Yikes, the year is almost over and I haven’t done My Favorite Nonfiction of 2018 post. I better get cracking because 2019 is mere hours away. And to make matters worse, 2018 was a strong year for nonfiction and I read a ton of great books. Therefore, limiting my list to just 12 is going to be going to be hard. After a lot of thought I’ve narrowed it down to these outstanding works of nonfiction. Of course, it doesn’t matter when the books were published; all that matters is they’re excellent. As always, they’re listed in no particular order.
- Fascism: A Warning by Madeleine K. Albright
- When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry by Gal Beckerman
- She Has Her Mother’s Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity by Carl Zimmer
- Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China by Paul French
- The Book Smugglers: Partisans, Poets, and the Race to Save Jewish Treasures from the Nazis by David E. Fishman
- Hunting Eichmann: How a Band of Survivors and a Young Spy Agency Chased Down the World’s Most Notorious Nazi by Neal Bascomb
- Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
- Playing with Fire: The 1968 Election and the Transformation of American Politics by Lawrence O’Donnell
- An Iron Wind: Europe Under Hitler by Peter Fritzsche
- The Long Road Home: The Aftermath of the Second World War by Ben Shephard
- God’s Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible by Adam Nicolson
- Fleeing Fundamentalism: A Minister’s Wife Examines Faith by Carlene Cross
As you can see, this list reflects my reading interests. It’s heavy on history, especially that of World War II and the Holocaust. I’m happy to report eight of these books came from the public library, with four of those complete unknowns until I spotted them on the shelf. Three books on this list I purchased years ago. One, Fascism: A Warning, I borrowed from a friend.
As difficult as it was to choose the year’s 12 best, harder still was selecting an overall favorite. For months I went back and forth between Lawrence O’Donnell’s Playing with Fire and Gal Beckerman’s When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone. After much thought I’ve decided to break with tradition and declare a tie. These two books will share the honor of being my favorite nonfiction book of 2018.
MDC~
As usual, a stunning list! I continue to be amazed at your voluminous capacity. Can’t wait to discuss on February 2nd!
Check out my reading list and winner of my favorite book of 2018!
RMD~
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Yes.
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The only one I’ve read on your list is The Killers of the Flower Moon and I thought it was super interesting! Happy New Year!
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Glad you enjoyed it too! Happy New year and happy reading and blogging to you!
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The good news for me is that I haven’t read any of these yet so I have them all to look forward to! I did start the Albright but had to return it to the library unfinished. I’m back in the hold queue so hopefully will get a chance at it in early 2019.
Thank you for another wonderful year of book reviews and wishing you lots of wonderful new titles in 2019!
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Thanks! I love it when bloggers do these little year-end posts because I get to see which books people have enjoyed the most. So often they’re books I’ve never heard of and that makes it all the more special!
Can’t wait to read your thoughts on Albright’s book!
I wish you a best of 2019 as well! Happy reading and happy blogging!
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This year I really focused on nonfiction, and read so many great works, but Flowers of the Killer Moon was one of the most powerful. I don’t know most of the others on your list but I’ll be looking them up. Happy reading in 2019!
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Excellent! So glad you also enjoyed Flowers of the Killer Moon. Feel free to explore the rest of the books on my list. Please consider them highly recommended.
Thanks for dropping by and commenting! Please visit again!
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I missed your list somehow!! So many interesting-sounding titles, I’ve only read a couple of these. Midnight in Peking was a favorite of mine this past year too, and I really liked Flower Moon. Wonderful list, and I hope your 2019 reads are off to a good start already!
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Thanks! Glad you also enjoyed Midnight in Peking and Killers of the Flower Moon. So far my reading year is off to a good start and I hope yours is as well!
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