_A fellow historian wrote asking for a textbook on historical nonfiction writing. I feel that each book is inadequate on its own, so I prefer to compile my own reader. But here are some of the books I use in teaching literary nonfiction to history students._ ### Possible textbooks Aaron Sachs and John Demos, _Artful History: A Practical Anthology_ (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2020). Stephen J. Pyne, _Voice and Vision: A Guide to Writing History and Other Serious Nonfiction_ (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2011). Phillip Lopate, _To Show and to Tell: The Craft of Literary Nonfiction_ (New York: Free Press, 2013). ### Writing devices and practices Amitava Kumar, _Every Day I Write the Book: Notes on Style_ (Durham: Duke University Press, 2020). Roy Peter Clark, _Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer_ (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008). Vivian Gornick, _The Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative_ (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002). Anne Lamott, _Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life_ (New York: Anchor, 1995) ### Journalists' reflections on writing Mark Kramer and Wendy Call, eds., _Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers’ Guide from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University_ (New York: Plume, 2007). Robert Boynton, _The New New Journalism: Conversations with America’s Best Nonfiction Writers on Their Craft_ (New York: Vintage, 2005). ### Writing and Antiracism (fiction and memoir) Matthew Salesses, _Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping_ (New York: Catapult, 2021). Junot Díaz et al., _Dismantle: An Anthology of Writing from the VONA/Voices Writing Workshop_ (Philadelphia, PA: Thread Makes Blanket Press, 2014). David Mura, _A Stranger’s Journey: Race, Identity, and Narrative Craft in Writing_ (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2018). Felicia Rose Chavez, _The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How To Decolonize the Creative Classroom_ (Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2021). ### Book writing and publishing advice from editors and writers (I don't teach these to students but found helpful for myself) Susan Rabiner and Alfred Fortunato, _Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction and Get It Published_ (New York: W. W. Norton, 2003). Peter Ginna, _What Editors Do: The Art, Craft, and Business of Book Editing_ (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2017). Marcus Rediker, “Publishing Tips from a Historian,” _H-Net_, April 13, 2022, [https://networks.h-net.org/node/1883/discussions/10109718/publishing-tips-historian](https://networks.h-net.org/node/1883/discussions/10109718/publishing-tips-historian).