Stephen L. Carter, Columnist

Best Nonfiction Books of 2019 for Contrarians and the Curious

These 15 books will challenge your assumptions and could change how you see the world.

Let’s all read!

Photographer: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images

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One reason I love books is that there are some arguments and ideas that simply cannot be presented in a couple of thousand words, to say nothing of being squeezed into social media posts. The year 2019 was a particularly good one for books that made me think. No, I don’t read every book the industry has to offer, but I do peruse hundreds each year. Below are my 15 favorites from the twelve months just past, all of them serious efforts.1 I by no means agree with every point made by every author, but each work on this list fully engaged me, and, in some way, caused me to see the world a little differently.

To avoid the tyranny of the alphabet, the first 14 are listed in random order. At the end is my pick for best nonfiction book of the year.