An excerpt from Damn History / Issue 85 / December 2024
My recommendations are not the best
Some of you already know about my dislike of end-of-the-year “best books” lists. No publication or reviewer has passed an eye over more than the tiniest fraction of books published in any genre during 2024. How can they know what’s best? They can’t.
In that spirit — having read around three dozen books this past year — I offer my favorite popular-history books from 2024, including a couple published years ago. They’re probably not the best books of the year, but I like and recommend them.
• The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides: A fast-moving account of the final voyage of Captain James Cook.
• You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Live by Paul Kix: Dramatic background to the 1963 Birmingham civil rights campaign.
• The Dragon from Chicago by Pamela D. Toler: The exciting life of reporter Sigrid Schultz.
• The Infernal Machine by Steven Johnson: An ambitious tale of the rise of anarchism, terrorism, and forensic science.
• The Wax Pack by Brad Balukjian: A man’s journey to track down and meet all of the players included in a decades-old pack of baseball cards.
• A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy by Nathan Thrall: Engrossing backstory to a devastating accident and its effect on Palestinian communities.
• Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and Their Astonishing Odyssey Home by Richard Bell: The title tells it all.
• Pachinko by Min Jin Lee: A wonderful historical novel.
Here in Damn History you’ll find, as usual, links to good and popularly accessible historical reading, with tips on writing and updates on my own work.
Follow me on X at @Jack_ElHai, on Bluesky at @jackelhai.bsky.social, and on Threads at @jackelhai1.
This is just an excerpt from the most recent issue of Damn History, my free monthly newsletter for readers and writers of popular history. You can find the entire issue and subscribe to future issues here.
