I wound up reading 208 books this year, so culling those down to even 46 was a bit of a challenge. I really do encourage you to check out them all, even the ones I rated as 1* are ones that you may enjoy, should you disagree with my thoughts on the books at hand.
With that noted, here are the 24 nonfiction books that stuck out the most to me this year, listed in publication order. Note that all of these books released in 2024, as this year I decided to limit the lists to exclusively books both read and released in the year in question.
Strange Religion: How the First Christians Were Weird, Dangerous, and Compelling by Nijay K. Gupta (⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
Fascinating History Marred By Prooftexting And Dearth Of Bibliography. This was an utterly fascinating look at the first few hundred years of the Christian Church as it related to its world’s dominant government – and religion. I genuinely learned quite a bit from reading this book, and Gupta kept the overall tone scholarly enough to be sufficiently serious without going into pretentiousness. Indeed, the *only* problems I had here, that are automatic star deductions when I encounter them, are the rampant prooftexting – the practice of citing Bible verses out of context in order to “prove” a particular point – and the dearth of a bibliography, clocking in at just 12% or so of the overall text when 20-30% is more normal in my experience across hundreds of nonfiction titles over the last several years. Even with being more willing to at least *slightly* lower that given more recent experiences, 12% is still simply too low.
The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives by Ernest Scheyder (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
This book isn’t the call to arms that Siddarth Kara’s Cobalt Red, released almost exactly one year earlier and describing the outright horrors and abuses rampant throughout much of the cobalt industry specifically, was. Instead, as noted, it is more of a balanced and even nuanced look at the competing interests surrounding how and even if certain materials can be obtained in certain locations, and how these small, individual battles can impact us all at a global level.
God Gave Rock and Roll to You: A History of Contemporary Christian Music by Leah Payne (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
I’ve never encountered a book quite so comprehensive in all my years both within the CCM community and as a book blogger, including having even worked books from Jaci Velasquez and Mark Stuart (lead singer of Audio Adrenaline) as advanced reader copies over the course of the last few years + read Jennifer Knapp’s memoir just before that. Thus, having never come across any book quite like this one, given my own experiences, means it truly is quite likely quite rare indeed. That it is (mostly, again, see the YMMV comment above) so well written is almost a bonus given its comprehensive analysis of the history involved.
Egyptian Made: Women, Work, and the Promise of Liberation by Leslie T. Chang (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
Fascinating Examination Of Modern Egyptian Work And Culture. As an American who has only briefly left the US, and never left the Caribbean region when leaving the US, it was fascinating to read such a detailed account of modern Egyptian work and culture as seen through the eyes of an American who lived there for a few years and who actively examined what she saw while there. From a sheer cultural studies perspective, this work was interesting indeed. As an examination of women’s place in society in Egypt, it was also fascinating in several different aspects – while there is *some* similarity to *some* minority groups in the US, this was largely a very different concept than how America operates, both in actuality and in vision. Even the work culture of the males shown within is so *vastly* different than American business and work culture, and Chang shows how this is largely the result of Socialist / Nationalist policies from generations ago that became so deeply embedded within the culture at large that no effort to reign them back in has been very successful.
Before the Badge: How Academy Training Shapes Police Violence by Samantha J. Simon (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
Victim Blaming And Typical Academic Ideologies Mar Otherwise Remarkable Work. Primarily in both the early and late sections of the book, the author frequently goes the typical anti-capitalist, everything is racist rants so common throughout both Academia and the field of sociology in particular. While the “everything is racist” bit is also found in the middle, it is toned down a bit as the author more proactively describes what she actually saw during her year of embedding herself within police academies to study exactly how new police cadets are trained.
UnStuck: Rebirth of an American Icon by Stephanie Stuckey (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
The story is told with all of the grace, grit, and wonder of a granddaughter who clearly grew up living at least some of the history involved, but only much later in life finding out all that she *didn’t* know, including just how fundamental the black community was to her (white) grandfather’s success in the era of Jim Crow, and how mutually beneficial and respectful the relationships there were. Up to and including Civil Rights activists actively encouraging their people to stop at Stuckey’s, knowing that they would be treated with the respect they didn’t always get in the South in that era.
I Will Tell No War Stories: What Our Fathers Left Unsaid about World War II by Howard Mansfield (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
Father. Grandfather. Farmer. Engineer. Clerk. WWII Badass. Wait. What? While this book focuses more on the air war over Britain and Europe, it does in fact get to the heart of what so many of us born in the post WWII era have only been learning over the last 20-30 yrs or so: Our fathers (in the case of Boomers/ maybe Gen Xers) or grandfathers (for Millennials and Zoomers) that we knew as just that (+ whatever occupation they may have had as we knew them) had experiences during WWII that most of the rest of us can never imagine. For Mansfield’s dad and his dad’s fellow Airmen, Mansfield does a fairly thorough job of combining the personal and the global, of showing both where his dad was and when and also what was going on in the overall war effort – at least as it related to the air war over Europe and what the fliers encountered up there.
Alien Earths: The New Science of Planet Hunting in the Cosmos by Lisa Kaltenegger (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
Overall truly a fascinating book, and Kaltengger’s own experiments sound quite fun and interesting to boot. The only flaw I noticed here was such a small bibliography, which is where the star deduction comes into play. Still, this is ultimately a solidly written depiction of a truly fascinating part of interplanetary science. Very much recommended.
Chamber Divers: The Untold Story of the D-Day Scientists Who Changed Special Operations Forever by Rachel Lance (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
This is one of the more fantastical nonfiction books you’re ever going to come across. A brother and sister experimenting on themselves – as their father, who also experimented on himself *even with chlorine gas*, had trained them to do – gathering a team of like minded scientists to push the limits of the human condition under extreme environments, later in a direct race to help save their country from annihilation.
Cities in the Sky: The Quest to Build the World’s Tallest Skyscrapers by Jason M. Barr (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
Solid And Seemingly Comprehensive Examination Of The Topic. This is a book that takes a look at the ever-evolving quest to build the world’s tallest skyscrapers, from its origins in the 19th century (and the debate over who first created what) all the way through Summer 2023, when the book was being written. Along the way we learn of various periods of American skyscraper construction – yes, including Sears Tower, the Empire State Building, the World Trade Center towers, and others. But we *also* get just as detailed a view of skyscraper construction in other areas of the world and how each builds on advances in the other locations as time progresses. We visit the Middle East and learn of its mega projects. We visit Hong Kong in both the Colonial and Chinese eras. We visit Taiwan and China and see how their standoff plays out in their construction efforts. Along the way, we get the histories and economics of how and why such structures are wanted and what makes them profitable – hint, it isn’t always the rents they generate from tenants. We even get a solid examination of the arguments for and against such structures, along with the (seemingly requisite in this type of book) predictions for the future and a few suggestions for how to make those predictions become reality.
Down with the System: A Memoir by Serj Tankian (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
Through it all, Tankian’s activism to bring light to the horrors of the Arminian Genocide is never far from pretty well literally anything he is writing about in that moment. It is clear that it truly forms the backbone of his identity and everything he considers himself to be about – and truly, as the grandson of two survivors of WWII’s Battle of the Bulge, I actually can appreciate the personal family history, even as the particulars of our families are so very different.
Vanishing Act: The Enduring Mystery Behind the Legendary Doolittle Raid over Tokyo by Dan Hampton (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
How Jimmy Doolittle’s Raid Connected Directly To The Atomic Bomb. On the weekend of the anniversary of the Doolittle Raid (as it has come to be known) and with conversations sparking again about whether the dropping of the bomb was necessary or not, I had an opportunity to read this book – which admittedly won’t release until the day after Memorial Day here in the US. (For everyone else, this book’s release date is the last Tuesday of May 2024.)
Willie, Waylon, and the Boys: How Nashville Outsiders Changed Country Music Forever by Brian Fairbanks (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
Overall the writing is well done – there’s a lot of facts and a lot of quotes, but it never really feels like dense academic oriented text or a philosophical treatise, while still not being quite “conversational”. Yes, the focus on certain acts and the clear derision of others in the end is perhaps quite divisive – even much of the “Bro Country” the author clearly despises cite many of the Highwaymen as direct influences, and yes, it can be heard in their sounds as well – but again, we knew from the description which modern acts this text was going to highlight. So take that as you will and make your choice to read or avoid this text knowing exactly that – you know up front exactly where this is going.
American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation – and Could Again by Yuval Levin (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
Levin, instead, has a suggestion: the revival of Madisonian thoughts regarding *republican* ideals- somewhat (but not completely) analogous to some modern foci on pluralism, but with the added focus of making pluralism work within a functioning government. After all, it was this very tension between these two competing camps that originally allowed the nation to come together under “e pluribus unum”… and Levin has some thoughts on how that can work again.
Creating Reading Rainbow: The Untold Story of a Beloved Children’s Series by Barbara Irwin, Tony Buttino, and Pam Johnson (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
The actual narrative of the tale as told though… could use some better editing, and perhaps the final version of this text – vs the Advanced Review Copy edition I read – has that better editing. But for the edition I read, the narrative could get a touch disjointed at times, often switching between authors and perspectives from paragraph to paragraph and even seemingly at times within a given paragraph. Which makes the overall reading experience a bit tougher, which is a shame given that the very story we’re learning here is the creation of a program that would become truly legendary in getting kids excited about reading.
Those looking for a large presence of host LeVar Burton are going to be disappointed, as while the book discusses how his involvement came about and then references him a few times as it progresses through the timeline of the show, there are only a few scant quotes directly from him – most seeming from the very documentation the authors cite in the end.
How to Be a Citizen: Learning to Be Civil Without the State by C.L. Skach (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
Here, Skach makes quite clear that she is terrified of a particular “A” word (that I’ve already used twice in the preceding paragraph) and instead proclaims her arguments to be in favor of State-less democracy… while failing to realize that Anarchy literally means only “no government” – ie, “no State”, ie, “Without the State” (to use the exact phrasing from the subtitle). As Lysander Spooner and other thinkers over the Millenia have espoused, there can be numerous forms of order under Anarchy – Anarchy has never meant “without order”, only “without government”. Thus, Skach’s preference for community-based democracy falls right in line with the very idea.
But regardless of Skach’s fear of the “A” word or your own (the reader of my review) preference for any other form of community organization, Skach actually does a truly remarkable job of showing just how a Stateless – ie, Anarchic – society could practically work *even in the current environment*. Yes, there are numerous issues she doesn’t touch, and yes, there is plenty of room for the usual “what if” game that proponents of State and its slaughter of literally hundreds of millions of people in the last 150 yrs alone routinely bring up.
Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law by Neil Gorsuch and Janie Nitze (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
Brilliant Examination – Yet Outdated By The Author’s Day Job Just Before Publication. Define irony. One sense may be writing a book wherein you detail how one Supreme Court decision in particular a few decades ago allowed for an exponential growth in the number of laws and regulations Americans must abide by… and then just a handful of weeks before publication of the book you made this point in, joining with five of your eight colleagues in your day job in announcing that you collectively have… *over ruled*… that very prior SCOTUS decision in question. One might consider that a form of irony.
Kent State: An American Tragedy by Brian VanDeMark (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
To be clear, VanDeMark presents a remarkably *balanced* history as well, not really siding with either side in the debate as to who was at fault, simply presenting the available facts and showing how tragic it was that a group of young adults were all in this situation to begin with, from all of the varying sides. Indeed, perhaps this is the greatest overall strength of the text at hand – in its balance, we are allowed to get perhaps the truest picture available of what is known to have occurred and when, allowing the reader to decide for themselves, with their own biases, who was at fault and why.
After detailing the events of the day, VanDeMark closes the narrative with following the various efforts at criminal and civil trials of the shooters as well as various efforts to memorialize the events before moving on to how each of the survivors – family of the dead, the surviving victims, the shooters, and the various officials – handled the events of that weekend the rest of their lives, reaching right up into the 2020s.
Faithful Politics: Ten Approaches to Christian Citizenship and Why It Matters by Miranda Zapor Cruz (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
Comprehensive Look At Different Ways Different Christian Communities Have Viewed Politics Over The Millenia. This book is truly one of the most comprehensive looks at the subject that I’ve yet run across, and for that alone is to be commended. It is also immensely readable, which is always a nice bonus in an academic-oriented book.
Big Brother and the Grim Reaper: Political Life After Death by Benjamin Ginsburg (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
Comprehensive. Dense. Short. Slightly Lacking Bibliography. This is an utterly fascinating look at the history and current issues involving political (and thus legal) life after death, in all kinds of different ways. Some ways you have probably heard of (Wills, Advanced Directives, etc). Other ways may be new to you, including the idea of posthumous reproduction. Everything is covered in a sort of “primer” manner – we get a broad overview, a few specific examples, a decent discussion of the overall subfield… and then we’re moving… and we’re moving. Which is to be somewhat expected given the overall brevity of the book and just how many different posthumous topics Ginsberg manages to discuss at all.
It Starts with One: The Legend and Legacy of Linkin Park by Jason Lipshutz (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
Solid Look At Linkin Park Pre 2024. Lipshutz does a truly excellent job of detailing the life and times of Linkin Park as a band, from most of their days in California toiling as Zero (giving rise to the 2024 effort “From Zero”… 😉 ) and Chester’s days in Phoenix pre-LP signing in various bands to their formation as one group to their initial success and detailing every record they ever made, before yes, coming to Chester’s suicide and its aftermath. This particular section is handled with the care it deserves, yet is also easily the dustiest rooms you’ll experience reading this book. Ending with discussions as recently as 2023 noting that the band didn’t know what the future held and releasing just weeks after the announcement of Emily Armstrong as the new lead singer of the band, this book truly does encompass pretty much every aspect of the “Chester Bennington” era of the band.
Your Jesus Is Too American: Calling the Church to Reclaim Kingdom Values over the American Dream by Steve Bezner (⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
And I’m not joking when I say no matter your thoughts on Christianity here. Bezner goads the conservatives with his talk of their lily white – or coal black – churches and the need for churches to be more multicultural. Bezner goads the liberals with his insistence that sex is only for straight married couples – and goads everyone with his insistence that more needs to be done to support single adults, no matter their sexual choices. He even manages to goad the Anarchists by *actively citing 1 Samuel* – the very passage where YAHWEH decrees that obedience to an earthly king as a rejection of Himself! – and arguing that earthly kings are necessary, but that a “prophet” is needed to stand outside their court and hold them to account.
The Jailer’s Reckoning: How Mass Incarceration Is Damaging America by Kevin B. Smith (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
Ultimately this is a short ish (sub 200 page) yet dense read, accessible to the non-scholar (in that the methodology discussion *is* left to said online appendix) yet still with a *lot* of at least discussion of the mathematical results (if a bit of hand waving about *precisely* how he got there, likely more detailed in that appendix). Still, if you’re interested in the causes of mass incarceration, what mass incarceration is costing the US, and at least a few potential suggestions on what might be looked into for potential solutions… this is actually a remarkable text, one that *should* supplant Alexander’s as among the most cited in the field. We’ll see if that happens. 😉
Dead Air: The Night That Orson Welles Terrified America by William Elliott Hazelgrove (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
From my review on Hardcover.app:
One idea Hazelgrove hits on early, often, and strongly, is that Welles’ Halloween Eve 1938 broadcast of a teleplay version of H.G. Well’s War Of The Worlds did not cause any mass panic, that this is some kind of revisionist misinformation itself. Hazelgrove goes to great detail in showing the widespread reports of just how wrong this claim is, of showing numerous media reports from the next day and the following weeks and years citing the exact people and their reactions, showing that this was indeed a widespread mass panic event. One that perhaps some did not fall for, but clearly many did.