Try A Non-Fiction Escape . . .
- rochepeg
- Apr 17
- 2 min read
Like many readers, I read to escape into another world. Mine generally involves murder and mayhem, but every once in a while, I'm caught by something in the promo for a non-fiction. Here are three I've recently read (or listened to) and really enjoyed.
My first recommendation is Malcolm Gladwell's Revenge of the Tipping Point.
I read The Tipping Point some years ago (I believe he states there was ten years between the two) and found it fascinating, so when I saw this promo, I had to see what he had to say now. The cover tells one what the book is about, but he has a way of explaining (I listened on audio) all the behind-the-scenes research he does, and it's totally absorbing...both his voice and the fragments of music that plays between sections.
From model communities developed in the 50s and 60s that attracted upper-middle-class parents geared to giving their children much of what they didn't have growing up, to what we learned about aerosols during Covid, to the origin of the word "Holocaust", each section kept me eager to know what else there was to learn.
My second recommendation is Doris Kearns Goodwin's An Unfinished Love Story:
A Personal History of the 1960s.
Here, I recognized the author -- a presidential historian -- from many TV interviews I had seen her give from time to time. I knew nothing about her or her husband, who happened to be a speech writer for both Kennedy and Johnson. Growing up in the 60s, I was blissfully unaware of all but the most publicized of politics. This was a fascinating and humanizing look at what happened behind the scenes to some of the main characters in that phase of history.
My third recommendation is Framed, by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey. I'll admit, I haven't finished this yet, but the stories are so compelling that I wanted to include it.
Both authors have long been working with those who have been wrongfully convicted. Each story is heartbreaking as the authors present the way innocent bystanders are often swept up in the race by law enforcement to have a culprit for the crime, and how prosecutors are motivated to convict when presenting evidence to an unwitting jury. There is also something to be said about the impact of the judge during the trial and the lengthy appeal process that often ensues while an individual remains incarcerated.
Some years ago, I had a DUI and was required to spend a weekend with 50 or so people similarly convicted. It was on this weekend that I first learned why you're always told to have an attorney, and that the judge you went before was very important. I had not had an attorney; I had been wrong and was before the judge to take the requisite punishment. In the multiple sessions we had that weekend, with some individuals who were not there for the first time, I learned how different my life could have been with a different judge. In reading Framed, it will make you think about how your luck could also turn on a dime.
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