What a great list! I remember the time I took to study for my prelims as a very rewarding time to synthesize what had until then been a lot of disparate coursework and reading. I always encourage doctoral students to look on this period as one of enrichment and synthesis, not just a rite of passage.
I have only read 15 of these - my historical reading tends more towards Charles Darwin - but this is a great guide to books I could add to my reading list.
I was especially pleased to see John McPhee and Susan Orlean (Wordy Bird on Substack) on the list. I have been a New Yorker reader since I was a child, and always read the nonfiction essays (except sports), beginning with Berton Roueché's Annals of Medicine. I was attracted to McPhee's essays for the magazine beginning when I was 13 with his first pieces and have read all of his books. His Draft No. 4 is on my writing desk. I think of Susan Orlean as part of a wonderful succession of narrative nonfiction writers for the New Yorker. I have, as a result, always thought of the New Yorker as a foundation of narrative nonfiction. I still subscribe.
Thank you for sharing all this richness, River! Like the generosity of a river system in late springtime ...
❤️
Thank you so much!
What a great list! I remember the time I took to study for my prelims as a very rewarding time to synthesize what had until then been a lot of disparate coursework and reading. I always encourage doctoral students to look on this period as one of enrichment and synthesis, not just a rite of passage.
I have only read 15 of these - my historical reading tends more towards Charles Darwin - but this is a great guide to books I could add to my reading list.
I was especially pleased to see John McPhee and Susan Orlean (Wordy Bird on Substack) on the list. I have been a New Yorker reader since I was a child, and always read the nonfiction essays (except sports), beginning with Berton Roueché's Annals of Medicine. I was attracted to McPhee's essays for the magazine beginning when I was 13 with his first pieces and have read all of his books. His Draft No. 4 is on my writing desk. I think of Susan Orlean as part of a wonderful succession of narrative nonfiction writers for the New Yorker. I have, as a result, always thought of the New Yorker as a foundation of narrative nonfiction. I still subscribe.