rancor. Strong language. Bestseller.

44190 BAD LAND: AN AMERICAN ROMANCE by Jonathan Raban

The author depicts the stark, barren world of the northern Great Plains. Many of the homesteaders who were enticed to Ismay, Montana, by the offer of free federal land had moved on by the 1930s. The author takes stock of those early settlers and relates their legacy to the lives of their independent, anti-government descendants.

34131, BR 08854 CAT WHO WENT TO PARIS by Peter Gethers

Gethers, a publisher and screenwriter, hated cats before his girlfriend presented him with Norton, a small grey Scottish Fold kitten who takes over his life. Gethers recounts their adventures from vacations on Fire Island to business trips abroad. The cat makes friends with everyone–flight attendants, hotel managers, movie stars, and, finally, Janis, Gether’s true love. Sequel: 37530, BR 09458 CAT ABROAD: THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF NORTON, THE CAT WHO WENT TO PARIS, AND HIS HUMAN.

41279 CIVIL ACTION by Jonathan Harr

This account of a liability lawsuit focuses on the plaintiffs’ attorney. Parents whose children died of leukemia retained Jan Schlichtmann, described here as flamboyant, bankrupt, and tenacious. Schlictmann spent nine years tracking the cause of the illness to bring suit against two giant corporations. The book describes how justice became secondary to the legal battle. Strong language. Bestseller.

41042 DANGEROUS MINDS by LouAnne Johnson

Johnson tells of teaching English in a rough Los Angeles high school. She has only one rule: respect yourself and everyone in class. Her respect for the students and the reputation of her Marine Corps training break down the barriers to learning. In her program, she teaches the same student for three years which allows her to become an influence in their lives. Made into a movie and TV series. Violence and strong language.

45375 DEADLY FEASTS: TRACKING THE SECRETS OF A TERRIFYING NEW PLAGUE by Richard Rhodes

The author explores the origins, effects, and spread of a virulent new class of cross-species diseases known as TSEs. A well-known manifestation of brain-destroying TSE virus was the mid-1990s panic about “mad cow disease” in Britain. He tracks the progress of medical research and considers the plague’s long-term implications.

33566 DEATH BE NOT PROUD: A MEMOIR by John Gunther

This memoir of the author’s 17-year-old son who died after a series of operations for a brain tumor is a tribute to a remarkable boy and his stand against a terminal disease.

39381, BR 09859 84, CHARING CROSS ROAD by Helene Hanff

Hanff tells how her love of old books sparked a twenty-year transatlantic correspondence between herself and Frank Doel of Marks and Company, Booksellers, London, England. Their correspondence began in 1949 when Hanff read an ad indicating Marks and Company specialized in out-of-print books. They never met in person.

31102 FARM: A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF AN AMERICAN FARMER by Richard Rhodes

The author, who grew up on a farm, describes a year in the life of a mid-western farm family. Rhodes brings to life the courage and creativity required to survive capricious weather and market prices. He also makes clear the rewards of farming–the birthing of the calves, the bounty of a good harvest, and the family’s feeling of being rooted in the soil.

32152 FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: A TOWN, A TEAM, AND A DREAM by H. G. Bissinger

Odessa, Texas, is dying–stores are closing and people are moving out–and yet it is a town with a dream. On Friday nights the football stadium is filled with 20,000 fans cheering the Permian Panthers. Bissinger, who spent four months following the team–on the field and off–and talking with people from all segments of the community, offers a picture of American sports and American culture. Bestseller.

21089 HANNA AND WALTER: A LOVE STORY by Hanna and Walter Kohner

The authors recount their early life and love in Czechoslovakia as World War II approaches. They tell of their separation, Hanna’s marriage and experiences in Nazi concentration camps, Walter’s search for her after the war, and their unlikely dramatic reunion.

38559 HARDBALL: A SEASON IN THE PROJECTS by Daniel Coyle

Chicago’s Cabrini-Green may be the worst low-rent housing development in the U.S. The children have become inured to the sounds of gunshots and gang wars. In 1991 two men–one white, one black–with the support of several major corporations, set up a Little League. Coyle follows the First Chicago Near North Kikuyus through a year that sees them make it to the championships, in spite of the daily violence surrounding them. Violence and some strong language.

37258 HAVING OUR SAY: THE DELANY SISTERS’ FIRST 100 YEARS

The Delany sisters offer collective meditation on American life since Sadie’s birth in 1889 and Bessie’s in 1891 in North Carolina. Daughters of the first black Episcopal bishop, they describe the experience of the duality of race and class in the segregated South. The sisters migrated to Harlem before 1920 and to Mount Vernon, New York, in the 1950s.

36994, BR 8400 HELTER SKELTER: THE TRUE STORY OF THE MANSON MURDERS by Vincent Bugliosi

The prosecutor relates his understanding of the reasons for the brutal killings in California by the Charles Manson family. He investigates the background of the young defendants involved and concludes that flaws were responsible.

41482, BR10304 HIGH TIDE IN TUCSON: ESSAYS FROM NOW OR NEVER by Barbara Kingsolver

Novelist Kingsolver presents autobiographical essays. In the title essay she inadvertently brings a hermit crab back to her desert home from her ocean vacation. After puzzling over his odd behavior, she decides her new pet is reacting to the tides of Tucson! Other selections discuss being a writer, a mother, and a desert dweller. Bestseller.

RC 16141, BR00576 HIROSHIMA by John Hersey

A Pulitzer Prize-winning author’s account of the tragedy of the world’s first atomic bomb, August 6, 1945. Hersey traveled to Japan while the ashes of Hiroshima were still warm to interview the survivors whose individual stories articulate the devastating aftermath.

32649 HOLE IN THE WORLD: AN AMERICAN BOYHOOD by Richard Rhodes

This is a poignant memoir of childhood. The author’s natural mother committed suicide when he was 13 months old. Richard and his older brother, Stanley, were raised in a boarding house while their father worked six days a week. The father remarried when Richard was ten, and the boys were physically and emotionally abused by their new stepmother. Finally Stanley went to the police and the boys were removed to safety.

40695 HOT ZONE by Richard Preston

A man visits a cave in Africa and becomes ill. He begins bleeding from his orifices and soon dies. Tests reveal the little-known species, jumping Marburg filovirus. Later, in Reston, Virginia, a research firm’s monkeys also begin to crash and bleed out. Tests show Ebola, a more lethal sister filovirus to Marburg. The money house becomes a hot zone as the scientists frantically try to contain the killer. Some strong language.

23853 HOUSE by Tracy Kidder

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author analyzes the intimate details of constructing a Greek revival house in Massachusetts. All of the complex relationships between the owner, the architect, and the builders are sympathetically explored. Strong language. Bestseller.

24959 I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS by Maya Angelou

This is an autobiography of the childhood and adolescence of a black girl in rural Arkansas, St. Louis, and San Francisco. She is a strong and sensitive young woman who endures and overcomes many horrors in her life. The life of the poet, actress, civil rights activist, and television

producer‑director is continued in SINGIN” AND SWINGIN” AND GETTIN” MERRY LIKE CHRISTMAS (RD 10251), HEART OF A WOMAN (17325), ALL GOD’S CHILDREN NEED TRAVELING SHOES (25432).

37817 I TOOK A LICKING AND KEPT ON TICKING (AND NOW I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES) by Lewis Grizzard

In March 1993 Grizzard goes into the hospital for his third heart-valve replacement. This time he “dies” during the procedure and remains in a coma for two weeks. Grizzard looks back on his life, that last valve replacement, his earlier surgical procedures, his trip to the Soviet Union, and childhood visits to the dentist, which still affect him today.

22726 IN COLD BLOOD: A TRUE ACCOUNT OF A MULTIPLE MURDER AND ITS CONSEQUENCES by Truman Capote

The author coined the term “nonfiction novel” for this account of the murder of a Kansas family. He reconstructs the crime and the backgrounds and personalities of all the principals, drawing his information from observation, interviews, and official records.

41823 INTO THE WILD by Jon Krakauer

This book, which grew from an article the author wrote for Outside magazine, discusses a fatal trek by a young man named Chris McCandless. After graduating from college in 1990, McCandless abandoned his car, gave away his money, and cut off contact with his family. Exactly 112 days after he wandered into the Alaskan wild, McCandless was found dead of starvation. The author looks to himself and other adventurers for an explanation. Bestseller.

44525 INTO THIN AIR: A PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF THE MOUNT EVEREST DISASTER by Jon Krakauer

This is a journalist’s first-hand report on the ill-fated Mt. Everest expedition of May 1996 in which a freak storm claimed the lives of nine adventurers. He describes the grueling ascent of the climbers, their sense of elation at reaching the peak, and the tragic events that followed. Strong language. Bestseller.

33746 LEADING LADY: DINAH’S STORY by Betty White and Tom Sullivan

Tom Sullivan, musician, actor, lecturer, and author, has been blind since birth. Dinah was his guide dog for nine years until her own failing sight indicated the need for retirement. Instead of enjoying her golden years, Dinah became withdrawn and jealous of her replacement until Tom’s friend, actress and animal-rights spokesperson Betty White, adopted her.

41154 LIARS’ CLUB by Mary Karr

The author grew up in the small Texas town of Leechfield. Her mother was prone to abusing alcohol and to attempting suicide. Her father, an oil worker, spent time with co-workers at the American Legion bar where they formed the Liars’ Club and competed to outdo one another’s tall tales. Karr discusses the difficulties she and her older sister had keeping the family together. Strong language. Bestseller.

42442 LONGITUDE: THE TRUE STORY OF A LONE GENIUS WHO SOLVED THE GREATEST SCIENTIFIC PROBLEM OF HIS TIME by Dava Sobel

Sobel describes the work of John Harrison, a London clockmaker, who invented the chronometer. For centuries there was no accurate way to determine longitude, so in 1714 the British parliament offered twenty million pounds for a solution. While others looked for a celestial answer, Harrison worked almost forty years on a mechanical one. Bestseller.

35908 MAMA MAKES UP HER MIND: AND OTHER DANGERS OF SOUTHERN LIVING by Bailey White

This is a collection of White’s tales, some of which have been heard on “All Things Considered,” regarding life in rural south Georgia. They include “Turkeys” which tells of the time an ornithologist used her 102-degree temperature to help hatch sixteen wild turkeys, and “Porsche” which describes the car White’s father left home in, that now sits on the porch with other accumulated items. Bestseller.

23901, BR06547 THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT AND OTHER CLINICAL TALES by Oliver W. Sacks

A doctor explores neurological disorders with a novelist’s skill and appreciation of his patients as human beings. Sacks suggests that therapy for brain-damaged patients be designed to help restore the personal quality of the individual. Bestseller. (Note: Sacks was the doctor featured in the movie “Awakenings.”)

40021 MY OWN COUNTRY: A DOCTOR’S STORY OF A TOWN AND ITS PEOPLE IN THE AGE OF AIDS by Abraham Verghese

Educated in Ethiopia and India, Dr. Verghese chose Johnson City, Tennessee, to settle and begin a family. Trained in infectious diseases, Verghese was the de facto AIDS expert when he arrived in 1985, as the

city’s only AIDS patient had been a visitor who died. Within the next five years, Verghese cared for eighty AIDS patients. Some strong language.

21586 NEVER CRY WOLF by Farley Mowat

This is a light-hearted account of the author’s experiences as a young biologist tracking a wolf family in a desolate, sub-Arctic area.

41302 NINE LIVES: FROM STRIPPER TO SCHOOLTEACHER; MY YEAR-LONG ODYSSEY by Lynn Snowden

Convinced “what you do during the day determines who you are at night,” a freelance journalist describes the effect of taking nine very different jobs in one year. She was a roadie for a heavy metal band, a publicist, a factory worker, a substitute teacher, a stripper, a housewife, a cocktail waitress, an ad writer, and a volunteer at a rape crisis center. Some strong language.

45860 NO MERCY: A JOURNEY TO THE HEART OF THE CONGO BY Redmond O’Hanlon

British naturalist O’Hanlon and American animal behaviorist Lary Shaffer travel to central Africa to learn the truth about a “dinosaur” living in the region, according to local lore. He relates with humor and empathy the men’s experience of culture shock and jungle hardships, and explores the complex beliefs of local inhabitants. Strong language.

34112 THE ONION FIELD by Joseph Wambaugh

This is the account of the kidnaping of two policemen, the murder of one and the escape of the other who survives, but as the living victim of the crime. Bestseller.

13844 OUR HEARTS WERE YOUNG AND GAY by Cornelia Otis Skinner

In the early 1920s when Cornelia and Emily were recently out of Bryn Mawr College, they were allowed to go abroad by themselves. Cornelia relates their adventures and misadventures, relishing their inexperience and conveying the irresistible delight of youth in seeing life independently.

44751 PERFECT STORM: A TRUE STORY OF MEN AGAINST THE SEA by Sebastian Junger

The author recounts the 1991 loss at sea of the New England fishing boat Andrea Gail in the “perfect storm” that resulted from the explosive convergence of several high-energy weather fronts. It depicts a fisherman’s harsh life and gives a likely account of the vessel’s final hour before sinking. It vividly portrays failed rescue efforts and people drowning. Bestseller.

27637 RACHEL AND HER CHILDREN: HOMELESS FAMILIES IN AMERICA by Jonathan Kozol

Kozol’s study examines homelessness in the U.S. concentrating on families living in New York City’s welfare hotels and shelters, but his discussion of the issue extends to the homeless across the country. He also points out the realities of urban poverty and supplies statistics on the attitudes society assumes when dealing with homeless families.

41562, BR9790 ROOMMATES: MY GRANDFATHER’S STORY by Max Apple

From three generations living under the same roof in Michigan, young Max chose his grandfather, Rocky, for a roommate. A Jewish baker from Lithuania, Rocky finally accepted the sad fact that Max was not cut out to be a rabbi. In graduate school Max again shared his apartment with feisty, widowed, ninety-three-year-old Rocky. A woman broke up the duo, but until Rocky died at 106, he remained a central figure in Max’s life. Some strong language.

41913 SLEEPING AT THE STARLIGHT MOTEL: AND OTHER ADVENTURES ON THE WAY by Bailey White

This collection of thirty-seven short stories depict places, experiences, and acquaintances in the author’s life. One story tells of a family member’s desire to reunite the Chippendale chairs that are now scattered throughout the family. Another portrays a woman who feels she has the right to pick from the town’s rose garden because she was once the rose queen. Bestseller.

26007 THE SPY WORE RED: MY ADVENTURES AS AN UNDERCOVER AGENT IN WORLD WAR II by Aline, Countess of Romanones

Aline Griffith, a beautiful, adventurous young woman, worked as a model for Hattie Carnegie in New York when she was recruited for espionage work in Spain. She describes assassinations, chases, and glamorous society functions where high-ranking Nazis mingled with Spanish nobility and American agents. It includes her romance with a matador. Bestseller. Followed by THE SPY WENT DANCING (RC 31015) AND THE SPY WORE SILK (RC 33008).

30165 THIS BOY’S LIFE: A MEMOIR by Tobias Wolff

Wolff’s first nonfiction work, the story of his childhood, opens as he and his mother drive west. Divorce separates Toby from his father and brother and binds him closely to his mother. His rage against his father surfaces in petty crime, drinking and general rebellion. Strong language and some descriptions of sex.

13441 THREE CAME HOME by Agnes Newton Keith

This is a compassionate portrayal of the three dreadful years the author, her husband, and their small son spent as internees, though treated by the Japanese as prisoners, during World War II. It is a revealing picture of courage and ingenuity in the most adverse circumstances.

41798, BR10448 TISHA: THE STORY OF A YOUNG TEACHER IN THE ALASKA WILDERNESS by Robert Specht

This is the autobiography of Anne Hobbs as told to the author. In 1927 the nineteen-year-old woman went to teach in a one-room schoolhouse in the former gold-rush settlement of Chicken, Alaska. “Tisha” is the Indian children’s pronunciation of teacher.

43291 UNDAUNTED COURAGE by Stephen E. Ambrose

The author, who spent twenty years following and studying the route Lewis and Clark traveled between 1803 and 1806, focuses on Lewis. Ambrose explains why the captain was chosen to lead the search for a western waterway and describes Lewis’ life afterward. He tells how the explorers recorded species of animals and plants, mapped the U.S. interior, and established ties with the Indians. Bestseller.

33617 YEAR IN PROVENCE by Peter Mayle

Beginning with lunch on New Years’ Day, Mayle chronicles a year of rural life that was governed by the seasons, not the days. Bestseller. Followed

by TOUJOURS PROVENCE (RC 33618).

35697 WHO KILLED MY DAUGHTER? by Lois Duncan

Duncan, author of young adult books, writes about the 1989 shooting death of her 18-year-old daughter Kaitlyn. Not content with the police decision that it was a random killing, Duncan uses a psychic and other sources to uncover some disturbing information about her daughter’s activities. She hopes this book will elicit even more information.

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