Want to know what books Samantha Power recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Samantha Power's favorite book recommendations of all time.
1
Less than a decade ago, the world cheered as a dictatorship crumbled and internationally beloved Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi emerged from twenty years of house arrest. Yet just three years after her landslide victory at the polls, the country stands accused of war crimes and the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims.
As an historian, former diplomat, and presidential advisor, Thant Myint-U was part of the momentous changes that pulled Burma toward democracy, working with the ex- generals and meeting many of the country’s biggest supporters, from Bono to... more Less than a decade ago, the world cheered as a dictatorship crumbled and internationally beloved Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi emerged from twenty years of house arrest. Yet just three years after her landslide victory at the polls, the country stands accused of war crimes and the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims.
As an historian, former diplomat, and presidential advisor, Thant Myint-U was part of the momentous changes that pulled Burma toward democracy, working with the ex- generals and meeting many of the country’s biggest supporters, from Bono to Barack Obama. Yet no one was prepared to Burma’s underlying challenges, from fast- rising inequality, disintegrating state institutions, and the impacts of climate change, to the rise of China next door and the issues of race, religion, and “national identity” deeply rooted in the country’s traumatic colonial past.
In this riveting insider’s diagnosis of a country in crisis, Myint-U challenges the black- and- white morality tales that have never fit the realities of Burma. less 
Samantha PowerA gripping read, this @thantmyintu book offers powerful insights into Burma's history—and its future. Deserving of this rave from @nytimesbooks https://t.co/Ip8Fe9L5uw (Source)
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2
The devastating biography of Marie Colvin, the foremost war reporter of her generation, who was killed in Syria in 2012
When Marie Colvin was killed by an IED in Homs, Syria, in 2012, at age fifty-six, the world lost one of its most fearless, accomplished, and iconoclastic war correspondents, an eye-patch wearing, party-throwing, and risk-taking female combat reporter who covered the most significant and destructive global calamities of her lifetime. In Extremis: The Life and Death of War Reporter Marie Colvin, written by Colvin's friend and prizewinning fellow... more The devastating biography of Marie Colvin, the foremost war reporter of her generation, who was killed in Syria in 2012
When Marie Colvin was killed by an IED in Homs, Syria, in 2012, at age fifty-six, the world lost one of its most fearless, accomplished, and iconoclastic war correspondents, an eye-patch wearing, party-throwing, and risk-taking female combat reporter who covered the most significant and destructive global calamities of her lifetime. In Extremis: The Life and Death of War Reporter Marie Colvin, written by Colvin's friend and prizewinning fellow reporter Lindsey Hilsum, is a thrilling and powerful investigation into Colvin's epic life and tragic death.
After growing up in a middle-class Catholic family on Long Island, Colvin got her start working for The Sunday Times, where she was driven with reckless abandon to tell the stories of the victims of the major conflicts of our time. She lost an eye reporting in Sri Lanka at the end of their civil war, interviewed Gaddafi twice, and risked her life covering conflict in Chechnya, East Timor, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, and Zimbabwe. Unsurprisingly, her personal life was as unpredictable as her professional: bold, driven, and complex, she was married multiple times, had many lovers, drank heavily, suffered from PTSD, and refused to be bound by society's expectations for women.
With exclusive access to Colvin's intimate diaries from age thirteen to her death in 2012, interviews with people from every corner of Colvin's extraordinary life, and expert research worthy of Colvin herself, Lindsey Hilsum's In Extremis is a timely and propulsive biography of the foremost war correspondent of her generation. less Samantha PowerJust read the gripping,
moving @lindseyhilsum biography of the epic war reporter Marie Colvin who was murdered by #Assad. Congrats to Lindsey Hilsum on the book being shortlisted for @CostaBookAwards best biography. https://t.co/WQ8hHZqzao (Source)
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3
"Sunstein has written the story of impeachment every citizen needs to know. This is a remarkable, essential book." --Doris Kearns Goodwin
As Benjamin Franklin famously put it, Americans have a republic, if we can keep it. Preserving the Constitution and the democratic system it supports is the public's responsibility. One route the Constitution provides for discharging that duty--a route rarely traveled--is impeachment.
Cass R. Sunstein provides a succinct citizen's guide to an essential tool of self-government. He illuminates the constitutional design behind... more "Sunstein has written the story of impeachment every citizen needs to know. This is a remarkable, essential book." --Doris Kearns Goodwin
As Benjamin Franklin famously put it, Americans have a republic, if we can keep it. Preserving the Constitution and the democratic system it supports is the public's responsibility. One route the Constitution provides for discharging that duty--a route rarely traveled--is impeachment.
Cass R. Sunstein provides a succinct citizen's guide to an essential tool of self-government. He illuminates the constitutional design behind impeachment and emphasizes the people's role in holding presidents accountable. Despite intense interest in the subject, impeachment is widely misunderstood. Sunstein identifies and corrects a number of misconceptions. For example, he shows that the Constitution, not the House of Representatives, establishes grounds for impeachment, and that the president can be impeached for abuses of power that do not violate the law. Even neglect of duty counts among the "high crimes and misdemeanors" delineated in the republic's foundational document. Sunstein describes how impeachment helps make sense of our constitutional order, particularly the framers' controversial decision to install an empowered executive in a nation deeply fearful of kings.
With an eye toward the past and the future, Impeachment: A Citizen's Guide considers a host of actual and imaginable arguments for a president's removal, explaining why some cases are easy and others hard, why some arguments for impeachment have been judicious and others not. In direct and approachable terms, it dispels the fog surrounding impeachment so that Americans of all political convictions may use their ultimate civic authority wisely. less Samantha PowerYes, I’m biased. But @CassSunstein’s little book on impeachment is brilliant. It gives the history of how the founders landed on high crimes and misdemeanors as the standard - but also shows how the provision can - and must - be applied. https://t.co/8suU1ubfgS (Source)
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Dan Pfeiffer, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Yes We (Still) Can and cohost of Pod Save America, is back -- a sharp political playbook for defeating Trump and saving the nation from Republican-driven disaster. more Dan Pfeiffer, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Yes We (Still) Can and cohost of Pod Save America, is back -- a sharp political playbook for defeating Trump and saving the nation from Republican-driven disaster. less 
Scott Galloway“The GOP has only 1 principle & that principle is winning. Playing the game against people who will do anything to win while you adhere to the rules is a losing proposition.”
great book—Dem strategies for a new era @danpfeiffer https://t.co/CjVyCpQeAY (Source)
Samantha PowerJust devoured this remarkable, urgent book, out tmrrw (2/18).@danpfeiffer tells us how @GOP became anti-democratic, how the hell @TheDemocrats lost so many state legislatures/governorships during Obama years & above all, how we beat @realDonaldTrump AND Trumpism in Nov-ORDER NOW! https://t.co/GvgE9jHnon (Source)
Steve KerriganGreat job today on @NBCNews @MeetThePress by @danpfeiffer - really well done.
Oh and buy his book...great read.
Un-Trumping America: A Plan to Make America a Democracy Again https://t.co/BA39HJoLtY (Source)
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5
Hillary Rodham Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea, share the stories of the gutsy women who have inspired them—women with the courage to stand up to the status quo, ask hard questions, and get the job done.
She couldn’t have been more than seven or eight years old. “Go ahead, ask your question,” her father urged, nudging her forward. She smiled shyly and said, “You’re my hero. Who’s yours?”
Many people—especially girls—have asked us that same question over the years. It’s one of our favorite topics.
HILLARY: Growing up, I knew hardly any women who worked... more Hillary Rodham Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea, share the stories of the gutsy women who have inspired them—women with the courage to stand up to the status quo, ask hard questions, and get the job done.
She couldn’t have been more than seven or eight years old. “Go ahead, ask your question,” her father urged, nudging her forward. She smiled shyly and said, “You’re my hero. Who’s yours?”
Many people—especially girls—have asked us that same question over the years. It’s one of our favorite topics.
HILLARY: Growing up, I knew hardly any women who worked outside the home. So I looked to my mother, my teachers, and the pages of Life magazine for inspiration. After learning that Amelia Earhart kept a scrapbook with newspaper articles about successful women in male-dominated jobs, I started a scrapbook of my own. Long after I stopped clipping articles, I continued to seek out stories of women who seemed to be redefining what was possible.
CHELSEA: This book is the continuation of a conversation the two of us have been having since I was little. For me, too, my mom was a hero; so were my grandmothers. My early teachers were also women. But I grew up in a world very different from theirs. My pediatrician was a woman, and so was the first mayor of Little Rock who I remember from my childhood. Most of my close friends’ moms worked outside the home as nurses, doctors, teachers, professors, and in business. And women were going into space and breaking records here on Earth.
Ensuring the rights and opportunities of women and girls remains a big piece of the unfinished business of the twenty-first century. While there’s a lot of work to do, we know that throughout history and around the globe women have overcome the toughest resistance imaginable to win victories that have made progress possible for all of us. That is the achievement of each of the women in this book.
So how did they do it? The answers are as unique as the women themselves. Civil rights activist Dorothy Height, LGBTQ trailblazer Edie Windsor, and swimmer Diana Nyad kept pushing forward, no matter what. Writers like Rachel Carson and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie named something no one had dared talk about before. Historian Mary Beard used wit to open doors that were once closed, and Wangari Maathai, who sparked a movement to plant trees, understood the power of role modeling. Harriet Tubman and Malala Yousafzai looked fear in the face and persevered. Nearly every single one of these women was fiercely optimistic—they had faith that their actions could make a difference. And they were right.
To us, they are all gutsy women—leaders with the courage to stand up to the status quo, ask hard questions, and get the job done. So in the moments when the long haul seems awfully long, we hope you will draw strength from these stories. We do. Because if history shows one thing, it’s that the world needs gutsy women. less Samantha PowerWonderful to hear @HillaryClinton and @ChelseaClinton talk about their inspiring & essential “Book of Gutsy Women” & to introduce my 10 year old to the gutsiest of them all. https://t.co/VQfga9QsbK (Source)
Joy ReidThank you hillaryclinton and chelseaclinton for a great conversation about their new book: The Book of Gutsy Women, and thank you @constitutionctr in Philly tor hosting us! Now is a great time to remember the power… https://t.co/CD1zvUkTew (Source)
Laurel M. DavilaMy favorite “Gusty Woman” @HillaryClinton, the first woman nominated for president by a major Political Party! I cannot wait to get her book!
💋💋💋💋💋💋
(Not to mention the fact that she won the popular vote!) https://t.co/LyCHfYKvnb (Source)
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