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The Economist

The Economist Books of the Year 2022

The Economist Books of the Year 2022 names 43 books across 7 categories. 11 of them also won or were shortlisted for an award.

Biography and memoir

  1. Agatha Christie by Lucy Worsleysource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Hayek by Bruce Caldwell and Hansjoerg Klausingersource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Inventor of the Future by Alec Nevala-Leesource (opens in a new tab)
  4. The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedlandsource (opens in a new tab)
  5. The Facemaker by Lindsey Fitzharrissource (opens in a new tab)
  6. The Huxleys by Alison Bashfordsource (opens in a new tab)

Culture

  1. Life is Hard by Kieran Setiyasource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Magnificent Rebels by Andrea Wulfsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Of Boys and Men by Richard Reevessource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Papyrus by Irene Vallejo, translated by Charlotte Whittlesource (opens in a new tab)
  5. The Subplot by Megan Walshsource (opens in a new tab)

Economics and business

  1. Butler to the World by Oliver Bulloughsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Chip War by Chris Millersource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Dead in the Water by Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellelsource (opens in a new tab)
  4. For Profit by William Magnusonsource (opens in a new tab)
  5. Money Men by Dan McCrumsource (opens in a new tab)
  6. Power Failure by William Cohansource (opens in a new tab)
  7. Slouching Towards Utopia by J. Bradford DeLongsource (opens in a new tab)
  8. The Power Law by Sebastian Mallabysource (opens in a new tab)

Fiction

  1. Maror by Lavie Tidharsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegansource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel, translated by Rosalind Harveysource (opens in a new tab)
  4. The Candy House by Jennifer Egansource (opens in a new tab)
  5. The Trees by Percival Everettsource (opens in a new tab)
  6. When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwosource (opens in a new tab)

History

  1. A Pipeline Runs Through It by Keith Fishersource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Budapest by Victor Sebestyensource (opens in a new tab)
  3. The Serpent Coiled in Naples by Marius Kociejowskisource (opens in a new tab)
  4. The Siege of Loyalty House by Jessie Childssource (opens in a new tab)
  5. The World: A Family History by Simon Sebag Montefioresource (opens in a new tab)

Politics and current affairs

  1. Confidence Man by Maggie Habermansource (opens in a new tab)
  2. The Age of the Strongman by Gideon Rachmansource (opens in a new tab)
  3. The Economic Weapon by Nicholas Muldersource (opens in a new tab)
  4. The Impossible City by Karen Cheungsource (opens in a new tab)
  5. The Naked Don't Fear the Water by Matthieu Aikinssource (opens in a new tab)
  6. There Are No Accidents by Jessie Singersource (opens in a new tab)
  7. We Have Tired of Violence by Matt Eastonsource (opens in a new tab)

Science and technology

  1. An Immense World by Ed Yongsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Beyond Measure by James Vincentsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Elusive by Frank Closesource (opens in a new tab)
  4. The Equality Machine by Orly Lobelsource (opens in a new tab)
  5. The Song of the Cell by Siddhartha Mukherjeesource (opens in a new tab)
  6. This Mortal Coil by Andrew Doigsource (opens in a new tab)

About the The Economist Books of the Year

The Economist's annual books-of-the-year round-up, published in late November or early December. One list a year, split into the paper's own sections. Section names drift, so they are folded into seven: Politics and current affairs, Biography and memoir, History, Economics and business, Science and technology, Culture, and Fiction. Culture covers "Culture and digressions", "Culture, society and travel", "Culture and ideas", "Culture and the arts" and similar names. Fiction includes the 2006-2008 "Fiction and memoirs" section and the 2010-2012 poetry sections. The 2024 "Science and health" section is filed under Science and technology and "Business, economics and technology" under Economics and business. Left out: the 2025 Food (cookbooks) section, lists of books by Economist staff, and the mid-year "best books so far" lists. Edited volumes credit the editor the page names. Titles drop a trailing ": A Novel". No list is ranked. economist.com disallows Claude-User in robots.txt, so 2006-2023 pages were read through Wayback Machine copies; the 2007 list is the old displayStory URL because no capture of its newer URL was found. Every 2024 and 2025 Wayback copy is cut off by the paywall, so those lists come from yearendlists.com, which matched the Economist pages title for title for 2021-2023. The 2023 page misprints Claire Kilroy's "Soldier Sailor" as "Solider Sailor"; the yearendlists spelling is used.

Organization: The Economist. Official site (opens in a new tab)

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