• The Best Nonfiction Books of 2020 - How to Live a Good Life: A Guide to Choosing Your Personal Philosophy by Daniel Kaufman, Massimo Pigliucci & Skye C Cleary
  • The Best Nonfiction Books of 2020 - Transcendence: How Humans Evolved Through Fire, Language, Beauty, and Time by Gaia Vince
  • The Best Nonfiction Books of 2020 - Slavery and Bristol by GM Best
  • The Best Nonfiction Books of 2020 - War: How Conflict Shaped Us by Margaret MacMillan
  • The Best Nonfiction Books of 2020 - A World Without Work: Technology, Automation, and How We Should Respond by Daniel Susskind
  • The Best Nonfiction Books of 2020 - Twilight of Democracy by Anne Applebaum

The Best Nonfiction Books of 2020, recommended by Sophie Roell

As the world went into lockdown early in 2020, many of us without frontline jobs and lucky enough not to fall sick with Covid-19 found more time to read than usual. The sudden change to a slower gear also left more room to reflect on the state of the world and our place as humans in it. Sophie Roell, editor of Five Books, takes us through her personal choice of the best nonfiction books of 2020.  

  • The Best History Books: the 2020 Wolfson Prize shortlist - The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
  • The Best History Books: the 2020 Wolfson Prize shortlist - The Boundless Sea: A Human History of the Oceans by David Abulafia
  • The Best History Books: the 2020 Wolfson Prize shortlist - Chaucer: A European Life by Marion Turner
  • The Best History Books: the 2020 Wolfson Prize shortlist - A History of the Bible by John Barton
  • The Best History Books: the 2020 Wolfson Prize shortlist - A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution by Toby Green
  • The Best History Books: the 2020 Wolfson Prize shortlist - Cricket Country: An Indian Odyssey in the Age of Empire by Prashant Kidambi

The Best History Books: the 2020 Wolfson Prize shortlist, recommended by Richard Evans

If you’re looking for the best history books published this past year, the annual Wolfson History Prize is a great place to start. Each year, the judges pick out outstanding books that are both originally researched and readable. Historian and Wolfson judge Richard Evans talks us through the six history books that made the 2020 shortlist.