New Nonfiction Roundup – May 2023

Shelf Talk

May 3

The busy spring publishing season heats up in May! We're highlighting the month's most anticipated releases in history, food, science, biography & memoir, current events and self care.

Jonathan Eig recounts the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. in King: A Life, the first full biography of MLK in decades, while two books consider the lives of two of the 20th century's most reviled figures - Jeffrey Toobin on Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in Homegrown and Stephen Talty on Branch Davidian leader David Koresh in Koresh. Serhii Plokhy (The Gates of Europe) recounts the history of Europe's largest military conflict since World War II in The Russo-Ukrainian War while Simon Sebag Montefiore tells a "family history" of The World through great dynasties in his 1,300+ page tome. Katy Hessel celebrates little-known artists in The Story of Art Without Men while Elizabeth Winkler looks at how attempts to question Shakespeare's authorship became the biggest taboo in literature in Shakespeare Was a Woman & Other Heresies. In Red Memory, Tania Branigan implores that to understand China, we must understand the Cultural Revolution. And S.C. Gwynne (Empire of the Summer Moon) tells the forgotten story of the demise of the British aircraft R101 that killed more people than the Hindenderg disaster in His Majesty's Airship.

Comedy writer Jamie Loftus combines history with a cross-country trip to explore the culinary and cultural influence of hot dogs in Raw Dog. Sarah Kieffer delivers recipes for muffins, rolls, biscuits, sweet and savory breakfast breads and more in 100 Morning Treats. Longtime Great British Baking Show judge Mary Berry presents an updated collection of 250 new and classic recipes in Mary Berry's Baking Bible while Claire Ptak, known for creating Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding cake, shares irresistible bakes and treats for morning, noon and night in Love is a Pink Cake. Hetty Lui McKinnon's latest,
Tenderheart, is a cookbook, memoir, and love letter to vegetables, and Sawako Okochi and Aaron Israel deliver Japanese American/Jewish fusion recipes in Love Japan.

Ashlee Vance looks at the new Silicon Valley-fueled space age in When the Heavens Went on Sale while Michio Kaku tours humanity's next great technological achievement in Quantum Supremacy. Peter Wohlleben urges us to learn from ancient forests in the manifesto The Power of Trees. And Christine Yu considers how the latest science helps women achieve their athletic potential in Up to Speed.

New father Andy Cohen chronicles the most important year of his life in The Daddy Diaries; Andrew McCarthy and his son trek 500 miles across Spain in Walking With Sam; Luke Russert, son of news legend Tim Russert, grieves for his father and finds himself in Look For Me There; and Anna Kloots goes behind the scenes of her glamorous life in My Own Magic. Rachel E. Cargle reimagines A Renaissance of Our Own in her memoir and manifesto. Euphoria star Minka Kelly recounts her challenging upbringing in Tell Me Everything
while Rachel Louise Snyder talks about survival, self-discovery and forgiveness in Women We Buried, Women We Burned. Western Washington University professor Jane Wong recalls working in her family's Chinese restaurant on the Jersey Shore in Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City and Hannah Pittard unpacks the effect of an affair between her husband and her best friend in We Are Too Many. Joanne Biggs looks at nine women writers who carved their own path in A Life of One's Own while Amy Key uses Joni Mitchell's album "Blue" to consider a life lived alone in Arrangements in Blue.

Ben Smith looks at Gawker, Buzzfeed and the rise of online news in Traffic while Simone Stolzoff urges us to reclaim life from work in The Good Enough Job. Stephen Vladeck considers how the Supreme Court uses stealth rulings to amass power and undermine the Republic in The Shadow Docket. And Keyu Jin looks beyond capitalism and socialism to understand the Chinese economy in The New China Playbook.

Jancee Dunn reveals what no one tells you about menopause in Hot and Bothered while Jessie Inchauspé presents a 4-week guide to cutting cravings, getting your energy back, and feeling amazing in The Glucose Goddess Method. 102-year-old Dr. Gladys McGarey shares six secrets to health and happiness at any age in The Well-Lived Life while thought leader Kevin Kelly provides wisdom he wished he'd known earlier in Excellent Advice for Living. And finally, Elise Loehnen examines how the Seven Deadly Sins still control the lives of women in On Our Best Behavior while Kay Jamison looks at ways we've tried to heal the unquiet mind in Fires in the Dark.

~posted by Frank B.

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