Narrative Library



Collections of Narrative Nonfiction

  • Notes of a Native Son  |  PREVIEW

    Baldwin, James. Beacon Press 1984 (originally published in 1955)

  • We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live: Collected Non-fiction  |  PREVIEW

    Didion, Joan. Everyman’s Library 2006

  • The Heart That Bleeds: Latin America Now  |  PREVIEW

    Guillermoprieto, Alma. Vintage 1995 (originally published in 1994)

  • Talk Stories  |  PREVIEW

    Kincaid, Jamaica, with foreword by Ian Frazier. Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2002 (originally published in 2001)

  • The Sweet Science  |  PREVIEW

    Liebling, A.J. North Point Press 2004 (originally published in 1956)

  • The John McPhee Reader  |  PREVIEW

    McPhee, John, and ed. William L. Howarth. Farrar, Straus and Giroux 1982

  • Fame and Obscurity  |  PREVIEW

    Talese, Gay. Ivy Books 1995 (originally published in 1970)



Anthologies of Narrative Nonfiction

  • The Best American Magazine Writing  |  PREVIEW

    American Society of Magazine Editors, eds. Columbia University Press annual series

  • Pulitzer Prize Feature Stories: America’s Best writing 1979-2003  |  PREVIEW

    Garlock, David, editor. Wiley-Blackwell 2003

  • The Art of Fact: A Historical Anthology of Literary Journalism  |  PREVIEW

    Kerrane, Kevin and Ben Yagoda. Scribner 1998 (originally published in 1997)

  • The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present  |  PREVIEW

    Lopate, Phillip, ed. Anchor 1997 (originally published in 1994)

  • The Princeton Anthology of Writing  |  PREVIEW

    McPhee, John and Carol Rigolot, eds. Princeton University Press 2001

  • Best American Essays of the Century  |  PREVIEW

    Oates, Joyce Carol and Robert Atwan, eds. The Houghton Mifflin 2001 (originally published in 2000)

  • Best Newspaper Writing  |  PREVIEW

    Poynter Institute, eds. CQ Press annual series

  • New York Stories: Landmark Writing from Four Decades of New York Magazine  |  PREVIEW

    Wolfe, Tom, and editors of New York Magazine, eds.. Random House 2008



Book-Length Works of Narrative Nonfiction

  • Black Man’s America  |  PREVIEW

    Booker, Simeon. Prentice Hall, out of print (originally published in 1964)

  • In Cold Blood  |  PREVIEW

    Capote, Truman. Vintage 1994 (first published in 1966)

  • The Years of Lyndon Johnson  |  PREVIEW

    Caro, Robert. Alfred A. Knopf, three volumes to date (first volume originally published in 1982)

  • Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

    Douglass, Frederick. Available online at www.gutenberg.org/etext/23 (originally published in 1845)

  • The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures  |  PREVIEW

    Fadiman, Anne. Farrar, Straus and Giroux 1998 (originally published in 1997)

  • We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda  |  PREVIEW

    Gourevitch, Philip. Picador 1999 (originally published in 1998)

  • The Best and the Brightest  |  PREVIEW

    Halberstam, David. Ballantine 1993 (originally published in 1972)

  • Death in the Afternoon  |  PREVIEW

    Hemingway, Ernest. Scribner 1996 (originally published in 1932)

  • Hiroshima  |  PREVIEW

    Hersey, John. Vintage 1989 (originally published in 1946)

  • King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa  |  PREVIEW

    Hochschild, Adam. Houghton Mifflin 1999 (originally published in 1998)

  • The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding  |  PREVIEW

    Hughes, Robert. Vintage 1988 (originally published in 1987)

  • The Soul of a New Machine  |  PREVIEW

    Kidder, Tracy. Bay Back Books 2000 (originally published in 1981)

  • Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx  |  PREVIEW

    LeBlanc, Adrian. Scribner 2004 (originally published in 2003)

  • Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game  |  PREVIEW

    Lewis, Michael. W.W. Norton & Co. 2004 (originally published in 2003)

  • The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music  |  PREVIEW

    Lopez, Steve. Putnam Adult 2008

  • Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail  |  PREVIEW

    Martinez, Ruben. Picador USA 2002 (originally published in 2001)

  • Speak, Memory  |  PREVIEW

    Nabokov, Vladimir. Vintage 1989 (originally published in 1966)

  • The Orchid Thief  |  PREVIEW

    Orlean, Susan. Ballantine Books 2000 (originally published in 1999)

  • Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water  |  PREVIEW

    Reisner, Marc. Penguin 1993 (originally published in 1986)

  • The Making of the Atomic Bomb  |  PREVIEW

    Rhodes, Richard. Simon & Schuster 1995 (originally published in 1986)

  • Gulag Archipelago  |  PREVIEW

    Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr. Harper Perennial Modern Classics 2007 (full version originally published in 1989)

  • Remembering Denny  |  PREVIEW

    Trillin, Calvin, with foreword by John Gregory Dunne. Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2005 (originally published in 1993)

  • The Guns of August  |  PREVIEW

    Tuchman, Barbara. Presidio Press 2004 (originally published in 1962)

  • Black Lamb and Grey Falcon  |  PREVIEW

    West, Rebecca. Penguin Classics 2007 (originally published in 1941)

  • The Right Stuff  |  PREVIEW

    Wolfe, Tom. Picador 2008 (originally published in 1979)



The Art of Writing

  • The Writing Life  |  PREVIEW

    Dillard, Annie. Perennial (1990)

  • Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within  |  PREVIEW

    Goldberg, Natalie. Shambala Books (1986)

  • On Writing  |  PREVIEW

    King, Stephen. Scribner (2002)

  • Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life  |  PREVIEW

    Lamott, Anne. Anchor Books (1995)

  • Writers on Writing: Collected Essays from The New York Times  |  PREVIEW

    The New York Times, and Darnton, John (introduction). New York Times (2002)



Basic Skills: Storytelling and Style

  • The Art and Craft of Feature Writing  |  PREVIEW

    Blundell, William E. Plume (1988)

  • Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft  |  PREVIEW

    Burroway, Janet. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Fifth edition (1999)

  • Writing Creative Nonfiction  |  PREVIEW

    Forche, Carolyn and Philip Gerard, eds. Story Press (2001)

  • Writing for Story  |  PREVIEW

    Franklin, Jon. Plume, Reprint edition (1994)

  • The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers  |  PREVIEW

    Gardner, John. Vintage, Reissue edition (1991)

  • Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose  |  PREVIEW

    Hale, Constance. Broadway (1999)

  • Steering the Craft: Exercises and Discussions on Story Writing for the Lone Navigator or the Mutinous Crew  |  PREVIEW

    LeGuin, Ursula. Eighth Mountain Press (1998)

  • Woe is I  |  PREVIEW

    O'Conner, Patricia T. Riverhead Books, Expanded edition (2003)

  • Follow the Story: How to Write Successful Nonfiction  |  PREVIEW

    Stewart, James B. Simon & Schuster (1998)

  • Elements of Style  |  PREVIEW

    Strunk Jr., William and E. B. White. Pearson Higher Education, Fourth edition (1999)

  • The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers and Screenwriters  |  PREVIEW

    Vogler, Christopher. Michael Wiese Productions (1999)

  • On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction  |  PREVIEW

    Zinsser, William. HarperResource (2001)