100 Best Democracy Books of All Time (Updated for 2026)

1

How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future

Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt

5.0

Donald Trump's presidency has raised a question that many of us never thought we'd be asking: Is our democracy in danger? Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt have spent more than twenty years studying the breakdown of democracies in Europe and Latin America, and they believe the answer is yes. Democracy no longer ends with a bang--in a revolution or military coup--but with a whim

Recommended by Barack Obama, Michael Mcfaul, Petra Costa, and 1 others.

Barack Obama

Former USA President

As 2018 draws to a close, I’m continuing a favorite tradition of mine and sharing my year-end lists. It gives me a moment to pause and reflect on the year through the books I found most thought-provoking, inspiring, or just plain loved. It also gives me a chance to highlight talented authors – some who are household names and others who you may not have heard of before. Here’s my best of 2018 list. [source]

Michael Mcfaul

Nothing more I’d rather have than a book endorsement from @SteveKerr ! And it is a great book. https://t.co/i9XCw5H9YX [source]

Petra Costa

@WeyandSabine our film "The Edge of Democracy" on Netflix was deeply inspired by this great book! [source]

2

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think

Hans Rosling

4.6

Preview Summary

Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts.

When asked simple questions about global trends—what percentage of the world’s population live in poverty; why the world’s population is increasing; how many girls finish school—we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently o

Recommended by Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Aidan Connolly, and 6 others.

Barack Obama

Former USA President

As 2018 draws to a close, I’m continuing a favorite tradition of mine and sharing my year-end lists. It gives me a moment to pause and reflect on the year through the books I found most thought-provoking, inspiring, or just plain loved. It also gives me a chance to highlight talented authors – some who are household names and others who you may not have heard of before. Here’s my best of 2018 list. [source]

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

This was a breakthrough to me. The framework Hans enunciates is one that took me decades of working in global development to create for myself, and I could have never expressed it in such a clear way. I’m going to try to use this model moving forward. [source]

Aidan Connolly

I would suggest Hans Rosling’s Factfulness on the real world of statistics. [source]

3

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

Timothy Snyder

4.6

A historian of fascism offers a guide for surviving and resisting America’s turn towards authoritarianism.

On November 9th, millions of Americans woke up to the impossible: the election of Donald Trump as president. Against all predictions, one of the most-disliked presidential candidates in history had swept the electoral college, elevating a man with open contempt for democratic norms and institu

Recommended by George Saunders, Maya Wiley, and Tom Holland.

George Saunders

Please read this book. So smart, so timely. [source]

Maya Wiley

Prof. Tim Snyder, author of “In Tyranny” reminded us in that important little book that we must protect our institutions. #DOJ is one of our most important in gov’t for the rule of law. This is our collective house & #Barr should be evicted. https://t.co/PPxM9IMQUm [source]

Tom Holland

"There isn’t a page of this magnificent book that does not contain some fascinating detail and the narrative is held together with a novelist’s eye for character and theme." #Dominion https://t.co/FESSNxVDLC [source]

4

A People's History of the United States

Howard Zinn

4.5

Preview Summary

"A wonderful, splendid book--a book that should be ready by every American, student or otherwise, who wants to understand his country, its true history, and its hope for the future." --Howard Fast

With a new introduction by Anthony Arnove, this edition of the classic national bestseller chronicles American history from the bottom up, throwing out the official narrative taught in schools—with its em

Recommended by Lisa Ling and Alex Honnold.

Lisa Ling

I credit this book with propelling me to dig deeper, and to not always believe the narrative. [source]

Alex Honnold

Totally changed the way I look at politics. [source]

5

Democracy in America

Alexis de Tocqueville, Isaac Kramnick, Gerald Bevan

4.4

Democracy in America has had the singular honor of being even to this day the work that political commentators of every stripe refer to when they seek to draw large conclusions about the society of the USA. Alexis de Tocqueville, a young French aristocrat, came to the young nation to investigate the functioning of American democracy & the social, political & economic life of its citizens, publishi

Recommended by Karl Rove, Robert Reich, Stephen Breyer, and 1 others.

Karl Rove

Tocqueville was seized by the sharp contrast between Paris and America, where people did not wait for the central government, but went ahead on their own, and I think that’s vital part of what it is to be both an American and a vital part of what is America. [source]

Robert Reich

Tocqueville was not only a brilliant sociologist but he also saw the connections between American society and the budding capitalism of the 1830s. [source]

Stephen Breyer

It’s a masterpiece of sociological and political analysis. Tocqueville’s work still helps us understand America, 170 years after he wrote it. [source]

6

Permanent Record

Edward Snowden

4.4

Preview Summary

Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government’s system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the story of his life, including how he helped to build that system and what motivated him to try to bring it down.

In 2013, twenty-nine-year-old Edward Snowden shocked the world when he broke with the American intelligence establishment and revealed that the United St

Recommended by John Sargent and Kara Swisher.

John Sargent

CEO/Macmillan Publishers USA

Edward Snowden decided at the age of 29 to give up his entire future for the good of his country. He displayed enormous courage in doing so, and like him or not, his is an incredible American story. There is no doubt that the world is a better and more private place for his actions. Macmillan is enormously proud to publish Permanent Record. [source]

Kara Swisher

Btw @Snowden new book “Permanent Record” is quite good and surprisingly a love letter to the Internet as it was. [source]

7

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

Daron Acemoglu

4.4

Preview Summary

Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine?

Is it culture, the weather, geography? Perhaps ignorance of what the right policies are?

Simply, no. None of these factors is either definitive or destiny. Otherwise, how t

Recommended by Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Daron Acemoglu, and 5 others.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

"I read two books that raise big, interesting questions about social change and technological progress. I’m planning to write longer reviews of each of these books, but let me flag them for you now. One is Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson.The topic of this book is why some countries have prospered and created great living conditions for their citizens while others have not. This is an important topic, which I care a lot about. The book makes an appealing argument that economic development depends on political institutions that protect individual rights. It is well written and very easy to read with lots of interesting historical stories about different countries. But it is a major disappointment. Its analysis is vague and simplistic. I’ll explain more in a longer review." [source]

Mark Zuckerberg

Founder/Facebook

My next book for A Year of Books is Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoğlu and James A. Robinson. This book explores the different kinds of social institutions and incentives that nations have applied to encourage prosperity, economic development and elimination of poverty. This is a good complement to our last book, Portfolios of the Poor, which focused on how people live in poverty. This one discusses why poverty exists and how to reduce it. [source]

Daron Acemoglu

In terms of understanding this top inequality, I mentioned the possibility that it might be about politics. How should we think about politics? What are the levers of politics? For that we need a conceptual framework and that’s what this book tries to provide. It’s co-authored with my long-term collaborator and friend Jim Robinson – and it’s not about US or UK or Canadian inequality. It runs through several thousand years of history, and tries to explain how societies work and why, often, they fail to generate prosperity for their citizens. It’s a very political story. [source]

Cover unavailable

8

India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy

Ramachandra Guha

4.4

A magisterial account of the pains, the struggles, the humiliations, and the glories of the world's largest and least likely democracy, Ramachandra Guha's India After Gandhi is a breathtaking chronicle of the brutal conflicts that have rocked a giant nation and the extraordinary factors that have held it together. An intricately researched and elegantly written epic history peopled with larger-tha

Recommended by Kaushik Basu, Lord Meghnad Desai, Pankhuri Pathak, and 1 others.

Kaushik Basu

As a book on recent India, it’s one of the best, maybe the best, that I’ve read – a mammoth amount of information, put together in a way that anybody can read. [source]

Lord Meghnad Desai

This is a very detailed account of India over the past 60 years in one single volume. It is pro-Nehru, so it is a very secular view. [source]

Pankhuri Pathak

If I were only allowed... One cuisine: Mughlai One author: J K Rowling One musician: Jagjeet Singh One season: Monsoon One city: Varanasi One game: Tekken 3 One book: India After Gandhi by Ramchandra Guha One movie: PS I Love You One colour: Black How about you? https://t.co/yG0cfCzRBj [source]

Cover unavailable

9

Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America

Nancy MacLean

4.3

Behind today’s headlines of billionaires taking over our government is a secretive political establishment with long, deep, and troubling roots. The capitalist radical right has been working not simply to change who rules, but to fundamentally alter the rules of democratic governance. But billionaires did not launch this movement; a white intellectual in the embattled Jim Crow South did. Democracy

Recommended by Vote Dem For The Planet.

Vote Dem For The Planet

@DeVos1990 @CommentOnTWLB @GOP Yes, yes, yes! Great book, and a huge warning? [source]

10

The Federalist Papers

Alexander Hamilton

4.3

Preview Summary

Hailed by Thomas Jefferson as “the best commentary on the principles of government which was ever written", The Federalist Papers is a collection of eighty-five essays published by Founding Fathers Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay from 1787 to 1788, as a means to persuade the public to ratify the Constitution of the United States.

With nearly two-thirds of the essays written by Hamil

Recommended by Barack Obama and Karl Rove.

Barack Obama

Former USA President

According to the president’s Facebook page and a 2008 interview with the New York Times, these titles are among his most influential forever favorites: Moby Dick, Herman Melville Self-Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson Song Of Solomon, Toni Morrison Parting The Waters, Taylor Branch Gilead, Marylinne Robinson Best and the Brightest, David Halberstam The Federalist, Alexander Hamilton Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene The Quiet American, Graham Greene Cancer Ward, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Gandhi’s autobiography Working, Studs Terkel Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren [source]

Karl Rove

I think this is the greatest explanation, in one place, of the American constitution, of the essential underpinnings and structures that make American democracy possible. This is how to view the constitution in its proper perspective, as a document of limited government, and enormous personal freedom – as an attempt to understand human nature and draw on both its strengths and its weaknesses to achieve a community and nation. [source]

11

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

Naomi Klein

4.3

Preview Summary

In her ground-breaking reporting from Iraq, Naomi Klein exposed how the trauma of invasion was being exploited to remake the country in the interest of foreign corporations. She called it "disaster capitalism." Covering Sri Lanka in the wake of the tsunami, and New Orleans post-Katrina, she witnessed something remarkably similar. People still reeling from catastrophe were being hit again, this tim

Recommended by Donna Dickenson, George Monbiot, and Mat Whitecross.

Donna Dickenson

Naomi Klein’s argument is that capitalism actually requires deliberately engineered shocks to the economic systems. [source]

George Monbiot

The Shock Doctrine explains some of the mechanisms by which patrimonial capital acquires power and enhances its wealth. It’s a brilliant piece of work, and one of those rare books that changes the way you perceive the world. [source]

Mat Whitecross

It starts with the theory that moments of crisis have been utilised by the right wing in the US and other countries to manipulate people into following their agenda. [source]

12

A Warning

Anonymous

4.2

Preview Summary

An unprecedented behind-the-scenes portrait of the Trump presidency from the anonymous senior official whose first words of warning about the president rocked the nation’s capital.

Recommended by Judy Woodruff.

Judy Woodruff

a critical review in the @NYT of much-awaited book "Warning" by anonymous member of the Trump administration, reveals senior administration officials considered resigning en masse, but then argues Pres Trump is best removed by election https://t.co/dkIdaW22ES [source]

13

Fascism: A Warning

Madeleine Albright and HarperAudi

4.2

A personal and urgent examination of Fascism in the twentieth century and how its legacy shapes today’s world, written by one of America’s most admired public servants, the first woman to serve as U.S. secretary of state

A Fascist, observes Madeleine Albright, “is someone who claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is utterly unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use violenc

Recommended by Brad Feld.

Brad Feld

Co-Founder/Foundry Group

Amy and I have been fortunate enough to get to know Madeleine Albright through our collective relationships at Wellesley. Amy knows her better, but I had an amazing dinner sitting next to her one night where I walked away thinking “I wish she had been born here so she could run for president.” The word “fascism” is once again being used so often as to mean nothing, so Albright spends 250 or so pages walking the reader through real fascism, how fascists behave, what they do to their countries (and societies), and what – as a citizen in a democratic country – to pay attention to. She covers the famous ones, but also some not so famous ones, especially those who came to power in the context of a theoretically democratic society. [source]

14

Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World

Anand Giridharadas

4.2

The New York Times bestselling, groundbreaking investigation of how the global elite's efforts to "change the world" preserve the status quo and obscure their role in causing the problems they later seek to solve. An essential read for understanding some of the egregious abuses of power that dominate today's news.

Anand Giridharadas takes us into the inner sanctums of a new gilded age, where the ri

Recommended by Bill Gates, Tim O'Reilly, Darren Walker, and 4 others.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

In Anand’s thought-provoking book his fresh perspective on solving complex societal problems is admirable. I appreciate his commitment and dedication to spreading social justice. [source]

Tim O'Reilly

Founder/O'Reilly Media

Anand is a deeply insightful thinker, whose view of justice tempered with mercy needs to be widely shared. His forthcoming book is brilliant and important. https://t.co/QIcy3bEZMS [source]

Darren Walker

President/Ford Foundation

A landmark new book. [source]

15

The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution

Francis Fukuyama

4.2

Preview Summary

Virtually all human societies were once organized tribally, yet over time most developed new political institutions which included a central state that could keep the peace and uniform laws that applied to all citizens. Some went on to create governments that were accountable to their constituents. We take these institutions for granted, but they are absent or are unable to perform in many of toda

Recommended by David Heinemeier Hansson and Venkatesh Rao.

David Heinemeier Hansson

This book and "Political Order and Political Decay" is a fantastic two-part book. [source]

Venkatesh Rao

This two-volume book is basically a very extended study of history from that starting point of ‘What happens if you look at history as a convergent evolutionary path that seems to end in liberal democracy? [source]

16

The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad

Fareed Zakaria

4.2

With an easy command of history, philosophy and current affairs, 'The Future of Freedom' calls for a restoration of the balance between liberty and democracy, and shows how liberal democracy has to be made effective and relevant for our time.

Recommended by Michael Voss.

Michael Voss

I was the head of internal communications for a Fortune 50 company that had just begun to expand internationally when I read The Future of Freedom by Fareed Zakaria. This gripping historical analysis provided tremendous insight on the geopolitical forces shaping our world, and opened my eyes to the tremendous risks and opportunities that lie ahead for businesses operating on a global scale. [source]

17

The Republic: The Influential Classic

Plato

4.2

The newest deluxe edition in the bestselling Capstone Classics Series This ancient classic has had a make-over. In recent years these Capstone Classic deluxe editions have caught the book buying public's imagination. The volumes of international bestsellers such as Think and Grow Rich and The Art of War have quickly become the market leaders. Now Plato's best known work, one of the most intellectu

Recommended by Bryan Van Norden, David Heinemeier Hansson, Jonathan Glover, and 6 others.

Bryan Van Norden

It’s very readable even if you aren’t a professional philosopher. Take the story of ‘The Ring of Gyges,’ which raises the question of whether you would continue to act like a good person if you had a ring of invisibility that let you get away with doing whatever you wanted to do. That’s a fascinating thought experiment that anybody can appreciate. [source]

David Heinemeier Hansson

I’m about a third through this and still can’t tell whether Plato is making a mockery of Socrates ideas for the idyllic society or not. So many of the arguments presented as Socrates’ are so tortured and with so disconnected leaps of logic that it’s hard to take it at face value. Yet still, it’s good fun to follow the dialogue. It reads more like a play than a book, and again, immensely accessible. It’s fun to see the lines that continue from a book like this to the considerations of the Stoics all the way to Adam Smith and the Wealth of Nations and then onto a modern critique and history in that Debt: First 5,000 Years. A conversation spanning millennia. [source]

Jonathan Glover

It contains a tremendous amount of nonsense about what the ideal society would be like. But it is an unmissable book because of Socrates. He invented the method of doing and teaching philosophy that has never been improved on. [source]

18

The Fifth Risk

Michael Lewis

4.2

What are the consequences if the people given control over our government have no idea how it works?

"The election happened," remembers Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, then deputy secretary of the Department of Energy. "And then there was radio silence." Across all departments, similar stories were playing out: Trump appointees were few and far between; those that did show up were shockingly uninformed

Recommended by Malcolm Gladwell, Alvin Lindsay, Ed Miliband, and 3 others.

Malcolm Gladwell

Writer & Journalist

It's good to be reminded every now and again what genius looks like. [source]

Alvin Lindsay

ATTENTION: Do you hate your job? "HOW TO ESCAPE THE JOB YOU HATE" FREE Sunday Times Best Seller Book & DVD package will show you a simple way. https://t.co/uLzyBw429W #england #UK #Unitedkingdom shipping ONLY! #business #marketing https://t.co/InNXqxQnOY [source]

Ed Miliband

Very happy to talk this week on #CheerfulBookClub to the brilliant Michael Lewis about his long-standing interest in markets that fail from baseball to Wall Street, as well as his new book on Donald Trump and why it’s a defence of public service. Listen below https://t.co/2DGez9T8vV [source]

19

America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction

Jon Stewart

4.2

Jon Stewart, host of the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning The Daily Show, and his coterie of patriots, deliver a hilarious look at American government.

American-style democracy is the world's most beloved form of government, which explains why so many other nations are eager for us to impose it on them. But what is American democracy? In America (The Book), Jon Stewart and The Daily Show writing staf

Recommended by Lee Camp.

Lee Camp

There’s not much of a political agenda in this book, although I guess the writers are largely on the left, but it’s just fall-off-your-chair funny. They go through the entire history of America and satirise accepted mythology in brilliant fashion. It’s made up like a textbook. It’s so funny it’s almost too much for a book. There are 20 good jokes per page and it’s 400 pages long. By the time you make your way through you’ll be in awe of the ability of the writers. [source]

Cover unavailable

20

The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies - New Edition

Bryan Caplan

4.2

The greatest obstacle to sound economic policy is not entrenched special interests or rampant lobbying, but the popular misconceptions, irrational beliefs, and personal biases held by ordinary voters. This is economist Bryan Caplan's sobering assessment in this provocative and eye-opening book. Caplan argues that voters continually elect politicians who either share their biases or else pretend to

Recommended by Jason Furman.

Jason Furman

@achilleas999 Love that book. Hs a number of themes in common with The Myth of the Rational Voter which we do read. [source]

21

Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy

Francis Fukuyama

4.2

The second volume of the bestselling landmark work on the history of the modern state

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, David Gress called Francis Fukuyama's Origins of Political Order "magisterial in its learning and admirably immodest in its ambition." In The New York Times Book Review, Michael Lind described the book as "a major achievement by one of the leading public intellectuals of our tim

Recommended by David Heinemeier Hansson.

David Heinemeier Hansson

In the last 10% of Political Order and Political Decay. It’s been about 50 hours of listening between that volume and the first, The Origins of Political Order. So quite the undertaking. But we’ve finally progressed all the way through the history of political order and arrived at Fukuyama’s diagnosis of modern day societies. It’s a truly epic journey, and one that’s uniquely timely to the current upheaval. “Things are so crazy now” is only something you’d say in the absence of a historical perspective. These books give you just that and then some. [source]

Cover unavailable

22

The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic

Benjamin Carter Hett

4.2

A riveting account of how the Nazi Party came to power and how the failures of the Weimar Republic and the shortsightedness of German politicians allowed it to happen.

Why did democracy fall apart so quickly and completely in Germany in the 1930s? How did a democratic government allow Adolf Hitler to seize power? In The Death of Democracy, Benjamin Carter Hett answers these questions, and the story

23

Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There

Rutger (Translated by Elizabeth Manton) Bregman

4.2

We live in a time of unprecedented upheaval, with questions about the future, society, work, happiness, family and money, and yet no political party of the right or left is providing us with answers. Rutger Bregman, a bestselling Dutch historian, explains that it needn't be this way.

Bregman shows that we can construct a society with visionary ideas that are, in fact, wholly implementable. Every mi

Recommended by Duan Pavlovi.

Duan Pavlovi

Thank you @rcbregman for this great book! (I am writing a short review, but only in Serbian for a Serbian daily.) [source]

24

We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy

Ta-Nehisi Coates

4.2

"We were eight years in power" was the lament of Reconstruction-era black politicians as the American experiment in multiracial democracy ended with the return of white supremacist rule in the South. Now Ta-Nehisi Coates explores the tragic echoes of that history in our own time: the unprecedented election of a black president followed by a vicious backlash that fueled the election of the man Coat

25

Why We're Polarized

Ezra Klein

4.2

Preview Summary

Discover how today’s rigidly partisan politics came to be, why we all participate in it, and what it means for America’s future—from star journalist, political commentator, and cofounder of Vox, Ezra Klein.

Over the past 50 years, our partisan identities have merged with our racial, religious, geographic, ideological, and cultural identities. Those merged identities have attained a weight that is

Recommended by Ben Dreyfuss.

Ben Dreyfuss

It is 4am so obviously not a great time to promote someone’s book but I just finished reading @ezraklein’s new book and it is very smart and good. He has a chapter on how social media has contributed to polarization that is one of the best things I’ve read on the subject. [source]

26

No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State

Glenn Greenwald

4.2

By Glenn Greenwald, star of Citizenfour, the Academy Award-winning documentary on Edward Snowden

In May 2013, Glenn Greenwald set out for Hong Kong to meet an anonymous source who claimed to have astonishing evidence of pervasive government spying and insisted on communicating only through heavily encrypted channels. That source turned out to be the twenty-nine-year-old NSA contractor Edward Snowde

Recommended by Gilbert Rwabigwi.

Gilbert Rwabigwi

Your book, “No Place To Hide”, was a thrilling/insightful read. Can’t wait to flip through @Snowden’s memoir. 🙏🏾 https://t.co/pZPLxDpNcM [source]

27

Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin

Timothy Snyder

4.1

Americans call the Second World War “The Good War.” But before it even began, America’s wartime ally Josef Stalin had killed millions of his own citizens—and kept killing them during and after the war. Before Hitler was finally defeated, he had murdered six million Jews and nearly as many other Europeans. At war’s end, both the German and the Soviet killing sites fell behind the iron curtain, leav

Recommended by Eric Weinstein, Antony Beevor, Edward Lucas, and 1 others.

Eric Weinstein

Managing Director/Thiel Capital

Eric Weinstein recommended this book on Twitter. [source]

Antony Beevor

This book is about…the Stalinist repression of the areas known as the borderlands, which Snyder has termed the bloodlands. Snyder is looking at the deliberate mass murder of civilians in a particular zone of Europe between about 1930, at the start of the second Ukraine famine, and 1945. [source]

Edward Lucas

Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin offers the best account of the most important and terrible years of the last century, when Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler jointly consigned the territories and people between their two empires to the meat-grinder. [source]

28

On Liberty

John Stuart Mill

4.1

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780140432077

Published in 1859, John Stuart Mill's On Liberty presented one of the most eloquent defenses of individual freedom in nineteenth-century social and political philosophy and is today perhaps the most widely-read liberal argument in support of the value of liberty. Mill's passionate advocacy of spontaneity, individuality, and diversity, along with his con

Recommended by A C Grayling, Anne Heller, Brink Lindsey, and 7 others.

A C Grayling

On Liberty is a very important document, and one which, because of the clarity with which one can read it and its brevity, is slightly passed over. [source]

Anne Heller

Imagine how John Stuart Mill would feel if he were made to wear a seatbelt because the federal government tells him so. [source]

Brink Lindsey

I think liberals, of both a libertarian, classical, liberal stripe and a more modern egalitarian stripe, see John Stuart Mill as a common ancestor. [source]

29

Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government

Christopher H. Achen, Larry M. Bartels

4.1

"Democracy for Realists" assails the romantic folk-theory at the heart of contemporary thinking about democratic politics and government, and offers a provocative alternative view grounded in the actual human nature of democratic citizens.

Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels deploy a wealth of social-scientific evidence, including ingenious original analyses of topics ranging from abortion politics

Recommended by Mark Manson.

Mark Manson

Founder/MarkManson.net

Democracy for Realists is an eye-opening and sober look at the data on democracy and what makes it effective/ineffective. Hint: people are stupid. [source]

30

From Dictatorship to Democracy

Gene Sharp

4.1

From Dictatorship to Democracy is virtually the handbook for (almost) peaceful overthrow of repressive regimes, the manual consulted by revolutionary leadership throughout the Middle East, from Tunis to Egypt.

31

The Road to Serfdom: Text and Documents--The Definitive Edition

F. A. Hayek

4.1

An unimpeachable classic work in political philosophy, intellectual and cultural history, and economics, The Road to Serfdom has inspired and infuriated politicians, scholars, and general readers for half a century. Originally published in 1944—when Eleanor Roosevelt supported the efforts of Stalin, and Albert Einstein subscribed lock, stock, and barrel to the socialist program—The Road to Serfdom

Recommended by Dan Sullivan, Geoffrey Miller, Mitch Daniels, and 1 others.

Geoffrey Miller

@bdmarotta No, The Road to Serfdom by Hayek is the best book on modern evil [source]

Mitch Daniels

This book convincingly demonstrated what was already intuitive to me: namely, the utter futility, the illusion of government planning as a mechanism for uplifting those less fortunate. [source]

Yuval Levin

The Road to Serfdom is a very polemical book. It was published in 1944. It’s a warning not exactly about Communism, but about the coming of statism in the West, about the ways that some of the governing élites that Hayek saw, especially in Britain, thought about governing. The book is really mostly about Britain. He talks about the dangers of central planning, of the attempt to take over the economic life of a society and to try and control it from the centre. It’s a book that is properly understood as a libertarian book, but it’s not libertarian in the way that a lot of contemporary libertarians would define themselves. It is a very, very sceptical book, and a very modest book. In a way, Hayek argues for limited government because he has a very limited view of human nature and human knowledge. I think he would call himself a Whig. I think he actually did call himself a Whig, when he was asked whether he was a libertarian or a conservative. It’s a book that shows that at its best, the libertarian strain of conservatism is a form of scepticism rather than of utopianism. [source]

32

The Constitution of the United States of America, with the Bill of Rights and All of the Amendments; The Declaration of Independence; And the Articles

Thomas Jefferson

4.1

Collected here in one affordable volume are the most important documents of the United States of America: The Constitution of the United States of America, with the Bill of Rights and all of the Amendments; The Declaration of Independence; and the Articles of Confederation. These three documents are the basis for our entire way of life. Every citizen should have a copy.

33

Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism

Cornel West

4.1

In his major bestseller, Race Matters, philosopher Cornel West burst onto the national scene with his searing analysis of the scars of racism in American democracy. In Democracy Matters, West returns to the analysis of the arrested development of democracy, both in America and in the crisis-ridden Middle East.

In a strikingly original diagnosis, he argues that if America is to become a better stewa

34

Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media

Edward S. Herman

4.1

Preview Summary

In this pathbreaking work, Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky show that, contrary to the usual image of the news media as cantankerous, obstinate, and ubiquitous in their search for truth and defense of justice, in their actual practice they defend the economic, social, and political agendas of the privileged groups that dominate domestic society, the state, and the global order.

Based on a series o

Recommended by Louis Nyffenegger.

35

Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America

Ari Berman

4.1

In this groundbreaking narrative history, Ari Berman charts both the transformation of American democracy under the VRA and the counterrevolution that has sought to limit voting rights, from 1965 to the present day. The act enfranchised millions of Americans and is widely regarded as the crowning achievement of the civil rights movement. And yet, fifty years later, we are still fighting heated bat

36

This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate

Naomi Klein

4.1

Forget everything you think you know about global warming. It's not about carbon – it's about capitalism. The good news is that we can seize this crisis to transform our failed economic system and build something radically better.

In her most provocative book yet, Naomi Klein, author of the global bestsellers The Shock Doctrine and No Logo, exposes the myths that are clouding climate debate.

You ha

Cover unavailable

37

Democracy: The God That Failed

Hans-Hermann Hoppe

4.1

The core of this book is a systematic treatment of the historic transformation of the West from monarchy to democracy. Revisionist in nature, it reaches the conclusion that monarchy is a lesser evil than democracy, but outlines deficiencies in both. Its methodology is axiomatic-deductive, allowing the writer to derive economic and sociological theorems, and then apply them to interpret historical

Recommended by Olivier Janssens.

Olivier Janssens

@zndtoshi Of course I did, great book. There's a difference between "1 person 1 vote" versus Stakeholder Voting. There's always a form of "voting" going on (even when voting with your feet). In this case, miners/stakers need to make the final decision, but it should be an informed decision [source]

38

Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945

Tony Judt

4.1

Almost a decade in the making, this much-anticipated grand history of postwar Europe from one of the world's most esteemed historians and intellectuals is a singular achievement. Postwar is the first modern history that covers all of Europe, both east and west, drawing on research in six languages to sweep readers through thirty-four nations and sixty years of political and cultural change-all in

Recommended by David Marquand and Keith Lowe.

David Marquand

This book is all about the way that Europe has managed – not always totally successfully, but managed nevertheless – to come to terms with its bloody and horrible past. [source]

Keith Lowe

What [source]

39

Democracy: A Case Study

David A. Moss

4.1

A Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year

"This absolutely splendid book is a triumph on every level. A first-rate history of the United States, it is beautifully written, deeply researched, and filled with entertaining stories. For anyone who wants to see our democracy flourish, this is the book to read."
--Doris Kearns Goodwin

To all who say our democracy is broken--riven by partisanship, undermined

40

The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Ford Motor Company, and Their Epic Quest to Arm an America at War

A. J. Baim

4.1

In 1941, as Hitler’s threat loomed ever larger, President Roosevelt realized he needed weaponry to fight the Nazis—most important, airplanes—and he needed them fast. So he turned to Detroit and the auto industry for help.

The Arsenal of Democracy tells the incredible story of how Detroit answered the call, centering on Henry Ford and his tortured son Edsel, who, when asked if they could deliver 50,

Cover unavailable

41

Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation's Capital

Chris Myers Asch

4.1

Monumental in scope and vividly detailed, Chocolate City tells the tumultuous, four-century story of race and democracy in our nation's capital. Emblematic of the ongoing tensions between America's expansive democratic promises and its enduring racial realities, Washington often has served as a national battleground for contentious issues, including slavery, segregation, civil rights, the drug war

42

Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit

Parker J. Palmer

4.1

Hope for American democracy in an era of deep divisions In Healing the Heart of Democracy, Parker J. Palmer quickens our instinct to seek the common good and gives us the tools to do it. This timely, courageous and practical work--intensely personal as well as political--is not about them, "those people" in Washington D.C., or in our state capitals, on whom we blame our political problems. It's ab

43

Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul

Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

4.1

A powerful polemic on the state of black America that savages the idea of a post-racial society.

America's great promise of equality has always rung hollow in the ears of African Americans. But today the situation has grown even more dire. From the murders of black youth by the police, to the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act, to the disaster visited upon poor and middle-class black families by

44

The Origins of Totalitarianism

Hannah Arendt, Nadia May, et al

4.1

Hannah Arendt's definitive work on totalitarianism and an essential component of any study of twentieth-century political history

The Origins of Totalitarianism begins with the rise of anti-Semitism in central and western Europe in the 1800s and continues with an examination of European colonial imperialism from 1884 to the outbreak of World War I. Arendt explores the institutions and operations of

Recommended by Ruth Ben-Ghiat.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Her most useful (and her most chilling) conclusion for today is that totalitarian tools were not specific to Nazism or Stalinism or any ideology. Arendt’s words should be studied today by those who want to prevent the further spread of authoritarian regimes and the ideologies they are propagating. [source]

45

Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism

Sheldon S. Wolin

4.1

Democracy is struggling in America--by now this statement is almost cliche. But what if the country is no longer a democracy at all? In "Democracy Incorporated," Sheldon Wolin considers the unthinkable: has America unwittingly morphed into a new and strange kind of political hybrid, one where economic and state powers are conjoined and virtually unbridled? Can the nation check its descent into wha

46

Democracy: The Long Road to Freedom

Condoleezza Rice

4.1

From the former Secretary of State and bestselling author - a sweeping, definitive look at the birth, life and struggle of global democracy. From the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union to the ongoing struggle for human rights in the Middle East, Condoleezza Rice has been on the front lines of history. She was a child when her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama became the epicen

47

One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy

Carol Anderson, Dick Durbin

4.1

From the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of White Rage, the startling--and timely--history of voter suppression in America, with a foreword by Senator Dick Durbin.

In her New York Times bestseller White Rage, Carol Anderson laid bare an insidious history of policies that have systematically impeded black progress in America, from 1865 to our combustible present. With One Person, No

Cover unavailable

48

Grace for President

Kelly S. DiPucchio, LeUyen Pham

4.1

A fresh, fun, and "thought-provoking" New York Times bestseller about the American electoral college and why every vote counts from bestselling and award-winning duo Kelly DiPucchio and LeUyen Pham.

"Where are the girls?"

When Grace's teacher reveals that the United States has never had a female president, Grace decides she wants to be the nation's first and immediately jumpstarts her political care

49

The Establishment: And How They Get Away with It

Owen Jones

4.1

In The Establishment Owen Jones, author of the international bestseller Chavs, offers a biting critique of the British Establishment and a passionate plea for democracy

Behind our democracy lurks a powerful but unaccountable network of people who wield massive power and reap huge profits in the process. In exposing this shadowy and complex system that dominates our lives, Owen Jones sets out on a j

50

Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment

Francis Fukuyama

4.1

The New York Times bestselling author of The Origins of Political Order offers a provocative examination of modern identity politics: its origins, its effects, and what it means for domestic and international affairs of state

In 2014, Francis Fukuyama wrote that American institutions were in decay, as the state was progressively captured by powerful interest groups. Two years later, his predictions

Recommended by Bill Gates and Michael Mcfaul.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

On Bill Gates's reading list in 2018. [source]

Michael Mcfaul

Heard a fantastic presentation today by @FukuyamaFrancis on his new book, Identity. Buy this book ! https://t.co/gzqBI7dV7d [source]

51

Duck for President

Doreen Cronin, Betsy Lewin

4.1

My fellow Americans:

It is our pleasure, our honor, our duty as citizens to present to you Duck for President. Here is a duck who began in a humble pond. Who worked his way to farmer. To governor. And now, perhaps, to the highest office in the land.

Some say, if he walks like a duck and talks like a duck, he is a duck.

We say, if he walks like a duck and talks like a duck, he will be the next pr

52

Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms

Hannah Fry

4.1

A look inside the algorithms that are shaping our lives and the dilemmas they bring with them.

If you were accused of a crime, who would you rather decide your sentence—a mathematically consistent algorithm incapable of empathy or a compassionate human judge prone to bias and error? What if you want to buy a driverless car and must choose between one programmed to save as many lives as possible and

Recommended by David Smith and Jim Al-Khalili.

David Smith

Darroch: “The best book I’ve read recently is called Hello World... It’s about the impact of algorithms across different areas... For me this was the best piece of learning I’ve done in recent months.” [source]

Jim Al-Khalili

The fact is, the age of AI is coming fast, and we need to be ready for it. This book will help you decide how worried you should be. [source]

53

Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age

Larry M. Bartels

4.1

Using a vast swath of data spanning the past six decades, Unequal Democracy debunks many myths about politics in contemporary America, using the widening gap between the rich and the poor to shed disturbing light on the workings of American democracy. Larry Bartels shows the gap between the rich and poor has increased greatly under Republican administrations and decreased slightly under Democrats,

Recommended by Daron Acemoglu.

Daron Acemoglu

Yes. The real worry is that as inequality has increased in the US, and perhaps because the nature of our political system has changed for other reasons, money has started becoming much more important in politics. Politicians have become much more responsive to the wishes and the views and the voice of the very wealthy. That’s what Larry Bartels’s book, Unequal Democracy, is about. There are parts of it that you may agree with, there are parts of it you may not agree with, but I think it paints a very alarming picture of how our democracy has become much more unequal. [source]

54

Adults in the Room: My Battle with the European and American Deep Establishment

Yanis Varoufakis

4.1

A Number One Sunday Times Bestseller

What happens when you take on the establishment? In Adults in the Room, the renowned economist and former finance minister of Greece Yanis Varoufakis gives the full, blistering account of his momentous clash with the mightiest economic and political forces on earth.

After being swept into power with the left-wing Syriza party, Varoufakis attempts to renegotiate

Recommended by Gabriel Coarna.

Gabriel Coarna

I read "Adults in the Room" because I had seen Yanis Varoufakis give this talk. [source]

55

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power

Shoshana Zuboff

4.1

Preview Summary

The challenges to humanity posed by the digital future, the first detailed examination of the unprecedented form of power called "surveillance capitalism," and the quest by powerful corporations to predict and control our behavior.

In this masterwork of original thinking and research, Shoshana Zuboff provides startling insights into the phenomenon that she has named surveillance capitalism. The sta

Recommended by Clive Lewis Mp, Dilip Cherian, John Tasioulas, and 3 others.

Clive Lewis Mp

Cant make the brilliant event below? Havent had a chance to read @shoshanazuboff groundbreaking book, ‘Surveillance Capitalism’? Then listen to this brilliant interview with the author as she explains the terrifying scale&ambition of Facebook/Google et al https://t.co/DCtNlFbmE0 https://t.co/ZX0YpW5pOo [source]

Dilip Cherian

Brave New World? Thanks @shoshanazuboff for that amazing book. It's compulsory reading for those trying to make sense of our world now. https://t.co/5nBJWoLS9p [source]

John Tasioulas

2019... Best book: Shoshana Zuboff, “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power” Best political commentary: @HelenHet20 Best film @jokermovie Best restaurant: @farangLDN & @Trullo_LDN (London); Shinoki (Melbourne) [source]

56

It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism

Thomas E. Mann, Norman J. Ornstein

4.1

From authors of the national bestseller One Nation After Trump, a revelatory investigation of the surging political division and antagonism in America today

Hyperpartisanship has gridlocked the American government. Congress's approval ratings are at record lows, and both Democrats and Republicans are disgusted by the government's inability to get anything done. In It's Even Worse Than It Looks, ren

Recommended by Julian E. Zelizer.

Julian E. Zelizer

Norm Ornstein and Thomas Mann are a great team; they’ve been writing and opining about Congress for decades. They’re really easy to listen to and fun to read. They know how to explain what’s going on to a lay audience. Most importantly they’re always very balanced in their coverage. [source]

57

Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy

Cathy O'Neil

4.1

Preview Summary

Longlisted for the National Book Award
New York Times Bestseller

A former Wall Street quant sounds an alarm on the mathematical models that pervade modern life -- and threaten to rip apart our social fabric

We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives--where we go to school, whether we get a car loan, how much we pay for health insurance--are being made not

Recommended by Paula Boddington and Ramesh Srinivasan.

Paula Boddington

How the use of algorithms has affected people’s lives and occasionally ruined them. [source]

Ramesh Srinivasan

This book is a really fantastic analysis of how quantification, the collection of data, the modelling around data, the predictions made by using data, the algorithmic and quantifiable ways of predicting behaviour based on data, are all built by elites for elites and end up, quite frankly, screwing over everybody else. [source]

58

Ratf**ked: The True Story Behind The Secret Plan To Steal America's Democracy

David Daley

4.1

With Barack Obama’s historic election in 2008, pundits proclaimed the Republicans as dead as the Whigs of yesteryear. Yet even as Democrats swooned, a small cadre of Republican operatives, including Karl Rove, Ed Gillespie, and Chris Jankowski began plotting their comeback with a simple yet ingenious plan. These men had devised a way to take a tradition of dirty tricks—known to political insiders

59

Democracy and Education

John Dewey

4.1

In this book, written in 1916, Dewey tries to criticize and expand on the educational philosophies of Rousseau and Plato. Dewey's ideas were seldom adopted in America's public schools, although a number of his prescriptions have been continually advocated by those who have had to teach in them.

60

Democracy May Not Exist, But We'll Miss It When It's Gone

Astra Taylor

4.1

What is democracy really? What do we mean when we use the term? And can it ever truly exist?Astra Taylor, hailed as a “New Civil Rights Leader” (LA Times), provides surprising answers.

There is no shortage of democracy, at least in name, and yet it is in crisis everywhere we look. From a cabal of thieving plutocrats in the White House to campaign finance and gerrymandering, it is clear that democra

61

The Constitution of the United States and The Declaration of Independence

Delegates of The Constitutional…

4.1

It’s more important than ever for every American to know exactly what the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence actually says. Here is the essential, 45-page, pocket-size edition.

The greatest gifts from our Founding Fathers are the two most fundamental documents in American politics. This quick, easy reference for our federal government’s structure, powers, and limi

62

How the World Works

Noam Chomsky, Arthur Naiman, David Barsamian

4.1

According to The New York Times, Noam Chomsky is “arguably the most important intellectual alive.” But he isn’t easy to read . . . or at least he wasn’t until these books came along. Made up of intensively edited speeches and interviews, they offer something not found anywhere else: pure Chomsky, with every dazzling idea and penetrating insight intact, delivered in clear, accessible, reader-friend

63

Against Democracy

Jason Brennan

4.1

Most people believe democracy is a uniquely just form of government. They believe people have the right to an equal share of political power. And they believe that political participation is good for us--it empowers us, helps us get what we want, and tends to make us smarter, more virtuous, and more caring for one another. These are some of our most cherished ideas about democracy. But, Jason Bren

64

Trumpocalypse: Restoring American Democracy

David Frum

4.1

Bestselling author, former White House speechwriter, and Atlantic columnist and media commentator David Frum explains why President Trump has undermined our most important institutions in ways even the most critical media has missed, in this thoughtful and hard-hitting book that is a warning for democracy and America’s future.

"From Russia to South Africa, from Turkey to the Philippines, from Venez

65

Capitalism and Freedom

Milton Friedman

4.1

Preview Summary

Selected by the Times Literary Supplement as one of the "hundred most influential books since the war"

How can we benefit from the promise of government while avoiding the threat it poses to individual freedom? In this classic book, Milton Friedman provides the definitive statement of his immensely influential economic philosophy—one in which competitive capitalism serves as both a device for achie

Recommended by Karl Rove and Dan Sullivan.

Karl Rove

As soon as it became paperback. In fact I still have my paperback. [source]

66

Common Sense

Thomas Paine

4.1

Preview Summary

Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves—and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives—and destroyed them.

Published anonymously in 1776, six months before the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Paine’s Common Sense was a radical a

67

The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters

Tom Nichols

4.1

The rise of the internet and other technology has made information more easily-accessible than ever before. While this has had the positive effect of equalizing access to knowledge, it also has lowered the bar on what depth of knowledge is required to consider oneself an "expert." A cult of anti-expertise sentiment has coincided with anti-intellectualism, resulting in massively viral yet poorly in

Recommended by Mark Manson and Jim Hanson.

Mark Manson

Founder/MarkManson.net

With our modern obsessions of freedom and equality and happiness, Nichols argues that we’ve taken these rights and applied them to a domain where they don’t belong: truth. People feel “the right” to have their opinions and beliefs respected, even though they are not qualified, have no credentials or offer no expertise. Pundits on TV claim that their beliefs that climate change doesn’t exist, or that vaccinations are harmful, are just as valid — and should be respected just as much — as their scientific counterparts. Nichols’ blame is scattershot. Everything from the usual internet gripes, to cable television, to the grade inflation happening in school, to school bureaucracies treating students as customers rather than, well, students. [source]

Jim Hanson

@RadioFreeTom wrote a book called the Death of Expertise He proves it by pushing the absurd notion @realDonaldTrump is a Russian agent/asset or something since the 80s The only "proof" is contacts common to intl business & no direct handling by anyone Brilliant https://t.co/qYTgKjkfQS [source]

68

Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism

Richard Wolff

4.1

69

Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals

Saul David Alinsky

4.1

First published in 1971, Rules for Radicals is Saul Alinsky's impassioned counsel to young radicals on how to effect constructive social change and know “the difference between being a realistic radical and being a rhetorical one.” Written in the midst of radical political developments whose direction Alinsky was one of the first to question, this volume exhibits his style at its best. Like Thomas

Recommended by Ryan Holiday, Mad Bitcoins, Mark Bloomfield, and 1 others.

Ryan Holiday

Author

This is the 48 Laws of Power written in more of an idealist, activist tone. Alinsky was the liaison for many civil rights, union and student causes in the late 50’s and 60’s. He teaches how to implement your radical agenda without using radical tactics, how to disarm with words and media as opposed to arms and Utopian rhetoric. [source]

Mad Bitcoins

I just read this fantastic book by Saul Alinsky and I tell you what, I think @AOC has read it as well. Trump should be very afraid. https://t.co/n7rlmetqzW [source]

Mark Bloomfield

I recently browsed through the book and remembered that Alinsky said ‘The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the have-nots on how to take it away.’ [source]

70

Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World

Barrington Moore

4.1

"A landmark in comparative history and a challenge to scholars of all lands who are trying to learn how we arrived at where we are now." -The New York Times Book Review

Recommended by Mark Blyth.

71

Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest

Zeynep Tufekci

4.0

A firsthand account and incisive analysis of modern protest, revealing internet-fueled social movements’ greatest strengths and frequent challenges

To understand a thwarted Turkish coup, an anti–Wall Street encampment, and a packed Tahrir Square, we must first comprehend the power and the weaknesses of using new technologies to mobilize large numbers of people. An incisive observer, writer, and pa

Recommended by Anna Galland.

Anna Galland

One thing I took from the amazing book "Twitter & Teargas" by @zeynep was the insight that impressive networked protests, like #ClimateStrike, are a signal of a movement's *potential* underlying power. Imagine if the climate mvmt had *actual* power on par with today's showing! [source]

72

Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers

Arundhati Roy

4.0

"Gorgeously wrought . . . pitch-perfect prose. . . . In language of terrible beauty, she takes India's everyday tragedies and reminds us to be outraged all over again."written in response to new developments in India that have seen the government launch a full scale war, "Operation Green Hunt," against the tribal community of Naxals defending their land in central India), and a previously unpublis

73

Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy

Noam Chomsky

4.0

"It's hard to imagine any American reading this book and not seeing his country in a new, and deeply troubling, light."--The New York Times Book Review

The United States has repeatedly asserted its right to intervene militarily against "failed states" around the globe. In this much-anticipated follow-up to his international bestseller Hegemony or Survival, Noam Chomsky turns the tables, showing

74

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72

Hunter S. Thompson

4.0

Hilarious, terrifying, insightful, and compulsively readable, these are the articles that Hunter S. Thompson wrote for Rolling Stone magazine while covering the 1972 election campaign of President Richard M. Nixon and his unsuccessful opponent, Senator George S. McGovern. Hunter focuses largely on the Democratic Party's primaries and the breakdown of the national party as it splits between the dif

75

Walden & Civil Disobedience

Henry David Thoreau

4.0

Disdainful of America’s booming commercialism and industrialism, Henry David Thoreau left Concord, Massachusetts, in 1845 to live in solitude in the woods near Walden Pond. Walden, the account of his stay, conveys at once a naturalist’s wonder at the commonplace and a Transcendentalist’s yearning for spiritual truth and self-reliance. But even as Thoreau disentangled himself from worldly matters,

Cover unavailable

76

Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America

Christopher Wylie

4.0

For the first time, the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower tells the inside story of the data mining and psychological manipulation behind the election of Donald Trump and the Brexit referendum, connecting Facebook, WikiLeaks, Russian intelligence, and international hackers.

Mindf*ck goes deep inside Cambridge Analytica's "American operations," which were driven by Steve Bannon's vision to remake Am

77

Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth & Power

Noam Chomsky

4.0

NOAM CHOMSKY is widely regarded as the most influential thinker of our time, but never before has he devoted a major book to one topic, income inequality:
-During the Great Depression, things were much worse than they are today, but there was an expectation that things were going to get better. There was a real sense of hopefulness. There isn't today. . . . Inequality is really unprecedented. In t

78

Moyers on Democracy

Bill Moyers

4.0

People know Bill Moyers from his many years of path-breaking journalism on television. But he is also one of America's most sought-after public speakers. In this collection of speeches, Moyers celebrates the promise of American democracy and offers a passionate defense of its principles of fairness and justice. Moyers on Democracy takes on crucial issues such as economic inequality, our broken ele

79

Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788

Pauline Maier

4.0

When the delegates left the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in September 1787, the new Constitution they had written was no more than a proposal. Elected conventions in at least nine of the thirteen states would have to ratify it before it could take effect. There was reason to doubt whether that would happen. The document we revere today as the foundation of our country’s laws, the corn

Recommended by Jack Rakove.

Jack Rakove

The story of how the Constitution was ratified is just as remarkable as the story of how it was framed … Until Pauline Maier published this book, that story has never been well told. There have been examinations of particular state debates. There was one older narrative, which was adequate. But no one has looked at ratification as comprehensively. Recently, the Historical Society of Wisconsin compiled some 20 volumes of ratification debate records. Maier uses those records cohesively and effectively. She tells a great story. [source]

80

Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies

Noam Chomsky

4.0

Recommended by Eric Weinstein.

Eric Weinstein

Managing Director/Thiel Capital

Eric Weinstein recommended this book on Twitter. [source]

81

Brown Is the New White: How the Demographic Revolution Has Created a New American Majority

Steve Phillips

4.0

Despite the abundant evidence from Obama’s victories proving that the U.S. population has fundamentally changed, many progressives and Democrats continue to waste millions of dollars chasing white swing voters. Explosive population growth of people of color in America over the past fifty years has laid the foundation for a New American Majority consisting of progressive people of color (23 percent

82

Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America

Sarah Kendzior

4.0

83

On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal

Naomi Klein

4.0

#1 international and New York Times bestselling author Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine and This Changes Everything, makes the case for a Green New Deal—explaining how bold climate action can be a blueprint for a just and thriving society.

For more than twenty years, Naomi Klein has been the foremost chronicler of the economic war waged on both people and planet—and an unapologetic champio

Recommended by Daniel Bryan.

Daniel Bryan

Love @NaomiAKlein’s new book, On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal. It makes powerful, compelling arguments for how we can not only combat climate change, but create a more just society in the process. Quotes and ideas in the thread #GreenNewDeal [source]

Cover unavailable

84

Democracy in One Book or Less: How It Works, Why It Doesn’t, and Why Fixing It Is Easier Than You Think

David Litt

4.0

Bill Bryson meets Thomas Frank in the true story of how power-hungry politicians broke American democracy — and why fixing it is easier than you think — from the New York Times bestselling author of Thanks, Obama

Here’s something true for almost every American. The democracy you live in today is different – completely different – than the democracy you were born into.

Since 1980, the number of Ameri

Cover unavailable

85

Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America

Stacey Abrams

4.0

Beloved national leader and bestselling author Stacey Abrams offers an empowering blueprint to ending voter suppression, reclaiming identity, and reshaping progressive politics.

Voter suppression has plagued America since its inception, and so has the issue of identity -- who is really American and what that means. When tied together, as they are in our modern politics, citizens are harmed in over

86

Democracy and Its Critics

Robert A. Dahl

4.0

In this prize-winning book, one of the most prominent political theorists of our time makes a major statement about what democracy is and why it is important. Robert Dahl examines the most basic assumptions of democratic theory, tests them against the questions raised by its critics, and recasts the theory of democracy into a new and coherent whole. He concludes by discussing the directions in whi

87

The Retreat of Western Liberalism

Edward Luce

4.0

In his widely acclaimed book Time to Start Thinking, Financial Times chief US columnist and commentator Edward Luce charted the course of America's relative decline, proving to be a prescient voice on our current social and political turmoil.

In The Retreat of Western Liberalism, Luce makes a larger statement about the weakening of western hegemony and the crisis of liberal democracy--of which Dona

88

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy

Joseph Schumpeter

4.0

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy remains one of the greatest works of social theory written this century. When it first appeared the New English Weekly predicted that 'for the next five to ten years it will cetainly remain a work with which no one who professes any degree of information on sociology or economics can afford to be unacquainted.' Fifty years on, this prediction seems a little unde

Cover unavailable

89

LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media

P. W. Singer

4.0

Social media has been weaponized, as state hackers and rogue terrorists have seized upon Twitter and Facebook to create chaos and destruction. This urgent report is required reading, from defense expert P.W. Singer and Council on Foreign Relations fellow Emerson Brooking.

90

Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy

Robert D. Putnam, Robert Leonardi, Raffaella Y. Nanetti

4.0

Why do some democratic goverments succeed and others fail? In a book that has received attention from policy makers and civic activists in America and around the world, Robert Putnam and his collaborators offer empirical evidence for the importance of "civic community" in developing successful institutions. Their focus is on a unique experiment begun in 1970 when Italy created new governments for

91

World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability

Amy Chua

4.0

Every few years, a book is published about America's role in the world and the changing contest of global affairs that gets everyone thinking in a new way. Amy Chua's WORLD ON FIRE will have exactly that kind of impact on the debate of how the world has changed in light of the events of last September.

Apostles of globalization, such as Thomas Friedman, believe that exporting free markets and democ

Recommended by Herman Mashaba.

Herman Mashaba

Over dinner with my wife last night, I deeply reflected on events leading to my decision to finally be a Public Servant, I shared with her this book I read more the ten years ago. Inequality in the world is a curse, and SA is a victim of this evil. Must read book to wake us up https://t.co/QYGpKBfdmN [source]

92

The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century

Samuel P. Huntington

4.0

Between 1974 and 1990 more than thirty countries in southern Europe, Latin America, East Asia, and Eastern Europe shifted from authoritarian to democratic systems of government. This global democratic revolution is probably the most important political trend in the late twentieth century. In TheThird Wave, Samuel P. Huntington analyzes the causes and nature of these democratic transitions, evaluat

93

Democracy in America Volume 2

Alexis De Tocqueville

4.0

Volume 2 of the classic commentary on the influence of democracy on the intellect, feelings, and actions of Americans. With an introduction by Phillips Bradley.

94

The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States

Alexander Keyssar

4.0

Originally published in 2000, The Right to Vote was widely hailed as a magisterial account of the evolution of suffrage from the American Revolution to the end of the twentieth century. In this revised and updated edition, Keyssar carries the story forward, from the disputed presidential contest of 2000 through the 2008 campaign and the election of Barack Obama. The Right to Vote is a sweeping rei

Recommended by Susan Ware.

Susan Ware

This is about the only comprehensive history of the right to vote. He looks at the racial dynamics of voting after the Civil War and the demand for restricting immigrants’ access to the ballot box through literacy tests. This book is a critical read because it reminds us that voting rights are always contested. It puts the suffrage story, the story of women organizing to get the vote, into the larger history of voting. [source]

95

Deterring Democracy

Noam Chomsky

4.0

From World War II until the 1980s, the United States reigned supreme as both the economic and the military leader of the world. The major shifts in global politics that came about with the dismantling of the Eastern bloc have left the United States unchallenged as the preeminent military power, but American economic might has declined drastically in the face of competition, first from Germany and

96

The Communist Manifesto

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

4.0

Preview Summary

"A spectre is haunting Europe," Karl Marx and Frederic Engels wrote in 1848, "the spectre of Communism." This new edition of The Communist Manifesto, commemorating the 150th anniversary of its publication, includes an introduction by renowned historian Eric Hobsbawm which reminds us of the document's continued relevance. Marx and Engels's critique of capitalism and its deleterious effect on all as

Recommended by Felipe Fernández-Armesto and Peter Singer.

Felipe Fernández-Armesto

Marx and Engels’s historical analysis is breathtakingly, brilliantly simple. I think it’s wrong but, again, you’ve just got to admire its genius. Obviously, without understanding the historical basis of Marx’s thought you can’t understand anything else in Marxism. [source]

Peter Singer

Yes, it is. I chose The Communist Manifesto, rather than, say, Capital because it shows in a much easier-to-read, shorter work something that is central to Marx’s vision. Capital is much drier, and a lot of it is focused on economics, although there are some remarkable passages of Capital describing the conditions of industrial workers in England at the time. [source]

97

How Democracy Ends

David Runciman

4.0

How will democracy end? And what will replace it? A preeminent political scientist examines the past, present, and future of an endangered political philosophy

Since the end of World War II, democracy's sweep across the globe seemed inexorable. Yet today, it seems radically imperiled, even in some of the world's most stable democracies. How bad could things get?

In How Democracy Ends, David Runciman

Recommended by Stephen Bush.

Stephen Bush

He takes as his subject the question that has become incredibly politically timely: With the rise of populist and antidemocratic leaders throughout the world, are we entering the last days of liberal democracy? [source]

98

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

Barack Obama

4.0

The Audacity of Hope is Barack Obama's call for a new kind of politics—a politics that builds upon those shared understandings that pull us together as Americans. Lucid in his vision of America's place in the world, refreshingly candid about his family life and his time in the Senate, Obama here sets out his political convictions and inspires us to trust in the dogged optimism that has long define

99

Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism's Stealth Revolution

Wendy Brown

4.0

Neoliberal rationality -- ubiquitous today in statecraft and the workplace, in jurisprudence, education, and culture -- remakes everything and everyone in the image of homo oeconomicus. What happens when this rationality transposes the constituent elements of democracy into an economic register? In Undoing the Demos, Wendy Brown explains how democracy itself is imperiled. The demos disintegrates i

100

The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot

Naomi Wolf

4.0

In a stunning indictment of the Bush administration and Congress, best-selling author Naomi Wolf lays out her case for saving American democracy. In authoritative research and documentation Wolf explains how events of the last six years parallel steps taken in the early years of the 20th century's worst dictatorships such as Germany, Russia, China, and Chile.

The book cuts across political parties