Since 2016, I’ve been an avid (if not always super consistent) user of the Goodreads Reading Challenge. It’s fun to look back over the year and see how reading interests twist and turn – even better to look back over eight years.
This week, I’ve looked back over my 2024 Goodreads and selected my favorite books from this year. Some of these are much older (the oldest is from 2002) and all are non-fiction.
Here are my favorite reads of 2024:
When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day
By Garrett Graff
Garrett Graff has consistently been one of my favorite authors and I’ve noticed his wide-ranging interests often mirror my own. His previous books on nuclear war, the Watergate scandal, and another oral history about 9/11, The Only Plane in the Sky, are among my all-time favorite reads.
With When the Sea Came Alive (2024), Graff lets hundreds of veterans and witnesses to the events of June 1944 tell their stories. This collection of oral histories – organized to share the experience of what it was like to live through “the day of days” – provides perspectives on one of the most pivotal chapters in modern history.
The book’s release coincided with the world’s commemoration of the 80th anniversary of D-Day, likely the last anniversary with a sizable group of veterans present.
Listen to our Public History podcast episode about the 80th anniversary of D-Day
I highly recommend the audiobook edition, as each oral history is read by voice actors and interspersed with period audio recordings from leaders of the era.
Seven Ages of Paris
By Alistair Horne
In early December, I had the good fortune to spend some time in “The City of Light” – Paris. Preparing for the trip, I enjoyed this book that zips through the history of the French capital.
Seven Ages of Paris (2002) whisks readers the city’s defining eras, tracing its growth from a medieval fortress to modern metropolis. Personally, I found the period from the French Revolution through the “Belle Époque” (the years just before the First World War in 1914) particularly fascinating. In a little more than a century, Paris endured multiple bloody revolutions, civil wars, and shifts in government—yet from the ashes, a modern city emerged.
This book is a great way to arm yourself with knowledge about the city’s history and culture before visiting.
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
By Patrick Radden Keefe
I tend to go down history-themed rabbit holes, and in late 2024, I found myself hyper-obsessed with the era known as “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland. The low-intensity civil war saw bloodshed spread from Belfast and Derry, in Northern Ireland, to the streets of Dublin and London, claiming more than 3,500 lives from 1969 until the peace accords of 1998.
I originally read Say Nothing when it released in 2019, but only fully came to appreciate this masterful work when I reread it this year, alongside the debut of a FX/Hulu television miniseries by the same name.
The book interweaves stories of four individuals who witnessed society’s descent in Northern Ireland – from a religious-based apartheid system to a civil rights movement and ultimately a civil war.
One of the characters – a widowed mother of ten named Jean McConville – disappears at the hands of the Irish Republican Army and the mystery of her disappearance and its impact drives the plot of this true story.
It’s an incredible read and one with a stunning ending. The miniseries is excellent as well.
Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism
By Jeffrey Toobin
One of the most compelling books I read this year is Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism (2023) by Jeffrey Toobin.
This eye-opening account details the the life of Timothy McVeigh, the 1995 Oklahoma City bomber, and examines the broader context of right-wing terrorism that surged in the 1990s.
Toobin connects the dots between McVeigh’s radicalization, the cultural and political climate of the time, and highlights chilling parallels we see almost 30 years later.
Dranesville: A Northern Virginia Town in the Crossfire of a Forgotten Battle, December 20, 1861
By Ryan Quint
In 2024, my favorite Civil War book was Ryan Quint’s Dranesville: A Northern Virginia Town in the Crossfire of a Forgotten Battle, December 20, 1861 (2024). This exceptional book brings attention to a little-known skirmish that unfolded early in the Civil War, examining how the fight at Dranesville, Virginia affected both the soldiers who fought there and the civilians caught in the crossfire.
Ryan Quint’s storytelling is outstanding – his well-woven prose captures the human experience of this small but significant moment in history.
This deeply researched book offers fresh insights into the complexities of life in the border regions of Northern Virginia. Quint also explores the tangled web of politics and family dramas that played out amid a backdrop of civil war, something that is surprisingly relevant in our own divided America.
We had the pleasure of interviewing Ryan for our podcast, Public History with Jake and Justin, to dive deeper into the story of Dranesville and the fascinating process behind his research. Listen here:
If you’re a Civil War enthusiast or just someone who loves uncovering the hidden corners of history, Dranesville is a must-read.
What were your favorite reads of 2024?
Share your recommendations in the comments or connect with me on social media.
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Thanks for the wonderful book reviews. The book say nothing for me was an interesting suggestion to explore. My family from Northern Ireland and we visited in 2002 and saw the wall murals depicting the horror
Of people hating their neighbors
Can’t wait to watch the movie so I guess I will take out a Hulu subscription
Keep up the good work
History chick from pittsburgh
Thanks for following Ruth! I’m hoping to make a visit to Northern Ireland in 2025, and some of those same sites are the ones I’m hoping to visit. All the best and have a great remainder of the holiday season! – Jake