Description
Join the Backstory non-fiction book club!
Each month, we read a different non-fiction book. A paperback copy of the book will be sent out about a month in advance, giving you plenty of time to read them.
Then we will all join the author on Zoom to discuss the book. It's a bit like any other book club, with the added advantage of quizzing the author herself.
Recent authors have included Patrick Radden Keefe, Sathnam Sanghera, Katherine Rundell, Sam Knight, Andrea Elliott, Lea Ypi, Cal Flyn and Barbara Demick.
UPCOMING MEETINGS
We meet monthly, usually on Tuesday evenings (UK time). More events will be added soon.
SEPTEMBER - Ian Dunt, How Westminster Works
Tuesday 24th September, 8pm UK time
Why do some prime ministers manage to get things done, while others miserably fail? What is a 'special adviser' and how did they take over British political life? And why is the House of Lords more functional than most people think? Most of us have a sense that our political system doesn't seem to work, but struggle to articulate exactly why. And for good reason: our political and financial institutions are cloaked in secrecy, archaic terminology, ancient custom and impenetrable jargon. Now, expert political journalist Ian Dunt is lifting the lid on British politics to expose every aspect of the setup in a way that can be understood and challenged.
From Downing Street to Whitehall, the Commons to the Lords, this book is an indispensable guide to our political system - and how we might begin to fix it.
OCTOBER – John Vaillant, Fire Weather
Tuesday 29th October, 8pm UK time
Winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2023. In 2016, a Canadian oil town was overrun by wildfire, turning neighbourhoods into firebombs and driving 90,000 people from their homes. Through the gripping story of this conflagration, John Vaillant explores our relationship with fire, an energy source that has been our partner in evolution for hundreds of millennia, shaping our culture and civilization. Now, in our age of intensifying climate change, its destructive power has been unleashed in ways previously unimaginable. Fire Weather is an account of this century's most intense urban fire, and an urgent examination of humanity's future in an ever-hotter, more flammable world.
NOVEMBER – John Lewis-Stempel, La Vie
Tuesday 26th November, 8pm UK time
'Britain's finest living nature writer' takes the plunge and buys an old farmhouse deep in the French countryside. He wanted to be self-sufficient, to make his own wine and learn the secrets of truffle farming. And so, buying an old honey-coloured limestone house with bright blue shutters, the Lewis-Stempels began their new life as peasant farmers.
‘DECEMBER’ – Nathan Thrall, A Day in the Life of Abed Salama
Tuesday 7th January 2025, 8pm UK time
Winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize. A gripping, intimate story of one heartbreaking day in Palestine that reveals lives, loves, enmities, and histories in violent collision. A Day in the Life of Abed Salama is a deeply immersive, detailed portrait of life in Israel and Palestine, and an illumination of the reality of one of the most contested places on earth.
JANUARY – Claire Dederer, Monsters
Tuesday 28th January 2025, 8pm UK time
Picasso beat his partners. Wagner was deeply antisemitic. Bowie slept with an underage fan. But many of us still love Guernica and the Ring cycle and Ziggy Stardust. What are we to do with that love? How are we, as fans, to reckon with the choices of the artists whose work sustains us? Smart and insightful, Monsters is an attempt to understand our relationship with art and the artist.
FEBRUARY – Elena Kostyuchenko, I Love Russia
Tuesday 25th February, 8pm UK time
To be a journalist is to tell the truth. To be patriotic is to be critical, honest, and fearless. I Love Russia takes us to places that non-Russians have never seen and brings us voices we have never heard. It is Elena Kostyuchenko’s courageous attempt to document Russia as experienced by those whom it systematically and brutally erases: village girls recruited into sex work, queer people in the outer provinces, patients and doctors at a Ukrainian maternity ward, and reporters like herself. At once uncompromising and deeply humane, it stitches reportage and personal essays into a kaleidoscopic, often other-worldly journey.
MARCH – Robert Peckham, Fear
Tuesday 25th March, 8pm UK time
Fear has long been a driving force - perhaps the driving force - of world history: a coercive tool of power and a catalyst for radical change. Here, Robert Peckham traces its transformative role over a millennium, from fears of famine and war to anxieties over God, disease, technology and financial crises. In a landmark global history that ranges from the Black Death to the terror of the French Revolution, the AIDS pandemic to climate change, Peckham reveals how fear made us who we are, and how understanding it can equip us to face the future.
THE FORMAT
We met for a 60-minute Zoom each month, with roughly:
- 20 minutes discussing the book in small breakout groups, to replicate the feel of a traditional book group
- 20 minutes author interview by Tom or another member of the Backstory team
- 20 minutes Q&A with the author
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Why can't I see the Zoom link in my email inbox?
Our emails to Hotmail, Microsoft and Btinternet accounts are often sent to 'junk' or 'spam' folders. We are working on a fix. In the meantime, please use an alternative email if you have one. If not, please check your junk folder!
What does the price include?
A paperback copy of the book and attendance at the book club event with the author of the book.
How much is delivery?
Local members can pick up the book for free each month from our shop in Balham. Just choose the 'pick up' option.
UK delivery is free, EU delivery is £6.95 a month and rest-of-world delivery is £9.95 a month.
When will I get my book?
Books are normally sent out about four weeks in advance of each meeting. If you subscribe closer to the meeting, your book will be sent out ASAP.
What if I just want to come to one meeting?
You can! Just choose the option for that meeting only, rather than buying a subscription. You can only make one-off purchases for the next meeting, so if you want to come to a future meeting, check back a month beforehand to book.
How long does my subscription last?
You can cancel anytime. Books are sent out a month in advance of the meeting; we cannot cancel a book that is already on its way, but will stop any subsequent books.
What if I've already got the book?
If you wouldn't like a second copy yourself, please feel free to give it to a friend or family member, or donate it to charity. Whatever you choose, you are still welcome to come to the discussion, of course. Unfortunately, it isn't possible to cancel individual copies as the administration would get far too complicated! We hope you understand.
What if I'm already a member of the fiction book club?
We are giving fiction book club members the option to join any one-off non-fiction book club session for just £5 (without the book) or for the price of the book (if you would like a copy). Just email us your request at books@backstory.london
The same arrangement applies for our non-fiction book club members looking to join one-off sessions of the fiction club.
I have another question
Please feel free to email books@backstory.london