Best History Books of 2024 So Far, as chosen by the Amazon Editors
From the high seas to the Civil War battlefield, from swanky department stores to swan-like ballerinas, there’s truly something for everyone on our Best History Books of 2024 So Far list. Check out the Amazon Editors’ reviews below, and our Best Books of 2024 So Far across all genres.
The country is on edge. A new president has been elected, but has reason to believe he’ll never be sworn into office—perhaps the capitol will be stormed, or troops will march upon Washington, D.C. Divisive politicians travel the country, holding rallies to promote an old way of life, while an uneasy public grapples with the forward march of time. The year: 1861. Erik Larson’s (The Splendid and the Vile, The Devil in the White City) pacey and tension-filled new book takes readers inside rooms where passions run high at the dawn of the Civil War, where new President Abraham Lincoln frets and inspires, where armies plan to sow “death and mayhem,” where a single missed message can launch battleships, where gossip and romance, and power and influence, combust into “the single most consequential day of American history.” To know the past is to understand the present—and this gripping narrative is just as relevant today as 200 years ago. —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor
Fans of The Wire, Breaking Bad, and The Godfather won’t be able to resist this heart-pounding—and true—tale of drugs, crime, and power, with real-life characters whose astonishing stories have never been told. Take Wei Xuegang, whom you might call Asia’s “El Chapo,” otherwise known as a “stone-cold genius with the mind of a Fortune 500 CEO” who “dresses like a strip mall accountant”—and is the world’s best player ever in the drug trafficking game. He operates out of “one of the most secretive places on earth,” the 12,000-square-mile Wa State, nestled in a hilly region of Asia that might be compared to America’s Appalachia. Determined to stop Xuegang’s criminal enterprise and bring respect to his people is Superstar, himself a former druglord, whose steely principles land him squarely in the crosshairs of the US’ War on Drugs as a DEA informant. Who are the good guys, and who are the bad guys here? The lines are blurry—but Patrick Winn’s sharp, riveting storytelling never loses focus. —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor
In 1911, 12 Black men and boys were led by a doctor to a forest clearing, where they “began the back-breaking work of building an asylum.” After three seasons, the Maryland Hospital for the Negro Insane was complete—and the patients, including a 10-year-old, were marched inside, never to taste freedom again. Over the next 93 years, Black patients were admitted, to what was soon renamed Crownsville Hospital, for charges ranging from refusing to cede seats to white people to “the crime of being a Black man lost in the city with a foreign accent.” Antonia Hylton’s impeccable research brings to life the stories of those who suffered inside this notorious institution—and the incredible nurses and support staff who helped restore their humanity, all against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, the rise of the modern incarceration system, and the shifting political attitudes toward caring for society’s sickest. This scorching, untold history shines a new light on how mental health and racism often go hand-in-hand, and how century-old problems need just as much urgent attention today. —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor
History readers are in for a real treat with Doris Kearns Goodwin’s latest book. Goodwin is legendary for her presidential biographies, winning a Pulitzer Prize for No Ordinary Time (about how the relationship between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt shaped the nation’s response to the Great Depression and WWII), and awards for Team of Rivals (Abraham Lincoln), The Bully Pulpit (Theodore Roosevelt, Howard Taft), and many more. Now she turns the spotlight around to herself, and her late husband, former presidential speechwriter Richard “Dick” Goodwin. Goodwin writes conversationally, providing readers with an insider’s view to history (which to me, evoked that great old TV show, Pop-Up Video) as they experienced it first-hand, while digging through boxes of Dick’s files and memories from his 50-year career ("Oh, look, there's Ruth Bader Ginsburg in your law school photo.") You’ll revel in these stories of their incredible lives. —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor
The best-selling historian Hampton Sides is back, and like David Grann’s The Wager and Erik Larson’s Dead Wake, and even his own In the Kingdom of Ice, he’s exploring the history of the high seas—and it’s downright exhilarating. In this latest adventure, Sides charts Captain James Cook’s last voyage in 1776 that had the public purpose of returning a Tahitian man to his home but also a secret one to expand the British empire. A story of adventure on the high seas but also the searing effects of conquest and colonialism. —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor
Graceful ballerinas hold a powerful place in our culture—looming large in little kids’ imaginations, and often held up as the feminine ideal of beauty. Too often, though, only white dancer and choreographers’ stories are told. No longer. Five incredible Black ballerinas finally get their due in this little-known (until now) history of their boundary-breaking rise to prominence, throwing open the door decades later for stars like Misty Copeland. The Dance Theatre of Harlem, launched by a Black choreographer named Arthur Mitchell whose “beauty and charisma overwhelm, the light of him almost drinkable,” was more than just a dance studio: it was a community, a refuge, an inspiration. Each story in this lushly-told history is equally as luminous. —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor
It feels like we’re living in unprecedented times. But history shows this is far from the first destabilizing period the world has known, as CNN host and best-selling author Fareed Zakaria (The Future of Freedom, Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World) expertly weaves together in his latest book, which puts today’s biggest challenges in context against a centuries-old backdrop. Zakaria identifies four major shifts leading to anxiety and turmoil today—globalization, technology, identity, and geopolitics—and interrogates the sources of each. And while this sounds like that investigation could make a reader feel only doom and gloom, Zakaria’s strong arguments shine through. As America grapples with its place in a rapidly changing world, this is a thought-provoking, highly accessible, and inspiring read. —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor
This history of NASA and the Challenger disaster is enthralling. To understand how the 1986 space shuttle broke apart 73 seconds into its inaugural flight, killing all seven crew members aboard, Adam Higgenbotham takes readers back decades before to reveal the complexities, the political jockeying, and the massive financial constraints that NASA had to contend with in the ‘70s and ’80s. And, then, with details that might make your head spin and your stomach sink—because even a lay person can predict that affixing 31,000 unique panels to the exterior of the shuttle to deflect heat—because the original construction was too expensive—was a compromise too far. Higgenbotham ruthlessly shares the nitty gritty mechanics of how the United States’ first fatalities in space came to be—your heart will pound as each hiccup, each budget reduction, each decision made before the crackle of the radio said “liftoff.” The research, the testimonials, and the narrative make this a stand-out read for any space buff and anyone who loves epic stories that put you in the cockpit of ground-breaking history. —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor
Glitz and glamour. Power and pleasure. Striving and success. Journalist Julie Satow’s last book was about NYC’s iconic Plaza hotel, and her second is broader in scope: the evolution of the department store. But this story is about so much more than ladies shopping and lunching. It’s about the stores’ stature as one of the few spaces where women could exist, and be catered to, in a world that was too quick to write us off. And the possibility for boundary-breaking was thrilling too—take Dorothy Shaver, who rose the ranks at Lord & Taylor, becoming the first woman to earn the equivalent of a $1 million salary. Satow’s breezy narrative also examines privilege, class, and race: who had access to a plum role at a department store, who had the leisure time and extra money to shop there. This fascinating history is packed with style, panache, and drama, a perfect summer read. —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor
Historian Hannah Durkin has pulled off an epic feat of research and storytelling, bringing readers into a deeply immersive, and shocking, experience of sailing aboard the Clotilda, the last ship of enslaved people to dock on US soil. Durkin painstakingly pulls together the lives of the 110 souls who suffered in captivity for the hellacious journey from modern-day Nigeria to Alabama, to the nascent launch of the Civil Rights movement. Rich with photographs and art, readers will be absorbed, and inspired by, the survivors who went on to build community and leave a lasting cultural legacy that still strongly resonates today. —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor
All in Her Head stirred a lot of emotions in me as I read, ranging from full-on laughter to wanting to throw my Kindle at the wall. Who knew medical history and scientific journals could be so engrossing? That’s all thanks to Elizabeth Comen, an oncologist, who writes with a voicey, conversational authority about the ways women’s bodies and behaviors have been shamed over centuries (and still today) in an effort to “to stop apologizing for our medical needs, and start asking the questions that lead to better knowledge, better health, and better lives.” Each chapter focuses on a body system—skin (think: plastic surgery), muscles (power, athleticism), circulatory (blood), breath, nerves (anxiety, hysteria), and so forth—and contains revelations that will enrage and engage. I could not stop quoting this book the entire time I read it. —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor
Whiskey Tender is a reminder of just how good memoirs can be: emotional and intense, shocking and quotidian, with wild moments that are rendered with the perfect balance of outrageous intrigue and unfiltered honesty. While Deborah Jackson Taffa admits early on that her “story is as common as dirt,” her ability to articulate the complexities of her family’s history—living on the Quechan reservation and leaving it, and their run-ins with violence, oppression, poverty, and addiction—is far from common. With both grace and inquisition, she searches for understanding and how to make sense of her Native American and Spanish bloodlines, and how her family chased assimilation only to later reject the implausibility of the American dream. Whiskey Tender is a special memoir that “celebrate(s) our survival as a culture, as well as the hope, strength, and grace of my family” and then some. —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor
Most presidential biographies and memoirs reflect on their subject’s time in the White House. Fewer break down the whiplash of going from the most powerful man in the world to civilian life. This pithy book explores the wide-ranging “next chapters” of Thomas Jefferson (who went on to found the University of Virginia, which he so considered his crowning accomplishment that he left the presidency off his gravestone), Grover Cleveland (who won, lost, and then won the presidency), William Howard Taft (who served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court after his presidency), Herbert Hoover (who never fully recovered from the impact of the Great Depression), Jimmy Carter (whose influence and popularity grew exponentially after he left office), and George W. Bush (who traded power for painting). This book is about presidents with access to unimaginable power and prestige, but it’s also about what constitutes a life well lived, growing older, reconciling with and accepting your choices, and considering the legacy you plan to leave. —Lindsay Powers, Amazon
John le Carré himself couldn’t have come up with a better, more engrossing story about espionage, infiltration, informants, murder, and coverups. It seems that, as the dust settles following the end of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, now come the stories that couldn’t be told in the thick of the conflict. Henry Hemming wraps this story of a political murder in a blanket of history and uses the arc of one man’s life—a longtime IRA member turned informant for the British—to examine how exactly the Troubles were ended in the North, and the parallel war he says was fought in the shadows. Meticulously researched but told in a pace-y, lean, but compulsively readable way, fans of Say Nothing or There Will Be Fire should not miss this one. —Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Editor
Hip-hop’s staggering impact on culture since it burst on the music scene fifty-one years ago is hard to put into words, but legendary producer/performer/musician Questlove valiantly attempts to do just that. And while there have been other incredible hip-hop books (Editors’ Pick The Come Up springs to mind), Questlove brings his unique birds’ eye view into the evolution of the genre, providing the reader with an especially intimate look. (And plenty of juicy gossip: the intro details how The Roots founder was tasked with creating the 2023 Grammys hip-hop tribute, and all the drama that went into negotiating with a wide group of big personalities and musical legends…. Including one who felt dissed at the show and refused to perform moments before the curtain rose.) Questlove’s conversationally-written book pulsates with the beats of The Bronx (and Harlem, and Brooklyn, and California, and Chicago, and…), and the wisdom and life experience he’s picked up along the course of his incredible career. —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor
In recent decades, nothing has changed our world more than the tech boom—and it’s clear from reading Burn Book, nobody has had more fun chronicling the movers and shakers than Kara Swisher. Swisher, a longtime journalist and podcaster, is whip smart and self-assured—whether she’s moving cross-country in hot pursuit of newsy scoops about the newfangled internet, challenging the tech titans long before they became billionaires (but just as they’re becoming legendary characters), or finding herself and her voice. This book is a real romp to read—snarky and dishy, packed with gossip about the “boy kings of the internet,” all from a woman who doesn’t back down to anyone. Her stories about every well-known tech entrepreneur are full of wit, nostalgia, and fire—and can only be told by the rare person, such as Swisher, who has had a front-row seat to witness it all. —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor
A.J. Jacobs has made a career out of experimenting on himself—whether it’s living biblically or trying out every diet and fitness fad—and I look forward to reading about it each time. Here, Jacobs sets out to live according to a 4,543-word document handwritten in script on calfskin some 237 years ago, otherwise known as the US Constitution. As Jacobs tromps through New York City with his musket, hands out pamphlets to unsuspecting tourists, and foists election cakes on voters, we subversively learn more about the constitution and our nation’s history than we ever did in school, and why the Supreme Court holds such incredible power, especially right now. —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor
Before he was the host of Good Morning America, George Stephanopoulos was a political macher, serving as senior advisor to former President Bill Clinton. In The Situation Room, he pulls back the veil on the room where all the presidential action happens happens—where anxiety runs high as crises strike. Stories unfold across twelve administration, such as when Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan were shot, the terrifying moments amid the 9/11 attacks, and the first-ever account of what went down in the room at the White House during January 6. This is a riveting look at history as voters prepare to head to the polls this fall. —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor
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