There is a new biography called Stalin, in the Court of the Red Tsar it presumes that you know all the history stuff and focuses on him as a man. ‘What is it like to be a mad dictator?’
Interesting stuff.
Aquarium or Inside the Aquarium, depending on the edition, by Viktor Suvorov - the story of a Soviet tank officer becoming a GRU agent and eventually defecting to the West. The only words well fit to describe it are those within its cover.
A couple others :
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
And
*How We Die*
Running With Scissors is a fantastic memoir by Augusten Burroughs. As I read, I found it alternately hilarious and horrifying and I could not put it down. The characters are so bizarre that I had to keep reminding myself that it is non-fiction.
Alison Wier has written a few books on British monarchy. Eleanor of Aquaitaine is perhaps the most difficult. But I loved The Six Wives of Henry the Eighth and The Princes in the Tower.
Round Up The Usual Suspects is an interesting book about the making of Casablanca.
I’ll echo this one. It is a fascinating book about the writing of the OED.
I’ll third Stiff and second Black Hawk Down.
Stiff is particularly good if you’re a CSI fan. 
Another vote for The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. Great book, great movie, great subject. It’s very entertainingly written, and I’ve read it several times now.
I forgot to mention The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, by Oliver Sachs, on strange and exotic brain diseases. Fascinating and sad.
Also The Demon-Haunted World, which I’m either shocked nobody has mentioned or unsurprised that I missed on my scan-though, by Carl Sagan, on why people believe dumb things and the importance of sound science education.
Just thought of a couple others:
Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat are very good.
Also want to second Michael J. Nelson’s Movie Megacheese and Mind Over Matters - Absolutely fraking hilarious!!
Inventing the Victorians by Matthew Sweet
Audrey Hepburn by Barry Paris
Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit: A Son Remembers by Sean Hepburn Ferrer
The Hammer: Tom DeLay: God, Money and the Rise of the Republican Congress by Lou Dubose
*Our Own Backyard: The United States in Central America, 1977-1992 * by William M. LeoGrande
Ooh! Ooh! I just remembered one that’s sitting in my bookcase that’s EXCELLENT!
Gypsy, the memoir that was the (loose) basis for the musical. Gypsy Rose Lee is a surprisingly compelling author.
I would like to second Seabiscuit, Running With Scissors, Dry, The Hot Zone, and Guns, Germs, and Steel.
And add to the list:
The Hinge Factor : How Chance and Stupidity Have Changed History. While I sometimes found his definition of “hinge factor” a little stretched, a good read nonetheless. I did skip some of the descriptions of the battles, however, because those particular ones didn’t hold much interest for me.
Leap of Faith : Memoirs of an Unexpected Life by Jordan’s Queen Noor. While an autobiography, she provides a unique, fascinating look at King Hussein and some of the behind-the-scenes politics of the time. Quick read, highly recommended.
Stranger Than Fiction and Fugitives and Refugees are both great non-fiction books by Chuck Palahniuk.
I thought of more.
Fast Food Nation and Reefer Madness, both by Eric Schlosser.
Lies My Teacher Told Me, by James Loewen. Woodrow Wilson hated the First Amendment and Helen Keller was a Socialist. I did not know that.
Naked in Baghdad, by Anne Gerrolds. Especially for NPR listeners who, like me, listened to her reports in awe at her bravery.
The Last Great Revolution, by Robin Wright. About present day Iran. Fans of Reading Lolita in Tehran might be interested.
The Search for the Panchen Lama, by Isabel Hilton. Did you know that there’s another Tibetan lama equal in importance to the Dalai Lama? And that he was kidnapped by the Chinese government? Very interesting story.
The Year 1000, by Lacey & Danziger. Life in England in 1000. I am pleased that this book gave me my most disgusting story ever.
Newjack, by Ted O’Connor. Account of being a prison guard at Sing Sing.
I’ll stop now. Again.
Blind Eye by James Stewart
and
Den of Thieves by James Stewart
Both fantastic reads. He is an EXCELLENT writer and these are engrossing but diverse subjects.
The man Who Stayed Behind- Sidney Rittenberg’s autobiography, about his experiences being the only U.S.-born member of the Chinese Communist Party. From the time of the Revolution until he returned to the U.S. in 1977, Rittenberg was alternately exhalted as an ideal party member and jailed three times.
Lone Star, A History of Texas and the Texans- T.R.R. Fehrenbach. Here’s your page turner, the story of the Spanish, Commanche, U.S. Southerners and others who came to the land and fought a three-sided war to settle it. The story is told from a balanced but decidedly Anglo point of view. It reads like a Western (complete with Commanche claims that they only let the Spaniards settle Texas because they needed someone to raise horses for them, and the story of the Texas Rangers, beaten by the Commanche, who discovered Samuler Colt’s parlor toy pistol that shot six times!) It is probably the most factually and emotionally accurate description of what made Texas what it is. For what it’s worth, it was recommended to me by a case worker who used it to learn about the state when she moved here.
Hells Angels- Hunter S. Thompson. A nice piece of 1960s culture. If you ever wanted to know where bikers came from, here’s the story.
I second Stalin: The Court of The Red Tsar although you it helps to know a bit about Stalin before you read it.
Also: *Shot In The Heart * by Mikal Gilmore, about his brother Gary’s slide into sociopathy. Lots of ghost tales and domestic violence.
And the “Ring of Bright Water” series by Gavin Maxwell. They are *Ring of Bright Water, The Rocks Remain, * and *Raven, Seek Thy Brother. * They involve a man who tries to keep some middle eastern otters as pets and gets into all sorts of zany adventures in the process.
Take The Cannoli - Sara Vowell of NPR and The Incredibles fame. Funny book usually, mainly from her radio stuff.
I just wanted to jump back in and second the recommendation of X-Ray. It’s one of the best musician autobiographies I’ve ever read.
While I’m here, I have a few more suggestions…
The Gulag Archipelego - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
The First Casualty: The War Correspondent As Hero And Myth-maker From The Crimea To Iraq - Phillip Knightley
The Civil War and The Conquest of Gaul - Julius Caesar
The Island of Lost Maps : A True Story of Cartographic Crime - Miles Harvey
The Histories - Herodotus