The Nonfiction Files 10: The Best Nonfiction of 2025

This year I’ve read 48 nonfiction books that published in 20251. I have DNF’d at least 20 more2. And today I’m thrilled to share my nine favorite 2025 nonfiction books. For those wondering, I will still be sharing my best books of 2025 list on IG later this month, along with the best books of 2025 episode with and MJ Franklin on the podcast, and my ranking of every book I read this year exclusive to paid subs here at Unstacked. So there is plenty more “best of” content coming your way, but you know I had to give nonfiction its own shining moment.

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Before we get to my top nine, I wanted to close the loop on something I started back in June. My Nonfiction Matrix! It’s a visual way to think and talk about nonfiction books. Check out the full piece from June to get the full picture.

Here is my June edition.

And here is my follow-up of all the 2025 nonfiction I read in the second half of the year. Below the image follows a list of the books pictured, in order of my reading them. Any books in bold come recommended by me.

• Authority: Essays by Andrea Long Chu

• Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream by Megan Greenwell

• A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children by Haley Cohen Gilliland

• The Pacific Circuit: A Globalized Account of the Battle for the Soul of an American City by Alexis Madrigal

• Black Genius: Essays on an American Legacy by Tre Johnson

• Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: From China to America, a True Story of Abduction, Adoption, and Separated Twins by Barbara Demick

• The People’s Project: Poems, Essays, and Art for Looking Forward by Saeed Jones and Maggie Smith

• Rehab: An American Scandal by Shoshana Walter

• The Gods of New York: Egotists, Idealists, Opportunists, and the Birth of the Modern City: 1986-1990 by Jonathan Mahler

• Both/And: Essays by Trans and Gender-Nonconforming Writers