Nonfiction November 2022

Nonfiction November is huge on Instagram and Youtube. If you are not familiar with Nonfiction November is a month when a lot of people focus on reading more nonfiction.

We love nonfiction so in November I shared quite a few nonfiction books on our From Our Bookshelf Instagram.

However, I know that not everyone is on Instagram and not everyone has time to watch Youtube videos, so I decided to put together a list of all the nonfiction books I shared on Instagram for Nonfiction November 2022.

The Watchmakers

The Watchmakers by Harry Lenga and Scott Lenga. This was an impulse buy at an airport when I had a long layover.

It is the story of three brothers who used their skills to survive the Holocaust. It is a WWII story of family, survival, and hope. It is also about the importance of hard work and quick thinking when you are trying to survive.

Occasionally I read a book that I know will stick with me for a very long time and this is one of them.

Aloha Rodeo

Aloha Rodeo by David Wolman and Julian Smith. Did you know that Hawaii had cowboys?

One of the prompts for Nonfiction November was your favorite nonfiction book. Picking a favorite is so hard, but my favorite nonfiction books are from authors who take little known parts of history and make them interesting. This book is exactly that. It makes cowboys and the history of cattle in Hawaii interesting to read.

This book has not gotten the attention it deserves. It is a great read. Even if you are not a huge cowboy or rodeo fan this is a great read. 

The Feather Thief

The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson. The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson combines feathers, London’s Royal Academy of Music, a twenty-year-old American flutist Edwin Rist, fly fishing, a bizarre crime and so much more!

I read this and instantly handed it to my husband to read. He loved it and recommended it to multiple friends. I have recommended it to numerous friends and family members.

The Year of Peril

The Year of Peril by Tracy Campbell. We like to think of WWII as a time that Americans came together to fight for the greater good. In many ways, they did, but was America really as united as we like to think it was in the early days of WWII? Have we forgotten what America was really like in 1942? Yes, we have.

I read this book in 2020 and loved it. It was a reminder that a lot has changed in America but at the same time very little has changed. This book was published in 2020 and I don’t think it got the attention it deserved.

If you love WWII nonfiction that is a great read. It follows what life was like in America from December 1941 to December 1942.

Prisoners of the Castle

Prisoners of the Castle by Ben Macintyre. A castle in Colditz, Germany was turned into a prisoner of war camp during WWII for the most defiant and determined prisoners of war. This book made me feel like I was reading the real-life version of the T.V. show Hogan’s Heroes.

I love Ben Macintyre’s writing and although this wasn’t my favorite of his books it was well worth reading. It is a fascinating WWII story.

Tree Thieves Book

Tree Thieves by Lydnosie Bourgon. Tree Thieves is a nonfiction true crime book set in the woods of the western U.S. This was a five star read for me. It would be a great book for those that love true crime, especially non-murder true crime.

This is a thought-provoking book that hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves. It mixes true crime, with the logging world, with the environment.

I grew up in a small middle of nowhere logging town in the far northwest corner of Oregon. Tree Thieves took me back to what life was like living in a logging town in the middle of the forest.

The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist book review

The Cadaver King and The Country Dentist by Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington. This was an impulse purchase at Barnes and Noble a few years ago. It is a backlist book that was published in 2018.

I have talked about this book several times on our site over the last few years, but not on Instagram. This is another book that I don’t think got the attention that it deserved. The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist is a shocking account of racism and junk forensic science in our criminal justice system, and its devastating effect on innocent people. It is a story that is so hard to believe happened and yet it happened.

Not only did it happen, it happened in recent history. This is not a long-ago type of story. This is an “it happened in my generation” story. Someone needs to make this book into a movie! Yes, it is that good.

Elephant Company book on leather chair

Elephant Company by Vicki Constantine Croke. This book was published in 2014. It is a back list book that very few people have heard of. It is half war book and half animal book.

This is a look at a part of the world during WWII that very few people know happened. We read a lot about Europe, Japan, and the Nazis, but this book takes us into the lives of those living in Burma during WWII.

I had trouble putting this book down once I started reading it. It is an amazing story of animals and how they were used during WWII.

Dust Bowl Girls book

Dust Bowl Girls by Lydia Reeder. Need a book gift for a sports fan?

The Dust Bowl Girls is an inspiring Dust Bowl story about a girls college basketball team in Oklahoma. Coach Sam Babb traveled from farm to farm all over Oklahoma to put together a team that gave hope during a time very few people had any. This is another nonfiction backlist book that didn’t get the attention it deserved.

Empire of Pain book

Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden O’Keefe. This is my husband’s copy of Empire of Pain. I think he might have set a record for the number of book darts and post it notes he used.

My husband and I both read this book and it was a five star read for both of us. The Empire of Pain tells the story of the Sackler family and how they changed medicine. My husband is in the medical field and this book fascinated him.

If you like books about science, medicine, ethics, or true crime this is a great read.

Did you read anything good nonfiction books in November?

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