Thread by @vermontgmg

2021 READING THREAD: Before this holiday weekend ends, here's my list of my favorite #GMGReads from the past year. This was one of the worst years of reading, with most of my reading time going to "work" books & research, but I managed to squeeze at least 12 excellent books....

I read almost no fiction this year, beyond a few Gerald Seymour thrillers and Rex Stout mysteries, and so my list is all nonfiction—the common theme ends up being history and reportage that surprised and impressed me. In no particular order, here they are:

1) THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED, by Philip Zelikow — this story of trying to make peace in World War I was just the best kind of history, something that felt totally fresh and interesting and where I kept turning the pages not knowing the twists and turns ahead.

2) HOW THE WORD IS PASSED, by Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) — this travelogue/history of slavery and it's modern place in America was the book I've thought more about since than any other I read this year....

@ClintSmithIII ... just as @kunaleya promised when she gave me a copy for my birthday. It's an amazing story of the history that surrounds us—and I promise you'll never think about New York City the same way.

3) HIS VERY BEST, by Jonathan Alter (@jonathanalter) — Ever since my RAVEN ROCK research, I've believed Jimmy Carter is wildly undervalued as a president and Alter's biography tries to reset a lot of that understanding of what we think we know about Carter and his time in office.

4) TEST GODS, by Nicholas Schmidle (@nickschmidle) — About the new race for space and the larger-than-life personalities who become enmeshed in such grand endeavors, this isn't the book you think it is when you start. With a twist, it ends up as much about the past as the future.

5) AN UGLY TRUTH, by Sheera Frankel (@sheeraf) and Cecilia Kang (@ceciliakang) — This tour du force of tech and business reporting, which caused so many waves this spring, demonstrates all too clearly how Facebook looked the other way at the harm it caused online.

@sheeraf @ceciliakang 6) FLIGHT 149 by Stephen Davis (@theeditorspeaks) — This riveting history of the first Gulf War focuses on the unknown story of a British special forces team inserted into Kuwait City as the Iraq invasion began aboard a British Airways flight....

@sheeraf @ceciliakang @Theeditorspeaks ... and the harrowing story of the passengers, crew, and military operators put into harm's way at the last minute.

@sheeraf @ceciliakang @Theeditorspeaks 7) TO START A WAR, by Robert Draper (@DraperRobert) — I never thought I'd enjoy a history of the run-up to the Iraq War as much as I did this; every page feels both newly eye-opening and newly forehead-smacking and the lies, half-truths, and missteps that propelled us into Iraq.

8) THE SUM OF US, by Heather McGhee (@hmcghee) — The subtitle explains this book is about "What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together" but so much of it is also about how much racism is embedded in our daily lives in myriad ways we don't think about ...

... and how broken the American narrative is that we tell ourselves about the country. Incredibly compelling and thought-provoking.

9) SUBWAY LIVES, by Jim Dwyer — This kaleidoscopic portrait of 24-hours in the New York subway in the late '80s, when NY was just turning the corner, is the very best of gritty "Metro" reporting, the likes of Mike Rokyo or Edna Buchanan, and one of the best portraits of NYC ever.

10) EMPIRE OF PAIN, by Patrick Radden Keefe (@praddenkeefe) — Patrick is probably the most talented writer/reporter working today & his reporting on the Sacklers and their role in creating the opioid crisis has been such an incredibly important contribution in recent years.

11) THE MAN WHO RAN WASHINGTON, by Susan Glasser (@sbg1) and Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) — I've been looking forward for years to reading this biography of James A. Baker III, probably the most powerful figure of the last 50 years in DC never elected to the presidency...

... and it delivered on every page, from his Texas childhood to the closing pages and an unexpected elegy for the GOP in the era of Trump. This is a must read for any serious political junkie.

12) WILDLAND, by Evan Osnos (@eosnos) — Building off his New Yorker writing, Evan traces how the American dream broke over the over last generation, focusing on Chicago, Greenwich, CT, and Clarksburg, WV, and created the "dry kindling" necessary to ignite the Trump era and 1/6.

@eosnos What were your favorites books from this past year? What should I read this year?