Nonfiction Books

The Pulitzer Prize for Biography is awarded annually to "a distinguished and appropriately documented" biography by an author from or based in the United States. The authors of winning books receive $15,000, and join a starry pantheon of great American writers. Here, we've put together a summary of all the Pulitzer-winning biographies since the turn of the millennium.

It's a golden age for historical writing, as well-researched and sometimes quite specialist books by historians are written in an engaging style for a broad audience. History books out in recent months range from ancient Assyria to the CIA in the 21st century.

The nonfiction book prizes we cover at Five Books are a great way to keep up with books on important subjects that are written in an accessible and engaging way. We keep an eye on prizes in a range of nonfiction genres—including history, politics, business, science, sports and general nonfiction.

Earlier this month, the winners of the  2025 Pulitzer Prizes, awarded annually by Columbia University in New York and founded by Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911), were announced. The prizes are awarded for a variety of categories across journalism, but also celebrate outstanding books. Below we've listed all the books that won in nonfiction book categories (James by Percival Everett won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction).

British author Kate Summerscale has mastered the art of writing historical nonfiction books that are real page-turners. Here, she shares some of her own favorites, from the murder of a family in 1959 Kansas to the tragedy of Japan after the 2011 tsunami.

"All the best stories are true" runs the tagline of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, the UK's pre-eminent nonfiction book award. This year, to celebrate the prize's 25th birthday, a panel of judges picked out books for a winner of winners award, making for an excellent collection of nonfiction books from the last quarter of a century, as Five Books editor Sophie Roell explains.

Every year, the judges for the Royal Society Book Prize search for the most informative and most readable new books on scientific subjects. In 2025, their shortlist of the best popular science books includes a history of extinction in the colonial world, and the heartrending story of the struggle to save the world's first seed bank during the Siege of Leningrad. We spoke to the botanist Dr Sandra Knapp, chair of the judging panel.

From the death of Stalin and the career of Putin's chef to shaministic rituals on the Indonesian island of Siberut, Five Books editor Sophie Roell gives an overview of some of the excellent new nonfiction books that have appeared since April.

A solid sleep schedule is the bedrock of a healthy lifestyle. But a surprising number of people either struggle to maintain a good routine, or to stay asleep once they finally manage to drift away. We've gathered together a list of recommended books for anyone out there ready to get serious about sleep.

Philosophy books, at their best, open the door to thinking about how to live our lives and interact with the world around us. Fortunately, the past decade has seen many popular philosophy books published that are highly readable. Some (e.g., books on Stoicism) verge on self-help, others on how to help others. Some introduce the thought of a particular philosopher, others on the skills philosophy teaches, like critical thinking.