The Nonfiction Files 12: Short Compelling Books

Here are some slim books when you just need a potent hit of nonfiction.

I’m going to be super transparent here. I was going to skip writing my newsletter all together this week because I am swamped and I need to read, and frankly, I just didn’t want to. But then I remembered I’d had this idea a few months back to share some short nonfiction books for folks who can’t¹ commit to reading a long book that could’ve been an essay.

So, in the spirit of keeping things short and sweet, here is a list of short — under 250 pages² — works of nonfiction I think are great and would recommend. Worth noting, this list is not just a bunch of short memoirs, because while memoirs make for obvious narratives, there is so much more to nonfiction than memoir, and you people need to branch TF out.³

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• Abortion by Jessica Valenti
  Jessica Valenti discusses the state of anti-abortion politics, policies, and talking points, while simultaneously arming the reader with accessible talking points and information to combat them.
  Listen to The Stacks episode on this book

• Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement by Ashley Shew
  A book that challenges the narratives around disability and creates a world that is more accessible while centering the needs and desires of the disabled. It’s a powerful reimagining.

• Breathe: A Letter to My Sons by Imani Perry
  A beautiful letter from IMANI PERRY to her sons that challenges America’s perception of Black children and discusses tensions at the center of Black motherhood in this day and age.
  Listen to The Stacks episode on this book

• The Case for Rage: Why Anger Is Essential to Anti-Racist Struggle by Myisha Cherry
  A book that speaks to the power and effectiveness of anger in causing change and shifting political landscapes.
  Listen to The Stacks episode on this book

• A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy by Nathan Thrall
  A Pulitzer winner under 250 pages? Yes! Immersive storytelling about a tragedy in Jerusalem and what it says about the conditions for Palestinians in Israel.
  Listen to The Stacks episode on this book

  

• The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
  This is a classic for a reason—an epistolary text about racism in America from one of our greatest writers.

• Heavy by Kiese Laymon
  If you only ever read one memoir I recommend, please let it be this one. Kiese Laymon changed the genre for me forever.
  Listen to The Stacks episode on this book.

• Hiroshima by John Hersey
  This book has everything you want from narrative nonfiction, and the fact that it was written in 1946, in the immediate aftermath of the dropping of the atomic bomb, makes it even more impressive.

• Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime That Changed America by Kevin Cook
  An NYC true crime story about a woman who was murdered in front of a crowded apartment building, and no one called the police. It’s fast-paced, well-researched, and so engaging.

• The Light of the World by Elizabeth Alexander
  Maybe my favorite grief memoir, and yes, I have read The Year of Magical Thinking. Elizabeth Alexander’s prose is just unreal, and the story is so tender.
  Listen to The Stacks episode on this book

  

• A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck by Sophie Elmhurst
  This is my current most-recommended nonfiction book for people who don’t like nonfiction. It goes down smoothly, it’s super short, and it reads a whole bunch like fiction.

• Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
  A hard-hitting critique of the policy decisions and cultural choices that make poverty a feature of the US, and what we could do to put an end to that.

• The Rap Yearbook: The Most Important Rap Song from Every Year Since 1979, Discussed, Debated, and Deconstructed by Shea Serrano
  Not only is this book short, but it has pictures. You’re welcome. I just love how Shea Serrano writes and thinks about things I think I know (rap songs) in ways that would never occur to me.
  Listen to The Stacks episode with Shea Serrano

• The Reckonings: Essays on Justice for the Twenty-First Century by Lacy M. Johnson⁴
  An essay collection that questions justice and how it shows up in our lives. I read this book in 2018 and think about it at least once a week. Lacy M. Johnson
  Listen to The Stacks episode on this book

• Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom
  You already know that I think Tressie McMillan Cottom is the smartest person in any room. Her essay collection is damn near perfect. I don’t know what else to say besides read that shit.
  Listen to The Stacks episode on this book

Those are my shortie book faves, what are yours?

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1. Or don’t want to.

2. Not including notes. I roughly translated under 250 pages to under six hours on audio.

3. Can you tell that I am still very much over memoir? Yes, there are some exceptional ones on this list, but mostly I think the genre is dead.

4. Ok. So I didn’t fact check that this book was under 250 pages because in my mind I read it so quickly and thought it was so short and so good. But it was actually 319 pages. I am a bad journalist (lol) and I’m sorry I misled you on the page count here. But, this book is so good, can you just read it? Thanks.