WORLD's Best Reads of the Last 2 Years

This week in WORLD Magazine, editor Marvin Olasky writes on his "2009 Book of the Year," as well as some of his favorite reads from the last two years. Some of the list toppers include:

Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels (InterVarsity, 2008)

Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony (Eerdmans, 2006)

Alain Besancon, A Century of Horrors: Communism, Nazism, and the Uniqueness of the Shoah (ISI, 2007)

Phillipp Blom, The Vertigo Years: Europe, 1900-1914 (Basic, 2008)

Arthur C. Brooks, Who Really Cares? The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism (Perseus, 2006)

John Carroll, The Wreck of Western Culture: Humanism Revisited (ISI, 2008)

Caroline Cox and John Marks, This Immoral Trade: Slavery in the 21st Century (Monarch, 2006)

Andy Crouch, Culture Making: Recovering our Creative Calling (InterVarsity, 2008)

Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam, Grand New Party: Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream (Doubleday, 2008)

Eric E. Ericson Jr. and R. Alexis Klimoff, The Soul and Barbed Wire: An Introduction to Solzhenitsyn (ISI, 2008)

Thomas Farr, World of Faith and Freedom: Why International Religious Liberty Is Vital to American National Security (Oxford University Press, 2008)

Robert George and Chris Tollefsen, Embryo: A Defense of Human Life (Doubleday, 2008)

Gary Haugen, Just Courage: God's Great Expedition for the Restless Christian (InterVarsity, 2008)

Arthur Herman, Gandhi & Churchill: The Epic Rivalry that Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age (Random House, 2008)

Michael Horton, Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church (Baker, 2008)

Al Janssen and Brother Andrew, Secret Believers: What Happens When Muslims Believe in Christ (Revell, 2007)

Michael Jones, Leningrad: State of Siege (Basic, 2008)

John Kekes, The Art of Politics: The New Betrayal of America and How to Resist It (Encounter, 2008)

Timothy Keller, The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith (Dutton, 2008)

Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (Dutton, 2008)

Alister McGrath, Christianity's Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution (HarperOne, 2007)

Gerald McDermott, God's Rivals: Why Has God Allowed Different Religions? (InterVarsity, 2007)

Steven Mosher, Population Control: Real Costs, Illusory Benefits (Transaction, 2008)

R. Albert Mohler Jr., Desire and Deceit: The Real Outcome of the New Sexual Tolerance (Multnomah, 2008)

Charles Murray, Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America's Schools Back to Reality (Crown Forum, 2008)

Patrick Nachtigall, Faith in the Future: Christianity's Interface with Globalization (Warner, 2008)

Michael O'Brien, Island of the World (Ignatius, 2007)

Tom Oden, How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind (InterVarsity, 2008)

Meic Pearse, The Gods of War: Is Religion the Primary Cause of Violent Conflict? (InterVarsity, 2007)

Hugh Ross, Why the Universe Is the Way It Is (Baker, 2008)

Herman Selderhuis, John Calvin: A Pilgrim's Life (InterVarsity, 2009)

Amity Shlaes, The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression (HarperCollins, 2007)

Sun Shuyun, The Long March: The True History of Communist China's Founding Myth (Doubleday, 2006)

Harry Stout, Upon the Altar of the Nation: A Moral History of the Civil War (Viking, 2006)

Richard Swinburne, Was Jesus God? (Oxford University Press, 2008)

Mark Tabb, How Can a Good God Let Bad Things Happen? (NavPress, 2008)

Robert Webber, Who Gets to Narrate the World? Contending for the Christian Story in an Age of Rivals (InterVarsity, 2008)

David F. Wells, The Courage to Be Protestant (Eerdmans, 2008)

N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (HarperOne, 2008)