Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Non-Fiction

Smithsonian magazine's picks for the best history books of 2025 include We the People, The Stolen Crown and Medicine River.

The Best Books of 2025

The Ten Best History Books of 2025

Our favorite titles of the year resurrect overlooked histories and examine how the United States ended up where it is today

Harper Lee's best-known work, To Kill A Mockingbird, has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.

You Can Now Read Eight Previously Unseen Short Stories by Harper Lee, the Famed Author of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’

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 1960

When Dan Pelzer died on July 1, he had logged 3,599 books that he’d completed between 1962 and 2023.

This Man Kept a Meticulous List of All 3,599 Books He’d Read Since 1962. When He Died, His Family Published It Online

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 years

Harper Lee on the porch of her parents' home in Monroeville, Alabama, in 1961

Eight Never-Before-Seen Short Stories by ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Author Harper Lee Will Be Published This Year

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 development

Some authors say that reading piles of books just to write blurbs for friends and colleagues is an overly time-consuming process that adds little value.

Are ‘Gripping,’ ‘Brilliant’ Book Blurbs on Their Way Out?

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 merit

Officers display the weapons used in the November 15, 1959, killings of the Clutter family.

On This Day in History

Inside the Brutal Murders That Inspired a Foundational Work in the True Crime Genre

Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” documented the killings of a family of four in rural Kansas on this day in 1959

William E. Leuchtenburg's new book spotlights (from left to right) George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe and John Quincy Adams.

What the American Revolution Taught the United States’ First Presidents

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’ tenures

A 19th-century illustration of two yellow fever victims in New Orleans

Race in America

How Yellow Fever Intensified Racial Inequality in 19th-Century New Orleans

A new book explores how immunity to the disease created opportunities for white, but not Black, people

Last Call at the Hotel Imperial centers on journalists Dorothy Thompson, John Gunther, H.R. Knickerbocker and Jimmy Vincent Sheean.

A Century Ago, American Reporters Foresaw the Rise of Authoritarianism in Europe

A new book tells the stories of four interwar writers who laid the groundwork for modern journalism

This year's list includes Four Lost Cities, About Time and The Man Who Hated Women.

The Best Books of 2021

The Ten Best History Books of 2021

Our favorite titles of the year resurrect forgotten histories and help explain how the U.S. got to where it is today

Illustration of Marie de France, poet who lived in England in the late 12th century

The Unheralded Women Scribes Who Brought Medieval Manuscripts to Life

A new book by scholar Mary Wellesley spotlights the anonymous artisans behind Europe’s richly illuminated volumes

Historically, doctors have often treated women's pain as a sign of mental illness.

Myth and Misdiagnosis Have Plagued Women’s Health for Centuries

A new book by scholar Elinor Cleghorn details the medical mistreatment of women throughout Western history

Former presidents have penned memoirs of varying focus and quality.

A Brief History of Presidential Memoirs

Barack Obama’s new autobiography joins a long—but sometimes dull—tradition

Novelist and essayist Marilynne Robinson is one of 24 authors featured in "Her Story: A Century of Women Writers."

The Women Writers Who Shaped 20th-Century American Literature

A new show at the National Portrait Gallery spotlights 24 authors, including Lorraine Hansberry, Sandra Cisneros and Maxine Hong Kingston

Refugees established communities in displaced persons (DP) camps across Germany.

The Little-Known Story of World War II’s ‘Last Million’ Displaced People

A new book by historian David Nasaw tells the story of refugees who could not—or would not—return home after the conflict

“When so many books are published,” debut author Natasha Randall tells BBC News, “there is an awful lot of noise you have to compete with.”

Why U.K. Publishers Released 600 Books in a Single Day

Dubbed “Super Thursday,” the barrage of books includes many titles delayed by Covid-19

The Reclaim Her Name campaign centers on 25 books published by authors who wrote under male pseudonyms.

Why a Campaign to ‘Reclaim’ Women Writers’ Names Is So Controversial

Critics say Reclaim Her Name fails to reflect the array of reasons authors chose to publish under male pseudonyms

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 on Liberty Island in New York Harbor.

The 1924 Law That Slammed the Door on Immigrants and the Politicians Who Pushed it Back Open

Decades of xenophobic policy were overturned, setting the United States on the path to the diversity seen today

This week's titles include Death By Shakespeare, Empires of the Sky and How to Feed a Dictator.

Books of the Month

Shakespearean Stabbings, How to Feed a Dictator and Other New Books to Read

The sixth installment in our weekly series spotlights titles that may have been lost in the news amid the COVID-19 crisis

Trimeresurus salazar, or Salazar’s pit viper, named for the Harry Potter character Salazar Slytherin

Meet the New Species of Snake Named After Salazar Slytherin of the Harry Potter Franchise

Perhaps the fictional Hogwarts founder would have appreciated the honor

Page 1 of 2