The nonfiction favorites from 2020
Considering therewas a period at the start of the pandemic when I had considerable difficulty reading a book to its end, I did not think Iwould arrive at the end of the year with a list of titles formy annual Biblioracle Book Awards.
So imagine my surprise when I realized I had so many books deserving of recognition that I have to divide them into two separate columns, one of fiction and one for nonfiction.
We’ll start with nonfiction thisweek.
Best book for your coffee table “Bullets for Dead Hoods: An Encyclopedia of Chicago Mobsters, c. 1933,” salvaged by John Corbett
I dedicated a full column to this wonderful presentation of a found manuscript presenting a taxonomy of both major and minor figures fromthe heyday of the Chicago Mob. Published by Chicago’s own Soberscove Press, I continue to pick it up and read with pleasure months after having first received it.
Book that will help you better understand the messed-up nature of theworld— tie
“Uncanny Valley” by Anna Wiener “Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History” by Kurt Andersen
“Uncanny Valley” is a harrowing picture of the impoverished mindset of the Silicon Valley entrepreneur class obsessed with growth and market share over any other consideration. As we’ve seen record stock market highs mixed with unprecedented demand at food pantries, we can better understand the pervasive mentality that has led to such a profound divide.
Andersen’s “Evil Geniuses” traces how this divide is the consequence of a deliberate program initiated in the late 1970s that eroded American faith in government and replaced it with the dogma of the free market. As to how that’s working out, look no further than our performance at protecting citizens from the coronavirus compared to elsewhere.
Book that will scare you about the future (but give you a blueprint for howto change course)— tie
“Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation” by Anne Helen Petersen
“A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling of Public Education and the Future of School” by Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire
“Can’t Even” charts how we’ve gradually been acculturated toworking ourselves nearly to death for increasingly smaller rewards. It’s not just a millennial problem.
“A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door” charts the steady undermining of the notion of education as a public good to be supported by public money, which has only exacerbated the educational divide between the haves and have-nots. Forces are prepared to finish off public education once and for good, using pandemic-driven shortage of resources as the ultimate rationale. Scary stuff.
Best book to get someone you don’t usually buy books for
“The Vapors: A Southern Family, the New York Mob, and the Rise and Fall of Hot Springs, America’s Forgotten Capital of Vice” by Dave Hill
The subtitle gives you a good sense of what you’re in for: a wonderful true story that’s well told. It’s the kind of book that once you’re reading it, you’ll want to tell people about it; you’ll start by saying, “You’re not going to believe this, but ….”
Book for the creative soul in your life— tie
“The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist” by Adrian Tomine
“How to Write One Song” by Jeff Tweedy
Graphic storyteller Tomine gives us a biography of his creative life from hungry unknown to revered author and artist— charting the bumps and bruises along the way. Wilco front man Tweedy lets us into his creative process for writing a single song.
Both remind us that the chief rewards of creation are private and lasting.
Nextweek, fiction!