This is a selection from the Globe & Mail's 100 best-reviewed titles of 2011 - Non-Fiction

For the complete list, go to this link - the non-fiction starts about half way down the page.
Excerpts from the Globe & Mail reviews appear below each title.

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The End: The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler’s Germany, 1944-1945 by Ian Kershaw

In this remarkable book, Kershaw (author of a definitive biography of Hitler) tells the story of the mass murder and homicidal suicide of the Third Reich in its final days with a mastery of detail so compelling that I could not put it down. A magnificent account of the “twilight of the Nazi gods.” – Jonathan Steinberg

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Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean

Orlean gives us an extraordinary narrative about the careers of the many Rin Tin Tins and the man who “discovered” the canine silent film star. Deeper, larger issues are brought to bear as well: our need for creating permanence; the promise of friendship and how we find completion; our abiding wish to be remembered. – M.A.C. Farrant

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Blue Nights by Joan Didion

This book about the death of Didion’s daughter, Quintana, is heartbreaking in part because it is somewhat jumbled. The shards of memory, shimmering as they are, do not finally fit together, quite. Instead, in its elliptical, kinetic way, the book offers something braver than coherence: a raw and rare integrity that resists resolution. – Leah Hager Cohen

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Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Economic rationality, psychologist Kahneman argues in his brilliant work on how we make choices, is all about coherence and logical consistency. This is a magisterial work, stunning in its ambition, infused with knowledge, laced with wisdom, informed by modesty and deeply humane. If you can read only one book this year, read this one. – Janice Gross Stein

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DarkMarket: Cyberthieves, Cybercops and You by Misha Glenny

British writer Glenny’s history of how cyber-crime went from the domain of lone-wolf hackers to a highly organized criminal underworld is entertaining, well written and any number of insightful diagnoses, such as the competitions between hackers, or the reasons why law-enforcement agencies have such difficulty working together. – Jeffrey Hunker

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When the Gods Changed: The Death of Liberal Canada by Peter C. Newman

The end of the Liberals and the rise and fall of Michael Ignatieff animate this important, timely and engaging book, the first to look at the 2011 election, probably a watershed in our history. Few do substantive, long-form journalism like this any more, and no one does it with octogenarian Newman’s eye, ear and ego. – Andrew Cohen
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