Best of 2024: Non-Fiction

Memoir about a musician, activist, and overall curious man who lives to tell the truth through music and hold governments responsible for atrocities, including the Armenian genocide.

Photojournalist and designer Ivan McClellan has been photographing Black cowboy culture since 2015. His first book features beautiful images of quiet farm mornings, heart-pounding rodeo competitions, and joyful get-togethers.

In this entertaining book for people afraid to watch horror, Emily C. Hughes doesn’t just write plot summaries of horror movies, she manages to capture the mood of the films while also discussing their cultural impact.

For those who love fashion and decor, plus miss the grand old days of department stores, this is an exciting history.

I did an interview with Franklin for the LAPL blog. The book covers the mid-20th century NY publishing world.

Haidt, a social psychologist, provides compelling evidence for the growth of depression and anxiety in teenagers since the advent of social media. He laments the dominance of smartphones in the present-day lives of adolescents, who may be deprived of normal teenage experiences.

Emily Nussbaum, a Pulitzer Prize-winning media critic, covers the history of reality television from the early days of tv programming to the present. Her analysis of the evolution of the reality genre includes popular shows such as American Family, The Real World, The Apprentice, Big Brother, Survivor, and The Bachelor.

Rabbi Brous, one of L.A.'s leading rabbis, provides inspirational stories from her close-knit congregation, IKAR, along with nuggets of ancient Jewish wisdom. Some of the stories Rabbi Brous shares are utterly heartbreaking, leading to lessons on how to grieve.

Journalist Malcolm Gladwell revisits his most popular thesis—that social phenomena are influenced by subtle "tipping points." Among the topics presented with considerable narrative detail are elite university admissions, same-sex marriage, crime waves, teenage suicide, and prescription drug epidemics.

When you have a divided household of meat-eaters and vegans, this book comes in handy! Wonderfully laid out and easy to follow.

A collection of the Spanish director's writings, "these stories are a complement to my cinematographic works." Frank Wynne has done a fabulous job interpreting Almodovar's febrile imagination. My favorite selection is historical: Joanna, the Beautiful Madwoman. A must for fans of Pedro.

Mushroom chorizo, jackfruit pollo, seitan carne asada—such are the building blocks of many beloved Mexican dishes. Tempeh milanesa! I like the ingredients, which blend the familiar and the new. I like the philosophy too: "This book is dedicated to the animals."

Peter Godfrey-Smith takes a philosophically deep look at life on Earth, focusing, in this volume, on animals as actors and shapers of their environments and ending with a deep dive into the impact humans have had and continue to have on the world. This is a wide-ranging book that begins with the beginnings of life itself and ranges across the history of the world to explore the origins of life, forests (or life coming to land), animal communication, human beings, and consciousness before exploring the ethical costs/questions of living on Earth.

David Toomey makes an in-depth survey of the state of research into the question of play: what it is, why it is, who engages in it, etc. The topic itself is fascinating, and Toomey has an informal, conversational writing style that is a breeze to read.

This is an excellent book to give to anyone, even someone who has not begun to consider their older years because it lays out the things you can do now to help make your later years better. Accessibly written, and chock full of useful information.

Follows the journey of Abi and her transgender daughter and how their family evolves.

An intimate look at the life of artist/writer/poet Carolyn Bush and a careful examination of her violent murder in 2016. Confronting themes of privilege, power, nepotism, and the role private institutions play in the unabating assault on women. As a result of Sarah Gerard's investigative journalism for this book, she has become a private investigator.

A beautifully photographed cookbook that celebrates the vibrant culture and community of El Salvador through 80 recipes and stories from twenty-five Salvadoran women.

The fourth book in Taylor's overview of American history (which also includes sections on Mexico and Canada) covers the Civil War Era. Taylor looks at the United States' place in North America and the world and how everything fits together in this most turbulent of times.

Reeve traces the history of the black pill movement with both empathy and a bone-deep understanding of how dangerous and ridiculous the members of the black pill movement can be.

In this spirited memoir, drummer Alex Van Halen details his life with his brother Edward, from their early childhood in the Netherlands to their upbringing in working-class Pasadena to their careers in a legendary rock band. The book gives a lively and loving account of Alex’s role as big brother to one of the most influential rock guitarists of all time while also serving as a poignant public expression of mourning and loss following Eddie Van Halen’s death from cancer in 2020.

With this follow-up to his extraordinary Freewaytopia, author Paul Haddad continues to demonstrate his value as a contemporary Los Angeles historian. Striking a perfect balance between academic research and engaging storytelling, Inventing Paradise chronicles how the City’s early history was shaped (for better and worse) by six powerful men and how their past informs our present.

A poignant exploration of what it means to be Jewish today, from a leading voice in modern Judaism, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of Park Avenue Synagogue. For thousands of years, the Jewish people have wrestled with what it means to be Jewish. In this often divisive era, Rabbi Cosgrove reminds us of how we can come together despite—and even because of—our differences. For Such a Time as This is a guide for a new generation that is reconciling the past with the present and facing the unknown future with courage, spirit, and unwavering hope.

There were seven Cleopatras of Egypt, all white women ruling over a brown land. Intermarriage between brothers and sisters was the rule rather than the exception. Much of interest to those interested in ancient history and queenly biography.

A delightful examination of the origins of American popular music in the brothels of New Orleans.

Alexa Soto transforms traditional Mexican dishes with a fresh, plant-based twist in Plantas. Featuring intuitive recipes from salsas to Cauliflower Al Pastor, this beautifully photographed guide offers easy, flavorful vegan meals. Perfect for vegans and omnivores alike, Plantas celebrates Mexico's rich culinary heritage in a modern, delicious way for every occasion.

Fans of Mexican cuisine will recognize their favorite dishes but with a vegan twist. I like the Soy Chorizo Potato Tacos, Potato and Cheese-Stuffed Poblano Peppers, and the Cajeta, or Mexican Caramel.

Reveals an untold story about how lavish bowling centers created in Los Angeles in 1958 spread through the country. Although focusing on architecture and interior design, the book also discusses technology, entertainment, social impacts, and the factors that contributed to the sudden crash four years later.

I particularly like the recipes from the Light Meals and Sides chapter: Beet and Orange Habanero Salad and Miso Mayo Corn on the Cob.

Heather McCalden lost her parents to AIDS when she was a child. This memoir reflects on their absence and the parallels between the rise of the internet and the spread of HIV in the 1980s and 1990s. Thought-provoking metaphors used throughout the book help to process grief.

As bracing and intense as Hannah's bands—Bikini Kill, Julie Ruin, Le Tigre—Rebel Girl tells a strong and vulnerable story of maintaining a healthy and adventurous self while helping to build a scene and a style from the ground up.

A political journalist's personal and searing reflection of a dizzyingly dense five-year period, beginning with the 2016 election and ending with the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine. Convictions were challenged, domestic tensions became heightened, and escapism was adventurously pursued.

On July 12th, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in his ship, the HMS Resolution. Two-and-a-half years later, on a beach on the island of Hawaii, Cook was killed in a conflict with native Hawaiians. How did Cook, unique among captains for his respect for Indigenous peoples and cultures, come to that fatal moment?

When Jacques Cousteau started demonstrating the use of modern SCUBA gear in the 1950s, a whole new dimension of human history opened up—underwater archaeology. Unlike many terrestrial sites, which have been built over or looted in antiquity, the seafloor holds countless numbers of undisturbed shipwrecks. Their durable parts and cargo still perfectly preserved in the frigid depths, each one is an immensely detailed time capsule of the world at the moment it sunk. Gibbins started his career as a diver and a marine archaeologist in the 1970s, inspired by Cousteau, and his book tells the story of the most amazing shipwrecks that have come to light since the field began. He's both an academic and a popular fiction writer, so each chapter is a serious dive into a period of world history, but it's a page-turner, too. We start in prehistory, examining an ancient Bronze Age vessel on the British coast, and finish 4000 years later, touring a steamship torpedoed and sunk during World War II. Along the way, we learn a great deal about ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, Byzantium, China, the Viking era, King Henry VIII’s England, the Dutch Golden Age, 18th-century piracy, and 19th-century exploration. Gibbins taught at Cambridge and other universities and is extremely erudite—it's hard to believe that this is his first nonfiction book and that he's better known for a series of thriller novels featuring the hard-diving and hard-loving hero Jack Howard, with titles like Atlantis (has Jack finally found the lost continent?). But who knows, maybe those are good too, and I've been missing out...

Award-winning author Jamaica Kincaid's words are joined by Macarthur "Genius" award winner Kara Walker's illustration in this unique history of plants. Learn about how our world has been shaped by plants and how our connections to the land can be deepened or disrupted by a single seed.

A memoir and meditation on poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil's favorite foods. Delicious, reflective, and full of lore and natural history. A nourishing journey through identity and memory.

You may have seen the author on Democracy Now. Turns out the "Reactionary Spirit" is Authoritarianism. The most interesting takeaway is how China's demographic crisis, a result of the Communist Party's infamous "one baby" policy, has doomed economic growth prospects. The beneficiaries? An increasingly rightward America and India.

A thorough accounting of the dizzying social and political turmoil of early 1990s America, with appearances by David Duke, Pat Buchanan, Rush Limbaugh, and Ross Perot. Ganz makes a convincing case that many of the ideas which seemed to emerge out of nowhere in 2016 were actually bubbling under the surface and found voice among political figures in the run-up to the 1992 election. A fascinating and well-written examination of a time period which helps illuminate our present.