I don’t read much non-fiction, because most of why I’ve encountered, has been written like a textbook, which does not hold my interest in the slightest. So historically, I had to have a great deal of interest in the subject matter in order to continue reading. Which usually was just science books for me. But really, even those have been few and far between.
But I just happened upon an excerpt on the Smithsonian website. The passage was incredibly long, and I started to feel like I was actually reading a book. I had originally thought I was reading an article on the disappearance of Michael Rockefeller. And I noticed rather quickly that I found this article to be strangely well written. Much more intriguing than what I usually attribute to articles. There was emotion, description, tension, and a gradual unfolding of a story. I greatly enjoyed it, and said to myself that I would gladly read more nonfiction if it was written like that.
The book the excerpt was from was: *”Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller’s Tragic Quest for Primitive Art”* by Carl Hoffman
So now, I pose this question to you all… what non-fiction books can you recommend that read like a fiction story? What have you read that struck you as particularly well written?
by Pristine-Fusion6591
3 Comments
Helter Skelter.
The only book that has made me genuinely afraid. (I mostly read horror)
– Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred
Lansing
– The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Those are the two best one’s I can think of. Seriously amazing non-fiction books.
Anything by Ross King, John Julius Norwich, Simon Schama, John Keay, John Man, Walter Isaacson, and Christopher Hibbert
*King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa* by Adam Hochschild
*The Dancing Plague: The Strange, True Story of an Extraordinary Illness* by John Waller
*Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane* by Andrew Graham-Dixon
*The King’s Painter: The Life of Hans Holbein* by Franny Moyle
*Shakespeare: The Biography* by Peter Ackroyd
*The Louvre: The Many Lives of the World’s Most Famous Museum* by James Gardner
*Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East* by Amanda H. Podany
*Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization* by Richard Miles
*Beethoven: The Music and The Life* by Lewis Lockwood
*Last of the Blue and Gray: Old Men, Stolen Glory, and the Mystery That Outlived the Civil War* by Richard A. Serrano
*Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car Beat Hitler’s Best* by Neal Bascomb
*1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed* by Eric Cline