https://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/tag/non-fiction/RSS feed for Non-FictionenTue, 25 Nov 2025 12:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-ten-best-history-books-of-2025-180987706/Our favorite titles of the year resurrect overlooked histories and examine how the United States ended up where it is todayTue, 25 Nov 2025 12:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-ten-best-history-books-of-2025-180987706/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/you-can-now-read-eight-previously-unseen-short-stories-by-harper-lee-the-famed-author-of-to-kill-a-mockingbird-180987556/Released this week, "The Land of Sweet Forever" includes stories the author wrote in the years before her debut novel became an instant classic in 1960Thu, 23 Oct 2025 18:06:06 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/you-can-now-read-eight-previously-unseen-short-stories-by-harper-lee-the-famed-author-of-to-kill-a-mockingbird-180987556/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-man-kept-a-meticulous-list-of-all-3599-books-hed-read-since-1962-when-he-died-his-family-published-it-online-180987074/Dan Pelzer, who died on July 1 at age 92, is having a viral moment after his relatives shared his 109-page log featuring every single book he finished over more than 60 yearsThu, 31 Jul 2025 13:55:32 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-man-kept-a-meticulous-list-of-all-3599-books-hed-read-since-1962-when-he-died-his-family-published-it-online-180987074/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/eight-never-before-seen-short-stories-by-to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-harper-lee-will-be-published-this-year-180986165/After Lee's death in 2016, typescripts of her early fiction were discovered in her New York apartment. The previously unseen drafts offer new insights into her creative developmentThu, 06 Mar 2025 20:27:06 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/eight-never-before-seen-short-stories-by-to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-harper-lee-will-be-published-this-year-180986165/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/are-gripping-brilliant-book-blurbs-on-their-way-out-180986042/In a provocative essay, a major publisher announced that its authors will no longer be required to solicit glowing reviews for their book jackets, arguing that blurbs don't reflect a title's true meritThu, 13 Feb 2025 15:20:32 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/are-gripping-brilliant-book-blurbs-on-their-way-out-180986042/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/inside-the-brutal-murders-that-inspired-a-foundational-work-in-the-true-crime-genre-180985238/Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" documented the killings of a family of four in rural Kansas on this day in 1959Fri, 15 Nov 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/inside-the-brutal-murders-that-inspired-a-foundational-work-in-the-true-crime-genre-180985238/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-american-revolution-taught-united-states-first-presidents-180984842/A new book by historian William E. Leuchtenburg examines how the first six commanders in chief embodied the revolutionary spirit and set precedents that shaped their successors' tenuresThu, 15 Aug 2024 11:15:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-american-revolution-taught-united-states-first-presidents-180984842/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-yellow-fever-intensified-racial-inequality-in-19th-century-new-orleans-180979934/A new book explores how immunity to the disease created opportunities for white, but not Black, peopleTue, 19 Apr 2022 17:30:33 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-yellow-fever-intensified-racial-inequality-in-19th-century-new-orleans-180979934/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-american-journalists-who-chronicled-the-rise-of-fascism-and-communism-in-interwar-europe-180979718/A new book tells the stories of four interwar writers who laid the groundwork for modern journalismMon, 14 Mar 2022 11:30:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-american-journalists-who-chronicled-the-rise-of-fascism-and-communism-in-interwar-europe-180979718/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-ten-best-history-books-of-2021-180979128/Our favorite titles of the year resurrect forgotten histories and help explain how the U.S. got to where it is todayTue, 30 Nov 2021 11:30:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-ten-best-history-books-of-2021-180979128/