The 8 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 That You Need To Read in 2024

Brown introduces readers to the life stories of nine different Black women physicians, and there is so much hope to be found here. It’s often easy to see where we as a society fall short, so I hope this book will serve to counteract some of that despair. Brown is currently a medical student herself, so hopefully, she will be joining these women’s ranks soon. The world needs more people who are using their lives to create new pathways, contribute, and inspire, as these women obviously have.

When I first became aware of huge protests in Hong Kong, I only had the vaguest sense of the issues that galvanized people there. Having never lived there and not having any familial or personal ties, I did not know much about this and was admittedly paying more attention to other world events in 2020. So, I picked up this book and was absolutely absorbed by the personal stories that Mahtani and McLaughlin use to explain to outsiders like me what was going on in Hong Kong while they were there. This is an amazing book and an incredible reminder of why we need independent journalism and individual journalists willing to risk their lives to tell the rest of us what is happening in dangerous situations around the world.

I remember hearing about the January 6th attack on the US capitol in 2021 and having a very difficult time comprehending how such a thing was even possible. I knew there was domestic terrorism and white supremacy movements in the US, but I was still thoroughly shocked. I am also shocked that Dunn had to write this book, but yet he did. I wish he and his fellow officers could have experienced something very different on that day, but I appreciate that he and many others did the terrifying work of not only defending the capitol but, in Dunn’s case, also coming forward and writing this book about what happened.

This is one of the books on this list by a sociologist, and it is another very thought-provoking read. Lamont argues that recognition is a neglected aspect of inequality among groups of people and that seeing others — while also recognizing them as valuable — is key to overcoming some of the internal divisions that seem to be rife in many societies today. I think it fits conceptually with some of what Reverend Liên Shutt discusses in Home is Here and serves as a good complement.

This book strikes a needed balance between acknowledging what is wrong in human society and also making practical, considered suggestions about how to work toward correcting our collective harm and racism toward others. Reverend Shutt is an ordained Zen priest, a 1.5-generation Vietnamese American, and a lesbian. She draws from all of that background and more to provide guidance on how to establish more inclusive Buddhist communities in this book. However, I think this book is also a gift for anyone who wants to do this work in other non-religious settings, so I encourage you to pick up a copy and see what rings true for you, whether you are Buddhist or not.

I was already interested by the title of this one, but I was drawn in by Clancy’s introduction. Her vignette about noticing that one of her professors only had them read female anthropologists one week a semester and writing to him about it, only to have him read her comments aloud in class and laugh…Yes, that is why we need more women and more feminist perspectives in so many places in society. I do not mean that their mere presence is a panacea, but the exclusion and silencing of women and feminist perspectives is undoubtedly to everyone’s detriment. So much is lost. Read Clancy’s book to understand how her obsession with menstruation yielded new knowledge and insight into something that half the world does, but so few feel they can talk about.

If you haven’t read Desmond’s book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, then I am a bit torn over which to recommend first. Evicted is also groundbreaking and very moving, like his newest book. Perhaps the right thing is to just pick whichever speaks to you more strongly: housing and the struggle to stay among the housed or the factors that push people down to the lowest rungs of the economic ladder in the richest country on earth. Desmond deals with the latter in his newest title, and he does it in such a thoughtful and thorough way. It is no surprise that this was one of former president Barack Obama’s favorite reads of 2023 (another annual list I always enjoy perusing). I think this would be a rich and beneficial read, even for those who have never lived in the US and never intend to. Regardless, you’re probably aware that this is one of the richest countries on earth, and somehow, there is still a shocking amount of deep poverty. Read Desmond’s book to understand why.