Any selection of notable books must be provisional, and this one is no exception. These are not necessarily the best written, the most profound, or even the most entertaining books of the year, although each of them possesses these qualities to one degree or another. What makes them important is a heady combination of timeliness, relevance, judgment and, occasionally, provocation in the service of truth. As such, they are must reads in a crowded and mostly disposable field.

The two most important “developing” countries were the subjects of many books in 2007. But “India After Ghandi” (Ecco, 912 pages, $34.95), by Ramachandra Guha, and “The China Fantasy” (Viking, 144 pages, $15.95), by James Mann, stand out as significant contributions to smart thinking about nations that will surely help determine the future of the world. They couldn’t be more different in tone and objective.

Mr. Guha is a biographer and historian, and his book is a meticulous and balanced narrative that combines gentle criticism with the substantial evidence of material and political progress. The book’s subtitle, “The History of the World’s Largest Democracy,” summarizes Mr. Guha’s attitude toward the Indian miracle, but it doesn’t begin to convey the rich story he has to tell. At 912 pages, it’s a real door-stopper of a book, but hang in there with it and you will be amply rewarded.

Mr. Mann, a journalist, has written a far shorter polemic, designed to blow up the conventional wisdom one hears so frequently about China. Mr. Mann also telegraphs his attitude with his subtitle, “How Our Leaders Explain Away Chinese Repression.” And he makes no bones about his view that an unholy combination of idealism, Realpolitik, and greed have given China a perpetual hall pass when it comes to the way its government behaves on human rights. Anyone who lived through the Cold War, when some of the most unforgivable and effective excuses for Soviet behavior came from the useful idiots selling them soda pop, will find much of this depressingly familiar. But given the infinitely greater economic stakes involved with China, this is a scarily necessary contribution to the debate.

Two authors with similarly liberal credentials scored major accomplishments in 2007, but they, too, took very different routes and arrived at very different places. “The Nine” (Doubleday, 384 pages, $27.95), Jeffrey Toobin’s dishy and delectable inside look at the Supreme Court, suffers from the author’s ideological baggage. But it is an irresistible read, and the fact that so many of his stories and theories on the jockeying behind the scenes have gone un-rebutted suggests a degree of authenticity. Sure, Mr. Toobin is dazed and confused when it comes to the rightward tilt of the high court, but he is spot on in explaining the political context in which the court operates. Elections do, indeed, have consequences.

Edward Gresser, the economist and former Clinton Administration official, has written what can only be described as a brave book about free trade in “Freedom From Want” (Soft Skull, 304 pages, $15.95). You would never know it from listening to the Democratic presidential contenders, but the party actually had a pretty good record on trade issues and internationalism going back to FDR. (Even Bill Clinton usually did the right thing, such as when he refused to listen to Robert Reich and signed free trade legislation.) Mr. Gresser’s cogent argument that the best foreign aid program is a free-trade policy is a courageous stand; now if only he could influence the intellectual pygmies fighting free trade in his party. The economic future of our children and grandchildren, not to mention the children and grandchildren of Guatemalans, will be affected by this debate.

Rounding out this particular short list is the bomb-throwing jeremiad entitled “World War IV” (Doubleday, 240 pages, $24.95), from grand old man Norman Podhoretz. Let’s stipulate from the get-go that this is a rhetorical firecracker — an essay deriving far more energy from its opinions than its facts. But the book, which deals with the crisis infecting the Islamic world and consequently our own, is solidly grounded in the author’s conviction that the West is at war with the radical Islamists. It is not a conventional war and there will be no armistice ending it. But it is a war that will require every bit as much determination and energy as the two great World Wars and Cold War that preceded it. It’s likely to last a long time, the bad guys can’t be appeased, and the people who think it can be handled by police departments and first responders are a danger to themselves and others. He is absolutely right in all of this; let’s hope that many, many others will catch on soon.