April is an active month in the book world, as many publishers roll out their biggest spring titles, many from perennially bestselling authors. This month is no exception. Here are six releases from writers who have seen their fair share of time on bestseller lists over the past two decades.

First up is A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot To Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them (Viking, April 4) by Timothy Egan, whose book The Worst Hard Time won the National Book Award in 2006. In his latest, the author uncovers the frightening story of the ascendancy of the KKK and its ability to infiltrate all levels of society in the early to mid-1900s. In this characteristically well-researched, vivid history, Egan delivers “an excellently rendered, unsettling narrative of America at its worst,” says our reviewer.

Tom Clavin returns with Follow Me to Hell: McNelly’s Texas Rangers and the Rise of Frontier Justice (St. Martin’s, April 4), which our critic calls a “rollicking tale of a Texas lawman and the iron-jawed contingent that rode with him.” The author of Lightning Down, Wild Bill, and other nonfiction page-turners takes us into the raucous world of 1870s Texas, chronicling the creation of the Texas Rangers and their unique brand of justice. “Fans of the Wild West and its pistol-packin’ miscreants will enjoy Clavin’s latest,” notes our reviewer.

One of the biggest names in contemporary nonfiction is Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down, Hue 1968, and other popular works. His latest, Life Sentence: The Brief and Tragic Career of Baltimore’s Deadliest Gang Leader (Atlantic Monthly, April 11), is a can’t-miss tale for fans of The Wire and similar dramas. The author brings readers into the streets of Baltimore, offering “a powerful, nuanced depiction of gang violence in America that makes a strong case for meaningful reform beyond policing,” according to our review.

The suspense continues with The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder (Doubleday, April 18), by David Grann, author of two of the most recognizable popular nonfiction books of the last decade: Killers of the Flower Moon and The Lost City of Z. This riveting, mid-18^th-century tale of high-seas treachery chronicles the fate of the Wager, and Grann’s meticulous re-creation of the crew’s many ordeals is both vibrant and chilling. “Recounting the tumultuous events in tense detail,” writes our reviewer, “Grann sets the Wager episode in the context of European imperialism as much as the wrath of the sea.”

In her latest incisive exploration, Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma (Knopf, April 25), Claire Dederer, author of Love and Trouble and Poser, digs deep into a fascinating question: “What to do when we love the work and hate the life behind it?” Using examples ranging from Roman Polanski to Vladimir Nabokov and beyond, Dederer skillfully blends close textual readings and riveting cultural analysis. Our reviewer concludes in a starred review, “Bringing erudition, emotion, and a down-to-earth style to this pressing problem, Dederer presents her finest work to date.”

Finally, we have Simon Winchester, one of the most prolific authors of popular nonfiction, author of The Perfectionists, Pacific, and The Map That Changed the World. The next in Winchester’s long line of wide-ranging, fact-packed histories, Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic (Harper/HarperCollins, April 25), explores how humans have acquired, retained, and passed along knowledge through the centuries. “Drawing on abundant research and autobiographical reflections on personal experiences of learning,” writes our reviewer, “the author creates an engaging narrative populated by a vast array of individuals, including philosophers, religious figures, polymaths, inventors, and researchers from all over the world.”

Eric Liebetrau is the nonfiction and managing editor.