Well-written & well-researched enjoyable scholarly books - not too jargon-y!

[Mostly on Storygraph]

I'm looking for examples of what you all think are well-written, easy to understand, but really smart/eye-opening scholarly monographs or studies.

I personally like reading ones that cross different disciplines and subjects and especially that deal with American culture, but really I'm more after style and level of research and hoping to get a feel for how other writers balance those things out in an enjoyable and engaging way.

Some examples of books I've read that have done this, or come close, include:
---Benjamin Widiss's Obscure Invitations: The Persistence of the Author in Twentieth-Century American Literature (which btw has a great chapter on the movies, The Usual Suspects and Seven),
---Kevin Bruyneel's The Third Space of Sovereignty: The Postcolonial Politics of U.S. Indigenous Relations,
---Jasbir Puar's Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times,
---Saidiya Hartman's Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route,
---Graham Huggan's The Postcolonial Exotic: Marketing the Margins, and
---Leilani Nishime's Undercover Asian: Multiracial Asian Americans in Visual Culture.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

[Betsy]

How about books by Mary Roach. I'm not sure they'd be considered "scholarly", but I think they are pretty well researched and certainly easy to understand.

Other possibilities are Jennifer Ouellette and Carl Zimmer.

[Ming]

I maintain that if I had read these two books when I was younger I would have embarked on completely different work/career. And these are very readable, and enjoyable.

(1) Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture by Gaiutra Bahadur https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

(2) Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9...

[Mir]

I don't read a ton of American studies, but here are some scholarly books I thought were interesting and well-written, on a variety of subjects:

No Go the Bogeyman: Scaring, Lulling, and Making Mock
Expressionism: A Revolution in German Art
The Burning of Bridget Cleary
Lourdes: Body and Spirit in the Secular Age

(I can add more if any of those ending up appealing to you)

[Mostly on Storygraph]

Thanks all for the great suggestions!!! Please keep them coming. :)

Miriam, that bogeyman book looks intriguing ;) Might give me the spooks.

Ming, cool-looking titles. Especially curious about Bahadur.

Betsy, Carl Zimmer does some great stuff with Radiolab. You should take a listen to the Radiolab podcast if you don't already. I think you'd like it!

[Mir]

Leah wrote: "Thanks all for the great suggestions!!! Please keep them coming. :)

Miriam, that bogeyman book looks intriguing ;) Might give me the spooks."

It's very scholarly, but actually did give me a little bit of the creeps, especially the section on how many myths and childrens' stories involve adults eating children.

I thought of another one that might appeal you, especially as it looks like you have some interest in race: An Illuminated Life: Bella da Costa Greene's Journey from Prejudice to Privilege.

[Mostly on Storygraph]

Very intriguing. Thanks, Miriam!

[Megha]

A worthy mention -
The Ibis Tiology
The book is based on The Opium war dated back to the 18th Century when the West declared war on China to force them to buy opium in the name of Free trade. Well researched, well crafted characters and such a vivid unbiased portrayal keeps the book in your mind for a very very long time...

Sea of Poppies
River of smoke
Flood of fire

My favourite - The Glass Palace
You have got to read this. Set in Burma, the book takes you through war and story flowing accross generations. So well researched, so brilliantly written, I bet, by the end of the book. you will become a fan of Amitav Ghosh.