While a great novel can be engaging, there's nothing quite like a true story—whether that story comes in the form of deep reporting, memoir, or personal essays. Nonfiction gives us the chance to look at the world around us and learn something about how we fit within it. And nonfiction also tells us a lot about ourselves. Here are the best nonfiction books of 2018.

A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise: A True Story About Schizophrenia by Sandra Allen Scribner Sandra Allen received a manuscript of her uncle Bob's autobiography in 2009, a sprawling 60-page piece of writing entirely in all caps and full of streams of consciousness. She learned more about her uncle than ever before, understanding from his perspective the mental illness from which he suffered. Using her skills as a writer and reporter, she translated his autobiography along with the help of their family history to create a powerful book that pays tribute to her uncle as well as paints a portrait of an often misunderstood disorder.

The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border by Francisco Cantú Riverhead Books Francisco Cantú grew up the the grandson of a Mexican immigrant in the southwestern part of the United States. When he became an adult, Cantú joined the Border Patrol and saw firsthand the never-ending challenge of policing people on both sides of that line. Years after leaving his position with the patrol, his examination of his time in the job—and after—is an urgent, necessary view of an increasingly complex part of the country.

When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele St. Martin's Press Following Trayvon Martin's death in 2013, Patrisse Khan Cullors co-founded the Black Lives Matter movement to address the persecution of Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement across the country. In the years since, the movement has spread and raised awareness of inequality and white supremacy in our revered institutions—and it also brandished Cullors and her fellow activists as terrorists and traitors. Cullors's memoir reflects on her activism as well as her story as being a black woman in contemporary America.

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara Harper The Golden State Killer was a serial rapist and murderer who terrorized Southern California between 1979 and 1986. Responsible for 50 rapes and 12 murders, the perpetrator was never caught—but he became the obsession of author Michelle McNamara, a true crime journalist who spent years trying to uncover his identity. McNamara died unexpectedly while writing this book, which includes an afterward from her husband, Patton Oswalt.

Raw: My Journey Into the Wu-Tang by Lamont "U-God" Hawkins Picador Lamont "U-God" Hawkins reflects on his childhood and adolescence—raised by a single mother in the projects in Brownsville, New York—before his life took a major turn when he met his artistic collaborators and soul mates. Hawkins found compatriots in RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Inspectah Deck, Ghostface Killah, and Masta Killa—the eight artists with whom he would found the Wu-Tang Clan, earning a ticket out of the unpredictable and underserved neighborhoods of New York City and into the spotlight as some of hip-hop's greatest performers.

Stealing the Show: How Women Are Revolutionizing Television by Joy Press Atria Books Joy Press examines the feminist cultural revolution that has been happening on our small screens since the late '80s, when Roseanne Barr and Murphy Brown's Diane English openly questioned and redefined the role of women on their respective, controversial sitcoms. Since then, more and more women have made waves behind the scenes as writers, producers, and showrunners, ultimately changing how women are depicted on television and in the culture at large.

The Wisdom of Wolves: Lessons from the Sawtooth Pack by Jim & Jamie Dutcher National Geographic Jim and Jamie Dutcher are a husband-and-wife pair of Emmy-winning filmmakers who spent six years living in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho and examining a pack of wolves. The result is a gorgeous reflection on society—both human and animal alike—and the ways that mammals react to each other with camaraderie, compassion, kindness, and, at times, conflict.

Everything Is Horrible and Wonderful: A Tragicomic Memoir of Genius, Heroin, Love, and Loss by Stephanie Wittels Wachs Sourcebooks Harris Wittels was an acclaimed comedian and star TV writer who wrote for Parks and Recreation. He also was a heroin addict, and he died from an overdose two months shy of his 31st birthday. Years after his death, his sister Stephanie reflects on her own grief following the loss of her brother—a comic genius who left behind him a wealth of friends and family who still mourn the art he didn't get to produce.

Just the Funny Parts: ...And a Few Hard Truths About Sneaking into the Hollywood Boys’ Club by Nell Scovell Dey Street Books Nell Scovell has had an incredible career behind the scenes on some of the greatest comedy shows in recent memory. After a stint as a writer for SPY magazine, Scovell entered the TV world where she wrote lines for some of the funniest characters on television. In her memoir, Scovell shines a light on the male-dominated writers rooms and how she was determined to break through them—which she did with great success.

In the Shadow of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History by Mitch Landrieu Viking In May 2017, New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu made national headlines when he announced the removal of the city's Confederate statues. Landrieu made the accurate acknowledgement that the statues were not simply icons of Southern heritage, but rather monuments to white supremacy. In his latest book, Landreiu reflects on his Southern upbringing and how he took the history of the region for granted in a compelling reconsideration of what it means to be a Southerner in contemporary America.

The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath by Leslie Jamison Little, Brown and Company This is not your typical memoir about substance abuse, although Leslie Jamison's own recovery serves as the basis for the book's existence. Taking a different approach to well-worn territory, Jamison looks at the ongoing struggle that comes after one hits rock bottom: the day-to-day effort to manage one's addiction and how that process reflected itself into the work of some of the greatest artists of the 20th Century and beyond.

Sharp: The Women Who Made an Art of Having an Opinion by Michelle Dean Grove Press Michelle Dean's Sharp is a hybrid of biography, criticism, and cultural history, examining a group of respected and prolific women who made careers out of their opinions—and thus established an art form. With an array of characters that include Dorothy Parker, Nora Ephron, Susan Sontag, and Joan Didion, Sharp examines women who battled a sexist industry and a gossipy social scene (which sometimes led to public feuds) as they made their rise as public intellectuals, critics, and artists.

And Now We Have Everything: On Motherhood Before I Was Ready by Meaghan O’Connell Little, Brown and Company Being a parent is, we're told, a beautiful and mysterious thing. It's also complicated and tough, as Meaghan O'Connell learned when she unexpectedly became pregnant in her lated twenties. Stripping away the mythical fantasies of motherhood, O'Connell delivers a poignant and funny look at what it means to be a parent in our current time. The warts-and-all examination is powerful reading for anyone with or without kids.

The World Only Spins Forward: The Ascent of Angels in America by Isaac Butler and Dan Kois Bloomsbury Long before Hamilton, Tony Kushner’s monumental two-part, seven-hour magnum opus Angels in America was the theatrical event that forever changed American culture. Timed to the 25th anniversary of the play’s debut on Broadway, Isaac Butler and Dan Kois’s oral history is equally ambitious; including over 250 interviews with actors who have appeared in the play, cultural critics, and Kushner himself. The World Only Spins Forward is a tribute to a masterwork as well as evidence that Angels in America is as urgent today as it was when it premiered.

Meaty by Samantha Irby Vintage To put it simply: Samantha Irby is one of the funniest people on the planet. Following the success of her 2017 collection of essays, We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, Irby revisits her 2013 debut, Meaty, which follows Irby’s dizzyingly hilarious stumbles through early adulthood. The author’s note not only gives you an idea of what to expect from the book, but also offers a brilliant caveat: “I didn’t just slap an adorable new cover on the same piece of garbage you bought a few years ago to try to trick you out of couch-cushion money you could have otherwise been spending on beer,” Irby writes. “This turd has been polished!” One woman’s turd is certainly another’s treasure.

My Dead Parents by Anya Yurchyshyn Crown Nearly every child must wonder what their parents were like before they became parents. It’s a mystery most of us never fully unravel—particularly those whose parents seemed inhuman, unreal, and otherworldly. Anya Yurchyshyn’s page turner of a memoir takes a familiar curiosity to a more thrilling level. Poring over her mother’s letters and journals after her death, Yurchyshyn discovers her parents’ supposedly rocky marriage—cut short when her father was killed in a car accident in the Ukraine—was something almost unrecognizable than the one she experienced as a child.

Creative Quest by Questlove Ecco Success is one part ambition and one part talent; if you don’t have any of the former, there’s not much you can do with the latter. Questlove is certainly one of our most talented contemporary artists, one who eagerly inspires others to follow their own creative pursuits. In Creative Quest, the musician offers both a memoir and a how-to guide, including some of the advice that he’s gathered over the years from his own mentors and collaborators. It’s a master class in learning how to harness talent and creativity.

How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee Mariner Books Acclaimed novelist Alexander Chee reveals his first collection of nonfiction essays, the subjects of which span politics, literature, and personal identity in its various, intersected forms. Looking outward at the world over the last two decades, Chee remains introspective and self-reflective without arrogance; recognizing the conflation of the personal and political, Chee is able to write about himself and, by extension, about all of us.

Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story by Chris Nashawaty Flatiron Books Like most cult classics, no one expected Caddyshack to have such a profound impact on comedy. Looking back, of course, it seems like a no-brainer: You have the comedic titans Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Murray, and Chevy Chase in starring roles, plus Harold Ramis behind the camera (and co-writing the script). But the behind-the-scenes mania may eclipse whatever hijinx took place in the film, and Chris Nashawaty’s deep dive into the making of Cadddyshack shows how wild talent and unconventional filmmaking helped produce a comedy classic.

Captive Audience: On Love and Reality TV by Lucas Mann Vintage Reality TV is often a guilty pleasure, not a genre most people are proud to admit they consume. Even the phrase “reality TV” is a misnomer when you consider how much is manipulated and scripted by producers—and the stars themselves. That’s precisely why writer Lucas Mann finds it so fascinating, and his hybrid of cultural criticism and memoir offers a compelling analysis of the stars who became famous for being “themselves” while weaving in a portrait of Mann’s marriage. It’s an idiosyncratic, thoughtful, often funny appreciation of the various levels of authenticity that only a true Real Housewives fan could produce.

House of Nutter: The Rebel Tailor of Saville Row by Lance Richardson Crown Archetype Fashion and pop culture intersect in this dazzling biography of Tommy and David Nutter, who rose to prominence in 1960s London alongside stars like Bianca Jagger, Elton John, and The Beatles—whose Abbey Road immortalized Tommy’s bespoke tailored suits. With Tommy’s fashion cred and David’s photographic talent, the Nutters became icons in their own right during the fashion-forward, pop-obsessed era between the second World War and the AIDS epidemic.



Sick by Porochista Khakpour Harper Perennial Anyone who has tried to navigate the American healthcare system can tell you that getting sick in this country is not an easy thing to overcome. For writer Porochista Khakpour, the worst case scenario came true: a long, grueling road of pain, emotional turmoil, and ill health that led to debt, addiction, and late-stage Lyme disease diagnosis. In this unrelenting memoir, Khakpour examines the brutality the world delivers upon our bodies while offering glimpses of hope amid life’s uncertainties.

Ghostbuster’s Daughter: Life With My Dad Harold Ramis by Violet Ramis Stiel Blue Rider Press Harold Ramis was one of the great comedic filmmakers of the 20th century; he wrote Animal House, Meatballs, Ghostbusters, Caddyshack,and Groundhog Day (and directed the latter two titles, along with National Lampoon’s Vacation)—all of which have gone on to influence generations of comedy writers, directors, and performers. Violet Ramis Stiel offers a compelling and tender biography of her famous father, from his humble beginnings in Chicago to an award-winning filmmaker—and perhaps his most overlooked role as a great dad.

No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America by Darnell L. Moore Nation Books When he was just a teenager living in Camden, New Jersey, Darnell L. Moore was harassed by three boys in his neighborhood, who doused him in gasoline and attempted to set him on fire. From that disturbing origin story comes an incredible memoir from this writer and Black Lives Matter activist, who investigates his own identity within a fractured, violent America. The result is a staggering work that calls into question the truths we assume about ourselves and those among us.

Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession by Alice Bolin William Morrow From true crime TV shows and podcasts to prestige television and award-winning films, the dead girl has been the launching pad for much of the American narratives we gleefully consume. In this debut essay collection, Alice Bolin attempts to investigate why we are so obsessed with grim images of beautiful women and their overwhelming influence on our culture—from the art that we consume to the ways in which we view living women as they express their own motives and determinations.

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou . Elizabeth Holmes was something of a prodigy when she gained fame as the founder and CEO of Theranos—the biotech company that would change the medical industry as we know it with a machine that would revolutionize blood testing. That is until Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou began looking into Theranos’ product, which flat-out didn’t work. It’s one of the most shocking cases of corporate fraud, set against a Silicon Valley backdrop where ambition and arrogance led to the downfall of a billion-dollar company.

No One Tells You This by Glynnis MacNicol . When she turned 40, writer Glynnis MacNicol wondered what she had to show for herself. Sure, she had an impressive career, but the two major milestones she was expected to have achieved by that age—marriage and motherhood—were seemingly not in the cards. And she was perfectly fine with that. But the reckoning with those feminine values was unavoidable, and so she set out to create a new version of the feminine standard. In this memoir, which follows her though journeys both physical and mental, reexamines the lives that women are supposed to want and opens up the possibilities for the lives that women can give themselves the permission to have.

The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump by Michiko Kakutani . The Pulitzer Prize-winning literary critic Michiko Kakutani shocked her readers when she announced she would be stepping down from her post as chief book critic for the New York Times in July 2017. In the year since, she’s readied this fantastic book of cultural criticism that aims to skewer the falsities in our contemporary world—propagated by social media and political rhetoric—that have turned American culture upside-down. By looking back to history, Kakutani explains the rise of extremism on both sides of the political spectrum, and offers a sensible and sobering prediction for a Trumpian aftermath.

You’re on an Airplane: A Self-Mythologizing Memoir by Parker Posey . Parker Posey gained fame as being something of an It Girl of the ’90s indie boom, starring in irreverent films like Party Girl, Kicking and Screaming, Waiting for Guffman, and The House of Yes. While she’s made appearances in notable Hollywood films, Posey has enjoyed success on the fringes of the mainstream—becoming a beloved cult movie figure in her own right. With her first book, she brings her lovable quirkiness to this incredibly personable and entertaining memoir, filled with reflections from her adolescence to musings about filmmaking and creativity.

I Can’t Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I've Put My Faith in Beyoncé by Michael Arceneaux . We’re often told that we’ve come a long way in the struggle for LGBT rights; thanks to same-sex marriage officially recognized at a federal level, it’s assumed that the fight is over. Michael Arceneaux’s wonderful collection of essays is a genuinely pleasurable reminder that life isn’t easy on the margins—even within the marginalized communities in which you belong. His debut book looks back as a young queer person of color in America and the challenges that come along with that cocktail of identities. But rather than a somber reflection of missed opportunities. Arceneaux harnesses an incredible amount of wit and heart that offer hope for those yearning to embrace their true identities with authenticity and pride.

Chesapeake Requiem: A Year With the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island by Earl Swift . Off the coast of Virginia, in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, is Tangier Island: a tiny settlement that for hundreds of years has been cut off from the mainland. The residents rely mainly on its seafood industry (most of the blue crabs you’ll find in a restaurant on the East Coast come from Tangier), and today remain a conservative, deeply religious community. But with rising waters threatening the boundaries of their shrinking islands, where do the residents of Tangier fit in our modern world? Chesapeake Requiem is a provocative and respectful study of a culture that may soon be lost.

Sons of Cain: A History of Serial Killers from the Stone Age to the Present by Peter Vronsky . The term “serial killer” wasn’t popularized until the end of the 20th century. Before that, pathological murderous behavior was depicted, at least in popular culture, in the form of supernatural monsters. As film and television began to embrace the dark sides of humanity—and true crime began to dominate our media consumption—we became obsessed with the idea of human psychopaths. Peter Vronksy’s history of the serial killer proves that this is not a recent phenomenon, and he offers an exhaustive (yet fiendishly entertaining) examination of murderers since the beginning of time.

All Happy Families by Jeanne McCulloch . On a sunny morning in mid-August 1983, Jeanne McCulloch was hours away from her wedding on Long Island. Instead of cold feet, she was experiencing something much more intense: She was visiting her father, who had suffered from a stroke two days before, in the hospital. In a whirlwind turn of events—her father died that morning, and her mother instructed the wedding to go on like a hurried director just before curtain call—her happy day was suddenly tarnished. But the events after the wedding would test family loyalties and force McCulloch to balance joy and loss, happiness and grief.

Maeve in America: Essays by a Girl From Somewhere Else by Maeve Higgins . Ireland-born comedian and writer Maeve Higgins left her home country at the age of 31 in order to see the world—and that led her to New York City, another small island, sure, but one that offers a slice of a big world beyond its borders. After finding herself in the city (and as a writer), Higgins compiled this ingenious collection of essays that examine the personal and the political, offering an incredible outsider’s view of America’s current cultural climate and its place within the world.

My Life as a Goddess: A Memoir Through (Un)Popular Culture by Guy Branum Atria Books Comedian Guy Branum, host of truTV’s Talk Show the Game Show, brings his incendiary wit to the page in this debut memoir, which sees Branum going from a young misfit to one of the most entertaining performers working today. As a gay and overweight kid feeling excluded from his peers, Branum turned to pop culture where he found solace and inspiration from the weirdos and outcasts on screen. With incredible grace and humor, Branum tracks a journey toward self-acceptance, finding unlikely pop-culture anti-heroes to trek alongside him.

The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel that Scandalized the World by Sarah Weinman . In 1948, 11-year-old Sally Horner was abducted in Camden, New Jersey, by a 50-year-old auto mechanic named Frank La Salle. The shocking case—La Salle traveled across the country with Horner for 21 months—made headlines and, as writer Sarah Weinman theorizes, may have partially inspired one of the most acclaimed novels of the 20th Century. Weaving together a gripping true crime story and playing literary detective, Weinman gives a voice to a young girl whose personhood was taken away from her—and takes a magnifying glass to Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, uncovering the dark influence Sally Horner’s case had on the classic.

On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope by DeRay Mckesson . DeRay Mckesson has been one of many figureheads of the Black Lives Matter movement in recent years, and his first book relays the case for his political activism in our currently fractured era. By looking at the fundamentals of racism in America, Mckesson offers a pragmatic approach to dismantling white supremacy through mass action and organization. But beyond a philosophical text, Mckesson’s book—as evidenced by its subtitle—is an inspiring reminder that hope is vital to any political change, and it’s the driving force for any successful attempt at social justice.

Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh . The American class divide grew larger and more complex when author Sarah Smarsh was growing up in rural Kansas in the 1980s and 1990s. The daughter of a wheat farmer, whose hereditary-like profession solidified her family’s status as “working poor,” Smarsh looks back at her childhood and her family with precision, empathy, and warmth. Her memoir, recently long-listed for the 2018 National Book Award, is a compelling and necessary read that gives a humanity to a class of people often manipulated for political purposes (and then quickly ignored) by those in power who rarely extend the chance for the working class to rise above their station.

The Personality Brokers: The Strange History of Myers-Briggs and the Birth of Personality Testing by Merve Emre . At some point in your life, you have no doubt taken a personality test—whether it’s to see if you’re an intuitive extrovert or to discover which Ninja Turtle you are. But why do these fun quizzes resonate so much with us? Merve Emre uncovers the conception of the most famous personality test of all: the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, created by a mother-daughter duo of amateur psychoanalysts whose simple collection of questions have gone on to inspire a good chunk of our popular culture and has endured for decades as thanks to a collective obsession to understand who we really are.

Nobody Cares by Anne T. Donahue . Here’s something that most people won’t tell you: It’s completely normal, and perfectly acceptable, to stumble and fall down sometimes. What’s important is the getting-up part. As occasional Esquire.com contributor Anne T. Donahue writes in her fantastic debut essay collection, everybody falls down—and they’re usually too worried about their own pratfalls to be concerned with yours. “Nobody cares” is a powerful mantra, one that reassures Donahue’s readers that mistakes make one stronger. Think of this book as the necessary pep talk from a friend who does care, because she’s been there, too.

Tyler Coates Senior Culture Editor Tyler Coates is the Senior Culture Editor at Esquire.com.

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