Nonfiction Books

Machu Picchu has become the symbol of Peru, but this symbol has never been straightforward. Mark Rice recommends five books that give the full picture of the iconic site: from the record by its 'discoverer,' to the views of Pablo Neruda and Che Guevara, right through to the latest archaeological and historical works.

More books are ghostwritten than you might imagine—and if it’s done well, you’d never know. Ghostwriter Joshua Lisec explains how it works and selects five standout examples, from Alexandre Dumas to Donald Trump.

Stonehenge does not stand alone: it is surrounded by earlier monuments, it was built alongside a settlement and other sites, and it presides over graves and shrines from people who lived centuries and even millennia later. In modern history, it has inspired a Druidry movement, hosted a military airbase, drawn festival crowds and seen police brutality. Susan Greaney pulls out five books that tell the many stories of Stonehenge, the astonishing monument that continues to surprise us with each new excavation.

Now in its 70th year, the Duff Cooper Prize is awarded annually for an outstanding work of nonfiction that combines originality, rigour and a strong narrative drive—the kind of book that "general readers of serious nonfiction crave," explains Andrew Holgate, former literary editor of the Sunday Times and one of this year's judges. He talks us through the brilliant books that made the 2026 shortlist, from a fresh and revealing take on the defeat of Hitler to the politics of wolves in contemporary Europe.

It’s a golden age for nonfiction, with books on a range of important topics written in an accessible way. As 2025 draws to a close, Five Books editor Sophie Roell takes us through some of the books that won prestigious nonfiction book prizes this year, and what they can tell us about the world we live in.

While often associated with populism and economic dissatisfaction, the success of the MAGA movement in the United States is also rooted in a distinctive set of ideas about culture, identity, authority, and national renewal. Political theorist Laura Field recommends five books that explore the movement's intellectual challenge to liberal democracy, from the work of Carl Schmitt in 1930s Germany to cultural shifts in evangelical Christianity today.

With hindsight, it seems inevitable that the Allies would eventually defeat the Axis powers in World War II, but at the time it seemed anything but. Tim Bouverie, author of the prize-winning Allies at War: The Politics of Defeating Hitler, talks us through some of the best nonfiction books about the war and the alliances that led to Allied victory.

Addiction is fundamentally a multi-faceted phenomenon, says addiction psychiatrist and author Carl Erik Fisher. He recommends five books that shine light on different aspects of addiction, and talks to us about how society repeats itself – but how, at the community and individual level, there is wisdom and hope.

The books shortlisted for the 2026 Orwell Prizes, the UK's most prestigious awards for writing about politics, have been announced. "As judges, we returned again and again to what George Orwell means to us: clarity of prose and unflinching intellectual bravery," said Rohan Silva, chair of the judges for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing, awarded annually for a nonfiction book. We've listed the brilliant books they chose below, from Cold War betrayals and the partition of India to the conflicts still going on in the world today.  

Remote and romanticised, Easter Island – or Rapa Nui – has often been misportrayed as a mysterious site of ecocidal ruin. Terry Hunt chooses five books that paint a truer picture of the island’s history, from the accounts of early voyages to the pressures of joining the modern world. The tale that emerges is one of ingenuity, resilience, and mighty 'statues that walked' – as well as a lot of rats.