“The Great Gatsby,” F. Scott Fitzgerald I’m a sucker for efficiency. This book gets so much out of what is, ultimately, a rather slim story. I adore it.

Image Ta-Nehisi Coates. Credit... Nina Subin

“Postwar,” Tony Judt A book that deeply informs my journalist sense. Writers — particularly American writers — constantly feel the pull of solutionism, the desire to assure their readers that there is a way out, even when there isn’t. Judt refused this. History, he understood, does not exist to comfort us.

“The Waterworks,” E.L. Doctorow What a strange and beautiful book. The story of a postbellum American newspaper editor investigating the undead. Doctorow’s most underrated work.

“Battle Cry of Freedom,” James McPherson The definitive history of the Civil War. One of the greatest works of history I’ve ever read and arguably the best one-volume history in existence. Having said that…

“The Thirty Years War,” C. V. Wedgwood God, I love this book. It’s the history of an utterly depressing war with no real nobility that ultimately descends into cannibalism. Right up my alley.