Investigative Non-Fiction (Part 2)

#91

Hello yes Happy Sunday and I am thrilled, THRILLED I SAY, to legitimately tell you that this week’s theme is by request! Not one but TWO REAL LIFE READERS have requested this topic, which is investigative non-fiction PART DEUX.

…

OK. I’m sorry. I will stop yelling at you like I’m on speakerphone in my car with its 2008-era Bluetooth. I’m just so excited to A: deliver on actual feedback, which has the additional and happy advantage of me not having to think of a topic this week and 2: actually talk about this topic of investigative narrative non-fiction.

Part one of this topic was covered way back in my fourth newsletter when I merrily shared five or six books at a time like they were a never-ending renewable resource, like home-grown zucchini. I’m not totally sure how investigative non-fiction is fully distinguished from other non-fiction styles, but here’s what stands out for me:

• It’s often written by journalists, who know how to tell a GD story in a propulsive way

• It’s doggedly researched so often uncover or expose new information

• It’s usually driven by people and humans actors, rather than just synthesizing documents to provide a new lens on a topic. Which is also valuable! But for me, I prefer the person-driven focus.

Please leave your favorites in the comments so that I don’t have to keep hopefully Googling “great investigative non-fiction” right before every long flight.

---

Everyone I know loves Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI and I also liked it very much! As per the title, this is about a shocking scale of murders of members of the Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma, at a time when the Osage had outsized wealth due to oil on their lands. What’s so great about this book is that it not only exposes a series of crimes that have been mostly erased from public consciousness, but also lays it against the backdrop of systemic racism and white supremacy in the US government (from federal to local.)

It’s hard to lamb-rate crime books because … crime. I’ll do my best.

Two things turn I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer from “it’s fine” to “recommend”:

1. The constant presence of the author, an amateur sleuth who participates in online communities of cold-case crime solvers. In this case, the fact that she’s not a journalist, she’s not a detective, and she is obsessed, creates a unique and poignant way in. You really see the contrast in the chapters she doesn’t write.

2. The elements of “modern” crime-solving laid against the 70s-80s era crimes and original detective work about the serial rapist-turned-murderer. Things like DNA testing and online ancestry services, fully digitized files from all over, etc, create a fascinating new dialogue.

Warning: please heed all the trigger warnings. And if you’re me or someone like me, do not read this at night by yourself. Amongst the shiveriest, anxiety provoking crime books I’ve read.

Under the Banner of Heaven covers the development of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, the eventual formation of fundamentalist splinter groups, and a gruesome crime in a single community. What’s compelling is that takes a researched and thoughtful view of the subjects. It’s not “religion = bad” nor “new religions = cults” nor “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” bad-seed absolution of faith.

I ultimately found it slightly less narratively appealing than Krakauer’s other books which follow one person or one group, but pretty much everyone on Instagram disagrees and says this is his best. Anyway, it’s worth reading for sure.

Is Devil in the White City *actually* investigative non-fiction? I don’t know but I do know that this newsletter has gone several weeks without lavishing over Erik Larson (or Terry Gross, for that matter). So consider this a bonus reco, maybe.

This book binds the stories of the improbable making of the Chicago World’s Fair and its champion architect with the story of a serial killer in the shadow of the fair, and does so with all of Larson’s usual readability, impeccable research (like, virtually none of it including the dialogue is imagined) and gripping narrative. It starts a little slow, but about a third in it starts barreling along and there I was, staying up till 2 AM to finish a story about architecture and trade.

---

RIP Hilary Mantel

Her Wolf Hall trilogy is amongst my top recos, and every interview with her revealed her incisive thinking, deliberate and exacting word choices, and keen empathy. I was saddened to hear of her passing. Check them out if you never have (here’s why.)

---

One Extra Reco

For anyone going through a cancer experience with themselves or a loved one, a former colleague and current Substack writer this week talked about Radical Remission as not just the book, but the factor that made the most difference in her journey with advanced stage 4 colon cancer. Cancer diagnoses bring out the recommendations from everyone but maybe this is something for you and yours (read her thoughts.)

I’ll also say - even if you’re not going through a cancer journey, Gina’s Substack is absolutely worth subscribing to. Not just because her story is compelling (and it is), but she’s a Damn Fine Writer who renders her story vital, readable, funny and deeply, deeply human. Maybe check it out here.

---