Readings 2017 - Nonfiction

Reading 28 nonfiction books for the year was pretty good and for the most part a lot of them were social and political but my favorite was that wonderful biography of David Bowie. I actually read quite a few good biographies and memoirs about musicians including Graham Nash, Bob Dylan, Moby, Bob Marley, Al Green, Bruce Springsteen, Robbie Robertson and Michael Nesmith. I also really enjoyed the Mozart in the Jungle book that was even more interesting than the TV show based on the memoir. I read several more general accounts of the music industry. The book on the making of The Graduate was also very good.

And then there were the political books. Lots of them. And more books on Americans at war and also an fascinating book about Winston Churchill. Overall an interesting year of reading.

1. David Bowie: A Life - Dylan Jones, 2017
2. Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racists Ideas in America - Ibram X. Kendi, 2016
3. The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America - George Packer, 2013
4. Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs and Classical Music - Blair Tindall, 2005
5. Love For Sale: Pop Music in America - David Hajdu, 2016
6. Citizen: An American Lyric - Claudia Rankine, 2014
7. Wild Tales: A Rock & Roll Life - Graham Nash, 2013
8. So Much Things to Say: The Oral History of Bob Marley - Roger Steffens, 2017
9. Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen, 2016
10. Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk - Legs McNeil, 1996
11. Grown-Up Anger: The Connected Mysteries of Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie and the Calumet Massacre of 1913 - Daniel Wolff, 2017
12. Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right - Arlie Russell Hochschild, 2016
13. Testimony: A Memoir - Robbie Robertson, 2016
14. White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America - Nancy Isenberg, 2016
15. Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space - Janna Levin, 2016
16. Seduced by Mrs. Robinson: How "The Graduate" Became the Touchstone of a Generation - Beverly Gray, 2017
17. Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War - Tony Horwitz, 1998
18. Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War - Karen Abbott, 2014
19. Infinite Tuesday: An Autobiographical Riff - Michael Nesmith, 2017
20. Bob Dylan All The Songs: The Story Behind Every Track - Philippe Margotin, 2015
21. American Rhapsody: Writers, Musicians, Movie Stars and One Great Building - Claudia Roth Pierpont, 2016
22. Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill - Candice Millard, 2016
23. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crises - J. D. Vance, 2016
24. Porcelain: A Memoir - Moby, 2016
25. Soul Survivor: A Biography of Al Green - Jimmy McDonough, 2017
26. Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010 - Charles Murray, 2012
27. Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution - Bernie Sanders, 2017
28. Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor - Clinton Romesha, 2016