Want to read the year's best journalism? The New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism is given annually to journalists whose books have brought clarity and public attention to important issues, events, or policies. In other words, the award recognizes the earth-shattering, eye-opening, and world-changing.

The 2015 finalists, chosen by a committee of librarians, are: The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas by Anand Giridharadas, No Good Men Among the Living: America, The Taliban, and the War Through Afghan Eyes by Anand Gopal, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert, The People's Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited by Louisa Lim , and Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China by Evan Osnos. The winner, chosen by a Selection Committee chaired by James Hoge, will be announced May 26, 2015.

This year, NYPL's Jessica Strand reached out to our finalists by phone to talk about government intrusion on mourning, the man who tried to save his attempted murderer from the death penalty, the publication fears of writers, the new China, and how the United States contributes to the Taliban's hold in Afghanistan. We hope you enjoy the interviews, read the Bernstein nominees' books, and check out our suggested titles for further adventures in nonfiction.

The People's Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited by Louisa Lim

In Louisa Lim's The People's Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited, the author shares the stories of witnesses of and participants in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. While speaking with Jessica Strand, she discussed her desire to delve into the legacy of the Tiananmen resistance and the Chinese government's attempts to wipe out the recorded history of the protests. She spoke about one mother who was put under house arrest after laying offerings at the site of her son's death: "In today's China an act of memory like that, remembering someone who died in 1989, who has become such a sensitive topic, a public memorial is almost seen as a public challenge to the state."
If you liked The People's Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited, try Tiananmen Exiles: Voices of the Struggle for Democracy in China by Rowena Xiaoqing He.

The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas by Anand Giridharadas

Anand Giridharadas is the author of The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas, a book about Raisuddin Bhuiyan's campaign to save the white supremacist who attempted to kill him, Mark Stroman, from receiving the death penalty. The narrative is one that Giridharadas describes as pointing to larger issues in post 9/11 America, even as it zeroes in on two lives: "There are some people who, just by looking at them more closely and inviting a reader to do the same, you are able to in some ways take a biopsy of the world." He spoke with Strand about the class divisions in the United States that have created a fertile ground for violence.
If you liked The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas, try Peculiar Institution: America's Death Penalty in An Age of Abolition by David Garland.

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert

Exploring extinctions past and present, Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History asks the extent to which man-made climate change threatens our flora and fauna. She explained to Strand how the book began with an interest in the amphibian crisis. Strand asked Kolbert about her reaction the critical praise garnered by the book, to which Kolbert responded, "You never know what's going to happen with a book. Your main worry with a book is that you're going to write it and it's just going to drop into the ocean and the waves are going to envelop it and you'll never hear from it again. And I feel very fortunate that that didn't happen."
If you liked An Unnatural History, try Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.

Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China by Evan Osnos

From 2005 to 2013, Evan Osnos lived in China, an experience that would lead him to write Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China. "In writing my book, I was trying to encapsulate this extraordinary period of change, but also to frame the fact that China's economy has continued to grow at the same time that its political system has stayed, in many ways, in place," he told Strand. He shared the story that has stayed with him the most since reporting for the book, the story of a young man named Michael who radically transformed his life.
If you liked Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China, try China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa by Howard French.

No Good Men Among the Living: America, The Taliban, and the War Through Afghan Eyes by Anand Gopal

Anand Gopal was living near the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. Seven years later, he moved to Afghanistan, where he investigated the Taliban. He told Jessica Strand about the eye-opening narratives he heard while reporting: "There was one story after the other about people who they believed had been wrongfully arrested, imprisoned, killed—innocent people who had been killed often times because the U.S. had allied with local warlords."
If you liked No Good Men Among the Living: America, The Taliban, and the War Through Afghan Eyes, try The Tender Soldier: A True Story of War and Sacrifice by Vanessa M. Gezari.