Genius or sadist: What the bestselling non-fiction books of the 21st century say about us
Share:
We’re now a quarter of the way through the century. From habit setting to understanding our humanity, this is what British readers have cared about since the turn of the millennium. The results are surprising, says Hannah Ewens. Forget our current love of true crime; it was around the turn of the millennium that we were truly sick and twisted. Back then, the biggest trend in non-fiction was “misery lit”, as readers young and old binged on stories of abuse. We were initiated into this bleak era by the viral 1995 publication of A Child Called “It”, Dave Pelzer’s childhood memoir of sadistic abuse at the hands of his narcissistic alcoholic mother. Pelzer continued to pump out many follow-ups alongside a host of copycats – all grouped together on a shelf in Waterstones ominously labelled “Painful Lives”.
![[Adam Kay, ‘This Is Going to Hurt’, photographed in 2018]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2022/02/03/16/newFile-16.jpg)
In retrospect, all that torture and trauma in books reflected (and helped to prompt) a democratisation of suffering; we began to talk with others about our childhood struggles. It was the beginning of anonymous connectivity with the internet, blogs and online chat rooms. In the UK, major legislation was established around child protection systems and criminal record checks for the first time ever.
![[Yuval Noah Harari stands outside his office]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/03/30/16/Israel_People_Harari_50746.jpg)
Analysing non-fiction trends is a powerful and reliable way to understand our culture. Now we’re a quarter of the way through the century, there is plenty of data on our reading habits so far (here I’m using The Sunday Times bestsellers list of the past 50 years together with statistics provided to The Independent by Nielsen BookData). So, what do the bestselling non-fiction books in the UK of the 21st century say about us? Are we still voyeuristic sadists or do we have higher aspirations that have elevated us out of the gutter?.
