My Favorite Books of 2022

 My Favorite Books of 2022

1. Jeff Pearlman - The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Times of Bo Jackson. Quite simply, the best sports biography ever.

2. Jefferson Cowie - Freedom's Dominion. The American history book of the year from the 19th Century to the present focusing on Barbour County, Alabama.

3. Nicholas A. Basbanes - Every Book It's Reader. In praise of print and reading by a fellow Luddite.

4. Raymond Carver - What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Carver was a modern master of short fiction. I reread one of his short story collections every few years.

5. Richard Cohen - Making History. A magnificent history of historiography, which interests me more than "history."

6. Joe Posnanski - The Baseball 100. The author's summary of his favorite baseball players of all- time. Probably the best baseball book ever written. And yes, Willie Mays is the best baseball player of all-time.

7. Allen Barra - Rickwood Field. A marvelous history of the oldest baseball stadium in America built in 1910 still standing right here in Birmingham. Informative and delightful book.

8. Neil Postman - Amusing Ourselves to Death. Published in 1999 before the digital/ entertainment/internet/Facebook/ TikTok/ attack on our attention spans but still totally relevant. By another fellow Luddite even more Luddish than me if that is possible.

9. Thomas R. Ricks. First Principles. The classical/Enlightenment influences on the founders of our country.

10. Imani Perry. South to America. Winner of this year's national book award for nonfiction. The author's thesis is that to understand this country's history you have to understand the South. Amen to that!