Nonfiction Stars of 2000

This reading list is based on personal preferences. It reflects interests in history, science, nature, travel, biography, memoirs and a few assorted odd topics. Titles are listed by approximate date of publication, then alphabetically by author.

Annotated lists of books receiving at least one starred review from one of four major review sources: Booklist, Kirkus, LJ and PW. The review source assigns the star.

Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine - unless otherwise noted.

~ December ~ November ~ October ~ September ~ August ~ July
~ June ~ May ~ April ~ March ~ February ~ January

December

London Monster: A Sanguinary Tale
by Bondeson, Jan
Publisher: UPA $ 29.95 ISBN: 0812235762 Date: 2000
Kirkus
A century before Jack the Ripper, another predator held sway on the streets--the London Monster. Bondeson, the author of A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities, now writes a lively and detailed account of the psychopath who violently slashed over 50 women during a two-year crime spree in the 1780s.
Suggested Reading: True Crime Stars
Circles: 50 Round Trips Through History, Technology, Science and Culture
by Burke, James
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 25 ISBN: 074320008x Date: 2000
PW
The bestselling author of The Knowledge Web plumbs the history of technology to reveal the surprisingly circular nature of change, giving proof why The Washington Post calls Burke "one of the most intriguing minds in the Western world".
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
Why Angels Fall: A Journey Through Orthodox Europe from Byzantium to Kosovo
by Clark, Victoria
Publisher: St Martins $ 29.95 ISBN: 0312233965 Date: 2000
Kirkus
Victoria Clark has the mind of a historian and the eye for detail possessed by the best novelists. In Why Angels Fall, she combines her gifts to give the reader a look at the sometimes mysterious world of Eastern Europe's Orthodox church.Victoria Clark has the mind of a historian and the eye for detail possessed by the best novelists. In "Why Angels Fall, she combines her gifts to give the reader a look at the sometimes mysterious world of Eastern Europe's Orthodox church. - Publisher Marketing.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
Spooked: Espionage in Corporate America
by Penenberg, Adam and Marc Barry
Publisher: Perseus $ 26 ISBN: 0738202711 Date: 2000
PW
Peopled by riveting characters displaced from now defunct post-Cold War agencies, Spooked exposes a fascinating tapestry of real-life corporate spying and unravels the truth and hypocrisy behind the multi-billion-dollar corporate-intelligence industry.
Suggested Reading: Espionage

~ December ~ November ~ October ~ September ~ August ~ July
~ June ~ May ~ April ~ March ~ February ~ January

November

First American: The Life and Time of Benjamin Franklin
by Brands, H.W.
Publisher: Doubleday $ 35 ISBN: 0385493282 Date: 2000
Kirkus PW
This first major biography of Benjamin Franklin in more than 60 years presents previously unpublished letters to and by Franklin and includes recollections and anecdotes of Franklin's contemporaries.
Suggested Reading: 1776 Stars
Swimming With Giants: My Encounters With Whales, Dolphins and Seals
by Collet, Anne
Publisher: Milkweed $ 22 ISBN: 1571312447 Date: 2000
Booklist
Trilobite: Eyewitness to Evolution
by Fortey, Richard
Publisher: Knopf $ 26 ISBN: 0375406255 Date: 2000
Kirkus LJ
Richard Fortey fell in love with trilobites as a 14-year-old when he held his first fossil in his hand. In Trilobite, he draws on a lifetime of study to unravel the history of life on earth from the point of view of these crustacean-like animals that dominated the seas for three hundred million years.
Saddam's Bombmaker: The Terrifying Inside Story of the Iraqi Nuclear and Biological Weapons Agenda
by Hamzah, Khidr Abd Al-Abbas
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 26 ISBN: 0684873869 Date: 2000
PW
The defector once responsible for Iraq's clandestine nuclear weapons program reveals for the first time what the CIA and Iraq desperately want to keep hidden -- that Saddam Hussein is devastatingly close to manufacturing nuclear weapons and has every intention of using them.
Suggested Reading: Iraq
Side Tracks: Explorations of a Romantic Biographer
by Holmes, Richard
Publisher: Pantheon $ 30 ISBN: 0679438467 Date: 2000
Library Journal PW
The author of Coleridge takes readers on a fascinating journey of "side tracks" -- what Holmes calls intriguing literary digressions he would take while he was in a biographical pursuit of a subject. This collection of essays focus on Shelley, Voltaire, Zelda Fitzgerald, and others, while including a radio-play, a ballet treatment, travelogue, and more.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
Hearst Castle: The Biography of a Country House
by Kastner, Victoria
Publisher: Abrams $ 49.50 ISBN: 0810934159 Date: 2000
Booklist
Drawing on previously unpublished correspondence and illustrated with historic photographs as well as more than 150 color photos, this guide chronicles the evolution of the extraordinary hilltop estate, with its two spectacular pools and astounding collections of fine art and antiques.
www.hearstcastle.org
Big Chief Elizabeth: Adventures and Fates of America's Colonists
by Milton, Giles
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux $ 24 ISBN: 0374265011 Date: 2000
Kirkus
This historical mystery of Colonial America centers around the Roanoke settlement, when an Indian youth, Manteo, taken to England by Sir Walter Raleigh is returned as a lord and governor and with more than 100 settlers. Three years later, the settlers vanish, but as years go by, the power struggle between Native Americans and the English continues.
The Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk
by Niven, Jennifer
Publisher: Hyperion $ 24.95 ISBN: 0786865296 Date: 2000
Booklist
Based on the diaries of those who were rescued and those who perished, this is the chilling true story of the "Karluk's" doomed 1913 exploration of the Arctic and the heroic efforts of the ship's captain, the Ice Master, who traveled by foot through Siberia to find help. Now in paperback, this is one of "Entertainment Weekly's" 10 Best Books of the Year.
Suggested Reading: Sea Stories | Arctic
What You See in Clear Water: Life on the Wind River Reservation
by O'Gara, Geoffrey
Publisher: Random $ 25 ISBN: 0679404155 Date: 2000
LJ
Over 100 years ago, in what would become Wyoming, the federal government set aside 44 million acres as a reserve for the unrelated Shoshone and Arapaho tribes. Over time, the Wind River Reservation has been reduced to 2.3 million acres. This powerful book tells the story of how the battle for control of this land is far from over.
Van Gogh and Gaugin: The Search for Sacredart
by Silverman, Deborah
Publisher: Farrar Straus and Giroux $ 60 ISBN: 0374282439 Date: 2000
LJ BL
A leading scholar offers fresh insight into one of the key moments of modern art history: the fall of 1888 when Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin lived and worked together in Provence. In a yellow house at Arles they changed the course of modern art.
Suggested Reading: Art
The Twilight Years: Paris in the 1930's
by Wiser, William
Publisher: Carroll & Graff $ 26 ISBN: 0786707860 Date: 2000
Kirkus
This lavishly illustrated social history of Paris as it went through the 1930s looks at the how throughout that decade the city continued to revel in Montparnasse and Montmartre, retained its allure as a magnet city to celebrated expatriates, and how the fall of Paris came with Nazi occupation in 1940.
Suggested Reading: Paris

~ December ~ November ~ October ~ September ~ August ~ July
~ June ~ May ~ April ~ March ~ February ~ January

October

In the Land of White Death
by Albanov, Valerian Ivanovich
Publisher: Modern Library $ 21.95 ISBN: 0679641009 Date: 2000
Kirkus
Is an intense and chilling true-story. In 1912 the Santa Anna, a Russian exploration vessel in search of fertile hunting ground, was frozen into the polar ice cap. The crew trapped aboard, for a year and a half they struggled to survive by rationing supplies and withstanding ice, snow, disease, and despair. As hope of rescue faded, thirteen of the 33 crew members decided to strike out for help across the desolate ice. Of them all, only two survived.
A rare first-person account of a harrowing tale, this book was originally published in Russia in 1917. The Modern Library hardcover is the first English edition of this rare literary find. Prefaced by Jon Krakauer and introduced by David Roberts, this astounding story is a must-have. - Publisher marketing.
Bellow: A Biography
by Atlas, James
Publisher: Random $ 35 ISBN: 0394585011 Date: 2000
Kirkus PW LJ
In this brilliant and long-awaited biography of Nobel Prize-winning author Saul Bellow, Atlas tells the story of a great writer's turbulent life against the backdrop of American 20th-century intellectual history.
Suggested Reading: All Stars | Authors
Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America
by Bloom, Stephen G.
Publisher: Harcourt $ 25 ISBN: 0151006520 Date: 2000
PW Kirkus
Battle of Wits: The Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War II
by Budiansky, Stephen
Publisher: Free Press $ 27.50 ISBN: 0684859327 Date: 2000
PW Kirkus
Based on newly declassified documents, Battle of Wits is a compelling overview of codebreaking in World War II--a riveting history of the dawn of the information age. of photos.
Suggested Reading: Espionage
The Ship and the Storm: The Loss of the Fantome
by Carrier, Jim
Publisher: McGraw-Hill $ 24.95 ISBN: 007135526x Date: 2000
Kirkus
When Hurricane Mitch assaulted the Atlantic in October 1998, the sailing ship "Fantome" and her crew simply disappeared, leaving questions that won't go away. This piece of riveting journalism explores every facet of the tragedy, drawing on extensive on-site research and hundreds of hours of interviews.
Suggested Reading: Sea Stories
Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments
by Dirda, Michael
Publisher: Indiana Univ $ 24.95 ISBN: 0151006520 Date: 2000
Kirkus
Intimate, humorous and insightful, Readings is a collection of classic essays and reviews by Michael Dirda, book critic of the "Washington Post" and winner of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for criticism.
Suggested Reading: Reading
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
Author: Ellis, Joseph J.
Publisher: Knopf $ 26.95 ISBN: 0375405445 Date: 2000
Kirkus
From the author of American Sphinx, the award-winning biography of Thomas Jefferson, comes an illuminating study of the intertwined lives of the founders of the American republic--John Adams, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington.
Suggested Reading: 1776 Stars
Updated 6.9.05
From Paris to the Moon
by Gopnik, Adam
Publisher: Random House $ 23.95 ISBN: 0679444920 Date: 2000
Booklist
The comic-romantic adventures of an American family in Paris is penned by "The New Yorker" writer and author of the magazine's popular "Paris Journal" column. The private story is rooted in the sentimental re-education of a weary American through the experience of his son's childhood in France.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales | Paris
A Woman Unknown: Voices from a Spanish Life
by Graves, Lucia
Publisher: Counterpoint $ 25 ISBN: 1582430977 Date: 2000
Booklist
Graves, daughter of poet Robert Graves, was raised in a multi-cultural environment on the island of Majorca in post-war Spain. Her beautifully nuanced memoir, already published in England to great acclaim, is a profound meditation on how the English, Catalan, and Spanish cultures have shaped her life and thought.
Suggested Reading: Memoir Stars
Eccentric Islands: Travels Both Real and Imaginary
by Holm, Bill
Publisher: Milkweed $ 22.95 ISBN: 1571312455 Date: 2000
Kirkus PW
Part traveler's journal, part philosophical essay, this literary expedition across the map to actual and imagined islands explores how those islands encourage eccentricity and genius.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
Coyote Nowhere: In Search of America's Last Frontier
by Holt, John
Publisher: St. Martins $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312252102 Date: 2000
Kirkus
Forget Coors and SUVs, drive-in espresso kiosks, glitsy ski lodges and other skewed images of the West. Coyote Nowhere focuses the "real West"--the Northern high plains. We see the ranchers, Native American's and other inhabitants who take on this vast and rugged land, with all its merciless weather.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
Cherry
by Karr, Mary
Publisher: Viking $ 24.95 ISBN: 0670892742 Date: 2000
PW Kirkus
In the long-awaited sequel to The Liar's Club, Karr picks up the trail of her hardscrabble Texas childhood and dashes off into her teen years with customary sass, only to run up against the paralyzing self-doubt of a girl in bloom. The book's soaring close proves that from even the smokiest beginnings a solid self can form, one capable of facing down all manners of monsters.
Suggested Reading: Memoir Stars
Highlanders: A Journey to the Caucasus in Quest of Memory
by Karny, Yo'av
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux $ 25 ISBN: 0374226024 Date: 2000
Kirkus
The story of the Caucasus region and the Chechen people is told by an intrepid and sophisticated Israeli journalist. Highlanders offers a better understanding of the region described as a "museum of civilizations."
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
by King, Stephen
Publisher: Scribner $ 25 ISBN: 0684853523 Date: 2000
Kirkus PW
Rarely has a book on the craft of writing been so clear, so useful and so entertaining. A series of vivid memories from King's adolescence to his struggling years affords readers a fresh and often funny perspective on the formation of a writer's character. King takes readers through crucial aspects of the writer's art and life, offering practical and inspiring advice on everything from plot and character development to work habits and rejection.
Suggested Reading: Authors
Blackbird: A Childhood Lost
by Lauck, Jennifer
Publisher: Pocket $ 23.95 ISBN: 0671042556 Date: 2000
Kirkus Booklist
Lauck's heartbreaking and inspiring memoir--debuting to advance critical acclaim--tells how an ordinary child growing up under the blue skies of Carson City, Nevada, in the early 1970s lost her childhood after her world became unhinged by family tragedy.
Suggested Reading: Memoir Stars
Boogie Man: The Adventures of John Lee Hooker in the American Twentieth Century
by Murray, Charles Shaar
Publisher: St Martins $ 27.95 ISBN: 0312265638 Date: 2000
Booklist
Award-winning rock critic Murray explores the life and times of a legend whose career has spanned more than half a century: John Lee Hooker, the last of the Mississippi Delta bluesmen.
Suggested Reading: Music
The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams
by Nasdijj
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin $ 23 ISBN: 0618048928 Date: 2000
Booklist
The author, born on a Navajo reservation in 1950, transports readers to the magic landscapes and the Native American culture of the desert Southwest as he tells the story of his life on the jagged-edge margins of American society.
Suggested Reading: Memoir Stars
Last Man Standing: The Tragedy and Triumph of Geronimo Platt
by Olsen, Jack
Publisher: Doubleday $ 27.50 ISBN: 0385493673 Date: 2000
Booklist
Last Man Standing is an unforgettable chronicle of the 27-year struggle to break a conspiratorial abuse of power and free one of America's most famous political prisoners. He is Geronimo Pratt, unjustly convicted of murder in the late 1960s as part of an FBI counter-intelligence program.
Suggested Reading: True Crime Stars
Living Terrors: What America Needs to Know to Survive the Coming Bio-Terror Catastrophe
by Osterholm, Michael T.
Publisher: Delacorte $ 24.95 ISBN: 038533480x Date: 2000
Kirkus
The nation's leading expert on biological terrorism reveals our startling vulnerability to bio-weapon attack and presents a strategy for protecting ourselves and our way of life from this unprecedented threat.
Suggested Reading: Terrorism
In the Mountains of Heaven: True Tales of Adventure on Six Continents
by Tidwell, Mike
Publisher: Lyons $ 24.95 ISBN: 1585740500 Date: 2000
Booklist
In this collection of 25 essays, award-winning travel writer Mike Tidwell shatters the mold of the travel genre. More than adventurous tales of getting from here to there, Tidwell draws out the personalities of those he meets along his travels to the four corners of the globe. Readers will meet a Bombay prostitute, a Hanoi barber, a real-life Tarzan in the Amazon rain forest, and others.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales

~ December ~ November ~ October ~ September ~ August ~ July
~ June ~ May ~ April ~ March ~ February ~ January

September

Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontintal Railroad 1865-1869
by Ambrose, Stephen
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 28 ISBN: 0684846098 Date: 2000
Kirkus
In this account of an unprecedented feat of engineering, vision, and courage, Ambrose offers a historical successor to his universally acclaimed Undaunted Courage. This is the epic drama of the daring men who connected an open, vast, and dangerous land by rail, forging its continental nationhood.
History of the Present: Dispatches from Europe in the 1990's
by Ash, Timothy Garton
Publisher: Random $ 29.95 ISBN: 0375503536 Date: 2000
Kirkus PW
In a glittering kaleidoscope of essays, Ash records the dramatic history of the last decade of the 20th century in Europe. A participant as well as a chronicler, he joins East Germans in their decision to vote for unification and visits their former leader, Erich Honecker, in prison. He also takes readers to the streets in Belgrade and travels through the killing fields of Kosovo.
The Last River: The Tragic Race for Shangri-La
by Balf, Todd
Publisher: Crown $ 24 ISBN: 0609606255 Date: 2000
PW
The Last River is the breathtaking account of a world-class kayak team's quest to make the first descent through the foam, fury, and unexplored mysteries of the treacherous Tsangpo Gorge in the remote heart of Tibet. This is the story of that ill-fated adventure and a riveting evocation of one of the planet's wildest and most alluring places.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales | Tibet
After the Darkest Hour: How Suffering Begins the Journey to Wisdom
by Brehoney, Kathleen H.
Publisher: Holt $ 23 ISBN: 0805064354 Date: 2000
Kirkus
Drawing on a rich selection of mythological and religious studies from many faiths, Brehony describes the experiences of people who have endured pain and suffering and found deeper meaning in their lives. Included are specific suggestions for creating personal healing rituals.
The Burning of Bridget Cleary: A True Story
by Bourke, Angela
Publisher: Viking $ 24.95 ISBN: 067089270x Date: 2000
Kirkus
When 26-year-old Bridget Cleary disappeared from her cottage in rural Ireland in 1895, the townspeople claimed she was "away with the fairies". But the real Bridget was lying in a shallow grave after being burned to death by her husband and nine of his friends and neighbors. This true story is a fascinating account of a harrowing murder that would become an international scandal.
Suggested Reading: The Cooper's Wife is Missing: The Ritual Murder of Bridget Cleary by Joan Hoff and Marion Yates.
An Ocean to Cross: Daring the Atlantic, Claiming a New Life
by Fordred, Liz
Publisher: McGraw-Hill $ 22.95 ISBN: 0071355049 Date: 2000
Kirkus
In a story of courage and triumph over adversity, Fordred tells how she and her husband, both paralyzed from accidents, realized their dreams of building a boat and sailing from Rhodesia to a new life in America.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
Best American Science Writing 2000
by Gleick, James (ed)
Publisher: Ecco $ 27.50 ISBN: 006019734x Date: 2000
Kirkus
The Island of Lost Maps
by Harvey, Miles
Publisher: Random House $ 24.95 ISBN: 0375501517 Date: 2000
Kirkus
The Island of Lost Maps tells the story of a curious crime spree: the theft of scores of valuable, centuries-old maps from some of the most prominent research libraries in the United States and Canada. When all was said and done, Gilbert Joseph Bland, Jr., had become the Al Capone of cartography, the most prolific American map thief in history.
Yonder: A Place in Montana
by Hemingway, John
Publisher: National Geographic $ 25 ISBN: 0792276876 Date: 2000
Booklist
This affecting memoir tells the story behind the "Bar 20", Heminway's 36-acre ranch, and his search for traces of the ranch's former owners.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales | Memoir Stars
Kangaroo Dreaming: An Australian Wildlife Odyssey
by Kanze, Edward
Publisher: Random $25 ISBN: 0609607960 Date: 2000
Booklist
A cross between Blue Highways and Homer's Odyssey, this book takes us on an epic journey through the Australian landscape. Weaving in late-breaking discoveries about beloved Australian animals, Kangaroo Dreaming gives readers an up-close view of koalas, Tasmanian devils, kangaroos, wallabies, and platypuses. Kanze distinctively frames his narrative within a brief and lively retelling of The Odyssey; along the way there are great hazards, ogres, and temptations.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales | Nature | Australia
The Golden Age of Dutch Art: Painting, Sculpture, Decorative Art
by Kiers, Judikje
Publisher: Thames $ 50 ISBN: 0500237743 Date: 2000
Library Journal
This sumptuous survey illuminates the extraordinary richness and versatility of the art produced in Holland in the seventeenth century -- the Dutch Golden Age. It is published on the occasion of an ambitious exhibition organized to celebrate the bicentenary of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. - Publisher Marketing.
Suggested Reading: Vermeer Stars | Art
The Mystery of Courage
by Miller, William Ian
Publisher: Harvard $ 29.95 ISBN: 0674003071 Date: 2000
LJ
In an inquiry which ranges from ancient Greece to Vietnam, Miller culls sources as varied as soldiers' memoirs, heroic and romantic literature, and philosophical discussions to get to the heart of courage and to its role in generating the central anxieties of masculinity and manhood.
Parasite Rex: The Secret and Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Lifeforms
by Zimmer, Carl
Publisher: Free Press $ 25.50 ISBN: 0684856387 Date: 2000
PW
Zimmer takes readers on a tour of the strange and bizarre world of parasites, including their ability to rewrite DNA, rewire the brain, and genetically engineer viruses as weapons. From the labs of California to the remote areas of the Sudan, Parasite Rex outlines the research that is transforming the field of biology.

~ December ~ November ~ October ~ September ~ August ~ July
~ June ~ May ~ April ~ March ~ February ~ January

August

The Power of Gold: The History of an Obsession
by Bernstein, Peter L.
Publisher: Wiley $ 27.95 ISBN: 0471252107 Date: 2000
Kirkus
From mines to myths, worship to war, art museums to financial markets, the role of gold has been engraved in the annals of human civilization. In the narrative style of his bestselling Against the Gods, Bernstein reveals a record of human nature in the ubiquity of gold.
The Girl in the Picture: The Story of Kim Phuc, the Photograph and the Vietnam War
by Chong, Denise
Publisher: Viking $ 23.95 ISBN: 067088040x Date: 2000
LJ
The world will never forget the 1972 Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of nine-year-old Kim Phuc, running naked in terror after a napalm strike in Vietnam. Chong presents the timely, sensitive story of the "napalm girl" as she struggles to reclaim her life.
Suggested Reading: Memoir Stars
Colonel Cody and the Flying Cathedral: The Adventures of the Cowboy Who Conquered the Sky
by Jenkins, Garry
Publisher: Picador $ 24 ISBN: 0312241801 Date: 2000
Library Journal
The bizarre life and accomplishments of "Colonel" Samuel Cody were the stuff of which myths are made. After taking his Wild West act to England, Cody became a passionate kite builder and flyer. At the apex of his career he invented a vast airplane and with it went on to become the first man to fly in England.
Great Arc: The Dramatic Tale of How India Was Mapped and Everest Was Named
by Keay, John
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 24 ISBN: 0060195185 Date: 2000
Booklist
In the tradition of Longitude and Fermat's Enigma comes a riveting tale of science and adventure in 19th-century India culminating in the discovery of the world's highest mountain--Mt. Everest.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
Reinventing Comics
by McCloud, Scott
Publisher: Harper $ 22.95 ISBN: 0060953500 Date: 2000
Kirkus
The renowned author of Understanding Comics takes a fascinating look at how the computer age has revolutionized comics, charting 12 different revolutions in how comics are created, read, and perceived.
Suggested Reading: Cartoon Stars | Graphic Novel & Comics Stars
Tutankhamem: The Life and Death of the Boy-King
by El Mahdy, Christine
Publisher: St Martins $ 25.95 ISBN: 0312262418 Date: 2000
Kirkus
A renowned Egyptologist reconstructs the short life and suspicious death of the ancient empire's boy king. Based on stunning tomb records, lost since their discovery, this revolutionary biography begins to answer the 20th century's most persistent archaeological mystery: who was Tutankhamen?
Suggested Reading: Egyptian Stars | Tut
Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America With Einstein's Brain
by Paterniti, Michael
Publisher: Dial $ 18.95 ISBN: 0385333005 Date: 2000
Booklist PW
A brilliant young writer, an 84-year-old pathologist, and Albert Einstein's brain rocket across the country through the palpable zeitgeist of contemporary America. Part travelogue, part memoir, part history, part biography, Driving Mr. Albert is one of the most unique road trips in modern literature.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales | Driven Stars
Sacred Monkey River: A Canoe Trip with the Gods
by Shaw, Christopher
Publisher: Norton $ 26.95 ISBN: 0393048373 Date: 2000
Kirkus
In a book that is a fitting tribute to Bruce Chatwin's Songlines, Barry Lopez's Arctic Dreams, and Peter Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard, Shaw takes readers on an adventurous voyage into the heart of Mesoamerica, offering an exploration of its spiritual geography. Line drawings & photos.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales

~ December ~ November ~ October ~ September ~ August ~ July
~ June ~ May ~ April ~ March ~ February ~ January

July

In A Sunburned Country
by Bryson, Bill
Publisher: Broadway $ 25 ISBN: 0767903854 Date: 2000
PW Booklist Kirkus
The bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods now takes a truly outrageous tour Down Under, revealing hundreds of entertaining eccentricities about the world's largest island--and about himself. Leaving no Vegemite unsavored, readers will accompany Bryson as he dodges jellyfish while learning to surf at Bondi Beach, discovers a fish that can climb trees, dehydrates in sweltering deserts, and tells the true story of the rejected Danish architect who designed the Sydney Opera House.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales | All Stars | Australia
Just Here Trying to Save a Few Lives: Tales of Life and Death from the ER
by Grim Pamela
Publisher: Warner $ 23.95 ISBN: 0446524239 Date: 2000
Kirkus
A doctor shares her experiences in the life-and-death theater of the emergency room in this exquisitely rendered, insightful, and heartbreaking work. Dr. Grimm has worked all over the world, caring for victims of gang life in America's inner cities, victims of the war in Bosnia, poverty-stricken patients in Nigeria, and bank presidents in the United States.
Suggested Reading: Medical Nonfiction
The Circus Fire: A True Story
by O'Nan, Stewart
Publisher: Doubleday $ 24.95 ISBN: 0385496842 Date: 2000
PW
One of America's most acclaimed novelists turns to nonfiction in this powerful recreation of the great Hartford circus fire of 1944 which took the lives of 167 people and forever changed the city.
Suggested Reading: On Fire
Ghosts of the Titanic: New Discoveries from the Depths of the Ocean Floor
by Pellegrino, Charles R.
Publisher: Broadway $ 25 ISBN: 0688139558 Date: 2000
PW
Using the latest technology to penetrate the Titanic's watery grave, the author of Her Name, Titanic recreates those last, horrifying moments on board the doomed ship and uncovers fascinating secrets about ocean life. "Like Godfather II", better than the original". -James Cameron, Oscar-winning director of Titanic.
Suggested Reading: Sea Stories
The Adventurist: My Life in Dangerous Places
by Pelton, Robert Young
Publisher: Doubleday $ 24.95 ISBN: 0385495676 Date: 2000
LJ
Tales of derring-do are presented by an adventurer extraordinaire, author of Come Back Alive and The World's Most Dangerous Places. This breakneck autobiography is by a man passionate to learn about the stranger and wilder places in the world as he takes readers where they might never willingly go.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
A Rum Affair: A True Story of Botanical Fraud
by Sabbagh, Karl
Publisher: Farrar Straus $ 24 ISBN: 0374252823 Date: 2000
LJ
British botanist John Heslop Harrison rose to fame after claiming to have discovered several species of rare plants on the mysterious Isle of Rum off the west coast of Scotland. Having stumbled across a veiled reference in an amateur botanist's obituary, Sabbagh now raises questions of a 50-year-old fraud.
Suggested Reading: Nature
Living with Cannibals and Other Women's Adventures
by Slung, Michele
Publisher: National Geographic $ 22 ISBN: 0792276868 Date: 2000
LJ
Slung showcases the inspiring, pulse-pounding stories of adventurous women from the 19th century to the present. These accounts have been culled from the National Geographic Society's vast 111-year-old collection of first-person narratives by women explorers.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
Fresh Air Fiend: Travel Writings 1985-2000
by Theroux, Paul
Publisher: Houghton $ 27 ISBN: 0618034064 Date: 2000
Kirkus
This collection of Theroux's essays and articles over the past 15 years follows his highly successful Sunrise with Seamonsters. This volume, however, is devoted exclusively to travel writings that capture such scenes as the snowy Maine woods and Hong Kong on the eve of the hand-over.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
Volcano Cowboys
by Thomspon, Dick
Publisher: St. Martins $ 26.95 ISBN: 0312208812 Date: 2000
LJ
A writer for Time magazine takes readers from the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens through the volcanoes of today in this real-life thriller on the volcanologists who work in constant peril.

~ December ~ November ~ October ~ September ~ August ~ July
~ June ~ May ~ April ~ March ~ February ~ January

June

Life's Matrix: A Biography of Water
by Ball, Philip
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux $ 25 ISBN: 0374186286 Date: 2000
Kirkus PW
In this fresh exploration, a consulting editor for Nature tells of water's origins, its history, and its fascinating pervasiveness. Finally, Ball laments about the future of this natural resource, predicting that it will become a scarce commodity this century.
Suggested Reading: Nature
Colter: The True Story of the Best Dog I Ever Had
by Bass, Rick
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin $ 22 ISBN: 0395926181 Date: 2000
PW
Colter is an interspecies love story that vividly captures the relationship between humans and dogs and along the way explores a man's childhood fascination with snapping turtles and dirt, and of the other animals - including people - that have shaped his life.
Suggested Reading: Dog Stars
Flags of Our Fathers
by Bradley, James
Publisher: Bantam $ 24.95 ISBN: 0553111337 Date: 2000
Booklist Library Journal
In 1945, six young men went from innocent anonymity to sensational national icons when they marched up the side of Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima and raised a flag. Here is their story and that of the young men from Easy Company who went on to fight the deadliest battle in American history. "The best battle book I've ever read".--Stephen Ambrose. Suggested Reading: Adult Books for Teens
The Monk in the Garden
by Henig, Robin Marantz
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin $ 24 ISBN: 0395977657 Date: 2000
PW
The perplexing silence that greeted Mendel's discovery of inheritance and his ultimate canonization as the father of genetics make up a tale of intrigue, jealousy, and a healthy dose of bad timing. Henig now crafts this suspenseful narrative that evokes the monk's life and work.
The Elsewhere Community
by Kenner, Hugh
Publisher: Oxford $ 18.95 ISBN: 0195132971 Date: 2000
Kirkus
From 18th-century Grand Tours to today's planet-wide Internet journeys, this book is a fascinating exploration of man's desire for knowledge and the inevitable quest for an elsewhere that results.
The Book of Honor
by Gup, Ted
Publisher: Doubleday $ 25.95 ISBN: 0385492936 Date: 2000
PW
A legendary investigative reporter offers a groundbreaking history of covert operations at the CIA, based on highly classified information. One of the agency's most closely guarded secrets - the identity of agents who have died in the line of duty - is revealed in this landmark work of reportage.
Suggested Reading: Espionage
Minotaur: Sir Arthur Evans and the Archaeology of the Minoan Myth
by Macgillivray, Joseph Alexander
Publisher: Hill and Wang $30 ISBN: 0809030357 Date: 2000
PW
This is the first biography of a flamboyant and very influential man -- written by a scholar with unparalleled expertise in the archaeology of Crete.
Mountain City
by Martin, Gregory
Publisher: North Point Press $ 21 ISBN: 0865475946 Date: 2000
PW Booklist
Martin celebrates the large and small dramas of life in Mountain City, a small, dying mining town in remote northeastern Nevada, where his family has run a general store for more than 40 years. He captures the vibrancy of the close-knit community of Native Americans, salty widows, and Martin's own idiosyncratic family.
Wainewright the Poisoner: The Memoir of Thomas Griffiths Wainewright - Regency Author, Painter, Swindler, and Probable Murderer - Brilliantly Woven from Historical Fragments
by Motion, Andrew
Publisher: Knopf $ 26 ISBN: 0375402098 Date: 2000
Kirkus Booklist LJ
A celebrated British biographer has researched letters, journals, newspaper dispatches, and other historical sources to illuminate the life of Thomas Griffiths Wainewright, a Regency author and painter who fell into debt, attempted a number of scams, and allegedly committed at least one murder.
Suggested Reading: All Stars | True Crime Stars | Pick Your Poison
Trading Twelves: The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray
by Murray, Albert & John F. Callahan (ed)
Publisher: Modern Library $ 24.95 ISBN: 0375503676 Date: 2000
LJ Kirkus
A joyous and important collection of letters between two great American writers who were also dear friends in which they bare their hearts to each other about life, work, and the American scene.
Suggested Reading: Authors
Flux: Women on Sex, Work, Kids, Love, and Life in a Half-Changed World
by Orenstein, Peggy
Publisher: Doubleday $ 25 ISBN: 0385498861 Date: 2000
PW
In much the way that SchoolGirls reveals how girls grew up in the 1990s, Flux shows how adult women navigate between unprecedented choices and ongoing conflicts in their attempts to create a satisfying life.
The Boxer Rebellion: China's War on Foreigners, Summer 1900
by Preston, Diana
Publisher: Walker & Co. $ 28 ISBN: 0802713610 Date: 2000
Kirkus
The author of A First Rate Tragedy now presents a panoramic chronicle of the Boxer uprising and the ensuing siege of the foreign ministries in Peking and Tientsin during the summer of 1900, an event whose repercussions have echoed throughout the intervening 100 years.
Regions of the Heart: The Triumph and Tragedy of Alison Hargreaves
by Rose, David
Publisher: National Geographic $ 25 ISBN: 0792276965 Date: 2000
Booklist
Alison Hargreaves' solo ascent of Mt. Everest in 1995 without supplemental oxygen cemented her reputation as an accomplished mountaineer. Tragically, she died at age 33 during a violent storm on K2. In this book, two experienced climbers carefully and powerfully illustrate Hargreaves' passion for climbing.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
Lying
by Slater, Lauren
Publisher: Random House $ 21.95 ISBN: 0375501126 Date: 2000
PW
"The beauty of Lauren Slater's prose is shocking", said Newsday about Welcome to My Country. And now, in this unusual memoir, Slater - diagnosed with a strange illness afflicting her memory - brilliantly explores a mind under siege, telling her personal story of seizures, diagnoses, misdiagnosis and cures.
Suggested Reading: Memoir Stars | Epilepsy
The Emperor of Nature: Charles-Luciene Bonaparte & His World
by Stroud, Patricia T.
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania $ 34.95 ISBN: 0812235460 Date: 2000
LJ
Based extensively on archival sources, including many unpublished letters still in the possession of the Bonaparte family, The Emperor of Nature is the first biography written of Charles-Luciene Bonaparte. It is a compelling story of the fate of Europe's imperial family and a contribution to the history of 19th-century science.
The Social Lives of Dogs: The Grace of Canine Company
by Thomas, Elizabeth Marshall
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 24 ISBN: 0684810263 Date: 2000
PW
From the celebrated anthropologist and bestselling author comes a uniquely frank and enlightening sequel to The Hidden Life of Dogs that explores how our favorite pets adapt for life with their human owners. "A beautiful sequel . . . brimming with new insights". --Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, author of Dogs Never Lie About Love.
Suggested Reading: Dog Stars

~ December ~ November ~ October ~ September ~ August ~ July
~ June ~ May ~ April ~ March ~ February ~ January

May

Elephants
by Alexander, Shana
Publisher: Random $ 25.95 ISBN: 0679456600 Date: 2000
PW
Elephant contains the most marvelous stories and history about these mysterious behemoths, from Hannibal's crossing of the Alps to Barnum's Jumbo.
Suggested Reading: Nature
Life So Far
by Friedan, Betty
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 26 ISBN: 0684807890 Date: 2000
Booklist Kirkus
With the same unsparing frankness that made The Feminine Mystique one of the most influential books of the century, Friedan looks back and reminds readers what it took and what it cost to change the world. p>
Not Even My Name: From a Death March in Turkey to a New Home in America, a Young Girl's True Story of Genocide and Survival
by Halo, Thea
Publisher: Picador $ 25 ISBN: 0312262116 Date: 2000
PW Booklist
Not Even My Name exposes the genocide carried out during and after World War I in Turkey. It tells of the unforgettable story of Sano Halo's survival, as told to her daughter, Thea, and of their trip to Turkey in search of Sano's home 70 years after exile.
The Happy Bottom Riding Club: the Life and Times of Pancho Barnes
by Kessler, Lauren
Publisher: Random $ 24.95 ISBN: 037550124x Date: 2000
Booklist
In a biography written with authority and affection, Kessler presents the true life story of Pancho Barnes--the woman who outflew Amelia Earhart, outsmarted Howard Hughes, outdrank the Mexican army, and outmaneuvered the U.S. government.
Suggested Reading: Women's History
Me Against My Brother: At War in Somalia, Sudan and Rwanda
by Peterson, Scott
Publisher: Routledge $ 26 ISBN: 0415921988 Date: 2000
Kirkus
Filled with the dust, sweat, and powerful detail of real life, Me Against My Brother graphically illustrates how preventive action and a better understanding of Africa - especially by the U.S. - could have averted much suffering.
Suggested Reading: Rwanda
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
by Philbrick, Nat
Publisher: Viking $ 24.95 ISBN: 0670891576 Date: 2000
Kirkus Booklist PW
This true-life adventure tells the incredible story of the wreck of the whaleship "Essex"--an event that served as the inspiration for Melville's Moby-Dick.
Suggested Reading: In Search of Moby Dick: The Quest for the White Whale by Tim Severin.
Suggested Reading: All Stars | Sea Stories
Me Talk Pretty One Day
by Sedaris, David
Publisher: Little Brown $ 22.95 ISBN: 0316777722 Date: 2000
Kirkus
Sedaris's essays on living in Paris are some of the funniest he's ever written. At last, someone even meaner than the French! - Publisher marketing.
Suggested Reading: Paris
In Search of Moby Dick: The Quest for the White Whale
by Severin, Tim Publisher: Basic Books $24 ISBN: 0465076963 Date: 2000
Booklist
In In Search of Moby Dick, Severin sets about determining the likelihood of the existence of one of the most iconic modern myths - the Great White Whale. He begins to perceive the lush weave of fact and fiction, actual experience and extravagant yarn that is Moby Dick.
Suggested Reading: In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Philbrick, Nathaniel.
Suggested Reading: Sea Stories
Home and Away: Memoir of a Fan
by Simon, Scott
Publisher: Hyperion $ 23.95 ISBN: 078686415x Date: 2000
Booklist
The best of NPR's Weekend Edition comes through with the perfect Father's Day gift: a memoir of Scott Simon, devout sports fan, proud son of Chicago, and a devoted son and stepson - an ideal blend of wit, reportage, and plain old-fashioned storytelling.
Suggested Reading: Memoir Stars | Sports
Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucia
by Stewart, Chris
Publisher: Pantheon $ 22 ISBN: 0375410287 Date: 2000
Booklist
Under the Tuscan Sun meets A Year in Provence -- in this refreshing tale about a family who busy and renovates a precariously-situated yet charming farm house in the sunny hills of Spain. Peter Mayle hails Driving Over Lemons as "Wonderful...I love this book."
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
Leap
by Williams, Terry Tempest
Publisher: Pantheon $ 25 ISBN: 0679432922 Date: 2000
Booklist
In her first book-length work since Refuge, Williams explores the landscape of Hieronymus Bosch's enigmatic 15th century Flemish masterpiece, The Garden of Delights.
Suggested Reading: Art
Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales
by Zipes, Jack (ed)
Publisher: Univ of Oxford $ 49.95 ISBN: 0198601158 Date: 2000
Library Journal
Strikingly illustrated with 70 pictures, from early engravings to 20th-century film stills, this authoritative reference is an essential companion for everyone who loves fairy tales and storytelling.
Suggested Reading: Folk and Fairy Tales

~ December ~ November ~ October ~ September ~ August ~ July
~ June ~ May ~ April ~ March ~ February ~ January

April

Barrow's Boys; The Original Extreme Adventurers, a Stirring Story of Daring, Fortitude, and Outright Lunacy
by Fleming, Fergus
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly $ 26 ISBN: 0871138042 Date: 2000
Kirkus Library Journal
Adventure literature at its best: the breathtaking story of England's heroic 19th-century expedition to the Arctic, the heart of Africa, and Antarctica, under the command of John Barrow.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
Give Me My Father's Body: The Life of Minik, the New York Eskimo
by Harper, Kenn
Publisher: Steerforth $ 24 ISBN: 1883642531 Date: 2000
Library Journal
In a story that is peopled with well-known explorers, including Robert Peary, Give Me My Father's Body tells the tragic tale of Minik Wallace, "a live Eskimo specimen," who was orphaned in turn-of-the-century New York.
Iceman: Uncovering the Life and Times of a Prehistoric Man Found in an Alpine Glacier
by Fowler, Brenda
Publisher: Random $ 25.95 ISBN: 0679431675 Date: 2000
Library Journal
The spectacular 1991 discovery of a Stone Age man in the Alps stunned the archeological community. Iceman takes readers inside scientific investigations by the anthropologists, botanists, and archeologists who saw in this lonely frozen figure the clues to the longstanding questions about the world of 3000 B.C.
Time to Be in Earnest: A Fragment of Autobiography
by James, P.D.
Publisher: Knopf $ 25 ISBN: 037541066x Date: 2000
Kirkus
Taking to heart Dr. Johnson's advice that, at the age of 77, it was "time to be in earnest, " the acclaimed mystery writer decided to keep a diary. The result is this frank and wonderfully engaging memoir.
Suggested Reading: Memoir Stars | Authors
Darwin's Ghost: The Origin of Species Updated
by Jones, Steve
Publisher: Random $ 25.95 ISBN: 0375501037 Date: 2000
PW Library Journal
Darwin's masterpiece, the most important book of the millennium, is rewritten by a renowned geneticist using fascinating contemporary examples and incorporating the vast amount of scientific knowledge discovered since its publication.
Collaborator: The Trial and Execution of Robert Brasillach
by Kaplan, Alice
Publisher: Univ of Chicago $ 25 ISBN: 0226424146 Date: 2000
PW
The author of the acclaimed memoir French Lessons tells the story of Robert Brasillach's rise and fall: his emergence as a golden boy of literary fascism during the 1930s, his wartime collaboration with the Nazis, his dramatic trial, and his afterlife as a martyr for French rightists and Holocaust revisionists.
Suggested Reading: Nazis
Seeing Mary Plain: A Life of Mary McCarthy
by Kiernan, Frances
Publisher: Norton $ 35 ISBN: 0393038017 Date: 2000
PW Kirkus
At last, a biography rich in delicious gossip, ironic judgment, and eloquent testimony of Mary McCarthy, one of the most controversial American intellectuals of this century.
Suggested Reading: Authors
Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope
by Kozol, Jonathan
Publisher: Crown $ 25 ISBN: 051770000x Date: 2000
Booklist
Kozol recounts the lessons he has learned from the struggles and unlikely triumphs of children in one of America's most impoverished neighborhoods.
Dances with Luigi: A Grandson's Determined Quest to Comprehend Italy and the Italians
by Paolicelli, Paul E.
Publisher: St Martins $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312251882 Date: 2000
Booklist
Why would a man who was a hero to his home village in Italy suddenly break all ties and never speak of his homeland again? This is the question at the heart of Paolicelli's spirited memoir as he travels back to Italy in hopes of piecing together his grandfather's mystery.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales | Memoir Stars
The Boilerplate Rhino: Nature in the Eye of the Beholder
by Quammen, David
Publisher: Scribner $ 24 ISBN: 0684837285 Date: 2000
Kirkus
The author hailed by Edward O. Wilson as "a brilliant young star of nature writing" explores the relationship between humans and the natural world in a collection of essays culled from his popular Outside magazine column.
Suggested Reading: Nature
Yamato Dynasty: The Secret History of Japan's Imperial Family
by Seagrave, Sterling
Publisher: Bantam $ 27.50 ISBN: 0767904966 Date: 2000
PW
The author who exposed China's ruthless roots in his bestselling The Soong Dynasty now reveals the closely guarded, controversial secrets of the shoguns, financiers, emperors, and empresses who have shrouded and controlled the world's longest-reigning dynasty.
Wanderlust: A History of Walking
by Solnit, Rebecca
Publisher: Viking $ 24.95 ISBN: 0670882097 Date: 2000
Booklist PW Library Journal
Arguing that walking as history means walking to enjoy nature as well as for political and social meaning, Solnit profiles the walkers whose everyday and extreme acts have shaped our culture.
Suggested Reading: All Stars
Last Marlin: A Father-Son Story
by Waitzkin, Fred
Publisher: Viking $ 23.95 ISBN: 0670882615 Date: 2000
Booklist
The author of Searching for Bobby Fischer reaches back to his own childhood to write this sweeping family saga of love and betrayal, interwoven with scenes of deep sea fishing, a passion that helped Waitzkin cope with his problems.
Suggested Reading: Memoir Stars
Fish Caught in Time: The Search for the Coelancanth
by Weinberg, Samantha
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 24 ISBN: 0060194952 Date: 2000
Booklist Library Journal
First-hand reports and never-before-seen photos tell the complete story of the greatest zoological find of the century - the coelacanth, a 400 million-year-old living fossil fish that may hold the key to evolution - and the 50-year global battle to claim it.
Ocean's End: Travels Through Endangered Seas
by Woodward, Colin
Publisher: Basic $ 26 ISBN: 0465015700 Date: 2000
Library Journal
In the tradition of Silent Spring, Oceans' End documents the massive worldwide destruction of the Earth's oceans and covers all the aspects of this complex subject.

~ December ~ November ~ October ~ September ~ August ~ July
~ June ~ May ~ April ~ March ~ February ~ January

March

Big Kiss
by Alford, Henry
Publisher: Villard $ 19.95 ISBN: 0679483734 Date: 2000
PW
In this memoir of Alford's hilarious attempts at becoming a performer, he is rejected by directors, ignored by casting people, abused by a sadistic acting teacher, and educated in the finer points of Shakespearean acting. Finally, Alford finds his niche as the co-host of VH1's new hit series, Rock of Ages.
Suggested Reading: Memoir Stars
Education of a Felon: A Memoir
by Bunker, Edward
Publisher: St Martins $ 25.95 ISBN: 031225315x Date: 2000
PW
Spending half of his life behind bars, the reigning champion of prison writers tells his own story of a life lived "close to the bone" (Los Angeles Times).
Suggested Reading: Memoir Stars | Authors
As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl
by Colapinto, John
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 26 ISBN: 0060192119 Date: 2000
Kirkus
The riveting story of the famous "twins case" of Joan/John, which became a major touchstone in the hotly contested "nature vs. nurture" debate on human sexuality.
Suggested Reading: Memoir Stars | Gender Identity
Surburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream
by Duany, Andres
Publisher: North Point $ 30 ISBN: 0865475571 Date: 2000
PW Kirkus
Actual Innocence: Five Days to Execution and Other Dispatches form the Wrongly Convicted
by Dwyer, Jim, Peter Neufield, and Barry Schenk
Publisher: Doubleday $ 24.95 ISBN: 038549314x Date: 2000
PW
In the last decade, DNA testing has uncovered stone-cold proof that 55 completely innocent people have been sent to prison and death row. In Actual Innocence, the authors relate the harrowing stories of ten of these individuals and tell of the heroic efforts to free them.
Suggested Reading: True Crime Stars
Round Ireland with a Fridge
by Hawks, Tony
Publisher: Thomas Dunne $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312242360 Date: 2000
Booklist
"Round Ireland with A Fridge . . . . is a sort of alternative Michael Palin tome and a far better read than you would expect. It is part autobiography, part travelogue, and part Guinness addled ramblings."--The Irish Times.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think
by Huaser, Marc D.
Publisher: Holt $ 25 ISBN: 0805056696 Date: 2000
Library Journal
Hauser, an acclaimed scientist in the field of animal cognition, treats animals neither as machines nor as extensions of humans, but as independent beings driven by their own complex impulses. In prose that is both elegant and edifying, Hauser describes his groundbreaking research in the field.
Suggested Reading: Nature
Lying Stones of Marrakesh: Penultimate Reflections in Natural History
by Gould, Stephen Jay
Publisher: Harmony $ 25 ISBN: 0609601423 Date: 2000
PW Kirkus
In his latest collection of essays, Gould once again offers his unmistakable perspective on nature and the people who have tried to make sense of it.
Suggested Reading: Nature
Five Sisters: The Langhorne Sisters of Virginia
by Fox, James
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 30 ISBN: 0684808129 Date: 2000
Library Journal
The author of the bestselling White Mischief tells the story of the beautiful Langhorne sisters who lived at the center of high and powerful society from the end of the Civil War through the Second World War. As they made their way across two continents, the five women acquired rich husbands, fame, and scandals.
Suggested Reading: Virginia Stars | Sisters
Strange Fruit: Billie Holliday, Cafe Society and a Cry for Civil Rights
by Margolick, David
Publisher: Running Press $ 16.95 ISBN: 0762406771 Date: 2000
Booklist
From four-time Pulitzer Prize nominee David Margolick, Strange Fruit explores the story of the memorable civil rights ballad made famous by Billie Holiday in the late 1930s. The song's powerful, evocative lyrics -- written by a Jewish Communist schoolteacher -- portray the lynching of a black man in the South. Margolick's careful reconstruction of the story behind the song includes a discography of "Strange Fruit" recordings as well as newly uncovered photographs that capture Holiday in performance at Greenwich Village's Cafe Society. - Publisher Marketing.
Suggested Reading: Music Nonfiction
Frost on My Moustache
by Moore, Timothy
Publisher: St Martins $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312253192 Date: 2000
Booklist
In a welcome antidote to the Shackleton narratives and other manly survival stories set in the extremes, Moore writes with scathing self-deprecation about his misadventures in Iceland, Norway, and Spitzbergen (north of the Arctic Circle).
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
Dreambirds
by Nixon, Rob
Publisher: Picador $ 23 ISBN: 0312245408 Date: 2000
Booklist Library Journal
Dreambirds is a quirky memoir of the author's upbringing on an ostrich farm and a delightful history of that prehistoric bird's unlikely role in fashion and food.
Suggested Reading: Memoir Stars | For the Birds
Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters
by Ridley, Matt
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 26 ISBN: 0060194979 Date: 2000
PW Kirkus
A fascinating tour of the results of the most momentous scientific endeavor of our time - the Human Genome Project - cleverly told in 23 essays, one for each chromosome.
The Snakebite Survivor's Club
by Seal, Jeremy
Publisher: Harcourt $ 24 ISBN: 0151005354
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 26 ISBN: 0060194979
PW
A riveting, hands-on adventure with the world's deadliest snakes, recounted with humor and horror by one of the most original travel writers of today. "A white knuckle read."--The Daily Mail.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
Bruce Chatwin
by Shakespeare, Nicholas
Publisher: Doubleday $ 35 ISBN: 0385498292
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 26 ISBN: 0060194979
PW
Award-winning novelist Nicholas Shakespeare offers a masterful biography of Bruce Chatwin, one of the most charismatic and elusive literary figures of our time.
Suggested Reading: Authors
Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Unknown in the Universe
by Ward, Peter & Don Brownlee
Publisher: Springer-Verlag TELOS $ 27.50 ISBN: 0387987010
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 26 ISBN: 0060194979
LJ
In this exciting new book, distinguished paleontologist Peter D. Ward and noted astronomer Donald Brownlee team up to give us a fascinating synthesis of what's now known about the rise of life on Earth and how it sheds light on possibilities for organic life forms elsewhere in the Universe. With broad expertise and wonderful descriptive imagery, the authors give us a compelling argument, a splendid introduction to the emerging field of astrobiology, and a lively discussion of the remarkable findings that are being generated by new research.

~ December ~ November ~ October ~ September ~ August ~ July
~ June ~ May ~ April ~ March ~ February ~ January

February

Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766
by Anderson, Fred
Publisher: Knopf $ 40 ISBN: 0375406425
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 26 ISBN: 0060194979
Booklist PW Anderson transports readers into the maelstrom of 18th-century imperial rivalry and the the Seven Years' War in which Great Britain decisively eliminated French power north of the Caribbean.
Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
by Eggers, Dave
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 23 ISBN: 0684863472 Date: 2000
Booklist Library Journal
One of the most mesmerizing memoirs of the literary season: a wrenching, hilarious, and stylistically groundbreaking story of a college senior who, in the space of five weeks, loses both of his parents to cancer and inherits his eight-year-old brother.
McSweeney's - a literary journal and web site, founded by Dave Eggers.
Suggested Reading: Memoir Stars
Morning Glory: A Biography of Mary Lou Williams
by Dahl, Linda
Publisher: Pantheon $ 30 ISBN: 0375408991 Date: 2000
LJ
Imagine a pianist playing concerts with Benny Goodman and Cecil Taylor in successive years (1977-78). That pianist was Mary Lou Williams. In a career which spanned over fifty years, Mary was always on the cutting edge."--Bob Jacobsen, www.allaboutjazz
Suggested Reading:Music
Cap: The Price of a Life
by Frister, Roman
Publisher: Grove $ 25 ISBN: 0802116590 Date: 2000
Booklist PW Library Journal
Uncompromisingly frank and unsparing, The Cap is an unconventional Holocaust memoir that defies all moral judgment and ventures into the darkest terrain imaginable, that of a soul blackened by the unforgiving cruelty of its surroundings.
Suggested Reading: All Stars | Memoir Stars
Greene on Capri: A Memoir
by Hazzard, Shirley
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux $ 22 ISBN: 0374166757 Date: 2000
LJ
In this intimate portrait, Hazzard highlights Graham Greene's mercurial character, his work and talk, and the extraordinary literary culture that long thrived on the legendary, enchanted island of Capri.
Suggested Reading: Memoir Stars | Authors
Orchid Fever: A Horticultural Tale of Love, Lust and Lunacy
by Hansen, Eric
Publisher: Pantheon $ 23 ISBN: 0679451412 Date: 2000
PW
A travel writer and author of Motoring with Mohammed journeyed the four corners of the Earth for five years to explore the beautiful world of orchids, and along the way encountered orchid smugglers, corrupt botanists, visionary breeders, a network of plant police, and attack dogs.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
Global Soul: Jet Lag, Shopping Malls, and the Search for Home
by Iyer, Pico
Publisher: Knopf $ 25 ISBN: 0679454330 Date: 2000
Booklist
Iyer explores the impersonal spaces that we all frequent as global inhabitants--shopping malls, airport terminals, custom renovated downtowns - spaces that are defined by their placelessness.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales | Shopping
Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market
by Johnson, Walter
Publisher: Harvard $ 26 ISBN: 0674821483 Date: 2000
PW LJ
Johnson tells the story of slavery in antebellum America by moving away from the cotton plantations and into the domestic slave market itself.
Walk Toward Oregon
by Josephy, Alvin M., Jr.
Publisher: Knopf $ 28 ISBN: 0375409106 Date: 2000
PW Booklist
From the celebrated historian, noted for his writings about the American West and the American Indian, comes a wonderfully engaging account of his journey across the 20th century.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years 1941-1945
by Klemperer, Victor
Publisher: Random House $ 29.95 ISBN: 0375502408 Date: 2000
PW Kirkus
Described by the London Sunday Times as, "the color film of Nazi Germany after years of black and white, " I Will Bear Witness has been heralded as one of the most courageous and remarkable books of our time. The second volume of this extraordinary work covers the worst years of the war, including the Final Solution and the advance of Allied troops.
Suggested Reading: Nazis
Tigers in the Snow
by Matthiessen, Peter
Publisher: North Point $ 27 ISBN: 0865475768 Date: 2000
PW LJ
The author of The Snow Leopard and Bone by Bone takes readers into the world of the Siberian tiger to convey powerfully what a loss to our collective imagination the disappearance of these great cats would be.
Suggested Reading: Nature Stars
Mysteries Within: Superstition, Religion, and Medicine
by Nuland, Sherwin B.
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 24 ISBN: 0684854864 Date: 2000
Booklist
From the bestselling author of How We Die comes a fascinating exploration of the human body that combines a surgeon's experiences with the rich folklore and legends that surround our vital organs. The Mysteries Within brilliantly melds myth and science from the dawn of recorded history to the present day.
Jumbo's Hide, Elvis's Ride, & the Tooth of Buddha: More Marvelous Tales of Historical Artifacts
by Rachlin, Harvey
Publisher: Holt $ 25 ISBN: 0805056831 Date: 2000
PW
Following on his acclaimed Lucy's Bones, Sacred Stones and Einstein's Brain, the insatiably curious Harvey Rachlin tells the fascinating and often hilarious tales of 40 more historical artifacts, ranging from the obscure to the majestic.
Life Stories: Profiles from the New Yorker
by Remnick, David (ed)
Publisher: Random $ 26.95 ISBN: 0375503552
PW
With profiles of significant individuals, Life Stories is an exploration of high-fliers and low-lifers who have helped define the character of the 20th century- published for The New Yorker's 75th anniversary.
M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio
by Robb, Peter
Publisher: Holt $ 30 ISBN: 0805063560
PW Kirkus
Sometimes known simply as M, Caravaggio threw out Renaissance dogma to paint with dazzling originality and fierce vitality - qualities that are echoed in Robb's prose as he suspends time to capture the artist's wild and tempestuous life.
Suggested Reading: Caravaggio
Chasing the Mountain of Light: Across India on the Trail of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond
by Rushby, Kevin
Publisher: St Martins $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312228139
Library Journal
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
Zero: The Biography of a Number
by Seiffe, Charles
Publisher: Viking $ 24.95 ISBN: 067088457x
Booklist PW
The Babylonians invented it, the Greeks banned it, the Hindus worshipped it, and the Church used it to fend off heretics. Science journalist Seife follows this innocent-looking number - zero - from its birth as an Eastern philosophical concept to its struggle for acceptance in Europe and transcendence into the West.
In Siberia
by Thurbron, Colin
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 26 ISBN: 0060195436 Date: 2000
PW Kirkus Library Journal
An evocative portrait of one of the most breathtaking yet little-known places on earth, written by England's #1 bestselling, award-winning author -"one of the two or three best living travel writers, in some ways probably "the" best" (Jan Morris).
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales | All Stars
First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
by Ung, Luong
Publisher: harperCollins $ 23 ISBN: 0060193328 Date: 2000
Booklist
From a childhood survivor of the brutal Pol Pot regime comes an unforgettable narrative of tragedy and spiritual triumph.
Suggested Reading: Memoir Stars | Cambodia
Eleanor of Aquitane
by Weir, Alison
Publisher: Ballantine $ 28 ISBN: 0345405404 Date: 2000
PW
In this new biography, popular British historian Alison Weir vividly captures the life and times of one of the most remarkable women of the Middle Ages.
Suggested Reading: Women's History

~ December ~ November ~ October ~ September ~ August ~ July
~ June ~ May ~ April ~ March ~ February ~ January

January

Dust: A Short History of the Small and the Invisible
by Amato, Joseph A.
Publisher: Univ Cal Press $ 22.50 ISBN: 0520218752 Date: 2000
Booklist
The smallest element of everyday life is magnified through 30 line illustrations and interesting information highlighting the minute microcosm of dust.
Colors of the Mountain
by Chen, Da
Publisher: Random $ 25 ISBN: 0375502882 Date: 2000
Booklist PW
A unique, winning, and beautifully told memoir of growing up in rural China during Mao's Cultural Revolution, Colors of the Mountain proves once again that the concerns of childhood transcend time and place.
Suggested Reading: Memoir Stars
Death Foretold: Prophecy and Prognosis in Medical Care
by Christakis, Nicholas
Publisher: University of Chicago Press $ 30 ISBN: 0226104702 Date: 2000
LJ
Drawing on his experiences both as a doctor and as a sociologist, Christaki examines the reasons doctors shirk the difficult questions and the practical and emotional difficulties of prognosis.
Suggested Reading: Medical Nonfiction
Isles: A History
by Davies, Norman
Publisher: Univ of Oxford $ 45 ISBN: 0195134427 Date: 2000
PW Kirkus
This radical new history of the British Isles, written by the distinguished scholar and author of Europe: A History, offers a new perspective on the development of Britain and Ireland, looking at them not as self-contained islands, but as an inextricable part of Europe.
Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire
by Foreman, Amanda
Publisher: Random $ 29.95 ISBN: 0375502947 Date: 2000
PW
This year's Whitbread Prize-winning biography presents a rich evocation of 18th-century London, revolving around Lady Georgiana Spencer, the great-great-great-great aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Suggested Reading: Women's History
On the Rez
by Frazier, Ian
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux $ 25 ISBN: 0374226385 Date: 2000
Booklist Kirkus Library Journal
In this exploration of an American place that is both strange and deeply familiar, Frazier discusses the oppression of history on Indian reservations, where the per capita income is the nation's lowest. As it examines the Oglala idea of heroism - its suffering and pulse-quickening, public-spirited glory - On the Rez portrays the survival, through toughness and humor, of a great people whose culture has shaped the American identity.
Suggested Reading: All Stars
Defending the Cavewoman: And Other Tales of Evolutionary Neurology
by Klawans, Harold
Publisher: Norton $ 24.95 ISBN: 0393048314 Date: 2000
LJ
Through intriguing clinical tales - both funny and profound - a master physician weaves brilliant insights into terrific tales of an evolutionary legacy that is all too human.
My War Gone By, I Miss It So
by Lloyd, Anthony
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly $ 25 ISBN: 0871137690 Date: 2000
Booklist PW Kirkus Library Journal
An extraordinary, personal look at modern war by a young correspondent who saw its horrors first hand in Bosnia.
Suggested Reading: All Stars | Former Yugoslavia
Boy With Loaded Gun: A Memoir
by Nordan, Lewis
Publisher: Algonquin $ 23.95 ISBN: 1565121996 Date: 2000
Library Journal
Itta Bena, Mississippi's, most famous son and one of the South's most respected writers, proves in his first work of nonfiction - a soul-baring autobiography - that truth is indeed stranger than fiction . . . even his fiction.
Suggested Reading: Memoir Stars
Mao: A Life
by Short, Philip
Publisher: Holt $ 35 ISBN:0805031154 Date: 2000
PW Kirkus
Short's masterful assessment - informed by secret documents recently found in China - provides an up-close look at this colossal figure whose shadow will dominate into the 21st century.
Change in the Weather: People, Weather, and the Science of Climate
by Stevens, William K.
Publisher: Dellacorte $ 24.95 ISBN: 0385320124 Date: 2000
PW Kirkus
An armchair scientist's glimpse into the science of climate, The Change in the Weather is an eye-opening and authoritative exploration of today's world and tomorrow's uncertainty.
Suggested Reading: Weather