The best books of 2024

This list is part of the best books of 2024.

Join 325 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2024…

Book cover of The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America

Judith Armatta I ❤️ loved this book because...

It helped explain how the U.S. got to the divisiveness of today and gave suggestions on how to perhaps change it.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Teach 🥈 Originality
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Greg Grandin,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked The End of the Myth as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE

A new and eye-opening interpretation of the meaning of the frontier, from early westward expansion to Trump’s border wall.

Ever since this nation’s inception, the idea of an open and ever-expanding frontier has been central to American identity. Symbolizing a future of endless promise, it was the foundation of the United States’ belief in itself as an exceptional nation – democratic, individualistic, forward-looking. Today, though, America hasa new symbol: the border wall.

In The End of the Myth, acclaimed historian Greg Grandin explores the meaning of the frontier throughout the full sweep of U.S. history…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2024…

Book cover of Sickening: How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We Can Repair It

Judith Armatta I ❤️ loved this book because...

It explained why health care in the U.S. isn't working and hasn't worked for me in important ways. I now rely more on my sense of my health and do my own research. Generally, ask for a second opinion when I don't feel comfortable with the first.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Teach 🥈 Originality
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By John Abramson,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Sickening as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The inside story of how Big Pharma’s relentless pursuit of ever-higher profits corrupts medical knowledge—misleading doctors, misdirecting American health care, and harming our health.

The United States spends an excess $1.5 trillion annually on health care compared to other wealthy countries—yet the amount of time that Americans live in good health ranks a lowly 68th in the world. At the heart of the problem is Big Pharma, which funds most clinical trials and therefore controls the research agenda, withholds the real data from those trials as corporate secrets, and shapes most of the information relied upon by health care professionals.…


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My 3rd favorite read in 2024…

Book cover of Klan War: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction

Judith Armatta I ❤️ loved this book because...

It explained a period of U.S. history that I didn't know in depth, which is important in trying to understand racism and political divides today.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Teach 🥈 Originality
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Fergus M. Bordewich,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Klan War as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A stunning history of the first national anti-terrorist campaign waged on American soil—when Ulysses S. Grant wielded the power of the federal government to dismantle the KKK

The Ku Klux Klan, which celebrated historian Fergus Bordewich defines as “the first organized terrorist movement in American history,” rose from the ashes of the Civil War. At its peak in the early 1870s, the Klan boasted many tens of thousands of members, no small number of them landowners, lawmen, doctors, journalists, and churchmen, as well as future governors and congressmen. And their mission was to obliterate the muscular democratic power of newly…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Twilight of Impunity: The War Crimes Trial of Slobodan Milosevic

By Judith Armatta,

Book cover of Twilight of Impunity: The War Crimes Trial of Slobodan Milosevic

What is my book about?

A deep dive into the first international war crimes trial of a head of state, based on the author's reporting on the 4 year trial. It gives voice to victims and others caught up in the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, as well as explaining in lay terms the laws of war, human rights, and genocide. The book also provides insight into the Balkan wars. As General Wesley Clark wrote in Washington Monthly:

"Armatta has captured not only the sights and sounds of the court, but also of the Balkans itself, and the book emerges analyzing the biggest themes of international justice. It has enormous implications for the future."

Journalst and author Chuck Sudetic also praised the book:

“In Twilight of Impunity, Judith Armatta has done for the trial of Slobodan Milošević, the Butcher of the Balkans, what Hannah Arendt did for the trial of Adolf Eichmann, the Architect of the Holocaust: present an unflinching depiction of the crimes, the anguish of the victims and witnesses, the arrogance of the killers, the virtues and flaws of the judicial process, and the banality of the evil that can arise when leaders assume they enjoy impunity.”