The New York Times Best Sellers - 24 August 2025 (Nonfiction)

The NYT Best Sellers - 24 August 2025 (Nonfiction)

01. COMING UP SHORT by Robert B. Reich
02. ON POWER by Mark R. Levin
03. ONE NATION ALWAYS UNDER GOD by Tim Scott
04. DISNEY ADULTS by AJ Wolfe
05. THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk
06. THE IDAHO FOUR by James Patterson
07. THE DEVIL REACHED TOWARD THE SKY by Garrett M. Graff
08. THE ANXIOUS GENERATION by Jonathan Haidt
09. KING OF KINGS by Scott Anderson
10. BLACK AF HISTORY by Michael Harriot
11. TONIGHT IN JUNGLELAND by Peter Ames Carlin
12. GHOSTS OF HIROSHIMA by Charles Pellegrino
13. BREAKING THE LAW by Alex Marlow
14. EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS by John Green
15. A CITY ON MARS by Kelly Weinersmith
New this week:

Coming Up Short is an intimate and reflective memoir by Robert B. Reich, the renowned political economist, former U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton, and bestselling author. Born in 1946 amid the optimism of postwar America, Reich uses his life story to explore how the nation's promise of equality and opportunity has eroded over decades due to rising inequality, corporate dominance, and political polarization. Standing at just 4'11" as an adult, Reich draws parallels between his childhood experiences with bullying and the larger "bullies" in American society—economic elites, demagogues, and systemic injustices—that he has fought throughout his career.

In One Nation Always Under God, New York Times bestselling author and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott asserts that Christianity has shaped every aspect of American life, from the Founding Fathers to contemporary heroes, influencing the legal system, education, healthcare, and social services. The book highlights how faith enabled individuals to overcome insurmountable odds, positioning it as the bedrock of the nation's greatness while critiquing efforts to remove God from public life. Scott draws on his own experiences, including the Mother Emanuel church massacre in his state, to emphasize themes of forgiveness, neighborly love, and objective truth rooted in biblical principles. Far from a mere history, it calls for reclaiming these values to foster unity and individual responsibility in a multicultural society.
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Disney Adults delves into the world of grown-up Disney enthusiasts who obsessively engage with the brand through parks, films, merchandise, and online communities, often without children, portraying them as a microcosm of modern America's search for magic and escape amid everyday stresses. Wolfe, a self-identified Disney Adult, draws from over a decade of running Disney Food Blog to unpack the subculture's history, from Walt Disney's vision of family-inclusive entertainment to today's digital fandom, while addressing criticisms like immaturity and consumerism. The book reveals surprising insights, such as how Disney Adults often criticize each other over hierarchies like annual pass ownership or merchandise reselling, transforming Wolfe's initial approach from defending against external mockery to exploring internal dynamics.

The Devil Reached Toward the Sky is an oral history by Garrett M. Graff that chronicles the development and deployment of the atomic bomb during World War II, drawing on firsthand accounts from scientists, military personnel, workers, and Japanese survivors to explore the scientific ingenuity, moral dilemmas, and devastating consequences of the Manhattan Project and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Published to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the bombings, the book traces the story from physicists fleeing Nazi Europe to the final missions of the Enola Gay and Bockscar, emphasizing how ordinary people grappled with extraordinary risks and choices that reshaped history.

King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution—A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation is a riveting narrative history by acclaimed author Scott Anderson, exploring the 1979 Iranian Revolution that overthrew Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and established Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic Republic. Anderson portrays the event as a cascade of avoidable errors and misjudgments by the Shah, his regime, and U.S. policymakers, framing it as one of the most pivotal upheavals of the modern era that foreshadowed the rise of religious nationalism worldwide. Drawing on extensive research, including declassified documents and interviews, the book highlights how oil wealth, repression, and foreign miscalculations fueled the revolution, leading to the U.S. hostage crisis and long-term geopolitical shifts.

Tonight in Jungleland explores the intense and often tortuous process behind the making of Born to Run, an album hailed as a masterpiece that propelled Springsteen to rock stardom. Carlin delves into Springsteen's struggles with self-doubt, record label conflicts, and band transitions during the critical years of 1974 and 1975. Drawing on fresh interviews with Springsteen, band members, producers like Jon Landau and Mike Appel, and archival material from Carlin's 2012 biography Bruce, the book provides unprecedented insight into the writing, recording, and emotional challenges of each song on the album, from "Thunder Road" to "Jungleland".

Ghosts of Hiroshima is a poignant, survivor-centered narrative by Charles Pellegrino, timed to the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Drawing on over 200 interviews with hibakusha (bomb survivors) and their families, as well as forensic archaeology and scientific analysis, the book reconstructs the human and physical devastation of the blasts, focusing on figures like Tsutomu Yamaguchi—the only person officially recognized as surviving both bombings—and Manhattan Project engineer Jacob Beser. Pellegrino interweaves ground-level accounts of the immediate horrors with long-term effects, such as radioactive fallout's impact on children and communities, emphasizing the blend of scientific ingenuity, fate, and tragedy that defined this pivotal moment in history.

Breaking the Law: Exposing the Weaponization of America's Legal System Against Donald Trump is the third book by Alex Marlow, editor-in-chief of Breitbart News and a two-time New York Times bestselling author known for Breaking the News and Breaking Biden. In this intensely researched work, Marlow examines how the political left has weaponized the U.S. legal system to advance its agendas, focusing on the legal cases against former President Donald Trump as prime examples of "lawfare." He argues that these actions threaten not only the conservative movement but the foundational concept of "law and order," portraying the legal system as a tool exploited by donors, activists, and entities to consolidate power.