Top 12 Books from 2025

Here are some of the books I listened to in 2025 that I thought were the best.

The Way We Never Were:  American Families and the Nostalgia Trap by Stephanie Coontz  

A lot of historical information is included, revealing what we think the “ideal” family looked like in the past is fictional.  Even the “ideal” 1950’s didn’t last, because it wasn’t real.    

 The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism by Katherine Stewart  

For those who are concerned about how George Soros is funding the political Left, this book exposes those (including billionares) behind the religious Right. 

 The Anti-Greed Gospel: Why the Love of Money is the Root of Racism and How the Church Can Create a New Way Forward by Malcolm Foley  

Wow! This book lays out a case for how greed is at the heart of racism, as well as other sins.  The book is well thought out, and makes a good argument from the Bible on how our obsession with money continues to exploit people today. 

 The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone—Especially Ourselves by Dan Ariely  

 This entertaining and eye-opening book examines why people lie and how we justify our lies. I would highly recommend it for anyone who works in education or who is in leadership in a work environment.    

 

Everyone Who is Gone is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis by Jonathan Blitzer   

An in-depth book on how the “crisis” in the U.S. now (think MS-13, “illegal immigration”, etc.) is mostly a result of past decisions by the U.S. An eye opening look at how the U.S. has created many of the problems that the current administration is blaming on others. 

The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket by Benjamin Lorr  

The book was a fascinating look at the dark side of how we shop for food, and all of those trampled by the lower prices we pay.  One of the best books I’ve read this year. 

 The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson  

From World War 1 until 1970 The U.S. had a mass migration of blacks fleeing the Jim Crow south for mostly northern, and some western, cities.  This book humanizes the migration by documenting three people, and by extension their families, as they fled inhumane conditions in the south in hopes of finding greener pastures.  This book made me angry at times and brought me to tears more than once.  It's a powerful book and well worth reading. 

 Caste: The Origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson  

Wow.  Wilkerson brings the receits on how the U.S. is more similar to India than I would have ever imagined.  In India their people are arranged by what caste they were born into.  America isn’t much different.  However, our castes are based on race.  Before you dismiss the concept, read the book.   

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot  

Wow.  This book came to me via a recommendation (Tricia) and I’m grateful.  It’s a book that was both eye opening and for lack of a better term...convicting.  How much do I benefit from something that was taken from another, with or without the other person’s consent?  This book adds a face to the science laboratory in advancements that have helped save millions of lives.  And it tells the story of one family coming to grips with their loved one being at the center of billions of dollars of research and development, while their family is suffering and dying for lack of health coverage.    

Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor by Caleb E. Campbell  

The American church has sent missionaries to people groups for centuries.  Effective missionaries learn about the culture and ways of those they seek to minister to, and then seek to come alongside them and point them towards Jesus.  In this book, Campbell, an Evangelical pastor, suggests that followers of Jesus should take the same approach in loving their MAGA and Christian Nationalist family and friends.  This book includes a lot of practical instructions and suggestions.  I probably should get a physical copy so I can underline and highlight the especially helpful stuff, instead of trusting my memory to bring the good suggestions to recall. 

A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power  

This book looks at several genocides that have taken place since WW2, exploring the United States responses to these atrocities.  The U.S. usually was indifferent, if not on the side of the oppressors, when it came to such atrocities.  This book is a must read when it comes to foreign policy.    

 The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton  

This should be viewed as a companion book to Bryan Stevenons’ book “Just Mercy”.  This is the story of a 29 year old Christian man who is wrongly convicted of a double murder in Alabama and sent to death row.  Hinton shares how he went from having a strong Christian faith, to throwing it all away in despair, to finding faith again.  To say the system of capital punishment is broken in the U.S. is an understatement.  Two take away quotes (or paraphrases) from the book are  “Those with no capital get the punishment”, and innocence of the person on death row is not a valid reason to reexamine the conviction (said by the assistant attorney general of Alabama).  When Hinton’s public defender was paid $1000 to defend Hinton, when he said he ate $1000 for breakfast, it shows that without deep pockets the chance of getting good defense suffers.   Also, consider that since 1973 about 1600 death row inmates have been executed in the U.S., and 200 death row inmates have been exonerated.  It’s time to reexamine our capital punishment system, and this book is a good place to start.    

 

 

 

Honorable Mentions:

The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing and Healing by Lara Love Hardin  

An eye opening, and at times heartbreaking story about how a soccer mom got mixed up with opioid addiction and wound up in jail.  If nothing else, this book shows flaws in the judicial system for those trying to get on the right path after their prison time ends.  Well worth reading. 

 The Kingdom, The Power, And The Glory:  American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism by Tim Alberta  

I listened to this book (again) because my wife and I were going to see Alberta at a Holy Post event.  This book was extremely discouraging the first time through.  American Evangelical Christianity is voluntarily bowing down to politicians for a seat at the table.  However, on my second listen, I found more nuggets of hope than I remember from my first listen. 

 All My Knotted Up Life: A Memoir by Beth Moore  

A moving biography.  From being a survivor of abuse as a young girl, to becoming a well-known speaker, to losing support for speaking out against Trump’s sexual braggadocio.  The story is personal and is relatable in many ways.    

How Far to the Promised Land:  One Black Family’s Story of Hope and Survival in the American South by Esau McCaulley  

A powerful (recent) story of a black man growing up in the South.  This book moved me to tears on multiple occasions.    

100+ Books in 2025 (81-103)

 A Promised Land by Barack Obama 

A memoir of the first two years of Obama’s presidency.  Obama gives a behind the scenes look at not only what decisions he made, but why he made them.   

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness 10th Anniversary Ed. By Michelle Alexander 

I returned to listen to this book yet again.  It had probably been a decade since I first listened to it.  This book is a must read.  It takes a deep dive into how we wound up being the country with the highest incarceration rate, and how it was intentional by those in power.   

The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir by Samantha Power  

A long, yet interesting memoir of former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Samantha Power.  It added a personable take on the inner workings of a political insider. 

The Justice of Jesus: Reimagining Your Church’s Life Together to Pursue Liberation and Wholeness by Joash P. Thomas 

This book looks at church history, exploring how colonization in the global south has warped Christian understanding and theology.   

Five Views on Biblical Inerrancy by J. Merrick editor  

This is part of the Counterpoints: Bible and Theology collection of books.  This book brings together 5 theologians who have varying takes on the inerrancy of the Bible.  I found a few of the contributors to be more convincing than the viewpoint I held for the first several decades of my life.   

Lord Foulgrin’s Letters by Randy Alcorn 

A modern take on C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters.  Alcorn is an author I greatly appreciate. However, I found this book to fall into a trap of oversimplifying and stereotyping different people.  I don’t think the book would have suffered if the characters had been more nuanced, instead of being the worst possible versions of their stereotypes.   

Who Killed Truth?: A History of Evidence by Jill Lepore 

Living in a society where some say we are in a time of “post-truth” Lepore, a trained historian, looks at key moments that have led us to where we are today.  I wasn’t expecting this audiobook to be more in the format of a podcast, but it did make it an enjoyable variation from most of the books I listen to.   

The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race by Willie James Jennings 

Christians are called to love their neighbors.  But, throughout history, many Christians and Christian cultures have a bad track record of looking out for our own interest instead of loving and caring for the marginalized.  This book looks at the historical reasons we are where we are today.   

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot 

Wow.  This book came to me via a recommendation (Tricia) and I’m grateful.  It’s a book that was both eye opening and for lack of a better term...convicting.  How much do I benefit from something that was taken from another, with or without the other person’s consent?  This book adds a face to the science laboratory in advancements that have helped save millions of lives.  And it tells the story of one family coming to grips with their loved one being at the center of billions of dollars of research and development, while their family is suffering and dying for lack of health coverage.   

 Time for Socialism: Dispatches from a World on Fire, 2016-2021 by Thomas Piketty 

This book is a series of essays and opinion pieces by Friench economist Piketty.  I was able to loosely follow his thoughts and rationale, but not fully.  After all, he was talking about the French economy and as someone who is not up to date on the economies of members of the E.U., I often found myself trying to catch up.  That aside, I did find some good criticisms of unfettered capitalism.  I’m not sure exactly how this book wound up on my radar, but it wasn’t one of the worst books I’ve encountered this year. 

Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor by Caleb E. Campbell 

The American church has sent missionaries to people groups for centuries.  Effective missionaries learn about the culture and ways of those they seek to minister to, and then seek to come alongside them and point them towards Jesus.  In this book, Campbell, an Evangelical pastor, suggests that followers of Jesus should take the same approach in loving their MAGA and Christian Nationalist family and friends.  This book includes a lot of practical instructions and suggestions.  I probably should get a physical copy so I can underline and highlight the especially helpful stuff, instead of trusting my memory to bring the good suggestions to recall. 

 Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around: How the Black Church’s Public Witness Leads Us out of the Culture War by Justin E Giboney 

A good reminder of how black Christians have used their public witness to spread love over the last 70 or more years.  A good starting point for those not well acquainted with the traditions and witness of Black churches in the U.S.   

A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power 

This book looks at several genocides that have taken place since WW2, exploring the United States responses to these atrocities.  The U.S. usually was indifferent, if not on the side of the oppressors, when it came to such atrocities.  This book is a must read when it comes to foreign policy.   

Morality, Law and Justice in the Bible by Daniel L. Smith-Christopher 

This audiobook is a series of lectures, compiled into one volume.  It explores a number of modern ideas of what “justice” means and then explores what the Bible says about it.  As I learned earlier this year when I listened to the whole Bible in just a few weeks, the Bible says a lot more about justice than most Evangelicals in the U.S. realize.  There were many “oh, wow” moments for me in this book. 

Making Sense of the Alt-Right by George Hawley 

A history of the origin and rise of the “alt-right” and its role in the age of MAGA.  I think this book was well written, and more evenly handed than I expected. 

The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton 

This should be viewed as a companion book to Bryan Stevenons’ book “Just Mercy”.  This is the story of a 29 year old Christian man who is wrongly convicted of a double murder in Alabama and sent to death row.  Hinton shares how he went from having a strong Christian faith, to throwing it all away in despair, to finding faith again.  To say the system of capital punishment is broken in the U.S. is an understatement.  Two take away quotes (or paraphrases) from the book are  “Those with no capital get the punishment”, and innocence of the person on death row is not a valid reason to reexamine the conviction (said by the assistant attorney general of Alabama).  When Hinton’s public defender was paid $1000 to defend Hinton, when he said he ate $1000 for breakfast, it shows that without deep pockets the chance of getting good defense suffers.   Also, consider that since 1973 about 1600 death row inmates have been executed in the U.S., and 200 death row inmates have been exonerated.  It’s time to reexamine our capital punishment system, and this book is a good place to start.   

The Myth of Good Christian Parenting: How False Promises Betrayed a Generation of Evangelical Families by Kelsey Kramer McGinnis and Marissa Franks Burt 

This book is more of an overview of more than a hundred Christian books on parenting.  The authors explore what the books teach, the promises they make, and look at the effects attempting to put these teachings into practice had on both parents and children.   

The Missionary Kids: Unmasking the Myths of White Evangelicalism by Holly Berkley Fletcher 

Fletcher, a Missionary Kid herself, does a dive into the lives and experiences of MK’s.  This book shows the complicated experiences of MK’s, and shows the sometimes seedy underbelly of evangelical missions.   

Holy Hurt: Understanding Spiritual Trauma and the Process of Healing by Hillary L. McBride Ph.D. 

Spiritual trauma can be real.  That is the starting point of this book, by Psychologist Hillary McBride.  The author looks at how religious circles can cause trauma, and offers suggestions of how to overcome these hurts.   

The Spirit of Justice: True Stories of Faith, Race and Resistance by Jemar Tisby 

An overview of Christians in U.S. history who spoke up against racism and racist practices.  

 As Long as You Need: Permission to Grieve by J.S. Park 

Wow.  A book by an evangelical chaplain at a large hospital about the difficulties of life amongst the terminally ill.  This book had me in tears numerous times.  Well worth the read.   

Abba’s Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging by Brennan Manning 

Another great Manning book.  This book explores how we are called to be the beloved of Jesus, and how He loves us regardless of our own misgivings.   

The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing and Healing by Lara Love Hardin 

An eye opening, and at times heartbreaking story about how a soccer mom got mixed up with opioid addiction and wound up in jail.  If nothing else, this book shows flaws in the judicial system for those trying to get on the right path after their prison time ends.  Well worth reading.