The Best Books of 2024
PopMatters Best Books of 2024 include a broad range of nonfiction, many books on music, short fiction, a novel that turns a Mark Twain classic inside out, and much more.
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‘How Women Made Music’ Paints a Large, Colorful Canvas
From the contributors of NPR’s Turning the Tables series, How Women Made Music paints a large, colorful canvas from years of research and dialogue.
What ‘The White Lotus’ Conveys About the Fraudulence of Perception
Through its storytelling method of glances, we see The White Lotus‘ critique of our tendency to extrapolate that which we do not understand, and to fill gaps in our knowledge with ideologies, mythologies, learned stereotypes, and meme-logic.
‘It Came from the Closet’ Eyeballs Horror and the Terrible Queer Truth
The essay anthology It Came from the Closet demonstrates the breadth and depth of queer identity that lurks within the horror genre.
Short Story Collection ‘Transitions’ Sets the Mind in Motion
Transitions is an exceptional collection of short stories that deserves recognition both for the quality of the writing and its provocative themes.
Whatever USA–or–Is It Time for a New Federal Writers’ Project?
State by State (2008) is rife with jaunty attacks, superficial panegyrics, random reportage, and puberty memoirs. Isn’t it time for a comparable update?
The Long Hard Way through ‘Mississippi Prison Writing’
The harrowing quality of incarcerated existence is compounded by the persistent and heartbreaking presence of injustice in Mississippi Prison Writing.
‘World War 3 Illustrated #51: The World We Are Fighting For’
World War 3 Illustrated #51 displays an eclectic range of artists united in their call to save democracy from rising fascism.
Black in the Middle: An Anthology of the Black Midwest (excerpt)
In this excerpt of Black in the Middle, PopMatters‘ Mark Reynolds compares the nearly identical racial divides in his cities, Cleveland and Chicago, that to this day are stubbornly entrenched.
Our Monsters, Ourselves
Not just for devotees or scholars, The Monster Theory Reader provides a framework for understanding humans at least as much as monsters.
Joan Didion’s Crystal-Clear Vision Only Got Better with Age
Reading the Library of America’s comprehensive anthology, Joan Didion: The 1960s & 70s, is like walking out of the rain and into a compelling time warp.
Are You, Too, a Walking Manifesto?
We are living in a season of manifestos and Breanne Fahs is our queen. Our guidebook: Burn It Down!: Feminist Manifestos for the Revolution.