Year-End Lists

Literary Hub: The 20 Best Works of Nonfiction of the 2010s

[see also Our 38 Favorite Books of 2022 • Our 48 Favorite Books of 2021 • Our 65 Favorite Books of 2020 • The 20 Best Novels of the 2010s • Favorite Books of 2018]

The Top Twenty

• The New Jim Crow

  Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
  Michelle Alexander
• The Emperor of All Maladies

  A Biography of Cancer
  Siddhartha Mukherjee
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
  Rebecca Skloot
• Bloodlands

  Europe Between Hitler and Stalin
  Timothy Snyder
• The Warmth of Other Suns

  The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
  Isabel Wilkerson
• The Passage of Power

  The Years of Lyndon Johnson
  Robert A. Caro
• The Black Count

  Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, And The Real Count Of Monte Cristo
  Tom Reiss
• The Sixth Extinction

  An Unnatural History
  Elizabeth Kolbert
• Between the World and Me
  Ta-Nehisi Coates
• The Invention of Nature

  Alexander von Humboldt’s New World
  Andrea Wulf
• The Witches

  Suspicion, Betrayal, and Hysteria in 1692 Salem
  Stacy Schiff
• Secondhand Time

  The Last of the Soviets
  Svetlana Alexievich
• Dark Money

  The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right
  Jane Mayer
• How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS
  David France
• The Other Slavery

  The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America
  Andrés Reséndez
• All the Single Ladies

  Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation
  Rebecca Traister
• Prairie Fires

  The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder
  Caroline Fraser
• Frederick Douglass

  Prophet of Freedom
  David W. Blight
• Underland

  A Deep Time Journey
  Robert Macfarlane
• Say Nothing

  A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
  Patrick Radden Keefe

Dissenting Opinions

• The Art of Cruelty

  A Reckoning
  Maggie Nelson
• The Beast

  Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail
  Oscar Martinez
• Evicted

  Poverty and Profit in the American City
  Matthew Desmond
• The House of Government

  A Saga of the Russian Revolution
  Yuri Slezkine
• Ghosts of the Tsunami

  Death and Life in Japan's Disaster Zone
  Richard Lloyd Parry
• How to Do Nothing

  Resisting the Attention Economy
  Jenny Odell

Honorable Mentions

• Country Driving

  A Chinese Road Trip
  Peter Hessler
• Washington

  A Life
  Ron Chernow
• Nothing to Envy

  Ordinary Lives in North Korea
  Barbara Demick
• Stranger Magic

  Charmed States and the Arabian Nights
  Marina Warner
• Thomas Jefferson

  The Art Of Power
  Jon Meacham
• Behind the Beautiful Forevers

  Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
  Katherine Boo
• Madness, Rack, and Honey
  Mary Ruefle
• The Sports Gene

  Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance
  David Epstein
• Five Days at Memorial

  Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital
  Sheri Fink
• Thank You for Your Service
  David Finkel
• The Unwinding

  An Inner History of the New America
  George Packer
• This Changes Everything

  Capitalism vs. The Climate
  Naomi Klein
• An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States
  Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
• 100 Essays I Don't Have Time to Write

  On Umbrellas and Sword Fights, Parades and Dogs, Fire Alarms, Children, and Theater
  Sarah Ruhl
• The Trip to Echo Spring

  On Writers and Drinking
  Olivia Laing
• Penelope Fitzgerald

  A Life
  Hermione Lee
• SPQR

  A History of Ancient Rome
  Mary Beard
• Dreamland

  The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic
  Sam Quinones
• Stamped from the Beginning

  The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
  Ibram X. Kendi
• Shirley Jackson

  A Rather Haunted Life
  Ruth Franklin
• Strangers in Their Own Land

  Anger and Mourning on the American Right
  Arlie Russell Hochschild
• Hidden Figures

  The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race
  Margot Lee Shetterly
• Henry David Thoreau

  A Life
  Laura Dassow Walls
• Killers of the Flower Moon

  The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
  David Grann
• Red at Heart

  How Chinese Communists Fell in Love with the Russian Revolution
  Elizabeth McGuire
• The Evangelicals

  The Struggle to Shape America
  Frances FitzGerald
• The Road to Jonestown

  Jim Jones and Peoples Temple
  Jeff Guinn
• Krazy

  George Herriman, a Life in Black and White
  Michael Tisserand
• Chester B. Himes

  A Biography
  Lawrence P. Jackson
• Barracoon

  The Story of the Last “Black Cargo”
  Zora Neale Hurston
• Dopesick

  Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America
  Beth Macy
• American Prison

  A Reporter’s Undercover Journey Into the Business of Punishment
  Shane Bauer
• Amity and Prosperity

  One Family and the Fracturing of America
  Eliza Griswold
• The Tangled Tree

  A Radical New History of Life
  David Quammen

Kirkus Prize: Nonfiction 2019, awarded by Kirkus Reviews

[see also Fiction 2023 • Nonfiction 2023 • Nonfiction 2022 • Fiction 2022 • Nonfiction 2021 • Fiction 2021 • Nonfiction 2020 • Fiction 2020 • Fiction 2019 • Nonfiction 2018 • Fiction 2018 • Nonfiction 2017 • Fiction 2017 • Nonfiction 2016 • Fiction 2016 • Nonfiction 2015 • Fiction 2015 • Nonfiction 2014 • Fiction 2014]

Winner

• How We Fight for Our Lives
  Saeed Jones

Nonfiction

• Go Ahead in the Rain

  Notes to A Tribe Called Quest
  Hanif Abdurraqib
• When Death Takes Something from You Give It Back
  Naja Marie Aidt
• Say Nothing

  A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
  Patrick Radden Keefe
• The Ungrateful Refugee

  What Immigrants Never Tell You
  Dina Nayeri
• No Visible Bruises

  What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us
  Rachel Louise Snyder

Kirkus Prize: Fiction 2019, awarded by Kirkus Reviews

[see also Fiction 2023 • Nonfiction 2023 • Nonfiction 2022 • Fiction 2022 • Nonfiction 2021 • Fiction 2021 • Nonfiction 2020 • Fiction 2020 • Nonfiction 2019 • Nonfiction 2018 • Fiction 2018 • Nonfiction 2017 • Fiction 2017 • Nonfiction 2016 • Fiction 2016 • Nonfiction 2015 • Fiction 2015 • Nonfiction 2014 • Fiction 2014]

Winner

• The Nickel Boys
  Colson Whitehead

Finalists

• Cantoras
  Carolina De Robertis
• The Other Americans
  Laila Lalami
• Lost Children Archive
  Valeria Luiselli
• Territory of Light
  Yuko Tsushima
• On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
  Ocean Vuong

Paste Magazine: The 40 Best Novels of the 2010s

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2018 • 2017]

1. The Underground Railroad
   Colson Whitehead
2. Circe
   Madeline Miller
3. Homegoing
   Yaa Gyasi
4. Fates and Furies
   Lauren Groff
5. Lincoln in the Bardo
   George Saunders
6. Swamplandia!
   Karen Russell
7. The Fifth Season
   N.K. Jemisin
8. The Leavers
   Lisa Ko
9. Station Eleven
   Emily St. John Mandel
10. Sing, Unburied, Sing
    Jesmyn Ward
11. The Way of Kings
    Brandon Sanderson
12. Wolf in White Van
    John Darnielle
13. Little Fires Everywhere
    Celeste Ng
14. The Water Dancer
    Ta-Nehisi Coates
15. The Goldfinch
    Donna Tartt
16. The Night Circus
    Erin Morgenstern
17. Family Life
    Akhil Sharma
18. Swing Time
    Zadie Smith
19. The Wise Man's Fear
    Patrick Rothfuss
20. Life After Life
    Kate Atkinson
21. The Destroyers
    Christopher Bollen
22. Boy, Snow, Bird
    Helen Oyeyemi
23. The Lesser Bohemians
    Eimear McBride
24. Red at the Bone
    Jacqueline Woodson
25. The Sympathizer
    Viet Thanh Nguyen
26. Eileen
    Ottessa Moshfegh
27. The Poppy War
    R.F. Kuang
28. Americanah
    Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
29. The Incendiaries
    R.O. Kwon
30. Bowlaway
    Elizabeth McCracken
31. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
    Hank Green
32. The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley
    Hannah Tinti
33. What Belongs to You
    Garth Greenwell
34. Who Fears Death
    Nnedi Okorafor
35. An Untamed State
    Roxane Gay
36. The Martian
    Andy Weir
37. Exit West
    Mohsin Hamid
38. The Ocean at the End of the Lane
    Neil Gaiman
39. Sudden Death
    Álvaro Enrigue. Translated by Natasha Wimmer
40. Flight Behavior
    Barbara Kingsolver

The Booker Prize: Best Fiction of 2019

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

Winner

• The Testaments
  Margaret Atwood
• Girl, Woman, Other
  Bernardine Evaristo

Shortlist

• Ducks, Newburyport
  Lucy Ellmann
• An Orchestra of Minorities
  Chigozie Obioma
• Quichotte
  Salman Rushdie
• 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World
  Elif Shafak

Longlist

• Night Boat to Tangier
  Kevin Barry
• My Sister, the Serial Killer
  Oyinkan Braithwaite
• The Wall
  John Lanchester
• The Man Who Saw Everything
  Deborah Levy
• Lost Children Archive
  Valeria Luiselli
• Lanny
  Max Porter
• Frankissstein

  A Love Story
  Jeanette Winterson

Esquire: The Best Nonfiction Books of 2019

[see also The 20 Best Books of 2023 • The Best Books of 2022 • The Best Nonfiction Books of 2022 • The 50 Best Books of 2021 • The Best Books of the 2010s]

1. No Visible Bruises

   What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us
   Rachel Louise Snyder
2. Three Women
   Lisa Taddeo
3. Trick Mirror

   Reflections on Self-Delusion
   Jia Tolentino
4. Nobody's Victim

   Fighting Psychos, Stalkers, Pervs, and Trolls
   Carrie Goldberg
5. Savage Appetites

   Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession
   Rachel Monroe
6. She Said

   Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement
   Jodi Kantor & Megan Twohey
7. Make It Scream, Make It Burn
   Leslie Jamison
8. Things We Didn't Talk About When I Was a Girl
   Jeannie Vanasco
9. In the Dream House
   Carmen Maria Machado
10. The Witches Are Coming
    Lindy West
11. For the Love of Men

    A New Vision for Mindful Masculinity
    Liz Plank
12. Formation

    A Woman's Memoir of Stepping Out of Line
    Ryan Leigh Dostie
13. I Like to Watch

    Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution
    Emily Nussbaum
14. Shapes of Native Nonfiction

    Collected Essays by Contemporary Writers
    Elissa Washuta & Theresa Warburton (editors)
15. Because Internet

    Understanding the New Rules of Language
    Gretchen McCulloch
16. Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls
    T Kira Madden
17. Biased

    Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do
    Jennifer L. Eberhardt
18. Working
    Robert A. Caro
19. I Miss You When I Blink
    Mary Laura Philpott
20. What My Mother and I Don't Talk About

    Fifteen Writers Break the Silence
    Michele Filgate (editor)
21. Rough Magic

    Riding the World's Loneliest Horse Race
    Lara Prior-Palmer

Women's Prize for Fiction: 2019

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

Winner

• An American Marriage
  Tayari Jones

Shortlist

• The Silence of the Girls
  Pat Barker
• Circe
  Madeline Miller
• Ordinary People
  Diana Evans
• My Sister, the Serial Killer
  Oyinkan Braithwaite
• Milkman
  Anna Burns

Longlist

• Bottled Goods
  Sophie van Llewyn
• Freshwater
  Akwaeke Emezi
• Ghost Wall
  Sarah Moss
• Lost Children Archive
  Valeria Luiselli
• Normal People
  Sally Rooney
• Number One Chinese Restaurant
  Lillian Li
• Praise Song for the Butterflies
  Bernice L. McFadden
• Remembered
  Yvonne Battle-Felton
• Swan Song
  Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott
• The Pisces
  Melissa Broder

Harper’s Bazaar: The 13 Best Books of 2018

[see also 2023 • 2020 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015]

1. Barracoon

   The Story of the Last “Black Cargo”
   Zora Neale Hurston
2. An American Marriage
   Tayari Jones
3. You Think It, I'll Say It
   Curtis Sittenfeld
4. The Pisces
   Melissa Broder
5. Florida
   Lauren Groff
6. Call Me Zebra
   Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi
7. Heart Berries
   Terese Marie Mailhot
8. Bad Blood

   Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
   John Carreyrou
9. If They Come for Us
   Fatimah Asghar
10. Educated
    Tara Westover
11. Circe
    Madeline Miller
12. The Friend
    Sigrid Nunez
13. Becoming
    Michelle Obama

Ann Patchett: Best Books of 2018, as posted by PBS

• Baby, You're Gonna Be Mine
  Kevin Wilson
• The Overstory
  Richard Powers
• Circe
  Madeline Miller
• Early Work
  Andrew Martin
• The Baltimore Book of the Dead
  Marion Winik

Carlos Lozada: Best Books of 2018, as posted by PBS

• The Line Becomes a River

  Dispatches from the Border
  Francisco Cantú
• Good and Mad

  The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger
  Rebecca Traister
• Post-Truth
  Lee McIntyre
• The List

  A Week-by-Week Reckoning of Trump’s First Year
  Amy Siskind
• The Lies That Bind

  Rethinking Identity
  Kwame Anthony Appiah