There are many ways to measure the success of non-fiction books, such as sales, awards, reviews, or cultural impact. Based on the search results Bing Chat found, here are some possible candidates for the bestselling authors of non-fiction books published over the past 10 years:
- Isabel Wilkerson, wrote The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration (2010) and Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents (2020), both of which won multiple prizes and were praised by critics and readers alike¹.
- Siddhartha Mukherjee, wrote The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer (2010) and The Gene: An Intimate History (2016), both of which were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize and became bestsellers².
- Matthew Desmond, wrote Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City (2016), which won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award, among others, and was named one of the best books of the year by many publications.
- Yuval Noah Harari, wrote Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2014), Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (2016), and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century (2018), all of which became international bestsellers and were translated into dozens of languages⁴.
Of course, there are many other authors who could be considered for this list, depending on the criteria and sources used. You can find more suggestions from various websites and readers in the links below.
¹: https://time.com/5720016/best-nonfiction-books-2010s-decade/
²: https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/11/50-best-nonfiction-books.html
³: https://www.librarything.com/list/305/all/Recommend-the-20-best-books-youve-read-in-the-last-five-years
⁴: https://www.blinkist.com/magazine/posts/2010-2019-decades-25-best-nonfiction-books
Source: Conversation with Bing, 7/9/2023
(1) The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of the 2010s – TIME.
https://time.com/5720016/best-nonfiction-books-2010s-decade/.
(2) The 50 best nonfiction books of the past 25 years. – Slate Magazine.
https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/11/50-best-nonfiction-books.html.
(3) 2010-2019: The Decade’s 25 Best Nonfiction Books – Blinkist.
https://www.blinkist.com/magazine/posts/2010-2019-decades-25-best-nonfiction-books.
(4) Recommend the 20 best books you’ve read in the last five years.
https://www.librarything.com/list/305/all/Recommend-the-20-best-books-youve-read-in-the-last-five-years.