We often describe Bunk as the history that you didn’t get in school. Spend some time with our favorite writing from the site this year, and you may see what we mean. On the list that follows, you’ll find pieces about the history behind social media trends, suburban subdivisions, and first-person shooters. You'll read about seaweed and prairies and fruit, the colors on our electoral map, the backstories of superheroes, and the origins of bandied-about lingo. You’ll hear from a Border Patrol agent, visit nostalgic monarchists in Texas, and get new glimpses of American history from across the southern border. And that’s just a taste.
Compiling 2024’s best-of list was, as it always is, one of the highlights of our year as editors. It was also one of the hardest. There’s so much terrific history writing being published online. But somehow, we managed to narrow our many dozens of favorites down to a manageable 40 — a good round number, and one with its own share of history. These 40 pieces represent about 2.5% of all the material Bunk republished last year. We made the job a little easier by limiting our selections to original essays under 6,000 words, and setting aside all book reviews, excerpts, and author Q&As for another day. (We’ll be sharing lists of standout longreads and book reviews in the coming week.) What remained we sorted into the categories you’ll recognize from Bunk.
So without further ado, we give you Bunk’s Top 40 of 2024. We're grateful to the brilliant writers (and editors!) responsible for bringing all of this eye, mind, and heart-opening work into existence, and hope that it helps you understand our world a little more deeply. And to all you students of history no matter your age, we say "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars!"
