Books like The big rich by Bryan Burrough

Between the World and Me is a memoir‑essay in letter form, where Ta‑Nehisi Coates addresses his teenage son about the history, violence, and ongoing reality of being Black in America.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks follows the story of Henrietta Lacks, a poor black tobacco farmer whose cancer cells were taken in 1951 without her consent and later became the first immortal human cell line, HeLa, driving major scientific breakthroughs while raising questions of ethics, race, and medical exploitation.

Ishmael Beah’s memoir chronicles his harrowing journey from a nine‑year‑old rebel fighter in Sierra Leone’s civil war to a survivor rehabilitated by UNICEF and later a storyteller traveling the United States.

Eyewitness account of the 1996 Mount Everest tragedy, detailing the climbers’ perilous ascent, descent, and the catastrophic events that shaped the deadliest season in the mountain’s history.

Walter Isaacson chronicles the minds that forged the digital age, from Ada Lovelace to Larry Page, showing how vision, collaboration, and engineering transformed abstract ideas into the computers, Internet, and technology we use today.

‘Barbarians at the Gate’ chronicles the record‑setting 1988 leveraged‑buyout of RJR Nabisco, revealing the tactics, personalities, and business dynamics that shaped a defining moment in American corporate history.

A candid, semi‑autobiographical look at 1980s Wall Street, following Michael Lewis from Princeton art history student to bond salesman at Salomon Brothers, exposing the culture of greed, humor, and intense competition that defined the era.

When Genius Failed chronicles the rise and spectacular collapse of Long‑Term Capital Management, a hedge fund built by former Salomon Brothers traders and academics who believed they could eliminate risk with limitless leverage.

Ruth Reichl’s memoir chronicles her life from a childhood shaped by food to her rise as a celebrated culinary writer, capturing the people and places that defined her passion for cooking and storytelling.

Oliver Sacks’s memoir traces his restless journey from teenage motorcycle adventures to early neurology practice, revealing how his passions for motion and the mind shaped a remarkable career as a physician and writer.

Inside the Cold War era, Ben Macintyre reveals the shocking double life of Kim Philby, MI6’s chief counter‑intelligence officer who betrayed his friend, Nicholas Elliott, and the West to Moscow.

The Accidental Billionaires tells how Harvard undergraduates Eduardo Saverin and Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook while chasing social status, transforming a campus project into a global social network and enduring friendship—and business—conflict.

Jordan Belfort’s memoir recounts his rise as the charismatic CEO of Stratton Oakmont, the 1990s brokerage that became a symbol of Wall Street excess, and his eventual downfall under SEC and FBI scrutiny.

A meticulously researched chronicle of Patty Hearst’s 1974 kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army and the ensuing legal and cultural storm, revealing the American media frenzy and the emergence of the term “Stockholm syndrome.”

A detailed, fact‑based account of the rise and fall of Enron, examining corporate misconduct and the impact on the U.S. energy market.

Mildred Kalish shares her childhood on an Iowa farm during the Great Depression, blending humor, family traditions, and practical lessons about farm life, recipes, and resilience.

Shooting Stars follows LeBron James and his childhood teammates on their journey from the streets of Akron, Ohio, to a national high‑school basketball championship, highlighting teamwork, perseverance, and the challenges of growing up in inner‑city America.

Socio‑researcher Sudhir Venkatesh infiltrates a Chicago crack‑dealing gang, documenting urban poverty and crime from within.

The first in-depth examination of how a lack of corporate responsibility and government oversight led to the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. On April 20, 2010, a series of explosions rocked Deepwater Horizon, the immense semisubmersible drilling platform leased by British Petroleum, located 40 miles off the Louisiana coast. The ensuing inferno claimed 11 lives and raged uncontained for two days, until its wreckage sank a mile beneath the waves. On the ocean floor, the unit's wellhead erupted. Over the next ten weeks, an estimated 200 million gallons of oil--the equivalent of 20 Exxon Valdez spills--spewed into the Gulf of Mexico, eventually lapping up on beaches as far away as Florida. Business journalist Loren Steffy--considered by many to be the writer with the best access to the story--presents the definitive account of this catastrophe and how BP's winner-take-all business culture made it all but inevitable.--From publisher description.

An insightful biography of Thomas Jefferson, placing him within America's history and exploring his legacy in the context of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment and the American Revolution.

The Frackers tells the non‑fiction story of how U.S. energy pioneers discovered natural‑gas reserves below the Appalachian basin and turned hydraulic fracturing into a global industry. It profiles the men behind the boom and examines its economic and political impact.