Nonfiction For 2022 on The Reading Life

 Here are the works of non-fiction I read in 2022, with an occasional comment. I recommend any book on the list to those interested in the subject matter

January

1. Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain’s Gulag in Kenya by Caroline Elkins - 2005 - 701 Pages -winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize From the Pulitzer Award Statement 

“Imperial Reckoning is history of the highest order: meticulously researched, brilliantly written, and powerfully dramatic. An unforgettable act of historical re-creation, it is also a disturbing reminder of the brutal imperial precedents that continue to inform Western nations in their drive to democratize the world.”

2. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson - 2020- 477 pages - essential reading for all into American history.  

3. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee- An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown - 1971-a foundational book- I should have read this long ago

4. Florida Oranges: A Colorful History by Erin Thursby - 2019-very informative f

February 

1. The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: The True Story of the Women Who Sewed to Survive by Lucy Adlington - 2021- 391 

The Dressmakers of Auschwitz is a very well done valuable addition to Holocaust studies. It focuses on a group of women confined to Auschwitz who used their sewing skills to survive by creating outfits for the wives of important SS officers of the camp.  

2. The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Eric Larson - 2020 - 593 Pages -A New York Times Best-seller-

March

1. The Auschwitz Photographer: The Forgotten Story of the WWII Prisoner Who Documented Thousands of Lost Souls Luca Crippa and Maurizio Onnis -2021- 378 Pages. A valuable addition to Auschwitz scholarship 

April

1. White Mughals Love and Betrayal in 18th Century India by William Dalrymple (2002)

William Dalrymple is probably the leading non-academic historian focusing on India. His White Mughals Love and Betrayal in 18th Century India won the highly prestigious Wolfson Prize in 2003 (awarded by the Wolfson foundation for best history book by a British subject). As I am very interested in the 18th Century in Asia I was eager to read this book.

2. Mastering the Art of French Eating:Lessons in Food and Love from a Year in Paris by Ann Mah. 2015 - 273 Pages- a delightful work which will make you hungry 

3. Kl: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps By Nikolaus Wachsmann - 2015 - 881 Pages- best work on the subject- Wachsmann is the first historian to write a complete history of the camps.  He shows us how The camps were organized while vividly detailing horrors, the sadism, and the central role in murdering those Nazi ideology dictated were parasites, sub-human and enemies of the State.  We see how German doctors were among the most vicious of camp officials, giving lethel injections, performing barbaric experiments and selecting which of newly arriving inmates were at once sent to be killed.

May

1. Educated by Tara Westover - 2018- A Memoir - 381 

“NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW • ONE OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR • BILL GATES’S HOLIDAY READING LIST • FINALIST: National Book Critics Circle’s Award In Autobiography and John Leonard Prize For Best First Book • PEN/Jean Stein Book Award • Los Angeles Times Book Prize”

June

1. Fossil Men: The Quest for the Oldest Skeletons and the Origins of Humankind by Kermit Pattison. - 2020- 534 pages- 

Fossil Men tells the story of the discovery of the fossil remains of human ancestors over a million years older than Lucy, dating back 4.4 million years.

July

1. After the Romanovs- Russian Exiles in Paris from the Belle Époque to Revolution and War by Helen Rappaport - 2022

2. Shirley Hazzard - A Writing Life by Brigitta Olubas 2022- 576 pages is a truly wonderful literary biography.  

Brigitta Olubas, Hazzard’s authorized biographer, draws on Hazzard’s fiction—which itself drew on her lived experiences—as well as her extensive archive of letters, diaries, and notebooks, and on memories of her surviving friends and family, to create this vibrant portrait of an exceptional woman. Born in Australia she was truly a citizen of a world now largely gone.

3. Yiddish Paris : Staging Nation and Community in interwar France by Nicholas Underwood. - 2022 - a valuable expansion to this topic 

August

1. The Red Rooster: The Story of Food and Hustle in Harlem by Marcus Samuelsson - 2016 - A Memoir, Cook Book and a history of Harlem.

Anyone with an interest in American food history or contemporary cooking will greatly benefit from this marvelous book. Samuelsson knows and deeply loves the food found in America cooked by descendants of Africa slaves, many of whose grandparents arrived in New York City during the Great Migration. 

September

1. Nazi Billionaires:The Dark History of Germany's Wealthiest Dynasties by David de Jong - 2022-a very interesting work

2. A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Copyright © 1980, 1995, 1998, 1990, 2003 by Howard Zinn. Introduction copyright © 2015 by Anthony Arnove. - 764 Pages 

American history is traditionally taught as a story of heroic self-sacrificing leadership by great men, including no women or non-whites. Zinn sees things very differently. He very convincingly develops a very different account of an America in which the majority are emotionally manipulated to support policies that benefit elite wealthy rulers across political parties and no one else.

October 

1. Anna Karenina Fix - Life Lessons in Russian Literature by Viv Groskup - 2019- 228 Pages 

In this marvelous book Viv Groskup shows us how she used lessons she drew from a life time reading of Russian literature to cope with the trials of her life while she became a wiser, happier person using her reading of Russian classics.

2. SASSOONS THE GREAT GLOBAL MERCHANTS AND THE MAKING OF AN EMPIRE , 2022 by Joseph Sassoon- I found this book fascinating. I highly reccomend it to anyone interested in World wide financial history

3. The Crimean War by Orlando Figes -2010- 834 pages- is The best source on this war. Valuable background reading for current war

4. The House of Morgan: an American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance by Ron Chernow - 1990 - 1232 Pages- the 4th of his six biographies I have read.WINNER OF THE 1990 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NON-FICTION

November 

1. Au Revoir, Tristesse: Lessons in Happiness From French Literature by Viv Groskup -2020- 249 pages- a delightful book similar to her book from last month on Russian literature 

2. 1493 Uncovering The New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann - 2011 -506 pages-I was completely fascinated by this powerful work.

3. The Queen of Gay Street by Esther Mollic -A Memoir -2022 - 189 pages - An open honest account about Lesbian life in NYC. At times a near x rated work

December

1. Revolutionary Russia:1891 to 1991 A History by Orlando Figes - 2014 - 336 Pages- a good starting point though his analysis of Russia under Putin is flawed

  2. Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization by Ian Gately - 2001 - 426 Pages - 

3. History of the Philippines: From Indio Bravos to Filipinos by Luis H. Francia- 2014 - 495 Pages

I have read numerous books on the history of the Philippines. Luis H. Francia's is by far the best. 

4. The Year of No Garbage:Recycling Lies, Plastic Problems and One Woman's Trashy Journey to No Waste by Eva Schaub- Forthcoming January 2023- 336 Pages

"When we say “garbage” what we’re really saying is climate change. What we really mean is discrimination. What we really mean is cancer. Garbage is at the root of so many things that are going wrong in the world today— from global warming and environmental racism to cancer: the number two killer of Americans— and it’s getting worse all the time." From a year of no Garbage by Eva Schaub

This is a delightful account of Eva Schaub's very determined attempt to go a year without 

Creating any garbage. Living in Vermont with her husband and her two daughters, one in high school the other in college, she, began to wonder about what eventually happens to the estimated 6000 plus pounds of stuff they put in the garbage bins in front of the house.in a year. 

5. The Countess From Kirribilli, The Mysterious and Free-spirited Literary Sensation That Beguiled the World by Joyce Morgan-2021-419 Pages- A Biography of Elizabeth von Armin - a first rate literary biography 

6. Birdgirl: Looking to the Sky for a Better Future by Mya-Rose Craig - A Memoir- forthcoming March 28,2023.

Birdgirl is a very powerful deeply moving memoir by a twenty year old woman.The focus is on how a love of birdwatching, called "twitching" in England, lead her to a deep interest in conservation and climate issues. Interwoven with this is her story of growing up dealing with her mother's serious mental health problems, she was bipolar. Her mother was from Bangladesh and her father English which impacted her life in a society with biases against minorities. 

Mel Ulm