Random House, Inc. publishes an essential selection
of titles pertaining to the upcoming 2012 presidential election,
as well as the political process and past presidential campaigns.
Whether written from a liberal, conservative, or historical
perspective, the books suggested here reflect the manifold political
and social views that continue to shape our country.
To
order examination copies of any of these titles, please follow the instructions
on our
Examination Copy page.
CATEGORIES:
Click on the links below to view books in that category.Campaign Issues
• The Economy
• The One-Percent & the Occupy Movement
• Healthcare
• Culture Wars & Religion
• Environment
• Individual Rights vs. Collective Security
• Immigration
• Education
• Foreign PolicyPundits, Partisans and Public Opinion
| Presidential Candidates 2012 |
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The Right Fights Back Politico Playbook 2012 by Mike Allen, Evan Thomas, and Politico Two of America's most perceptive political reporters join forces for an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at the race for the White House in POLITICO's Playbook 2012, a series of four instant digital books on the 2012 presidential election. The first edition, The Right Fights Back, follows the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. |
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Inside the Circus—Romney, Santorum and the GOP Race Politico Playbook 2012 by Mike Allen and Evan Thomas Inside the Circus, the second in the series of POLITICO's Playbook 2012, pulls back the curtain on the pursuit of the Republican nomination, as operatives jockey for position and strategists vie to fashion a message that can win over all factions of the fractious GOP. |
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The Breakthrough Politics and Race in the Age of Obama by Gwen Ifill Veteran journalist Gwen Ifill surveys the American political landscape, shedding new light on the impact of Barack Obama's stunning presidential victory and introducing the emerging young African American politicians forging a bold new path to political power. A remarkable look at contemporary politics, The Breakthrough is an essential foundation for understanding the future of American democracy in the age of Obama. |
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The Persistence of the Colorline Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency by Randall Kennedy Randall Kennedy offers an incisive view of Obama's triumphs and travails, his strengths and weaknesses, as they pertain to the troubled history of race in America. "[A] powerful and ruminative book. . . . [Kennedy] has long been among the most incisive American commentators on race. His books . . . seem to be carved from intellectual granite, yet they have human scale." —Dwight Garner, The New York Times |
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The Audacity of Hope Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama With reverberations of his ground-breaking 2004 Democratic Convention Keynote Speech coursing through its pages, The Audacity of Hope pours the foundations of a new, unifying politics—a politics that acknowledges the nobility and complexity of our lives. |
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The Book of O(bama) From Hope and Change to the Age of Revolt by Ted Rall How did a charismatic young president elected in an atmosphere of optimism and expectation lead the United States to the brink of revolution? Rall revisits the rapid rise and dizzying fall of Obama—and the emergence of the Tea Party and Occupy movements. |
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The Bridge The Life and Rise of Barack Obama by David Remnick "Remnick deserves credit for telling Obama's story more completely than others, for lending a reporter's zeal to the task, for not ducking the discussion of race and for peeling back several layers of the onion that is Barack Obama." —Gwen Ifill, The Washington Post "Insight[ful] and nuance[d]. . . . Writing with emotional precision and a sure knowledge of politics, Mr. Remnick situates Mr. Obama's career firmly within a historical context." —The New York Times |
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How Barack Obama Won A State-by-State Guide to the Historic 2008 Presidential Election by Chuck Todd and Sheldon Gawiser How Barack Obama Won gives us not only the inside state-by-state guide to how Obama achieved his victory, but also the necessary toolbox for understanding the political implications of the 2008 presidential election. Featuring an introduction by Chuck Todd, the book is divided into four parts, each of which proceeds alphabetically state by state—Battleground States, Emerging Battleground States, Receding Battleground States, and Red and Blue States—and contains the votes in each state broken down by percentage according to demographic and voter profiles. |
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Renegade The Making of a President by Richard Wolffe Renegade is an essential guide to understanding President Barack Obama and his trusted inner circle of aides and associates. A riveting and enlightening first draft of history and political psychology, this book is the previously untold and epic story of how a political newcomer with no money and an alien name grew into the world's most powerful leader. |
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Revival The Struggle for Survival Inside the Obama White House by Richard Wolffe Full of exclusive insights into the untold and unfinished story of a new force in world politics, Revival is the dramatic story of the defining period of the Obama White House. It is ultimately an epic tale that follows the president and his inner circle from the crisis of defeat to historic success. |
| Campaign Issues |
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The 4% Solution Unleashing the Economic Growth America Needs by The Bush Institute The 4% Solution draws on some of the most respected economic thinkers in the country and offers bipartisan, if also steadfast, ideas on how to grow strongly once more. Leading economic thinkers Robert E. Lucas, Edward C. Prescott, and Amity Shlaes, among others, are featured in the book. |
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Back to Work Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy by Bill Clinton "A lucid one-man rebuttal of the Tea Party's anti-government agenda and a practical set of proposals . . . for restoring economic growth. A succinct common-sense argument for why America needs a strong national government, why both spending cuts and increased tax revenues are necessary for addressing the debt problem . . . and why that debt problem 'can't be solved unless the economy starts growing again.'" —The New York Times |
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Money and Power How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World by William D. Cohan "[The] definitive account of the most profitable and influential investment bank of the modern era." —The New York Times Book Review "The frankest, most detailed, most human assessment of the bank to date. Cohan portrays a firm that has grown so large and hungry that it's no longer long-term greedy but short-term vicious. And that's the wonder—and horror—of Goldman Sachs." —BusinessWeek |
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Strapped Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead by Tamara Draut Strapped offers a groundbreaking look at the new obstacle course facing young adults and calls for a new kind of America in which every young person can go to college, buy a home, and start a family. "A convincing, impressively researched call-to-arms. . . . Fast-paced, informative prose, amply supported by statistics." —San Francisco Chronicle |
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The Age of Austerity How Austerity Will Remake American Politics by Thomas Byrne Edsall "The Age of Austerity greatly clarifies the current frightening crisis in our politics. Thomas Edsall . . . sees Republicans and Democrats as competing coalitions of haves and have-nots, locked in brutal battles over the fundamentals of modern American government at a time of severe economic duress. . . . A singularly valuable account of these ugly times." —Sean Wilentz, author of The Rise of American Democracy and The Age of Reagan |
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Debt The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber Debt is the hot topic in most discussions about the current economic challenges but in Debt, anthropologist David Graeber shows that for more than 5,000 years, humans have used elaborate credit and debt systems to buy and sell goods-long before the invention of coins or cash. |
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The Big Squeeze Tough Times for the American Worker by Steven Greenhouse "A fresh, probing look at the critical issues facing both blue- and white-collar American workers." —Providence Journal-Bulletin "Greenhouse paints a wrenching portrait of decent people who, by no fault of their own, have been fired, demoted, downsized, displaced, abandoned. . . . Greenhouse's picture should unnerve anyone committed to a stable future for American democracy." —Patrick J. Deneen, American Conservative |
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Borrow The American Way of Debt by Louis Hyman "[Hyman] comprehensively examines the role of debt in shaping the American economy, as well as the rise and recent precipitous decline of the nation's middle class. . . . A critical academic investigation into an obscure arena of American historiography that has largely been neglected. But it is also an accessible story concerning a timely economic reality of today's American experience." —Newark Star-Ledger |
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White House Burning The Founding Fathers, Our National Debt, and Why It Matters to You by Simon Johnson and James Kwak "A must-read for anyone who wishes to understand the true nature of our fiscal problems. A fascinating and lively history of how we got into this budgetary mess and a brilliant analysis, dispassionate and balanced, of what we need to do to get out of it." —Liaquat Ahamed, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Lords of Finance |
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13 Bankers The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown by Simon Johnson and James Kwak "Too many discussions of the Great Recession present it as a purely economic phenomenon. . . . Simon Johnson was the first to point out that this was and is a crisis of political economy. His and James Kwak's analysis of the unholy inter-twining of Washington and Wall Street . . . is essential reading." —Niall Ferguson, author of The Ascent of Money |
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So Damn Much Money The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government by Robert G. Kaiser Robert Kaiser's detailed account of the boom in political lobbying since the 1970s that has shaped American politics and an illuminating dissection of a political system badly in need of reform. "Masterly. . . . Timely and important. . . . Kaiser brilliantly succeeds in illuminating the little-known ways that American policy is made, and how well-placed and well-connected people are able to profit from the holes in the American system." —San Francisco Chronicle |
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The Squandering of America How the Failures of Our Politics Undermines Our Prosperity by Robert Kuttner Robert Kuttner's assessment of the American economy demonstrates how it leaves our society less equal, less democratic, and more vulnerable to systemic shocks and risks. "Brilliantly explains how we once created a cooperative and equitable prosperity, how that economy was captured by a financial elite, and how to reclaim America's economic and political future." —William Greider, author of The Soul of Capitalism |
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Age of Greed The Triumph of Finance and the Decline of America, 1970 to the Present by Jeff Madrick A vividly told history of how greed bred America's economic ills over the last forty years and the men most responsible. "A fascinating and deeply disturbing tale of hypocrisy, corruption, and insatiable greed." —Paul Krugman and Robin Wells, The New York Review of Books |
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Mindful Economics How the U.S. Economy Works, Why it Matters, and How it Could Be Different by Joel Magnuson Economist Joel Magnuson delivers a powerful and provocative response to the current misconceptions about the US economy. He maintains that the troubles we face are not the result of a good system gone awry, but rather a system that is built to do exactly what it is doing: corporations are designed to reap profits for its shareholders, at any cost. |
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Chasing Goldman Sachs How the Masters of the Universe Melted Wall Street Down . . . And Why They'll Take Us to the Brink Again by Suzanne McGee In Chasing Goldman Sachs, author Suzanne McGee provides a penetrating look at the forces that transformed Wall Street from its traditional role as a capital-generating and economy-boosting engine into a behemoth operating with only its own short-term interests in mind and with disregard for the broader financial system. |
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Beyond Outrage What Has Gone Wrong with Our Economy and Our Democracy, and How to Fix It by Robert B. Reich An eBook Original A blueprint for action, Beyond Outrage urges Americans to get beyond mere outrage about the nation's increasingly concentrated wealth and corrupt politics in order to mobilize and to take back our economy and democracy. |
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Supercapitalism The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life by Robert B. Reich Powerful and thought-provoking, Supercapitalism argues that a clear separation of politics and capitalism will foster an environment in which both business and government thrive, by putting capitalism in the service of democracy, and not the other way around. "Reich documents in lurid detail the explosive growth of corporate lobbying expenditures and campaign contributions since the 1970s." —The New York Times |
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Aftershock The Next Economy and America's Future by Robert B. Reich Robert Reich's brilliant reading of the causes of our current economic crisis and plan for dealing with its challenging aftermath. "One of the clearest explanations to date of . . . how the United States went from . . . 'the Great Prosperity' of 1947 to 1975 to the Great Recession." —The New York Times |
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The Working Poor Invisible in America by David K. Shipler The Working Poor presents a searing, intimate portrait of working American families struggling against insurmountable odds to escape poverty. "This is one of those seminal books that every American should read and read now." —The New York Times Book Review "The Working Poor . . . should be required reading not just for every member of Congress, but for every eligible voter." —The Washington Post Book World |
The One-Percent & the Occupy Movement
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Twilight of the Elites America After Meritocracy by Christopher Hayes A powerful and original argument that traces the roots of our present crisis of authority to an unlikely source: the meritocracy. Mixing deft political analysis, timely social commentary, and deep historical understanding, Christopher Hayes, editor-at-large of The Nation, argues that the public's failure to trust the federal government, corporate America, and the media has led to a crisis of authority that threatens to engulf not just our politics but our day-to-day lives. |
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The Path to Hope by Stephane Hessel and Edgar Morin The Path to Hope is a short, incisive political tract that criticizes the culture of finance capitalism and calls for a return to the humanist values of the enlightenment. The authors argue that a return to these values would lead the way out of the present worldwide malaise brought on by economic collapse, moral failure, and an ignorance of history. |
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Third World America How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream by Arianna Huffington "Third World America is simultaneously hard-hitting and empathetic. It makes the case that, as the world's largest economy fights to define its future, a viable middle-class is essential to our country's well-being and something we should all fight to ensure." —Rob Johnson, Senior Fellow and Director of the Project on Global Finance at the Roosevelt Institute |
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The Outrageous Barriers to Democracy in America Or, Why A Progressive Presidency Is Impossible by John R. Macarthur Looking closely at Congress, elections, and money in politics, and sparing neither side of the political spectrum, MacArthur, publisher of Harper's Magazine, delivers a devastating exposé of the entrenched interests and elites that make change in America so impossible. |
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The Beginning of the American Fall A Comics Journalist Inside the Occupy Wall Street Movement by Stephanie McMillan Long-time activist and cartoonist Stephanie McMillan chronicles the first few months of the Occupy Movement through delightful drawings, interviews, dialogue, description and insightful reflections. Can a cartoonist and millions of random strangers change the world? |
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Billionaires' Ball Gluttony and Hubris in an Age of Epic Inequality by Linda McQuaig and Neil Brooks McQuaig and Brooks examine the historical political decisions that helped birth the many U.S. billionaires, then move to the cutting-edge research into the dangers that concentrated wealth poses. They show how such wealth is really a by-product of a legal and economic infrastructure that's become deeply flawed. |
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Pinched How the Great Recession Has Narrowed Our Futures and What We Can Do About It by Don Peck "Every era has its politico-economic text. Don Peck may well have written the one for the post financial crisis era. His concerns for what a weak economy will leave in its wake are proper and pressing. We would make wiser policy if every policymaker read this brilliant book." —Larry Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor of Harvard University |
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The Price of Civilization Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity by Jeffrey D. Sachs In this forceful and impassioned book, Jeffrey D. Sachs offers a searing and incisive diagnosis of our country's economic ills, and an urgent call for Americans to restore the core virtues of fairness, honesty, and foresight as the foundations of national prosperity. |
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How Much is Enough? Money and the Good Life by Robert Skidelsky and Edward Skidelsky What constitutes the good life? What is the true value of money? Why do we work such long hours merely to acquire greater wealth? In How Much is Enough?, the Skidelsky's attempt to answer these questions by analyzing economics as a moral science. |
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Who Stole the American Dream? by Hedrick Smith In Who Stole the American Dream? author Hedrick Smith details the step-by-step story of how the American Dream was dismantled over the past forty years by a series of landmark legislative, electoral, and corporate decisions. Through stories of people, Smith also shows how Americans are faring today; and explores what we can do, together, to recreate the American Dream. |
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Deadly Monopolies The Shocking Corporate Takeover of Life Itself—and the Consequences for Your Health and Our Medical Future by Harriet A. Washington "Deadly Monopolies reveals how the privatization of medical science is retarding research, putting patients at risk, and making what cures we have exorbitantly expensive. This book is a meticulously documented exposé of what's gone wrong with our medical innovation system, and a roadmap for change." —Merrill Goozner, author of The $800 Million Pill |
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Overdiagnosed Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health by H. Gilbert Welch, Lisa Schwartz, and Steve Woloshin Revealing the social, medical, and economic ramifications of a health-care system that overdiagnoses and overtreats patients, Dr. H. Gilbert Welch makes a reasoned call for change that would save us pain, worry, and money. |
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The New Hate A History of Fear and Loathing on the Populist Right by Arthur Goldwag "The New Hate is a timely examination of the deep roots of the conspiracy theories that have animated the American radical right for more than a century. This important book gives readers the background they need to understand the astounding extremist rhetoric that now passes for mainstream political debate." —Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center |
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The Righteous Mind Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt "A remarkable and original synthesis of social psychology, political analysis, and moral reasoning that reflects the best of sciences in these fields." —Edward O. Wilson, author of The Future of Life "Haidt's research has revolutionized the field of moral psychology. This elegantly written book has far-reaching implications for anyone interested in politics, religion, or the many controversies that divide modern societies." —Simon Baron-Cohen, Cambridge University, Author of The Science of Evil |
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The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby A cultural history of the last forty years, The Age of American Unreason focuses on the convergence of social forces that has created a perfect storm of anti-rationalism. "With analytic verve and deep historical knowledge, Susan Jacoby documents the dumbing down of our culture like a maestro. . . . An important book." —Douglas Brinkley, author of The Great Deluge "A surprising and uncommonly sophisticated treatment of a familiar topic." —New York Observer |
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When God Talks Back Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God by T. M. Lurhman Astute, deeply intelligent, and sensitive, When God Talks Back is a remarkable approach to the intersection of religion, psychology, and science, and the effect it has on the daily practices of the faithful. "What makes this book so remarkable is not only the author's exhaustive and empathetic fieldwork but that her conclusions emerge from a deep understanding of the history of evangelicalism." —Randall Balmer, author of The Making of Evangelicalism |
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Queer (In)Justice The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States by Joey L. Mogul, Andrea J. Ritchie, and Kay Whitlock Queer (In)Justice is a searing examination of queer experiences—as "suspects," defendants, prisoners, and survivors of crime. Tracing stories from the streets to the bench to behind prison bars, the authors show that the policing of sex and gender both bolsters and reinforces racial and gender inequalities. |
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Coming Apart The State of White America, 1960–2010 by Charles Murray Drawing on five decades of statistics and research, Coming Apart demonstrates that a new upper class and a new lower class have diverged so far in core behaviors and values that they hardly recognize their underlying American kinship—divergence that has nothing to do with income inequality and that has grown during good economic times and bad. |
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Sacred Ground Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America by Eboo Patel A call for Americans to defend the values of inclusiveness and pluralism by one of our best-known American Muslim leaders, Sacred Ground shows us that Americans from George Washington to Martin Luther King Jr. have been "interfaith leaders," and illustrates how the forces of pluralism in America have time and again defeated the forces of prejudice. |
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Idiot America How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free by Charles Pierce With his trademark wit and insight, veteran journalist Charles Pierce delivers a gut-wrenching, side-splitting lament about the glorification of ignorance in the United States. "A raucous rant against the armies of the right. . . . Pierce is at his scathing, insightful best." —The Boston Globe |
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Virtually Normal by Andrew Sullivan Andrew Sullivan presents a persuasive and elegantly reasoned argument for how and why a predominantly heterosexual society must accept its homosexual citizens. "[A] very valuable book that raises the issue of homosexuality in a new way. . . . Mr. Sullivan presents a model of civil discourse." —The New York Times "A brilliant and revolutionary book that will transform gay studies." —The Washington Post Book World |
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Same-Sex Marriage: Pro and Con Edited by Andrew Sullivan Andrew Sullivan gathers two thousand years of argument on same-sex partnerships into an anthology of historic inclusiveness and evenhandedness that explores one of the most explosive issues of our time. Includes writings from or by: Genesis, Montaigne, Ann Landers, Antonin Scalia, Plato, National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Katha Pollitt, James Q. Wilson, Hannah Arendt, William Bennett, Senate Debate on Defense of Marriage Act, Jonathan Rauch, Rabbi Yoel H. Kahn, Amy E. Schwartz, William Safire, Barney Frank, and Charles Krauthammer. |
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The Future of Liberalism by Alan Wolfe A compelling and deeply felt exploration and defense of liberalism: what it actually is, why it is relevant today, and how it can help our society chart a forward course. "A book worth reading. . . . Wolfe produces a nuanced and articulate case for the political philosophy of liberalism. . . . [It is] a book that contains a timely, nuanced, and even brave message." —James Poulos, The American Spectator |
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Full Body Burden Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats by Kristen Iversen "Iversen seems to have been destined to write this shocking and infuriating story of a glorious land and a trusting citizenry poisoned by Cold War militarism and 'hot' contamination, secrets and lies, greed and denial. . . . News stories come and go. It takes a book of this exceptional caliber to focus our attention and marshal our collective commitment to preventing future nuclear horrors." —Booklist (starred) |
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The Land Grabbers The New Fight over Who Owns the Earth by Fred Pearce "Pearce may be the only person to visit all the critical frontlines worldwide, and his brilliant reporting makes the abstraction real. Probably the most important environmental book anyone could read right now." —Timothy Searchinger, fellow, German Marshall Fund; research scholar, Princeton University |
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Harvest the Wind America's Journey to Jobs, Energy Independence, and Climate Stability by Phillip Warburg By showing how practical environmental solutions are being implemented at the local level, Warburg offers an inspirational look at how the U.S. can pursue a more sustainable energy future—while at the same time jumpstarting its economy. |
Individual Rights vs. Collective Security
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Making Our Democracy Work A Judge's View by Stephen Breyer Justice Stephen Breyer offers an original approach to interpreting the Constitution that judges, lawyers, and scholars will look to for many years to come. "A clarion call to future generations. . . . Breyer's goal is for the system to work, to solve problems, to improve our national life." —The New York Times Book Review "The most honest discussion of what a judge should do that you will ever find." —The Washington Post |
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Freedom Manifesto Why Free Markets Are Moral and Big Government Isn't by Steve Forbes and Elizabeth Ames Freedom Manifesto captures the spirit of the movement for limited government and gives it an intellectual foundation by articulating the moral concerns that are upsetting people across America and driving today's dissatisfaction with big government. Forbes provides a fully developed framework of "first principles" for understanding the moral and ethical contrast between an open market society and one dominated by big government. |
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Rights at Risk The Limits of Our Liberty in Modern America by David K. Shipler An enlightening, intensely researched examination of violations of the constitutional principles that preserve individual rights and civil liberties from courtrooms to classrooms. "David Shipler's important new book powerfully reminds us that our constitutional rights are little more than words on paper if we fail to take them seriously when it's inconvenient or even painful to do so." —Linda Greenhouse, author of Becoming Justice Blackmun |
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The Rights of the People How Our Search for Safety Invades Our Liberties by David K. Shipler An impassioned, incisive look at the violations of civil liberties in the United States that have accelerated over the past decade—and their direct impact on our lives. "David Shipler has . . . [taken] the guarantees in our Constitution and explored, on the ground, how they were actually being applied in the lives of Americans. The result is a wonderful book that shows how large a gap there is between constitutional promises and reality." —Anthony Lewis, author of Gideon's Trumpet |
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A Country for All An Immigrant Manifesto by Jorge Ramos For decades, fixing the United States' broken immigration system has been one of the most urgent challenges facing our country. In this timely book, award-winning journalist Jorge Ramos argues that we have a simple choice: to take a pragmatic approach that deals with the reality of immigration, or to continue a cruel and capricious system that doesn't work, wastes billions of dollars, and stands in direct opposition to our national principles. |
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Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds Mexican Immigration and the Future of Race in America by Gregory Rodriguez An unprecedented account of the long-term cultural and political influences that Mexican-Americans will have on the collective character of our nation. "Trailblazing. . . . Rodriguez examines the complex racial and ethnic heritage of Mexican Americans with a sweeping historical insight that demolishes widespread prevalent myths. . . . A vital contribution to understanding the role of Mexican Americans in U.S. society." —Lou Cannon, author of President Reagan |
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Fire in the Ashes Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America by Jonathan Kozol The urgent issues that confront our urban schools—a devastating race-gap, a pathological regime of obsessive testing and drilling students for exams instead of giving them the rich curriculum that excites a love of learning—are interwoven through these stories. Why certain children rise above it all, graduate from high school and do well in college, while others are defeated by the time they enter adolescence, lies at the essence of this work. |
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Push Has Come to Shove Getting Our Kids the Education They Deserve—Even If It Means Picking a Fight by Steve Perry "Steve Perry is an anomaly in the world of education reform. Not only is he a smart, savvy educator with a proven track record of success with urban kids, he is unafraid. He knows that fixing our broken education system means kicking up some dirt, and he does so unapologetically. . . . His book provides common-sense solutions to the seemingly intractable problems of public education and should be read by everyone who wonders what's wrong with our schools." —Michelle Rhee, former Chancellor of the DC Public Schools and CEO of StudentsFirst |
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Educational Courage Resisting the Ambush on Public Education by Mara Sapon-Shevin and Nancy Schniedewind In a time when teachers, parents, and students are feeling overwhelmed by educational policies and market forces beyond their control, Educational Courage offers a vision of how to resist through a collection of empowering stories bringing together the voices of teachers, parents, and educational activists fighting market-driven educational policies. |
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Why Nations Fail The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson "Written with a deep knowledge of economics and political history, this is perhaps the most powerful statement made to date that 'institutions matter.' A provocative, instructive, yet thoroughly enthralling book." —Joel Mokyr, Robert H. Strotz Professor of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Economics and History, Northwestern University |
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The Revenge of Geography What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate by Robert D. Kaplan In this provocative, startling book, Robert D. Kaplan, the bestselling author of Monsoon and Balkan Ghosts, offers a revelatory new prism through which to view global upheavals and to understand what lies ahead for continents and countries around the world. |
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Little America The War Within the War for Afghanistan by Rajiv Chandrasekaran From the award-winning author of Imperial Life in the Emerald City, a riveting, intimate account of America's troubled war in Afghanistan. Through his experiences in the region after President Barack Obama ordered the surge of troops and aid, Chandrasekaran explains how the United States has never understood Afghanistan—from the Cold War up through the current conflict—and probably never will. Meticulously reported, hugely revealing, Little America is an unprecedented examination of a failing war—and an eye-opening look at the complex relationship between America and Afghanistan. |
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The World America Made by Robert Kagan Robert Kagan paints a vivid, alarming picture of what the world might look like if the United States were truly to let its influence wane and offers a reminder that the American world order is worth preserving. "[Kagan] provides a compelling demonstration that . . . the world stands a better chance with America in prime position than with China or Russia in the lead." —The New York Times Book Review |
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How to Run the World Charting a Course to the Next Renaissance by Parag Khanna "At a time when the lines between government and business are blurring and most pundits are quick to color them over with the promise of technology, Khanna has given us an important guide that will help us run the world into the future." —Forbes |
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Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith Religion in American War and Diplomacy by Andrew Preston A richly detailed, profoundly engrossing story of how religion has influenced American foreign relations, told through the stories of the men and women—from presidents to preachers—who have plotted the country's course in the world. "Preston cuts through a confusion that often surrounds America foreign policy, by laying bare the unusual moral history behind it, a history that begins with the Puritans and proceeds in the grooves illuminated in this beautifully written book." —Michael Kimmage, The New Republic |
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The Wrong War Grit, Strategy, and the Way Out of Afghanistan by Bing West "One of the best books yet written on the war in Afghanistan . . . filled with both vivid descriptions of the Afghan fighting and sound advice concerning how counterinsurgencies should be waged." —The Wall Street Journal |
| Past Presidential Campaigns |
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What It Takes The Way to the White House by Richard Ben Cramer The single best volume ever written about a presidential campaign, What it Takes recounts the frenzied course of the 1988 presidential race and scours the psyches of contenders from George Bush and Robert Dole to Michael Dukakis and Gary Hart. Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Cramer uncovers how presumably ordinary people acquire that mixture of ambition, stamina, and often pure shamelessness that makes a true candidate. |
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"An original, brisk inner history of recent American politics, combined with important lessons on how to moderate anything—all told in Lehrer's famously wry and authoritative voice." —Michael Beschloss, New York Times bestselling author of Presidential Courage
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| Elections and the Media |
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Real Clear Politics Political Download Election 2012: The Battle Begins by Tom Bevan and Carl M. Cannon With unsurpassed access to the White House, Republican candidates, and their respective staffs, Election 2012: The Battle Begins will give students a riveting behind the scenes, real time look at the 2012 campaign, providing in-depth reporting and analysis of all of the candidacies. |
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The Fox Effect How Roger Ailes Turned a Network into a Propaganda Machine by David Brock, Ari Rabin-Havt, and Media Matters for America Based on meticulous research and featuring transcripts of leaked audio and memos from Fox News reporters and executives, this damning indictment shows how Fox News, under its president Roger Ailes, changed from a right-leaning news network into a partisan advocate for the Republican Party. |
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The Victory Lab The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns by Sasha Issenberg In this lively and fascinating book, Washington correspondent Sasha Issenberg, who covered the 2008 presidential campaign, tells the hidden story of the analytical revolution upending the way political campaigns are run in the 21st century. |
| Pundits, Partisans and Public Opinion |
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Drift The Unmooring of American Military Power by Rachel Maddow In this provocative and important book, Rachel Maddow argues that we've drifted away from America's original ideals to become a nation oddly at peace with perpetual war, with all the financial and human costs that entails. |
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The Last Best Hope Restoring Conservatism and America's Promise by Joe Scarborough Joe Scarborough, former politician and currently the host of MSNBC's Morning Joe, outlines a plan to help guide conservatives back to a political majority after their defeats in the 2006 midterm elections and the 2008 Presidential election. "In this engaging and timely book, Joe Scarborough undertakes a critical mission: the reinvigoration of conservatism in America. Aiming to take conservatives beyond reaction and beyond sentimentality, he asks the big questions, and does not shy away from offering answers. This is an important contribution to one of the most vital debates of the day." —Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Lion |
| The Political Parties |
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American Individualism How a New Generation of Conservatives Can Save the Republican Party by Margaret Hoover An impassioned and persuasive political manifesto grounded in twentieth-century history and targeted at the most perplexing problems of the twenty-first century, former White House staffer, Margaret Hoover's American Individualism offers provocative ideas not just for reinvigorating the Republican Party but also for strengthening America in the decades ahead. "Margaret Hoover, a fresh and brilliant young voice in the Republican Party, is bent on connecting the GOP to rising generations of the young. She has something to say to their elders, too. They'd best hear her." —Peggy Noonan, columnist, The Wall Street Journal |
Examination Copies are available
