海角大神

Curious minds deserve insightful books, and there was no shortage of excellent titles this year. Here is the Monitor鈥檚 list of superlative nonfiction books published in 2020, from histories to memoirs and everything in between.

鈥淐补蝉迟别鈥澛�by Isabel Wilkerson

In her stirring follow-up to 鈥淭he Warmth of Other Suns,鈥� Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson persuasively argues that racism alone does not explain America鈥檚 social divisions. Rather, the United States ought to be understood as having a race-based caste system, one whose hierarchies, though artificial, are remarkably enduring.聽

鈥凄别尘补驳辞驳耻别鈥澛�by Larry Tye

Bestselling biographer Larry Tye writes a long and comprehensive biography of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the polarizing spearhead of the Red Scare of the 1950s and 鈥� Tye contends 鈥� the origin of some disturbing features in our 21st-century political landscape.

鈥淲补谤丑辞濒鈥澛�by Blake Gopnik

鈥淚n the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes,鈥� Andy Warhol is credited with saying. But there is nothing fleeting about his legacy as an artist, filmmaker, and self-created pop-culture phenomenon. His life and work are examined in detail in Blake Gopnik鈥檚 biography. Warhol devotees will rejoice, and more casual readers will receive an education in all things Andy.

鈥淯苍颈辞苍鈥澛�by Colin Woodard

Colin Woodard tells not the story of how America became a nation, but rather of how America crafted its own version of its national history, and how that national mythology has changed over the decades.聽

鈥淪tories of the Sahara鈥澛�by Sanmao

As a Chinese woman born in 1943, Sanmao was a pioneering global citizen. These 20 essays about living in one of the harshest areas of the world in the 1970s are testimony to her audacity and courage.

鈥淛ust Us鈥澛�by Claudia Rankine

Claudia Rankine follows her prize-winning 鈥淐itizen: An American Lyric鈥� with a brilliant and timely examination of whiteness in America. This consciousness-raising, bravura combination of personal essays, poems, photographs, and cultural commentary works on so many levels and is a skyscraper in the literature on racism.

鈥淒ark Mirror鈥澛�by Barton Gellman

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Barton Gellman writes an insider account of the breaking of Edward Snowden鈥檚 story and its wider implications for the modern world, all told in prose as gripping as a spy thriller.

鈥淐ross of Snow鈥澛�by Nicholas A. Basbanes

The poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow aren鈥檛 in fashion today, but in the first major biography of the fabled New England poet in many years, Nicholas A. Basbanes argues that Longfellow is making a comeback. His exhaustively researched account of Longfellow鈥檚 career should give that reappraisal a boost.

鈥淏ecoming Wild鈥澛�by Carl Safina

Carl Safina looks at three species 鈥� the sperm whale, the scarlet macaw, and the chimpanzee 鈥� to chart all the ways they build and sustain their societies. He explores how those cultures echo and differ from our own.

鈥淭he Golden Thread鈥澛�by Ravi Somaiya

U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskj枚ld was negotiating an end to the Congolese civil war when he died in a plane crash in 1961. To this day, many believe he was assassinated. Journalist Ravi Somaiya explores one of the most compelling mysteries of the Cold War in this grim and absorbing book.聽

鈥淎产别鈥澛�by David S. Reynolds

Abraham Lincoln had less than a year of formal education; he has often been portrayed as inexperienced and unprepared to lead. David S. Reynolds鈥� monumental, reverential biography rejects that narrative, arguing that Lincoln鈥檚 immersion in the high and low culture of 19th-century America, along with his deep moral convictions, equipped him to steer the Union through the Civil War.

鈥淓濒别补苍辞谤鈥澛�by David Michaelis

This riveting, cinematic biography of America鈥檚 longest-serving first lady spans Eleanor Roosevelt鈥檚 lonely childhood, her frosty marriage to FDR, their White House years, her intimate relationships outside their marriage, and her widowhood, during which she became an advocate for human rights.

鈥淰别谤颈迟补蝉鈥澛�by Ariel Sabar

In 2012, a religion scholar announced a discovery: an ancient papyrus fragment that suggested that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene may have been married. Expanding on his 2016 article for The Atlantic, Ariel Sabar digs into the story of the papyrus and the couple who tried to pass it off as real.

鈥淭he Adventurer鈥檚 Son鈥澛�by Roman Dial

Renowned biologist and explorer Roman Dial searches for his 27-year-old son, who has gone missing in the jungles of Costa Rica. Part memoir, part mystery, 鈥淭he Adventurer鈥檚 Son鈥� is a story of a father鈥檚 love 鈥� for his son, and for the natural world.聽