In 2008, as business increasingly became the news, business publishing showed a growing awareness of the big picture, putting out fewer personality-driven titles. In this list, one will see that business histories embrace recent technological innovation as much as longevity. The best management/HR books look at the big picture through pushing…

America's subprime mortgage crisis of 2007 spiraled into a global financial crisis in 2008. For much of the year, attention was riveted on the presidential primaries. A worsening economy made the election somewhat anticlimactic, but everybody rejoiced with the choice of the first "international" President. With stocks tumbling and major firms…

The Dow's losses over this year's first 12 days of trading erased nearly all of last year's gains; the pace of new home-building was, in January, reportedly at its lowest in 16 years; and recession rumblings, too, are making themselves heard. In 2007, though the economy was hardly soaring, readers would not have felt much was amiss. The year saw…