Friday, the Thirteenth, a classic 1907 novel by the muckraker and stock manipulator Thomas Lawson, reminds us that telling stories can weaponize resentment.

In his new book, John Hudson, a survival instructor for the British military, offers lessons on how to get through the most challenging ordeals.

In her new book, Boston College professor Juliet Schor reports on the ways that the sharing economy has — and has not — lived up to its initial promise.

In her new book, Can’t Even, Anne Helen Petersen lays out the immense challenges millennials face in gaining a foothold in the economy.

David Lodge’s comic novel explores what business can learn from literature, and vice versa.

In his new book, MIT Sloan School research fellow Michael Schrage explores the powerful effects of recommendation engines and where they might lead.

Managing in a pandemic year

In the 20th edition of strategy+business’s Best Business Books section, our writers identify the three most compelling reads in seven genres.

From the outside in

Strategy with a purpose

Gunning for history

Failure and the root of invention

A master class in conflicts

Paying attention to humans

Our picks for the best business books of 2020 in seven categories.

Writers at strategy+business pick the year’s best books in seven categories.

The iconic novel, which celebrates risk-taking and self-interest, has important lessons for current debates surrounding inequality and liberty.

The novel The Magnificent Ambersons reveals the dangers of complacency in the face of transformative new technologies.

University College London professor Vaughn Tan offers lessons in innovation from the world of high cuisine.

In his new book, journalist Matthew Yglesias argues that the U.S. should strive to triple its population.

How companies come together to create value when disruption leads to new industry sectors.

NYU’s Christian Busch makes the case that serendipity is a skill, resulting from a mindset that allows you to see and act on opportunities in seemingly unrelated facts or events.

Philip Roth’s American Pastoral measures the gulf between a careful business leader and his radical daughter.

In The Ends Game, professors Marco Bertini and Oded Koenigsberg explain how companies can help their customers meet goals by rewriting the rules of commerce.

Economist Pavlina R. Tcherneva demolishes the idea that there is an optimal rate of unemployment and makes a timely case for a national job guarantee.

What captains of industry can learn from captains in the great age of sail.

In his new book, journalist and historian Marc Levinson describes the limits of long supply chains and the ways in which new trade routes are forming.

In an age of big data, artificial intelligence, and continual forecasting, fiction can help us navigate uncertainty by opening our eyes to a wide range of scenarios.

A 20th-century working-class philosopher has a lot to teach modern workers — and managers — about finding meaning in life, and on the job.

Hult International Business School professor Amit Mukherjee argues that new leadership practices are needed for a digital era.

For those who want to slow down and still keep up.

George Bernard Shaw’s 1905 play Major Barbara, the best stage drama written about business, has lessons that resonate with today’s audiences.

In his new book, historian Rutger Bregman argues that people are actually fundamentally good.

In The Power of Experiments, Harvard Business School professors Michael Luca and Max Bazerman provide an overview of the applications, promise, and perils of corporate experimentation.

A serial failure up until the Civil War, Grant had a talent for leadership that secured the Union. His strategy and style still offer valuable lessons for today’s executives.

In his new book, American Business History, Walter A. Friedman offers a highly concise history of free enterprise in the United States.

The 1952 novel Executive Suite tells us what it takes to fill the shoes of an icon.

Elizabeth Gaskell’s Victorian-era novel North and South has a great deal to teach us about the enduring tensions between progress and prosperity, industry and labor, and rural and urban life.

In the new book Overload, professors Erin L. Kelly and Phyllis Moen report the results of a rigorous five-year field experiment in giving employees more control over their jobs.

In their comprehensive new book, Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism, economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton explain why mortality rates in the U.S. are rising.

The novelist’s 1947 book, The Plague, highlights the importance of shared purpose and belonging in the face of uncertainty.

In The Ethical Algorithm, two University of Pennsylvania professors explain how social values such as fairness and privacy can be designed into machines.

In Don’t Fall for It, Ben Carlson delves into the psychology of why some people commit fraud — and why others become victims of it.

In his new book, The Passion Economy, journalist Adam Davidson uncovers stories of small businesses that thrive in niches.

What the Allied invasion of Normandy has to teach us about the power and utility of organizational agility.

In his new book, Not Born Yesterday, Hugo Mercier argues that humans are wired to see through misinformation and lies.

In the new book Fully Grown, economist Dietrich Vollrath argues that the recent spell of moderate growth in the U.S. is a sign of success.