The 2007 books we liked best: nonfiction

Of the nonfiction books reviewed in the Monitor this year, these received the top marks.

from the December 4, 2007 edition

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ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE: A YEAR OF FOOD LIFE,by Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver (HarperCollins, 370 pp., $26.95)

Novelist Barbara Kingsolver and her family spend a year eating only what was grown or produced within 10 miles of their home. (5/8/07)

LEGACY OF ASHES: A HISTORY OF THE CIA,by Tim Weiner (Doubleday, 702 pp., $27.95)

A 2007 National Book Award winner, this history of the US intelligence by journalist Tim Weiner is compelling, if uncomfortable, reading. (8/14/07)

INDIAN SUMMER,by Alex von Tunzelmann (Henry Holt and Co., 416 pp., $30)

History reads like a novel in this exploration of the key figures involved in the creation of the modern states of India and Pakistan. (8/14/07)

THE REST IS NOISE: LISTENING TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY,by Alex Ross (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 624 pp., $30)

The "chaotic beauty" of 20th-century music is lost on many. New Yorker writer Alex Ross hopes to change that with this insightful piece of analysis. (10/23/07)

GOD'S HARVARD,by Hanna Rosin (Harcourt, 296 pp., $25)

Washington Post reporter Hanna Rosin profiles Patrick Henry College, the school that aims to be the Harvard of the evangelical world. (9/11/07)

GOMORRAH,by Robert Saviano (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 320 pp., $25)

Italian journalist Robert Saviano takes readers on an eye-popping tour of La Camorra, the ruthless crime network headquartered in Naples. (11/6/07)

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