15 Riveting Narrative Nonfiction Books

By Kaitlyn Johnston
A collection of assorted book covers with compelling titles and designs, presented in an artistic arrangement on a dark surface.

History is alive in these compelling accounts.

If you love to get swept away by a nonfiction book but crave the storytelling style of a propulsive novel, narrative nonfiction is for you. The genre infuses true-to-life accounts with dramatic pacing and novelistic flair, bringing history to life in vivid detail. We gathered 14 of our favorite narrative nonfiction books to get you started.

Book cover of "The Sing Sing Files" by Dan Slepian, featuring a prison image and bold black text on a gray background.

The Sing Sing Files: One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice

By Dan Slepian

The best narrative nonfiction is as enthralling as it is eye-opening, and The Sing Sing Files is a prime example of that potent combination. Written by Emmy Award–winning news producer Dan Slepian, the book chronicles the author’s journey through the courts and prison system of New York to help free six wrongfully convicted men. After learning from a Bronx homicide detective about two innocent men serving 25 years to life for a murder they didn’t commit, Slepian delves into the case. What follows is a 20-year journey through the darkest corners of America’s criminal justice system that eventually leads to the freeing of six innocent men. A virtuoso storyteller and a longtime producer of NBC’s Dateline, Slepian is a master at crafting riveting works of investigative journalism. Here, he brings readers along for the ride on his gripping — and at times infuriating — search for the truth, shining a much-needed light on the injustices being wrought by our broken institutions.

 

A poignant and powerful book cover with the title "you have to be prepared to die before you can begin to live" by paul kix, highlighting a critical moment in history, ten weeks in birmingham that changed america, set against a backdrop of a civil rights gathering.

You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live

By Paul Kix

In this striking new work of narrative nonfiction, journalist Paul Kix delves into Project C, the 10-week Civil Rights campaign in 1963 that changed the course of history. Kix takes us behind the scenes of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s effort to end segregation in Birmingham, Alabama — then considered the most racist city in America. Through extensive research, Kix offers a peek into the inner lives of the campaign’s four extraordinary leaders: Martin Luther King, Jr., Wyatt Walker, Fred Shuttlesworth, and James Bevel. A powerful report that reads like a thrilling novel, You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live is an “eloquent contribution to the literature of civil rights and the ceaseless struggle to attain them” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

Cover of the book 'last call: a true story of love, lust, and murder in queer new york' by elon green, featuring a skyline silhouette against a twilight sky, with quotes praising the work.

Last Call

By Elon Green

In his Edgar Award–winning Last Call, journalist Elon Green tells the true story of the Last Call Killer, a serial murderer who targeted members of New York City’s gay community in the 1980s and ’90s. The murders occurred amid staggering crime rates and the unfolding AIDS epidemic, and because the killer targeted gay men, his crimes received next to no media coverage. With insight and compassion, Green tells the full story of this lesser-known case, prioritizing the victims and championing the resiliency of the gay community. Bestselling author Robert Kolker says, “Last Call feels like the most timeless literary true-crime classics, even as it forges a path through uncharted territory in the genre.” The acclaimed narrative also makes for an excellent true crime book club selection.

A dramatic book cover for "bad city" featuring an ominous city skyline at dusk with large, bold lettering and the promise of a story filled with peril and power in the city of angels, written by pulitzer prize winner paul pringle.

Bad City

By Paul Pringle

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Paul Pringle delivers a “master class in investigative journalism” (The New York Times) in Bad City. The riveting nonfiction narrative follows Pringle as he and his colleagues at the L.A. Times root out abuse and corruption across Los Angeles. What begins as a single tip about a drug overdose soon reveals a web of criminality that winds through L.A.’s most influential institutions and creeps its way toward Pringle’s home turf. Masterfully crafted and delivered at a thrilling pace, Bad City reads like an explosive L.A. noir novel come to life.  

A collage of black and white photographs portraying various groups of people from different eras, compiled to create the cover of the book "the warmth of other suns" by isabel wilkerson, described as the epic story of america's great migration, with a note highlighting its recognition as one of the ten best books of the year by the new york times book review and the author's achievement as the winner of the pulitzer prize.

The Warmth of Other Suns

By Isabel Wilkerson

In her epic New York Times bestseller, acclaimed author Isabel Wilkerson movingly traces the migration of Black Americans from the South to city centers in the North and West. Told through the lives of three individuals, who all left their home for new beginnings in the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s, The Warmth of Other Suns chronicles their personal experiences while detailing the seismic cultural shifts brought about by the journey. Together, the accounts create an unforgettable portrait of a country in flux and an exceptional piece of narrative nonfiction.

This is a book cover for siddhartha mukherjee's "the emperor of all maladies: a biography of cancer." the cover features the title and author's name prominently, with accolades such as "winner of the pulitzer prize" and a mention of being seen on pbs at the top. the central image is a stylized red crab, symbolizing cancer (as the disease is named after the latin word for crab), set against a cream background with a subtle texture.

The Emperor of All Maladies

By Siddhartha Mukherjee

Physician and author Siddhartha Mukherjee unfurls the history of cancer in this Pulitzer Prize–winning work that merges in-depth science writing with vivid storytelling. Mukherjee draws on more than five centuries’ worth of data to chronicle cancer’s presence, documenting the death tolls, medical breakthroughs, and declarations of war on the malady. In the end, The Emperor of All Maladies is the story not just of a deadly disease but of human hubris, failure, and hope.

Book cover of "the immortal life of henrietta lacks" by rebecca skloot featuring an image of henrietta lacks with a warm, abstract background. the cover highlights the book's status as a new york times bestseller and teases the story of how lacks' cells were taken without her consent and their impact on medical research.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

By Rebecca Skloot

A New York Times bestseller, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot tells the remarkable story of a woman who’s been dead for decades but whose cells live on in vital scientific studies. Known as HeLa to scientists, Henrietta Lacks’s cells were taken without her consent and immortalized in a lab, grown in cultures to be used in a range of experiments. These studies led to sweeping medical breakthroughs, from the polio vaccine and IVF to gene mapping and cloning. But as Lacks’s cells saved lives and spawned a multimillion-dollar industry, Lacks herself remained buried in an unmarked grave. Skloot delivers a “masterful work of nonfiction” (Slate) that addresses the unending life of HeLa as well as the shameful history of experimentation on African Americans and the twisted legal battles over who controls your body.

A book cover featuring the title "the devil in the white city" by erik larson, with a subtitle that reads "murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed america". the image depicts a noir-style illustration of a cityscape at night, highlighting a grand domed building that is presumably part of the fair mentioned in the subtitle.

Devil in the White City

By Erik Larson

It’s 1893, and the upcoming World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago is the fixation of people far and wide. Among them is Daniel Hudson Burnham, a visionary architect and the fair’s director of works, and Henry H. Holmes, a Chicagoland con artist hotelier who may have been one of the most prolific serial killers in American history. In Devil in the White City, bestselling author Erik Larson transforms this sensational moment in time into an unforgettable work of creative nonfiction, contrasting the wonder and promise of the Chicago World’s Fair with the horror of Holmes’s deeds.

A book cover for "hidden figures" by margot lee shetterly, featuring a group of women in the background who were instrumental to the early us space program, with a dramatic red and white title design.

Hidden Figures

By Margot Lee Shetterly

Margot Lee Shetterly’s bestselling Hidden Figures follows the story of the Black women whose mathematical calculations powered some of NASA’s most significant accomplishments. Known as “human computers,” Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden solved equations with only slide rules, adding machines, and pencils on paper. Facing discrimination at every turn, these brilliant women were essential to America’s successes during WWII and the Space Race. Shetterly chronicles the lives of the four women, addressing themes of race, discrimination, science, and achievement, in an essential contribution to American history.

A book cover for "unbroken" by laura hillenbrand, showcasing a silhouette of a soaring plane against a golden sunset sky, symbolizing a tale of resilience during world war ii.

Unbroken

By Laura Hillenbrand

From juvenile delinquency to competing in the Berlin Olympics, Louis Zamperini’s life had already seen some surprising turns. But in 1943, while serving as an American bombardier in WWII, Zamperini’s plane went down over the Pacific, propelling the young soldier into his most harrowing challenge yet. In Unbroken, bestselling author Laura Hillenbrand chronicles Zamperini’s journey, vividly capturing his fight to survive the open ocean and the terror of the POW camps. The result is a powerful story of perseverance, both of body and of mind.

Cover of 'nothing to envy: ordinary lives in north korea' by barbara demick featuring a wintry scene with a solitary figure peering through binoculars against a backdrop of a gray cityscape.

Nothing to Envy

By Barbara Demick

Barbara Demick narrates the lives of six citizens of North Korea over 15 years in her award-winning nonfiction book Nothing to Envy. Demick goes deep into the experiences of those living under a totalitarian regime and records their mounting frustrations with a government that fails to support its people while demanding unwavering fealty and crushing dissent. The Wall Street Journal hails Nothing to Envy as a “deeply moving” account that’s written with “novelistic detail.”

Cover of the 20th-anniversary edition of "and the band played on," a critically acclaimed book by randy shilts that explores the politics, people, and the aids epidemic.

And the Band Played On

By Randy Shilts

Randy Shilts details the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s in his internationally bestselling And the Band Played On. In this classic work of narrative nonfiction, Shilts describes how, despite the evident danger of AIDS, information about the disease and funding for the fight against it was exceedingly hard to come by. A stirring historical document and a gripping story, And the Band Plays On is essential reading.

A dramatic book cover with an oil derrick against a sunset sky, for "killers of the flower moon: the osage murders and the birth of the fbi" by david grann.

Killers of the Flower Moon

By David Grann

A sweeping true crime book that reads like a murder mystery, Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann chronicles the heinous murders that plagued the Osage Nation in the 1920s. With their land sitting upon invaluable oil resources, the men and women of the Osage Nation were at the time the wealthiest people per capita in the world. Yet there were others who sought to separate the Osage from their black gold fortune — by any means necessary. When Osage members began turning up dead, the FBI, with the help of a former Texas Ranger, took on the case and unearthed a shocking conspiracy. Intense, propulsive, and impeccably researched, Killers of the Flower Moon is a must-read for anyone who enjoys historical true crime narratives. Its highly anticipated book-to-screen adaptation is set for release later in 2023, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, and Lily Gladstone.

Cover of Into Thin Air

Into Thin Air

By Jon Krakauer

When journalist Jon Krakauer set out to climb Mt. Everest, he didn’t expect his expedition would turn disastrous. Into Thin Air is his first-hand account of the climb that claimed five lives and left countless more forever changed. Haunted by the experience and consumed by guilt over the deaths, Krakauer reports in heartbreaking detail the tireless efforts of the Sherpas, the mistakes that proved fatal, and the calamitous storm that descended upon the group. His visceral account combined with additional interviews and research results in what The Wall Street Journal calls one of “the best adventure books of all time.”

Cover of the book 'evicted: poverty and profit in the american city' by matthew desmond, acclaimed for its insightful examination of poverty and the housing crisis, winner of the pulitzer prize.

Evicted

By Matthew Desmond

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Evicted by Matthew Desmond follows the lives of eight families living in Milwaukee as they fight back against the threat of homelessness. Desmond offers a rare perspective on the poverty epidemic in America, providing a window into the experiences of these families as the pendulum swings between despair and possibility. Unflinching in its honesty and beautifully written, Evicted is a sterling example of the power of narrative nonfiction.

Share with your friends

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest

Related Articles

It was a spectacular year for nonfiction — and we’re celebrating our favorites! From compelling memoirs and comfy cookbooks to insightful social histories, here are the best nonfiction books of 2024.
From harrowing true crime and eye-opening memoirs to hard-hitting works of investigative journalism, these contemporary nonfiction books are guaranteed to spark lively conversations.
These essential reads shine a necessary light on injustice.

Celadon delivered

Subscribe to get articles about writing, adding to your TBR pile, and simply content we feel is worth sharing. And yes, also sign up to be the first to hear about giveaways, our acquisitions, and exclusives!

Two compact discs (CDs) with shiny, reflective surfaces are overlapping each other on a white background. The discs display a spectrum of colors due to the light reflection, creating a rainbow-like effect.

"*" indicates required fields

Step 1 of 8

Who would you rather spend time with?*

Connect with

Celadon

Sign up for our newsletter to see book giveaways, news, and more!