I did not get quite as many books read this year as I had hoped, nor did I read all the ones I had planned. The tyranny of the urgent and all that. Well, urgent and being pulled in new directions by new books and new interests. Maybe distractions more than urgency. Not every book I read was new; two more than 50 years old. These are the ten best books I read in 2020.
The Land Remembers: The Story of a Farm and Its People, Ben Logan (1975)
In this Wendell Berry-esque memoir of his Wisconsin childhood farm-home, Hogan recounts beekeeping, cow-milking, planting and harvesting, frigid winters, farm hands, and a Christmas vignette like Currier and Ives come to life. This is the kind of book that it is good that it was written.
Night Comes to the Cumberlands: A Biography of a Depressed Area, Harry M. Caudill (1963)
A history of Appalachia that is relentless in describing the rape of a land and pillaging of a people. First the timber companies, then the coal-mining companies, strip-mining companies
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, Kristin Kobes Du Mez (2020)
A book that should be viewed as a needed corrective to the evangelical movement, Du Mez surveys how non-biblical and secular ideals of manhood influenced evangelical ideas of the same.
Here’s my interview with Kristen on Uncommontary.
Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens the Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era, Jerry Mitchell (2020)
Chronicling his ongoing pursuit of unprosecuted Civil rights-era murders, legendary journalist Jerry Mitchell, recounts years of investigation, reporting, and legal victories. After decades, the killers of Medgar Evers, Vernon Dahmer Sr, Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley (the 16th St Church bombing), and James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael “Mickey” Schwerner (the Mississippi Burning murders) were brought to justice.
Here’s my interview with Jerry on Uncommontary.
Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating, Norman Wirza (2011, 2019)
An area of personal study for over a year, Wirza’s book is the most thorough work available on food and eating from a theological perspective. With food being one of the more dominant aspects of our physical lives, we should not overlook its relevance to our spiritual lives.
Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: How the Church Needs to Rediscover Her Purpose, Aimee Byrd (2020)
Byrd does a great job critiquing the excesses of the dominant interpretations of “biblical manhood and womanhood,” especially as espoused by the CBMW. More than a critique, though, it is a call to renewed discipleship.
Here’s my interview with Aimee on Uncommontary.
Free at Last? The Gospel in African American Experience, Carl F. Ellis Jr. (1983, 1996)
In this genuinely enlightening book, Ellis examines the hopes and aspirations of African-Americans, including the impacts of Malcolm X and MLK, demonstrating how the desires of every African-American consciousness movement is fulfilled in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor and Yourself, Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert (2009, 2012)
One of the most important books written for churches in the last hundred years. When Helping Hurts disrupted in the best way the way American churches tended to view missions. Emphasizing that every person experiences poverty of some kind, the authors help us address spiritual poverty as a prerequisite for effectively alleviating material poverty. The application of sound theology to practical help presented in this book is unsurpassed.
It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became the Party of Donald Trump, Stuart Stevens (2020)
Written by a former GOP insider, It Was All a Lie is a searing critique of the Republican Party through the Trump-era. Drawing on his extensive experience getting Republicans elected in all levels of government, Stevens reveals the racism and hypocrisy he sees endemic to the party. Not only a book of accusation, it is also a book of confession as he owns his complicity in the sinking of the party.
Survival Pending Revolution: The History of the Black Panther Party, Paul Alkebulan (2007)
A deeply revealing book written by a former Black Panther Party member, Alkebulan provides a balanced history, weaving the good and bad in telling the story of a relatively short-lived, but highly influential American political movement.
fides quaerens intellectum
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