Since the fear of the upcoming recession keeps us all enjoying our front porches and courtyards more, it only makes sense to stay updated with the current events happening both domestically and internationally. Well, there’s really no better way to do that than with a list of political books that highlight the major problems lingering on our minds this year.
Each book is written by a leader in their field, and it illuminates current issues, helping us gain insight into the constantly changing and increasingly problematic headlines. Without further ado, let’s discuss what the best political titles of the year are and which one you should get first.
“Who is Government?” -edited by Michael Lewis
The government is definitely a vast and complex system that Americans sustain with their taxpayers’ money, rebel against, rely upon, dismiss, and also celebrate. It’s also our shared resource for addressing the most concerning issues of society.
Since it’s made up of people, mostly unrecognized and uncelebrated, doing the work that can be deeply consequential and beneficial to everyone becomes the norm. Michael Lewis launched an invitation to his favorite writers to find someone with an interesting job in the government and write about them.
Everything has been recorded in this in-depth series for The Washington Post. The stories they discovered are quite unexpected, riveting, and inspiring, and each and every essay illuminates the essential behind-the-scenes work of exemplary federal employees.
“Fire Weather” – by John Vaillant
Back in May 2016, Fort McMurray, the hub of Canada’s oil industry, as well as America’s biggest foreign supplier, was tragically overrun by wildfire. The multi-billion-dollar disaster melted many vehicles, turned entire neighborhoods into firebombs, and also drove 88,000 people from their homes in a single afternoon.
With the best kind of prose and cinematic eye, Vaillant took us on a riveting journey through the intertwined histories of North America’s oil industry, and the birth of climate science, to the unprecedented devastation wrought by modern forest fires, as well as into the lives forever changed by such disasters.
“On Tyranny” – by Timothy Snyder
A “bracing” (Vox) guide on how to survive and resist America’s preference for authoritarianism, from a “rising public intellectual unafraid to come with bold connections between past and present.)
The book is nothing but a call to arms, as well as a guide to resistance, with plenty of invaluable ideas on how we can preserve our freedoms during uncertain times, especially since we’re about to face them.
“Some people need killing” – by Patricia Evangelista
For six consecutive years, journalist Patricia Envagelista relentlessly documented the killings conducted by the police and vigilantes in the name of then-president Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs. Ultimately, it was a bloody crusade that led to the death of thousands.
She managed to immerse herself in the world of killers and survivors alike, capturing the atmosphere of terror that arose when an elected president decided that certain lives are worth less than others.
It was quite a profound act of witness, as well as a tour de force of literary journalism. “Some People Need Killing” is a wonderful dissection of the grammar of violence, as well as an investigation into the human impulses to dominate and resist.
“The Message” – by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The much-renowned author of “Between the World and Me” journeys to three different sites of conflict to further dissect the stories we tell, as well as the ones we don’t, that shape our realities nevertheless.
It was written at quite a dramatic moment in American and global life, but it comes from one of the country’s most important writers. It talks about the urgent need to untangle ourselves from the destructive myths that shape our exterior world, as well as our souls, and embrace the liberating power of some of the most difficult truths.
“Original Sin” – by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson
From two of America’s well-respected journalists, an unflinching and explosive reckoning with one of the most fateful decisions in our political history: Joe Biden’s run for reelection, despite ongoing evidence of his serious decline, amid desperate efforts to hide the extent of such deterioration.
“The Small and the Mighty” – by Sharon McMahon
From America’s favorite government teacher, the book displays the portrait of twelve ordinary Americans whose courage formed the character of our country. In “The Small and the Mighty,” Sharon McMahon shows how some of the most remarkable Americans are often ordinary people who didn’t even make it into the textbooks.
It’s a book focused on the telephone operators, rather than the presidents. Not the aristocrats, but the schoolteachers. Through quite meticulous research, she beautifully unravels the story of history’s unsung characters and brings their rich, riveting stories to light for the very first time.
“Autocracy, Inc.” -by Anne Applebaum
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, we get a sneak peek into the alarming account of how autocracies work together to efficiently undermine the democratic world, and how we should try to defeat them with all our means.
“Pathogenesis” -by Jonathan Kennedy
A “gripping” (The Washington Post) account of how some of the biggest transformations in history, all the way from the rise of Homo sapiens to the birth of capitalism, have been continuously shaped not by humans, but by germs.
By placing a specific disease at the center of this wide-ranging history of humankind, Kennedy decided to challenge some of the most important assumptions about our collective past. Moreover, he invites us to view this moment as yet another disease-driven inflection point that could potentially change the course of history.
It’s both provocative and brimming with plenty of insight, transforming our overall understanding of human behavior and history.
“Defectors” – by Paola Ramos
This one is an award-winning journalist’s dive into race, identity, and political trauma that have widely influenced the rise in far-right sentiment among Latinos, and how this group can shape American politics.
“Original Sins” -by Eve L. Ewing
Why don’t our schools work as they should? This is the question Eve L. Ewing is trying to answer, this time from a different perspective: What if they are actually doing what they were built to do? She often argues that instead of being the greatest equalizer, America’s classrooms were meant to do the opposite, which is to maintain the nation’s inequalities. In fact, it turned out to be a task at which they excel.
“The Return of Great Powers” – by Jim Sciutto
This essential book, written by CNN anchor and chief national security analyst Jim Sciutto, beautifully spots a new, more threatening global order with reporting on the frontlines of power, from existing wars to looming ones all over the globe.
“Undue Burden” – by Shefali Luthra
This is nothing but an urgent investigation into the deep experience of seeking an abortion right after the fall of Roe v. Wade, as well as the life-threatening consequences of being denied reproductive freedom. It’s indispensable, no matter your gender, race, religious background, or political preferences. The book is definitely something you should add to your to-do list.
“The New Map” – by Daniel Yergin
Pulitzer Prize-winning author and global energy expert Daniel Yergin provides quite an insightful account of how energy revolutions, climate battles, and geopolitics are mapping our future. A master storyteller, Yergin managed to take the reader on a journey across international seas. He beautifully illuminates the great energy and all the lingering geopolitical questions present in times of political turbulence.
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