The Best Books of 2021

by The Economist
|
41 books
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See the source list and commentary at www.economist.com

Politics and Current Affairs

Empire of Pain

The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
Patrick Radden Keefe, 2021

Do Not Disturb

The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad
Michela Wrong, 2021

Invisible China

How the Urban-Rural Divide Threatens China’s Rise
Scott Rozelle, Natalie Hell, 2020

The Sex Lives of African Women

Self-Discovery, Freedom, and Healing
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah, 2022

Red Roulette

An Insider's Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption, and Vengeance in Today's China
Desmond Shum, 2021

How the Word Is Passed

A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
Clint Smith, 2021

We Are Bellingcat

Global Crime, Online Sleuths, and the Bold Future of News
Eliot Higgins, 2021
History
Biography and Memoir

Fall

The Mysterious Life and Death of Robert Maxwell, Britain's Most Notorious Media Baron
John Preston, 2021

The Radical Potter

The Life and Times of Josiah Wedgwood
Tristram Hunt, 2021

There Is Nothing for You Here

Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century
Fiona Hill, 2021

All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days

The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler
Rebecca Donner, 2021

The Last King of America

The Misunderstood Reign of George III
Andrew Roberts, 2021

All In

An Autobiography
Billie Jean King, Johnette Howard, Maryanne Vollers, 2021
Culture and Ideas

God: An Anatomy

Francesca Stavrakopoulou, 2022

The Sinner and the Saint

Dostoevsky and the Gentleman Murderer Who Inspired a Masterpiece
Kevin Birmingham, 2021

Fallen Idols

Twelve Statues That Made History
Alex von Tunzelmann, 2021

Barça

The rise and fall of the club that built modern football
Simon Kuper, 2021

The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense

Edward White, 2021
Fiction
Economics and Business

The World For Sale

Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources
Javier Blas, Jack Farchy, 2021

Career and Family

Women’s Century-Long Journey Toward Equity
Claudia Goldin, 2021

The Future of Money

How the Digital Revolution Is Transforming Currencies and Finance
Eswar S. Prasad, 2021

The Power of Creative Destruction

Economic Upheaval and the Wealth of Nations
Philippe Aghion, Céline Antonin, Simon Bunel, 2021

The Story of Work

A New History of Humankind
Jan Lucassen, 2021

The Key Man

The True Story of How the Global Elite Was Duped by a Capitalist Fairy Tale
Simon Clark, Will Louch, 2021
Science and Technology