Non-Fiction

I always have at least one book going, and my reading is heavily non-fiction.

Currently reading: "The Fight to Vote," by Michael Waldman (about halfway through - fascinating American history).

Last few:

"Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth," by Sarah Smarsh. It's very well-written, and it's the kind of book I was hoping for when I picked up "Hillbilly Elegy" a few years ago (JD Vance's clear right-wing point of view was irritating and disappointing). Ms. Smarsh came from a different part of the country, but grew up in similar circumstances, i.e. an already poor area with diminishing economic opportunity, a family with addictions and domestic violence, etc. But she has (in my opinion) a much broader and more analytical mind and more empathy than Vance.

"How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States," by Daniel Immerwahr. This book provided me with details about episodes of American history that I was only faintly aware of, and introduced me to a number of facts I didn't know at all. I highly recommend it.

"Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World," by Anand Giridharadas. It's a book about the network of foundations, think tanks, and philanthropic organizations and their impact on public policy, which the author believes is sometimes helpful, but usually not, and pretty much always in the interest of the already-powerful. Although I was already in agreement with the author's point of view, the details were interesting.

"The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming," by David Wallace-Wells. The book opens with the statement "It's worse, much worse, than you think." The author explains that the climate system has already been disrupted and that we've already been experiencing some of the impacts, and that there is more to come. He provides details about the range of possibilities, which depend in part on what we do going forward. The information in the book is terrifying and I've been encouraging everyone I can to read it.