On April 29, 1986, a fire consumed part of the Los Angeles Public Library, destroying four hundred thousand books and damaging seven hundred thousand more. All these years later, it remained a mystery as to whether someone purposefully set the fire and, if so, who did it. Staff reporter for the New Yorker Susan Orlean puts her considerable talent toward unearthing the culprit, while also providing a deep dive into libraries and librarianship. It’s as much a love letter to books and the institutions that provide access to them as it is an account of arson and LA history.

From the publisher: "Between the world wars, no sport was more popular, or more dangerous, than airplane racing. The pilots themselves were hailed as dashing heroes who cheerfully stared death in the face. Fly Girls recounts how a cadre of women banded together to break the original glass ceiling: the entrenched prejudice that conspired to keep them out of the sky. O'Brien weaves together the stories of five remarkable women: Florence Klingensmith, a high school dropout who worked for a dry cleaner in Fargo, North Dakota; Ruth Elder, an Alabama divorcee; Amelia Earhart, the most famous, but not necessarily the most skilled; Ruth Nichols, who chafed at the constraints of her blue blood family's expectations; and Louise Thaden, the mother of two young kids who got her start selling coal in Wichita. Together, they fought for the chance to race against the men - and in 1936 one of them would triumph in the toughest race of all."

This is a fascinating deep-dive into the unbelievable history of Wonder Woman, an iconic superhero whose origins are completely bonkers. A complicated family story lies beneath the history of the famous comic book character, and it all starts with the invention of the lie-detector machine. I don't want to give away any more than that—just know that the surprising backstory is full of twists, turns, and shocking connections across history and culture. Lepore's reporting is engaging and detailed.

An in-depth account of the devastating Chernobyl disaster, and its reverberating effects. Higginbotham combines piles of research with interviews and firsthand accounts in this compulsively readable report. Starting at the beginning, in the nuclear power plant control room, the reader follows the tragedy from early mistakes, to government lies, to worldwide disaster response. The political, social, and scientific implications of this event are fascinating and terrifying. This is a must-read for any history-lover or nonfiction fan.

"She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her." The spy in question? Virginia Hall, an American socialite and secret operative for the Allies. She worked her way onto Churchill’s exclusive “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” and completed missions behind enemy lines, as a woman - with a prosthetic leg. She set up spy networks, escaped death more than once, and saved countless lives. This extraordinary account of her exploits is a must-read for fans of The Alice Network.