Stephen L. Carter, Columnist

The Best Nonfiction Books of 2020

It was a year for finding new ways to look at the familiar.

December 19, 2020 at 1:00 PM UTC

Stephen L. Carter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a professor of law at Yale University and author of “Invisible: The Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster.”

It’s been a tough year for bookstores, but a good one for reading.
Photographer: Kiran Ridley/Getty Images

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In the tough times of 2020, I’ve found myself drawn to nonfiction that made me look at the familiar in a different way. I’ve collected my favorite 15 books of the year here (technically, two were published in 2019, but I didn’t get around to reading them until this year). The first 14 are in random order, followed by my pick for the best nonfiction book of the year.

And my pick as best nonfiction book of the year: