A Review of Two Must-Read Non-Fiction Books

Reading nonfiction books has a lot of benefits; one of the most important of these benefits is that it widens your knowledge of the things happening around you and the world in general. There are many nonfiction books you can read to tap from this benefit. However, some are much more influential and critically acclaimed due to the significance and impact of their content. One such book is Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation: The dark side of the All-American Meal.

Published by Houghton Mifflin in 2001, the book explores all the activities involved in the fast-food industry, mainly focusing on several shortcomings. After reading Schlosser’s article on migrants, the renowned magazine Rolling Stone contacted him to write an article about the American fast food industry. It took Schlosser almost three years to complete his research on the industry.

During the research, he examined the slaughterhouses, packing plants, minimum wage workers that prepare meals, and the television commercials that try to persuade children to eat these fast foods. In this long and in-depth research, he was appalled by many practices he saw, thus the book, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side Of the All-American Meal.

The book has two sections: “The American Way” “and Meat and Potatoes.” The Former looks at the history of the fast-food industry in America, focusing on its beginning after world war II. It begins with a discussion of the roles of American fast-food pioneers McDonald brothers and Carl N Karcher. The section also examines the complicated ways fast-food outlets advertise to children and the low level of minimum wage fast-food outlets pay their employees compared to other industries.

The latter section of the book primarily focuses on the mechanisms of the industry, especially in the modern context. It discusses the different chemical substances outlets use as part of recipes to make their food taste good. The Meat and Potatoes section also looks at the meatpacking industry, which Schlosser described as the most dangerous job in America. Schlosser also examines the chances of spreading viruses through the hazardous methods used in raising, slaughtering, and processing cattle.

Another top book you can read as a nonfiction lover is Anne Applebaum’s Gulag: A History. The book, published by Doubleday in 2003, won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction and other significant awards and nominations, including the Duff Cooper Prize, the National Book Critics Circle prize, and the National Book Award.

The book explores the history of the Gulag (a group of Soviet concentration camps used to hold millions of prisoners), from its origins during the Russian Revolution under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin through massive expansion under Joseph Stalin during the Second World War, its final collapse in the 1980s.

Applebaum provides a detailed account of what life was like in the camp. She details the daily life of inmates, including their arrest, interrogations, trial, death, and the circumstances of their death. She also provides insight into the harsh living and working conditions and explains how the camps’ disease and starvation were pervasive.

Also featured are examining the guards and jailers, the impact of World War II, prisoners’ attempts to escape, and the series of rebellions that occurred in the 1950s. Applebaum also includes diaries from the archives of several soviet camp survivors in the book.