For this week’s list of newly-released nonfiction titles, there really is not much of a theme at all. Therefore, we’re going to go ahead and call this week “Modge Podge Week!” If it can be a category in some Jeopardy games, then it can certainly be our theme for the week. Ranging from the history of the United States to travel to murder, this nonfiction list has something for everyone…
1. Pappyland: A Story of Family, Fine Bourbon, and the Things That Last by Wright Thompson
This first item on our list follows the story of Julian Van Winkle III, the third-generation head of his family’s Kentucky Bourbon business, which began with his grandfather, Pappy Van Winkle. Pappy Van Winkle began the business in a world that appreciated the craft of creating their whiskey, but Julian and his father would deal with a much different marketplace. How would Julian go about navigating this complicated situation once he took up the family business? You’ll have to read the book to find out.
2. Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish
If you’re a fan of Outlander, a fan of travelling, or a fan of adventures, then this book is definitely for you. Written by the stars of Outlander, Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish, this book follows them along an incredible journey, which began in Glencoe, Scotland. Both are natives of Scotland, so this book practically doubles as their love letter to the country, although this love letter was more in the form of exploration, a development of a great friendship, and plenty of whiskey.
3. First Principles: What America’s Founders Learned from the Greeks and Romans and How That Shaped Our Country by Thomas E. Ricks
Thomas E. Ricks, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and number one New York Times bestselling author, takes this look back at the philosophy and literature that the Founding Fathers would have been influenced by. First Principles follows the first four presidents throughout their lives, with Ricks interpreting both the effect of these works on their own lives, as well as the effect it would have in the makeup of the Constitution and the government of the United States.
4. The Practice: Shipping Creative Work by Seth Godin
Establishing a pattern based upon who usually achieves success, Seth Godin bases The Practice on his previous breakthrough Akimbo workshop. He emphasizes the importance of consistency and regularly doing things that slowly bring you closer and closer to your goals. Not only this, but he covers the all-too-common issue of hitting a block, providing insight on how to get yourself out and keep moving forward. Godin guides his readers through the expansion of a passionate hobby into a productive contribution to your goals and life.
5. We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence by Becky Cooper
Turning now to a much darker concept, we arrive at our final item on the list, which tells the wild and mysterious story of Jane Britton’s murder. In 1969, Britton was a student in Harvard’s Anthropology Department and daughter of the Vice President of Radcliffe, the all-female schools that had just begun merging with Harvard. Britton was found bludgeoned to death in her apartment, a story which would haunt Harvard and be heard in its halls even after forty years as the murder had not been solved. Cooper writes this memoir as a form of investigative reporting while addressing difficult concepts including misogyny and murder.