Bookshelf: 5 nonfiction books we can’t wait to read in 2026
The new year promises a choice selection of weighty books to read on topics ranging from professional wrestling and masculinity to slavery and the voting process. Here are five nonfiction titles the AJC recommends you add to your future reading list.
“Rough House”
Subtitled “A Father, a Son and the Pursuit of Pro Wrestling Glory,” “Rough House” is a literary but fact-based account of a young Georgia man’s journey to achieve his dream of a career in the “sports entertainment” world of wrestling, and the struggle of a father who wants more for his son. Journalist Alison Lyn Miller, a Hartwell native now living in Athens, spent five years conducting interviews and observing Hunter James as he trained and broke into the industry.
Tommy Tomlinson, author of “Dogland” and “The Elephant in the Room” writes, “Alison Lyn Miller gets up close to show how the deepest struggles of family and identity can play out even under the dim lights of a dilapidated Georgia gym. You might not know the wrestlers in Miller’s book, but when you finish ‘Rough House,’ you’ll know their hearts.” (W.W. Norton, Jan. 20)
“In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man”
Atlanta writer Tom Junod has built a successful career as a staff writer for Esquire, GQ and ESPN magazine, where he’s currently a senior writer. His work has won two National Magazine Awards, a James Beard Award and an Emmy. The film “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” starring Tom Hanks, was based on an article Junod wrote about his friendship with Fred Rogers of “Mr. Rogers” fame. Now comes Junod’s long-awaited memoir about his relationship with his bigger-than-life father who had strong, questionable opinions about what characteristics constitute a man. “The Orchid Thief” author Susan Orleans called it “deep and brooding, a beautifully rendered portrait of family, masculinity and what it means to find your own way in the world.” (Doubleday, March 10)
“Ballot”
Anjali Enjeti — author of the historical novel “The Parted Earth” and the essay collection “Southbound” — uses her experience as an activist, poll worker and electoral organizer to examine the current state of voting, as well as its history, its challenges and its future. Among the issues the Atlanta author and occasional contributor to the AJC explores are voter suppression bills, redrawn district lines and challenges for voters in battleground states. “Ballot” is part of Bloomsbury’s Object Lessons series about the “hidden lives of ordinary things.” (Bloomsbury, Feb. 5)
“In the Shadow of the Great House”
Daniel Rood, associate professor of history at the University of Georgia, examines the history of the plantation, starting with its roots in the Caribbean during the 1500s and through its proliferation across the South in the 19th century. He also explores the plantation system’s influence on the American workforce, spanning from post-Civil War sharecropping practices to modern-day poultry processing plants. (W.W. North, March 17)
“On Witness & Respair”
Respair is an obsolete word meaning recovery from despair, and it’s a fitting part of the title of Jesmyn Ward’s new essay collection that pays tribute to the power of hope, beauty and resilience. Among the subjects the two-time National Book Award winner from Mississippi explores are favorite authors Octavia Butler, Richard Wright and Toni Morrison; the challenges of raising a Black son in an era of great divisiveness; and coping with the sudden death of her partner on the eve of the coronavirus pandemic. (Scribner, May 19)
Suzanne Van Atten is a book critic and contributing editor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She may be reached at Suzanne.VanAtten@ajc.com.
