Esquire is hopping into the Best Of book list pool with Barnes & Noble and Publishers Weekly with their list of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2024 (So Far), though the “so far” parts confuses us a bit since there are only two months left to the year. Still, we appreciate the openness to the possibility of finding even more books to add to the list, which is 15 books long and features everything from the consequences of The Algorithm to gender transition to life as a mixed-tribe Indigenous American.
Heads up, though, that books by Indigenous Americans (two, to be exact) seem to be the extent of how diverse this list gets, which is surprising (not really) considering how many great nonfiction books by BIPOC writers came out this year. There’s been Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline Gumbs (which was listed as a best of the year book by Publishers Weekly), Knife by Salman Rushdie, and There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib, to name a few.
With that said, it can still nice to step a little outside ourselves sometimes to see what other people found noteworthy, and there are some bangers here.
- The Extinction of Experience by Christine Rosen
- By the Fire We Carry by Rebecca Nagle
- Consent by Jill Ciment
- Filterworld by Kyle Chayka
- I Heard Her Call My Name by Lucy Sante
- Harper Whiskey Tender by Deborah Jackson Taffa
For the full list, visit Esquire.
Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.