87 Best Books on Political Science
Adrift
Scott Galloway
From bestselling author and NYU business school professor Scott Galloway comes an urgent examination of the future of our nation – and how we got here. We are only just beginning to reckon with our post-pandemic future. As political extremism intensifies, the great resignation affects businesses everywhere, and supply chain issues crush bottom lines, we’re faced with daunting questions – is our democracy under threat? How will Big Tech change our lives? What does job security look like for me? America is on the brink of massive change – change that will disrupt the workings of our economy and drastically impact the financial backbone of our nation: the middle class. In Adrift, Galloway looks to the past – from 1945 to present day – to explain just how America arrived at this precipice. Telling the story of our nation through 100 charts, Galloway demonstrates how crises such as Jim Crow, World War II, and the Stock Market Crash of 2008, as well as the escalating power of technology, an entrenched white patriarchy, and the socio-economic effects of the pandemic, created today’s perfect storm. Adrift attempts to make sense of it all, and offers Galloway’s unique take on where we’re headed and who we’ll become, touching on topics as wide-ranging as online dating to minimum wage to the American dream. Just as in 1945 and 1980, America is once again a nation at a crossroads. This time, what will it take for our nation to keep up with the fast and violent changes to our new world?Chart from #AdriftBook, out a week from today. You can get it here: https://t.co/kFYGynaNCZ https://t.co/ZrPLOeKJ2S
Adrift
Scott Galloway
From bestselling author and NYU business school professor Scott Galloway comes an urgent examination of the future of our nation – and how we got here. We are only just beginning to reckon with our post-pandemic future. As political extremism intensifies, the great resignation affects businesses everywhere, and supply chain issues crush bottom lines, we’re faced with daunting questions – is our democracy under threat? How will Big Tech change our lives? What does job security look like for me? America is on the brink of massive change – change that will disrupt the workings of our economy and drastically impact the financial backbone of our nation: the middle class. In Adrift, Galloway looks to the past – from 1945 to present day – to explain just how America arrived at this precipice. Telling the story of our nation through 100 charts, Galloway demonstrates how crises such as Jim Crow, World War II, and the Stock Market Crash of 2008, as well as the escalating power of technology, an entrenched white patriarchy, and the socio-economic effects of the pandemic, created today’s perfect storm. Adrift attempts to make sense of it all, and offers Galloway’s unique take on where we’re headed and who we’ll become, touching on topics as wide-ranging as online dating to minimum wage to the American dream. Just as in 1945 and 1980, America is once again a nation at a crossroads. This time, what will it take for our nation to keep up with the fast and violent changes to our new world?Chart from my upcoming book, "Adrift: America in 100 Charts." You can get it here 👉🏻 https://t.co/TAyuV0Caqo #AdriftBook https://t.co/hkyiAqFKnX
Producing Politics
Daniel Laurison
The first book to uncover the hidden and powerful role campaign professionals play in shaping American democracy by delving into the exclusive world of politicos through off-the-record interviews We may think we know our politicians, but we know very little about the people who create them. Producing Politics will change the way we think about our country’s political candidates, the campaigns that bolster them, and the people who craft them. Political campaigns are designed to influence voter behavior and determine elections. They are supposed to serve as a conduit between candidates and voters: politicos get to know communities, communicate their concerns to candidates, and encourage individuals to vote. However, sociologist Daniel Laurison reveals a much different reality: campaigns are riddled with outdated strategies, unquestioned conventional wisdom, and preconceived notions about voters that are more reflective of campaign professionals’ implicit bias than the real lives and motivations of Americans. Through over 70 off-the-record interviews with key campaign staff and consultants, Laurison uncovers how the industry creates a political environment that is confusing, polarizing, and alienating to voters. Campaigns are often an echo chamber of staffers with replicate backgrounds and ideologies; most political operatives are white men from middle- to upper-class backgrounds who are driven more by their desire to climb the political ladder than the desire to create an open conversation between voter and candidate. Producing Politics highlights the impact of national campaign professionals in the US through a sociological lens. It explores the role political operatives play in shaping the way that voters understand political candidates, participate in elections, and perceive our democratic process—and is an essential guide to understanding the current American political system.As we head into the finale of election season, I strongly recommend the @Daniel_Laurison book Producing Politics. https://t.co/7juXn9qvd6
The War of Return
Adi Schwartz
Two prominent Israeli liberals argue that for the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians to end with peace, Palestinians must come to terms with the fact that there will be no "right of return." In 1948, seven hundred thousand Palestinians were forced out of their homes by the first Arab-Israeli War. More than seventy years later, most of their houses are long gone, but millions of their descendants are still registered as refugees, with many living in refugee camps. This group—unlike countless others that were displaced in the aftermath of World War II and other conflicts—has remained unsettled, demanding to settle in the state of Israel. Their belief in a "right of return" is one of the largest obstacles to successful diplomacy and lasting peace in the region. In The War of Return, Adi Schwartz and Einat Wilf—both liberal Israelis supportive of a two-state solution—reveal the origins of the idea of a right of return, and explain how UNRWA - the very agency charged with finding a solution for the refugees - gave in to Palestinian, Arab and international political pressure to create a permanent “refugee” problem. They argue that this Palestinian demand for a “right of return” has no legal or moral basis and make an impassioned plea for the US, the UN, and the EU to recognize this fact, for the good of Israelis and Palestinians alike. A runaway bestseller in Israel, the first English translation of The War of Return is certain to spark lively debate throughout America and abroad.One of the surprise joys of buying used books is finding random documents between the pages. Here, @EinatWilf’s “The War of Return” has a letter from AIPAC thanking a donor with a copy (Wolf spoke at a conference), and summarizing the book’s argument about Israel/Palestine. https://t.co/jlsuLcm1hg
Adrift
Scott Galloway
From bestselling author and NYU business school professor Scott Galloway comes an urgent examination of the future of our nation – and how we got here. We are only just beginning to reckon with our post-pandemic future. As political extremism intensifies, the great resignation affects businesses everywhere, and supply chain issues crush bottom lines, we’re faced with daunting questions – is our democracy under threat? How will Big Tech change our lives? What does job security look like for me? America is on the brink of massive change – change that will disrupt the workings of our economy and drastically impact the financial backbone of our nation: the middle class. In Adrift, Galloway looks to the past – from 1945 to present day – to explain just how America arrived at this precipice. Telling the story of our nation through 100 charts, Galloway demonstrates how crises such as Jim Crow, World War II, and the Stock Market Crash of 2008, as well as the escalating power of technology, an entrenched white patriarchy, and the socio-economic effects of the pandemic, created today’s perfect storm. Adrift attempts to make sense of it all, and offers Galloway’s unique take on where we’re headed and who we’ll become, touching on topics as wide-ranging as online dating to minimum wage to the American dream. Just as in 1945 and 1980, America is once again a nation at a crossroads. This time, what will it take for our nation to keep up with the fast and violent changes to our new world?New book — preorder here: 🛒👉https://t.co/hpzQeYI7m5 https://t.co/WvC3AOXx1x
What It Takes
Richard Ben Cramer
Recounts the frenzied course of the 1988 presidential race, exploring how presumably normal people acquire the courage, ambition, and shamelessness that make a true candidate@kwharrison13 What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer — phenomenal book about the 88 campaign. I'm a huge fan of political history!
The Tyranny of Merit
Michael J. Sandel
A world-famous political philosopher, and the bestselling author of Justice, reveals the driving force behind the resurgence of populism: the tyranny of the meritocracy and the resentments it produces. These are dangerous times for democracy. We live in an age of winners and losers, where the odds are stacked in favor of the already fortunate. Stalled social mobility and entrenched inequality give the lie to the American credo that "you can make it if you try". The consequence is a brew of anger and frustration that has fueled populist protest and extreme polarization, and led to deep distrust of both government and our fellow citizens--leaving us morally unprepared to face the profound challenges of our time. World-renowned philosopher Michael J. Sandel argues that to overcome the crises that are upending our world, we must rethink the attitudes toward success and failure that have accompanied globalization and rising inequality. Sandel shows the hubris a meritocracy generates among the winners and the harsh judgement it imposes on those left behind, and traces the dire consequences across a wide swathe of American life. He offers an alternative way of thinking about success--more attentive to the role of luck in human affairs, more conducive to an ethic of humility and solidarity, and more affirming of the dignity of work. The Tyranny of Merit points us toward a hopeful vision of a new politics of the common good.26/ Is meritocracy good? This book takes the controversial stance of it being used to justify injustice. A refreshing, heretical view indeed. https://t.co/GxoXk7nUmj
The Decadent Society
Ross Douthat
From the New York Times columnist and bestselling author of Bad Religion, a powerful portrait of how our turbulent age is defined by dark forces seemingly beyond our control Today the Western world seems to be in crisis. But beneath our social media frenzy and reality television politics, the deeper reality is one of drift, repetition, and dead ends. The Decadent Society explains what happens when a rich and powerful society ceases advancing—how the combination of wealth and technological proficiency with economic stagnation, political stalemates, cultural exhaustion, and demographic decline creates a strange kind of “sustainable decadence,” a civilizational languor that could endure for longer than we think. Ranging from our grounded space shuttles to our Silicon Valley villains, from our blandly recycled film and television—a new Star Wars saga, another Star Trek series, the fifth Terminator sequel—to the escapism we’re furiously chasing through drug use and virtual reality, Ross Douthat argues that many of today’s discontents and derangements reflect a sense of futility and disappointment—a feeling that the future was not what was promised, that the frontiers have all been closed, and that the paths forward lead only to the grave. In this environment we fear catastrophe, but in a certain way we also pine for it—because the alternative is to accept that we are permanently decadent: aging, comfortable and stuck, cut off from the past and no longer confident in the future, spurning both memory and ambition while we wait for some saving innovation or revelations, growing old unhappily together in the glowing light of tiny screens. Correcting both optimists who insist that we’re just growing richer and happier with every passing year and pessimists who expect collapse any moment, Douthat provides an enlightening diagnosis of the modern condition—how we got here, how long our age of frustration might last, and how, whether in renaissance or catastrophe, our decadence might ultimately end.@machineloveus https://t.co/Gny1osl9RF
The Vision of the Anointed
Thomas Sowell
Sowell presents a devastating critique of the mind-set behind the failed social policies of the past thirty years. Sowell sees what has happened during that time not as a series of isolated mistakes but as a logical consequence of a tainted vision whose defects have led to crises in education, crime, and family dynamics, and to other social pathologies. In this book, he describes how elites—the anointed—have replaced facts and rational thinking with rhetorical assertions, thereby altering the course of our social policy.@patrick_oshag @rabois Vision of the Anointed is arguable the best book to make sense of the current world we live in. It was written in 95. Sowell is so prescient and brilliant
How to Stage a Military Coup
Ken Connor
Fed up with taxes? Angered and disappointed by corrupt leaders? How to Stage a Military Coup lays down practical strategies that have proven themselves around the globe. David Hebditch and Ken Connor examine, with a critical eye, successful as well as failed coup attempts throughout the twentieth century with the aim of showing their readers just what it takes to swiftly and soundly overthrow a government. Exploring coups from Nigeria, to Cuba, to Iraq, and with true stories of SAS combat written by Ken Connor, the book gives an insightful glimpse into this violent and rarely-seen world of shifting power. How to Stage a Military Coup is a unique textbook for the armchair revolutionary, as well as a practical guide for the idealist with a soft spot for the sound of artillery fire. From evaluation of the political climate and investigation of potential allies, to recruiting and training personnel, to strategies for ensuring timely transfer of power, the book leaves no aspect of the coup unexamined. This new edition features a new introduction from the author, and also includes appendixes, notes, and even a "World Map of Coups d'etat."It is a history book, not a how-to guide. And it is very interesting. https://t.co/WkPTJEqYgx
The Third Revolution
Elizabeth C. Economy
"A Council on Foreign Relations Book"--Title page.Book 19 Lesson: It’s not about ideology, it’s about constructing a narrative that keeps the Party in power. https://t.co/k8DrvL5wZG
The Conservative Sensibility
George F. Will
New York Times' Notable Book of 2019 Selection NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, an "astonishing" and "enthralling" (Booklist) new examination of how the Founders' belief in natural rights created a great American political tradition--"easily one of the best books on American Conservatism ever written" (Jonah Goldberg). For more than four decades, George F. Will has attempted to discern the principles of the Western political tradition and apply them to America's civic life. Today, the stakes could hardly be higher. Vital questions about the nature of man, of rights, of equality, of majority rule are bubbling just beneath the surface of daily events in America. The Founders' vision, articulated first in the Declaration of Independence and carried out in the Constitution, gave the new republic a framework for government unique in world history. Their beliefs in natural rights, limited government, religious freedom, and in human virtue and dignity ushered in two centuries of American prosperity. Now, as Will shows, conservatism is under threat--both from progressives and elements inside the Republican Party. America has become an administrative state, while destructive trends have overtaken family life and higher education. Semi-autonomous executive agencies wield essentially unaccountable power. Congress has failed in its duty to exercise its legislative powers. And the executive branch has slipped the Constitution's leash. In the intellectual battle between the vision of Founding Fathers like James Madison, who advanced the notion of natural rights that pre-exist government, and the progressivism advanced by Woodrow Wilson, the Founders have been losing. It's time to reverse America's political fortunes. Expansive, intellectually thrilling, and written with the erudite wit that has made Will beloved by millions of readers, The Conservative Sensibility is an extraordinary new book from one of America's most celebrated political writers.Book 17 Lesson: It is the mark of an educated mind to look for precision in each class of things just so far as the nature of the subject admits. https://t.co/KL0MU7tq5Z
The Virtue of Nationalism
Yoram Hazony
A leading conservative thinker argues that a nationalist order is the only realistic safeguard of liberty in the world today Nationalism is the issue of our age. From Donald Trump's "America First" politics to Brexit to the rise of the right in Europe, events have forced a crucial debate: Should we fight for international government? Or should the world's nations keep their independence and self-determination? In The Virtue of Nationalism, Yoram Hazony contends that a world of sovereign nations is the only option for those who care about personal and collective freedom. He recounts how, beginning in the sixteenth century, English, Dutch, and American Protestants revived the Old Testament's love of national independence, and shows how their vision eventually brought freedom to peoples from Poland to India, Israel to Ethiopia. It is this tradition we must restore, he argues, if we want to limit conflict and hate--and allow human difference and innovation to flourish.Coincidentally, just finished @yhazony's 'The Virtue of Nationalism' and his framing of the collision of the West's shame around Auschwitz and the current state of Israel is an enlightening one, and relevant in all these post-Shoah rekindlings of Jewish life in Europe. https://t.co/86a8X5fyyn
The Premonition
Michael Lewis
For those who could read between the lines, the censored news out of China was terrifying. But the president insisted there was nothing to worry about.Just finished the book and wow. SO good. The US healthcare system is an absolute shit show (surprising no one). But having worked at the CDC for a brief moment in time and seeing how the nation’s highest public health agency works, there was no hope for us. It’s all political. https://t.co/K0jOpnn4W9
A First-Rate Madness
Nassir Ghaemi
An investigation into the correlation between mental illness and successful leadership reveals the disorders of notable leaders and explains how their struggles enabled them to empathize, recognize threats, and respond appropriately during a crisis.Huge thank you to whoever recommended this book; I can’t remember who you are. It’s fascinating.
The Premonition
Michael Lewis
For those who could read between the lines, the censored news out of China was terrifying. But the president insisted there was nothing to worry about.Going in. https://t.co/IJsKLSXGfk
Two Cheers for Anarchism
James C. Scott
James Scott taught us what's wrong with seeing like a state. Now, in his most accessible and personal book to date, the acclaimed social scientist makes the case for seeing like an anarchist. Inspired by the core anarchist faith in the possibilities of voluntary cooperation without hierarchy, Two Cheers for Anarchism is an engaging, high-spirited, and often very funny defense of an anarchist way of seeing--one that provides a unique and powerful perspective on everything from everyday social and political interactions to mass protests and revolutions. Through a wide-ranging series of memorable anecdotes and examples, the book describes an anarchist sensibility that celebrates the local knowledge, common sense, and creativity of ordinary people. The result is a kind of handbook on constructive anarchism that challenges us to radically reconsider the value of hierarchy in public and private life, from schools and workplaces to retirement homes and government itself. Beginning with what Scott calls "the law of anarchist calisthenics," an argument for law-breaking inspired by an East German pedestrian crossing, each chapter opens with a story that captures an essential anarchist truth. In the course of telling these stories, Scott touches on a wide variety of subjects: public disorder and riots, desertion, poaching, vernacular knowledge, assembly-line production, globalization, the petty bourgeoisie, school testing, playgrounds, and the practice of historical explanation. Far from a dogmatic manifesto, Two Cheers for Anarchism celebrates the anarchist confidence in the inventiveness and judgment of people who are free to exercise their creative and moral capacities.Book 6 Lesson: Most revolutions don’t result from the success of revolutionary parties but from the accumulation of disorderly and undermining action from the bottom up https://t.co/I3my3AXIKt
Bengal 2021
Halder
I understood a lot about Bengal elections by reading this book. Those interested may buy. https://t.co/Q6yDVjRpGB
The Decadent Society
Ross Douthat
From the New York Times columnist and bestselling author of Bad Religion, a “clever and stimulating” (The New York Times Book Review) portrait of how our turbulent age is defined by dark forces seemingly beyond our control. Today the Western world seems to be in crisis. But beneath our social media frenzy and reality TV politics, the deeper reality is one of drift, repetition, and dead ends. The Decadent Society explains what happens when a rich and powerful society ceases advancing—how the combination of wealth and technological proficiency with economic stagnation, political stalemates, cultural exhaustion, and demographic decline creates a strange kind of “sustainable decadence,” a civilizational languor that could endure for longer than we think. Ranging from our grounded space shuttles to our Silicon Valley villains, from our blandly recycled film and television—a new Star Wars saga, another Star Trek series, the fifth Terminator sequel—to the escapism we’re furiously chasing through drug use and virtual reality, Ross Douthat argues that many of today’s discontents and derangements reflect a sense of futility and disappointment—a feeling that the future was not what was promised and that the paths forward lead only to the grave. In this environment we fear catastrophe, but in a certain way we also pine for it—because the alternative is to accept that we are permanently decadent: aging, comfortable, and stuck, cut off from the past and no longer confident in the future, spurning both memory and ambition while we wait for some saving innovation or revelations, growing old unhappily together in the glowing light of tiny screens. “Full of shrewd insights couched in elegant, biting prose…[this] is a trenchant and stimulating take on latter-day discontents” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) and an enlightening diagnosis of the modern condition—how we got here, how long our frustration might last, and how, whether in renaissance or catastrophe, our decadence might ultimately end.Wednesday, 3/17 We'll have one of my favorite writers on, NYT columnist and author @DouthatNYT. His book 'Decadence' is a beautifully grim diagnosis of our national malaise, plus he's got a *new* book coming out. https://t.co/aBMyTNPW5y https://t.co/6M1feOCQQd
Monopolies Suck
Sally Hubbard
An urgent and witty manifesto, Monopolies Suck shows how monopoly power is harming everyday Americans and practical ways we can all fight back. Something’s not right. No matter how hard you work, life seems to only get harder. When your expenses keep going up but your income stays flat, when you’re price-gouged buying medicine for your child’s life-threatening allergy, when you live in a hyped-up state of fear and anxiety, monopoly power is playing a key role. In Monopolies Suck, antitrust expert and director at the Open Markets Institute, Sally Hubbard, shows us the seven ways big corporations rule our lives—and what must be done to stop them. Throughout history, monopolists who controlled entire industries like railroads and oil were aptly called “robber barons” because they extracted wealth from everyone else—and today’s monopolies are no different. By charging high prices, skirting taxes, and reducing our pay and economic opportunities, they are not only stealing our money, but also robbing us of innovation and choice, as market dominance prevents new companies from challenging them. They’re robbing us of the ability to take care of our sick, a healthy food supply, and a habitable planet by using business practices that deplete rather than generate. They’re a threat to our private lives, fair elections, a robust press, and ultimately, the American Dream that so many of us are striving for. In this slim, accessible guide, Sally Hubbard gives us an easy-to-understand overview of the history of monopolies and antitrust law, and urges us to use our voices, votes, and wallets to protest monopoly power. Emboldened by the previous century when we successfully broke up monopoly power in the US, we have the tools to dismantle corporate power again today—before their lobbying threatens to undermine our economy and democracy for generations to come.Great book — helps regular people understand how monopolies make their lives harder every day so they can power real change https://t.co/C91hFa7Zor
Understanding Media
Marshall McLuhan
McLuhan's view of a media-sculpted society of the future.This is my book Hall of Fame https://t.co/l0qtMU2U3W
Dark Money
Jane Mayer
Why is America living in an age of profound economic inequality? Why, despite the desperate need to address climate change, have even modest environmental efforts been defeated again and again? Why have protections for employees been decimated? Why do hedge-fund billionaires pay a far lower tax rate than middle-class workers? --Publisher.B/c decades ago GOP $$ realized it was good for biz to win - they treat politics as a business investment. D’s give b/c it’s good for humanity, but that generally requires either inspiration or fear. Book recs: Dark Money by Jane Mayer & All Politics Is Local by Meaghan Winter. https://t.co/vF0aBHseEP
The Dictator's Handbook
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita
A groundbreaking new theory of the real rules of politics: leaders do whatever keeps them in power, regardless of the national interest. As featured on the viral video Rules for Rulers, which has been viewed over 3 million times. Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith's canonical book on political science turned conventional wisdom on its head. They started from a single assertion: Leaders do whatever keeps them in power. They don't care about the "national interest"-or even their subjects-unless they have to. This clever and accessible book shows that democracy is essentially just a convenient fiction. Governments do not differ in kind but only in the number of essential supporters, or backs that need scratching. The size of this group determines almost everything about politics: what leaders can get away with, and the quality of life or misery under them. The picture the authors paint is not pretty. But it just may be the truth, which is a good starting point for anyone seeking to improve human governance.@_svs_ @niranjan_p Am reading 'The Dictators Handbook' atm - was recommended to me by @_Setlur more than a year ago. Super interesting - screenshot is from this book. https://t.co/2b5T0g4whr
Statecraft
Margaret Thatcher
I wanted to write one more book -- and I wanted it to be about the future. Few leaders have stood on the brink of change to the extent of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Now this commanding world figure draws upon her unrivaled political experience to comment on the threats that democracy faces at the dawn of the new millennium and on the role that Western powers should play in the world's hot spots, especially in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. Reflecting on the lessons of the Cold War, Thatcher outlines the foundation of U.S. dominance and its responsibilities as the only global superpower. She offers prescient observations about the dangers posed by Balkan instability, rogue states, Islamic extremism, and international terrorism -- and suggests strategies to counter them. In addition, she examines current trends in Russia, China, India, the Far East, Europe, and, particularly, Great Britain. Noting how every contemporary problem evokes demands for a global solution, Thatcher also warns of overreliance on international institutions at the expense of nation-states. Statecraft is an incisive treatise on power in the age of globalism, written by a legendary world statesman with a matchless combination of principles, experience, and shrewdness.Yes, would recommend her book 'Statecraft' for a lot of obvious-when-you-read-it insights, that seems to have slipped out of today's consciousness https://t.co/ghqSwDpTx1
The ALL NEW Don't Think of an Elephant!
George Lakoff
@jasoncwarner I'm sure there are some articles online which summarize their theories but for Haidt "the righteous mind" is the book and for Lakoff "don't think of an elephant"
UNWINDING
George Packer
Paints a picture of the last thirty years of life in America by following several citizens, including the son of tobacco farmers in the rural south, a Washington insider who denies his idealism for riches, and a Silicon Valley billionaire.Book 28 Lesson: Revolutionaries are often disappointed because an idea must be very small for people to give it a chance https://t.co/LeToHOLPtd
Represent
June Diane Raphael
“Over the last few years we’ve seen a remarkable surge of women running for office, and even better, winning. Running takes courage, passion, and commitment, but it also takes books like this. June and Kate have created a wonderful resource for women as they think about taking the leap.”—Hillary Rodham Clinton Turn “can I do this?” into “yes, I can!” Join the growing wave of women leaders with Represent, an energetic, interactive, and inspiring step-by-step guide showing how to run for the approximately 500,000 elected offices in the US. Written with humor and honesty by writer, comedian, actress, and activist June Diane Raphael and Kate Black, former chief of staff at EMILY’s list, Represent is structured around a 21-point document called “I’m Running for Office: The Checklist.” Doubling as a workbook, Represent covers it all, from the nuts and bolts of where to run, fundraising, and filing deadlines, to issues like balancing family and campaigning, managing social media and how running for office can work in your real life. With infographics, profiles of women politicians, and wisdom and advice from women in office, this is a must-own for any woman thinking of joining the pink wave.@gaby__goldstein @KathTX @AmandaRenteria I’d be remiss if I didn’t suggest my book! A thorough guide on how to campaign and/or get involved in politics: https://t.co/CQDzDpYQJw This one by @KateBlackDC & @msjunediane is also great: https://t.co/vBrsCDS94e
Run for Something
Amanda Litman
From the email marketing director of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the co-founder of Run for Something comes an essential and inspiring guide that encourages and educates young progressives to run for local office, complete with contributions from elected officials and political operatives. You’ve been depressed since the night of November 8, 2016. You wore black to work the next morning. You berated yourself for your complacency during the Obama years. You ranted on Twitter. You deleted Twitter. You sent emails to your friends saying, “How can we get more involved?” You listened to Pod Save America. You knitted a pussyhat. You showed up to the Women’s March on Washington. You protested Donald Trump’s executive orders. You called your congressman. You called other people’s congressmen. You set up monthly donations to Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. You reactivated Twitter (begrudgingly). Here’s what you do next: Run for something. To be specific: Run for local office and become the change you want to see in the world. Forget about Congress. Forget about the Senate. Focus on the offices that get the real sh*t done: state legislatures, city councils, school boards, and mayors. It doesn’t matter if you’re not a white man over sixty with an Ivy League law degree. (In fact, it’s better if you’re not!) It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand the first thing about running for office, or never even imagined you would. That’s what this book is for. Amanda Litman, experienced in hard-fought state and national election campaigns, is here to give you guidance as well as wisdom and insight from elected officials and political operatives she interviewed for this book. There are half a million elected officials in the United States. Why can’t you be one of them?@gaby__goldstein @KathTX @AmandaRenteria I’d be remiss if I didn’t suggest my book! A thorough guide on how to campaign and/or get involved in politics: https://t.co/CQDzDpYQJw This one by @KateBlackDC & @msjunediane is also great: https://t.co/vBrsCDS94e
The Influence of Soros
Emily Tamkin
"The George Soros conspiracy is a frequent right-wing talking point: he pays protesters and influences elections. But the left isn't standing up to defend the billionaire who supports leftist causes. Reporter Emily Tamkin explores the genesis of Soros's influence and the truth of the conspiracies that surround him"--Also: I read @emilyctamkin's new book on Soros over the weekend -- if you're interested in the tension inherent to very wealthy people funding social justice work (and/or the ways anti-Semitism shapes debate around Soros specifically), it's worth reading. https://t.co/XtkKSYDQWT
Our Time Is Now
Stacey Abrams
"This is a narrative that describes the urgency that compels me and millions more to push for a different American story than the one being told today. It's a story that is one part danger, one part action, and all true. It's a story about how and why we fight for our democracy and win." Celebrated national leader and bestselling author Stacey Abrams offers a blueprint to end voter suppression, empower our citizens, and take back our country. A recognized expert on fair voting and civic engagement, Abrams chronicles a chilling account of how the right to vote and the principle of democracy have been and continue to be under attack. Abrams would have been the first African American woman governor, but experienced these effects firsthand, despite running the most innovative race in modern politics as the Democratic nominee in Georgia. Abrams didn’t win, but she has not conceded. The book compellingly argues for the importance of robust voter protections, an elevation of identity politics, engagement in the census, and a return to moral international leadership. Our Time Is Now draws on extensive research from national organizations and renowned scholars, as well as anecdotes from her life and others’ who have fought throughout our country’s history for the power to be heard. The stakes could not be higher. Here are concrete solutions and inspiration to stand up for who we are—now.Apropos of everything, @staceyabrams’ new book on voter suppression came out yesterday — it’s very good & absolutely urgent reading for this moment. https://t.co/hMN7rREfb7
The Strategy of Conflict
Thomas C. Schelling
Analyzes the nature of international disagreements and conflict resolution in terms of game theory and non-zero-sum games.@JaycelAdkins It’s a great book and very accessible; I generally recommend it. But it’s not primarily about Schelling points. IIRC they’re the focus of maybe 10 percent of the book? And not in too much depth, either.
Qiaowu
James Jiann Hua To
Qiaowu: Extra-Territorial Policies for the Overseas Chinese is a comprehensive analysis of the rival policies and practices of the Chinese Communist Party, Nationalist Kuomintang and Democratic Progressive Party governments of Taiwan concerning strategic cohorts of the Chinese diaspora.@sehof I remain puzzled that To’s book hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves
The Decadent Society
Ross Douthat
From the New York Times columnist and bestselling author of Bad Religion, a powerful portrait of how our turbulent age is defined by dark forces seemingly beyond our control Today the Western world seems to be in crisis. But beneath our social media frenzy and reality television politics, the deeper reality is one of drift, repetition, and dead ends. The Decadent Society explains what happens when a rich and powerful society ceases advancing—how the combination of wealth and technological proficiency with economic stagnation, political stalemates, cultural exhaustion, and demographic decline creates a strange kind of “sustainable decadence,” a civilizational languor that could endure for longer than we think. Ranging from our grounded space shuttles to our Silicon Valley villains, from our blandly recycled film and television—a new Star Wars saga, another Star Trek series, the fifth Terminator sequel—to the escapism we’re furiously chasing through drug use and virtual reality, Ross Douthat argues that many of today’s discontents and derangements reflect a sense of futility and disappointment—a feeling that the future was not what was promised, that the frontiers have all been closed, and that the paths forward lead only to the grave. In this environment we fear catastrophe, but in a certain way we also pine for it—because the alternative is to accept that we are permanently decadent: aging, comfortable and stuck, cut off from the past and no longer confident in the future, spurning both memory and ambition while we wait for some saving innovation or revelations, growing old unhappily together in the glowing light of tiny screens. Correcting both optimists who insist that we’re just growing richer and happier with every passing year and pessimists who expect collapse any moment, Douthat provides an enlightening diagnosis of the modern condition—how we got here, how long our age of frustration might last, and how, whether in renaissance or catastrophe, our decadence might ultimately end.In @DouthatNYT's latest book 'Decadence', he posits this thought experiment: Would you rather live in a world with all human technology until around 2000 (but no Internet or social media)? Or all technology right now, except for 20th-century technologies like indoor plumbing?
The Accidental Superpower
Mr. Peter Zeihan
6 books (current list; one is a re-read) 6 tags: @kevinakwok @patrick_oshag @ashfontana @AliBHamed @briannekimmel @juliadewahl https://t.co/CzFayfRDby https://t.co/yUl1q96RL4
Following the Leader
David M. Lampton
Tells the story of China's political elites from their own perspectives. Based on over five hundred interviews, this title offers a rare glimpse into how the attitudes and ideas of those at the top have evolved over the decades.Prepping David Lampton's book for a lecture and, while it drives home how quickly things can change in Chinese politics, was nice to be reminded that some scholars can truly write well. https://t.co/SzDrhMMr84
The System
Robert B. Reich
From the best-selling author of Saving Capitalism and The Common Good, an urgent analysis of how the "rigged" systems of American politics and power operate, how this status quo came to be, and how average citizens can enact change. Millions of Americans have lost confidence in our political and economic system. After years of stagnant wages, volatile job markets, and an unwillingness by those in power to deal with profound threats such as climate change, there is a mounting sense that the system is fixed, serving only those select few with enough money to secure a controlling stake. With the characteristic clarity and passion that has made him a central civil voice, Robert B. Reich shows how wealth and power have interacted to install an elite oligarchy, eviscerate the middle class, and undermine democracy. Using Jamie Dimon, the chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase as an example, Reich exposes how those at the top propagate myths about meritocracy, national competitiveness, corporate social responsibility, and the "free market" to distract most Americans from their accumulation of extraordinary wealth, and power over the system. Instead of answering the call to civic duty, they have chosen to uphold self-serving policies that line their own pockets and benefit their bottom line. Reich's objective is not to foster cynicism, but rather to demystify the system so that we might instill fundamental change and demand that democracy works for the majority once again.@conches Just finished reading Robert Reich's book, The System. He makes that same point.
Expert Political Judgment
Philip E. Tetlock
Since its original publication, Expert Political Judgment by New York Times bestselling author Philip Tetlock has established itself as a contemporary classic in the literature on evaluating expert opinion. Tetlock first discusses arguments about whether the world is too complex for people to find the tools to understand political phenomena, let alone predict the future. He evaluates predictions from experts in different fields, comparing them to predictions by well-informed laity or those based on simple extrapolation from current trends. He goes on to analyze which styles of thinking are more successful in forecasting. Classifying thinking styles using Isaiah Berlin's prototypes of the fox and the hedgehog, Tetlock contends that the fox--the thinker who knows many little things, draws from an eclectic array of traditions, and is better able to improvise in response to changing events--is more successful in predicting the future than the hedgehog, who knows one big thing, toils devotedly within one tradition, and imposes formulaic solutions on ill-defined problems. He notes a perversely inverse relationship between the best scientific indicators of good judgement and the qualities that the media most prizes in pundits--the single-minded determination required to prevail in ideological combat. Clearly written and impeccably researched, the book fills a huge void in the literature on evaluating expert opinion. It will appeal across many academic disciplines as well as to corporations seeking to develop standards for judging expert decision-making. Now with a new preface in which Tetlock discusses the latest research in the field, the book explores what constitutes good judgment in predicting future events and looks at why experts are often wrong in their forecasts.Book 19 Lesson: To improve judgement, draw on information from non-redundant sources and update your beliefs as you encounter unexpected evidence. https://t.co/VbHsK79YvC
The American Dream Is Not Dead
Michael R. Strain
Populists on both sides of the political aisle routinely announce that the American Dream is dead. According to them, the game has been rigged by elites, workers can’t get ahead, wages have been stagnant for decades, and the middle class is dying. Michael R. Strain, director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, disputes this rhetoric as both wrong and dangerous. In this succinctly argued volume, he shows that, on measures of economic opportunity and quality of life, there has never been a better time to be alive in America. He backs his argument with overwhelming—and underreported—data to show how the facts favor realistic optimism. He warns, however, that the false prophets of populism pose a serious danger to our current and future prosperity. Their policies would leave workers worse off. And their erroneous claim that the American Dream is dead could discourage people from taking advantage of real opportunities to better their lives. If enough people start to believe the Dream is dead, they could, in effect, kill it. To prevent this self-fulfilling prophecy, Strain’s book is urgent reading for anyone feeling the pull of the populists. E. J. Dionne and Henry Olsen provide spirited responses to Strain’s argument.Latest books to arrive. https://t.co/jnny5AeoNp
What it Takes
Richard Ben Cramer
@paulg @giridevanur @krenzx @naval @eladgil As much as I'd love to imagine both these scenarios, I have a hard time believing that any tech person would run the gauntlet necessary to assume public office in the US. At least from my reading of accounts like 'What It Takes' (a classic of the genre). https://t.co/wTtVujqz7z
Unrigged
David Daley
Following Ratf**ked, his "extraordinary timely and undeniably important" (New York Times Book Review) exposé of how a small cadre of Republican operatives rigged American elections, David Daley emerged as one of the nation's leading authorities on gerrymandering. In Unrigged, he charts a vibrant political movement that is rising in the wake of his and other reporters' revelations. With his trademark journalistic rigor and narrative flair, Daley reports on Pennsylvania's dramatic defeat of a gerrymander using the research of ingenious mathematicians and the Michigan millennial who launched a statewide redistricting revolution with a Facebook post. He tells the stories of activist groups that paved the way for 2018's historic blue wave and won crucial battles for voting rights in Florida, Maine, Utah, and nationwide. In an age of polarization, Unrigged offers a vivid portrait of a nation transformed by a new civic awakening, and provides a blueprint for what must be done to keep American democracy afloat.A win-win if you need an optimistic book to read during these hard times AND you want to support @runforsomething. https://t.co/QCG0mOAV81
Unrigged
David Daley
Following Ratf**ked, his "extraordinary timely and undeniably important" (New York Times Book Review) exposé of how a small cadre of Republican operatives rigged American elections, David Daley emerged as one of the nation's leading authorities on gerrymandering. In Unrigged, he charts a vibrant political movement that is rising in the wake of his and other reporters' revelations. With his trademark journalistic rigor and narrative flair, Daley reports on Pennsylvania's dramatic defeat of a gerrymander using the research of ingenious mathematicians and the Michigan millennial who launched a statewide redistricting revolution with a Facebook post. He tells the stories of activist groups that paved the way for 2018's historic blue wave and won crucial battles for voting rights in Florida, Maine, Utah, and nationwide. In an age of polarization, Unrigged offers a vivid portrait of a nation transformed by a new civic awakening, and provides a blueprint for what must be done to keep American democracy afloat.If you’re looking for an uplifting read about how real people are doing the hard work of fixing democracy one knocked door at a time, pre-order @davedaley3’s new book — shown here w/ Sadie, who, despite her face, enjoys hanging out while I read. https://t.co/7vCVU7syuz https://t.co/Z6fdjE8HNz
The Socialist Manifesto
Bhaskar Sunkara
From one of the most prominent voices on the American Left, a galvanizing argument for why we need socialism in the United States today In The Socialist Manifesto, Bhaskar Sunkara explores socialism's history since the mid-1800s and presents a realistic vision for its future. With the stunning popularity of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Americans are embracing the class politics of socialism. But what, exactly, is socialism? And what would a socialist system in America look like? The editor of Jacobin magazine, Sunkara shows that socialism, though often seen primarily as an economic system, in fact offers the means to fight all forms of oppression, including racism and sexism. The ultimate goal is not Soviet-style planning, but to win rights to healthcare, education, and housing, and to create new democratic institutions in workplaces and communities. A primer on socialism for the 21st century, this is a book for anyone seeking an end to the vast inequities of our age.Book 9 Lesson: Instead of dogmatically pushing for historically-advocated policies, it is better to pursue your vision for the world by finding the most viable paths from the circumstances today to that potential future https://t.co/JV64LWvXsl
In the Name of Identity
Amin Maalouf
I want to try and understand why so many people commit crimes in the name of identity,” writes Amin Maalouf. Identity is the crucible out of which we come: our background, our race, our gender, our tribal affiliations, our religion (or lack thereof), all go into making up who we are. All too often, however, the notion of identity—personal, religious, ethnic, or national—has given rise to heated passions and even massive crimes. Moving across the world’s history, faiths, and politics, he argues against an oversimplified and hostile interpretation of the concept. He cogently and persuasively examines identity in the context of the modern world, where it can be viewed as both glory and poison. Evident here are the dangers of using identity as a protective—and therefore aggressive—mechanism, the root of racial, geographical, and colonialist subjugation throughout history. Maalouf contends that many of us would reject our inherited conceptions of identity, to which we cling through habit, if only we examined them more closely. The future of society depends on accepting all identities, while recognizing our individualism.@eriktorenberg @glenweyl (Tangential, but Amin Maalouf's book "In the Name of Identity" has an interesting discussion of how we construct unique identities as the intersection of the communities to which we belong.)
Order without Design
Alain Bertaud
An argument that operational urban planning can be improved by the application of the tools of urban economics to the design of regulations and infrastructure. Urban planning is a craft learned through practice. Planners make rapid decisions that have an immediate impact on the ground—the width of streets, the minimum size of land parcels, the heights of buildings. The language they use to describe their objectives is qualitative—“sustainable,” “livable,” “resilient”—often with no link to measurable outcomes. Urban economics, on the other hand, is a quantitative science, based on theories, models, and empirical evidence largely developed in academic settings. In this book, the eminent urban planner Alain Bertaud argues that applying the theories of urban economics to the practice of urban planning would greatly improve both the productivity of cities and the welfare of urban citizens. Bertaud explains that markets provide the indispensable mechanism for cities' development. He cites the experience of cities without markets for land or labor in pre-reform China and Russia; this “urban planners' dream” created inefficiencies and waste. Drawing on five decades of urban planning experience in forty cities around the world, Bertaud links cities' productivity to the size of their labor markets; argues that the design of infrastructure and markets can complement each other; examines the spatial distribution of land prices and densities; stresses the importance of mobility and affordability; and critiques the land use regulations in a number of cities that aim at redesigning existing cities instead of just trying to alleviate clear negative externalities. Bertaud concludes by describing the new role that joint teams of urban planners and economists could play to improve the way cities are managed.This is super interesting. It should maybe be subtitled “how markets have shaped cities” because internet commerce and remote work are changing markets a bit. The complete dysfunction of living in higher density SF to commute to lower density Silicon Valley is all tax policy. https://t.co/vugyihGhTN
UNWINDING
George Packer
Paints a picture of the last thirty years of life in America by following several citizens, including the son of tobacco farmers in the rural south, a Washington insider who denies his idealism for riches, and a Silicon Valley billionaire.@believermag The Unwinding
Order without Design
Alain Bertaud
An argument that operational urban planning can be improved by the application of the tools of urban economics to the design of regulations and infrastructure. Urban planning is a craft learned through practice. Planners make rapid decisions that have an immediate impact on the ground—the width of streets, the minimum size of land parcels, the heights of buildings. The language they use to describe their objectives is qualitative—“sustainable,” “livable,” “resilient”—often with no link to measurable outcomes. Urban economics, on the other hand, is a quantitative science, based on theories, models, and empirical evidence largely developed in academic settings. In this book, the eminent urban planner Alain Bertaud argues that applying the theories of urban economics to the practice of urban planning would greatly improve both the productivity of cities and the welfare of urban citizens. Bertaud explains that markets provide the indispensable mechanism for cities' development. He cites the experience of cities without markets for land or labor in pre-reform China and Russia; this “urban planners' dream” created inefficiencies and waste. Drawing on five decades of urban planning experience in forty cities around the world, Bertaud links cities' productivity to the size of their labor markets; argues that the design of infrastructure and markets can complement each other; examines the spatial distribution of land prices and densities; stresses the importance of mobility and affordability; and critiques the land use regulations in a number of cities that aim at redesigning existing cities instead of just trying to alleviate clear negative externalities. Bertaud concludes by describing the new role that joint teams of urban planners and economists could play to improve the way cities are managed.Five books I read this year that I recommend: Silver by @LindaNagata (& rest of series) The City & The City by Mieville Money: The Unauthorized Biography by Martin Order Without Design by Bertraud Legal Systems Very Different From Our Ours by Friedman, @DavidSkarbek, and Leeson
A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis
Eugene Bardach
Drawing on more than 40 years of experience with policy analysis, best-selling authors Eugene Bardach and Eric M. Patashnik use real-world examples to teach you how to be effective, accurate, and persuasive policy analysts. The Sixth Edition of A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis presents dozens of concrete tips, new case studies, and step-by-step strategies for the budding analyst as well as the seasoned professional.@krues8dr There’s a 6th edition: https://t.co/x2YTazBLm3
Novacene
James Lovelock
The originator of the Gaia theory offers the vision of a future epoch in which humans and artificial intelligence together will help the Earth survive. James Lovelock, creator of the Gaia hypothesis and the greatest environmental thinker of our time, has produced an astounding new theory about future of life on Earth. He argues that the Anthropocene—the age in which humans acquired planetary-scale technologies—is, after 300 years, coming to an end. A new age—the Novacene—has already begun. In the Novacene, new beings will emerge from existing artificial intelligence systems. They will think 10,000 times faster than we do and they will regard us as we now regard plants. But this will not be the cruel, violent machine takeover of the planet imagined by science fiction. These hyperintelligent beings will be as dependent on the health of the planet as we are. They will need the planetary cooling system of Gaia to defend them from the increasing heat of the sun as much as we do. And Gaia depends on organic life. We will be partners in this project. It is crucial, Lovelock argues, that the intelligence of Earth survives and prospers. He does not think there are intelligent aliens, so we are the only beings capable of understanding the cosmos. Perhaps, he speculates, the Novacene could even be the beginning of a process that will finally lead to intelligence suffusing the entire cosmos. At the age of 100, James Lovelock has produced the most important and compelling work of his life.@timrayner01 Have you read Lovelock's newest, Novacene: The Coming Age of Hyperintelligence? He's updated the goddess.
The Perfect Weapon
David E Sanger
From Russia's tampering with the US election to the wannacry hack that temporarily crippled Britain’s NHS, Cyber has become the weapon of choice for democracies, dictators, and terrorists. Cheap to acquire, easily deniable, and used for a variety of malicious purposes—from crippling infrastructure to sowing discord and doubt—cyberweapons are re-writing the rules of warfare. In less than a decade, they have displaced terrorism and Nuclear missiles as the biggest immediate threat to international security and to democracy. Here, new York Times correspondent, David e. Sanger takes us from the White House situation room to the dens of Chinese government hackers and the boardroom of Silicon Valley, piecing together a remarkable picture of a world Now coming face-to-face with the most sophisticated arguably most dangerous—weapon ever invented. The perfect weapon is the dramatic story of a new era of constant sabotage, misinformation, and fear in which everyone is a target.Extreme example, but highly suggest spending some time on personal security Buy a YubiKey, use 1Password. Be selective with IOT devices. Highly recommend reading ‘The Perfect Weapon’ https://t.co/B3sOwJSEay https://t.co/0GpMc4Oz1b
Novacene
James Lovelock
The originator of the Gaia theory offers the vision of a future epoch in which humans and artificial intelligence together will help the Earth survive. James Lovelock, creator of the Gaia hypothesis and the greatest environmental thinker of our time, has produced an astounding new theory about future of life on Earth. He argues that the Anthropocene—the age in which humans acquired planetary-scale technologies—is, after 300 years, coming to an end. A new age—the Novacene—has already begun. In the Novacene, new beings will emerge from existing artificial intelligence systems. They will think 10,000 times faster than we do and they will regard us as we now regard plants. But this will not be the cruel, violent machine takeover of the planet imagined by science fiction. These hyperintelligent beings will be as dependent on the health of the planet as we are. They will need the planetary cooling system of Gaia to defend them from the increasing heat of the sun as much as we do. And Gaia depends on organic life. We will be partners in this project. It is crucial, Lovelock argues, that the intelligence of Earth survives and prospers. He does not think there are intelligent aliens, so we are the only beings capable of understanding the cosmos. Perhaps, he speculates, the Novacene could even be the beginning of a process that will finally lead to intelligence suffusing the entire cosmos. At the age of 100, James Lovelock has produced the most important and compelling work of his life.@moniscope @MarkBarrusHypno Yes, we may be left with geo-engineering. That is Gaia Hypothesis author, James Lovelock's conclusion in his new book, The Novacene. https://t.co/Njw3UHz3wB
Order without Design
Alain Bertaud
An argument that operational urban planning can be improved by the application of the tools of urban economics to the design of regulations and infrastructure. Urban planning is a craft learned through practice. Planners make rapid decisions that have an immediate impact on the ground—the width of streets, the minimum size of land parcels, the heights of buildings. The language they use to describe their objectives is qualitative—“sustainable,” “livable,” “resilient”—often with no link to measurable outcomes. Urban economics, on the other hand, is a quantitative science, based on theories, models, and empirical evidence largely developed in academic settings. In this book, the eminent urban planner Alain Bertaud argues that applying the theories of urban economics to the practice of urban planning would greatly improve both the productivity of cities and the welfare of urban citizens. Bertaud explains that markets provide the indispensable mechanism for cities' development. He cites the experience of cities without markets for land or labor in pre-reform China and Russia; this “urban planners' dream” created inefficiencies and waste. Drawing on five decades of urban planning experience in forty cities around the world, Bertaud links cities' productivity to the size of their labor markets; argues that the design of infrastructure and markets can complement each other; examines the spatial distribution of land prices and densities; stresses the importance of mobility and affordability; and critiques the land use regulations in a number of cities that aim at redesigning existing cities instead of just trying to alleviate clear negative externalities. Bertaud concludes by describing the new role that joint teams of urban planners and economists could play to improve the way cities are managed.I just finished Order Without Design by Alain Bertaud https://t.co/g50OWJy7qS. If you care about the nuts and bolts of creating functional cities that actually serve the poor as well as the wealthy, this book is a must read. Clear eyed, well researched, and engagingly written.
The Fifth Risk
Michael Lewis
'Will set your hair on end' Telegraph, Top 50 Books of the Year 'Life is what happens between Michael Lewis books. I forgot to breathe while reading The Fifth Risk' Michael Hofmann, TLS, Books of the Year The phenomenal new book from the international bestselling author of The Big Short 'The election happened ... And then there was radio silence.' The morning after Trump was elected president, the people who ran the US Department of Energy - an agency that deals with some of the most powerful risks facing humanity - waited to welcome the incoming administration's transition team. Nobody appeared. Across the US government, the same thing happened: nothing. People don't notice when stuff goes right. That is the stuff government does. It manages everything that underpins our lives from funding free school meals, to policing rogue nuclear activity, to predicting extreme weather events. It steps in where private investment fears to tread, innovates and creates knowledge, assesses extreme long-term risk. And now, government is under attack. By its own leaders. In The Fifth Risk, Michael Lewis reveals the combustible cocktail of wilful ignorance and venality that is fuelling the destruction of a country's fabric. All of this, Lewis shows, exposes America and the world to the biggest risk of all. It is what you never learned that might have saved you.@bobbie Thick: by Tressie McMillan Cottom I Hate the Internet: Jarett Kobek We: Yevgeny Zamyatin The Fifth Risk: Michael Lewis
Manufacturing Consent
Edward S. Herman
Examines the political role played by the media in shaping events, assesses the relationship between the media and the corporations that control and finance them, and discusses the fine distinctions between news and propaganda.Go 👏 read 👏 Chomsky 👏 https://t.co/97VfRyleEl
We Are Indivisible
Leah Greenberg
NATIONAL BESTSELLER “The breakout star of the new activists.” —The Economist “If Democrats are able to retake the House in 2018, it will be a victory built from Greenberg and Levin’s blueprint.” —Politico “One of the biggest successes so far this year...Indivisible has played a leading role in turning out voters at congressional town halls to voice their opposition.” —The New York Times “The centerpiece of a robust new grassroots machinery.” —Rolling Stone This is a story of democracy under threat. It’s the story of a movement rising up to respond. And it’s a story of what comes next. Shortly after Trump’s election, two outraged former congressional staffers wrote and posted a tactical guide to resisting the Trump agenda. This Google Doc entitled “Indivisible” was meant to be read by friends and family. No one could have predicted what happened next. It went viral, sparking the creation of thousands of local Indivisible groups in red, blue, and purple states, mobilizing millions of people and evolving into a defining movement of the Trump Era. From crowding town halls to killing TrumpCare to rallying around candidates to build the Blue Wave, Indivisibles powered the fight against Trump—and pushed the limits of what was politically possible. In We Are Indivisible: A Blueprint for Democracy After Trump, the (still-married!) co-executive directors of Indivisible tell the story of the movement. They offer a behind-the-scenes look at how change comes to Washington, whether Washington wants it or not. And they explain how we’ll win the coming fight for the future of American democracy. We Are Indivisible isn’t a book of platitudes about hope; it’s a steely-eyed guide to people power—how to find it, how to build it, and how to use it to usher in the post-Trump era. *All proceeds to the author go to Indivisible's Save Democracy FundGreat news: @Leahgreenb & @ezralevin's @IndivisibleTeam book is out today! I've read it & can confirm: It is funny, super smart, inspiring, and will make you want to get off Twitter & go make a difference. Get your copy ASAP. https://t.co/qvDJcTZ2qa
Servants of the People
Andrew Rawnsley
This work dissects the first 1000 days of the Labour government. It measures the successes and failures of the least experienced Cabinet to take office in more than a century.@mpbl32 There's the classics: Macintosh team, The Big Score by Michael Malone One thing I like to do is read the bios of everyone so you hear all sides -- I read all the New Labour bios, because they were an especially dysfunctional love square. https://t.co/xTSSeA64ko
Cyberwar
Kathleen Hall Jamieson
The question of how Donald Trump won the 2016 election looms over his presidency. In particular, were the 78,000 voters who gave him an Electoral College victory affected by the Russian trolls and hackers? Trump has denied it. So has Vladimir Putin. Others cast the answer as unknowable. In Cyberwar, Kathleen Hall Jamieson marshals the troll posts, unique polling data, analyses of how the press used hacked content, and a synthesis of half a century of media effects literature to argue that, although not certain, it is probable that the Russians helped elect the 45th president of the United States. In the process, she asks: How extensive was the troll messaging? What characteristics of social media did the Russians exploit? Why did the mainstream press rush the hacked content into the citizenry's newsfeeds? Was Clinton telling the truth when she alleged that the debate moderators distorted what she said in the leaked speeches? Did the Russian influence extend beyond social media and news to alter the behavior of FBI director James Comey? After detailing the ways in which Russian efforts were abetted by the press, social media, candidates, party leaders, and a polarized public, Cyberwar closes with a warning: the country is ill-prepared to prevent a sequel. In this updated paperback edition, Jamieson covers the many new developments that have come to light since the original publication.Here’s the book he recommends-> https://t.co/WSu1cZAQiG
Judgment in Moscow
Vladimir K Bukovsky
First author-approved English translation of Soviet-era dissident's book which uses stolen Communist Party archives to tell the behind-the-scenes story of Soviet collaboration with Western leaders, and the collapse of the Communist regime.You can honor Bukovsky's legacy by reading his works. To Build a Castle and Judgment in Moscow are essential. You will also understand more about the USSR, evil, & totalitarianism than 99% of Russia pundits today! https://t.co/0HcYcyVLSZ
What to Expect when No One's Expecting
Jonathan V. Last
Challenges mainstream beliefs about overpopulation and cites the consequences of a rapidly depopulating world.Fertility by education (from the book What to Expect When No One's Expecting) https://t.co/3Pbr8p7UHm
Proof of Collusion
Seth Abramson
@TechManBig @Jim_Jordan Clearly you have not been paying attention. See also https://t.co/8cRGXpFWzl
The Vision of the Anointed
Thomas Sowell
Sowell presents a devastating critique of the mind-set behind the failed social policies of the past thirty years. Sowell sees what has happened during that time not as a series of isolated mistakes but as a logical consequence of a tainted vision whose defects have led to crises in education, crime, and family dynamics, and to other social pathologies. In this book, he describes how elites—the anointed—have replaced facts and rational thinking with rhetorical assertions, thereby altering the course of our social policy.@MrMikeSmith @rivatez Vision of the Anointed
The Vision of the Anointed
Thomas Sowell
Sowell presents a devastating critique of the mind-set behind the failed social policies of the past thirty years. Sowell sees what has happened during that time not as a series of isolated mistakes but as a logical consequence of a tainted vision whose defects have led to crises in education, crime, and family dynamics, and to other social pathologies. In this book, he describes how elites—the anointed—have replaced facts and rational thinking with rhetorical assertions, thereby altering the course of our social policy.@paulg @rivatez Upside of Stress, Why We Sleep, The Score Takes Care of Itself, The Little Kingdom, Vision of the Anointed.
The Vanishing American Adult
Ben Sasse
America's youth are in crisis. Raised by well-meaning but overprotective parents and coddled by well-meaning but misbegotten government programs, they are ill-equipped to survive in our highly-competitive global economy. Many of the coming-of-age rituals that have defined the American experience since the Founding: learning the value of working with your hands, leaving home to start a family, becoming economically self-reliant--are being delayed or skipped altogether. The statistics are daunting: 30% of college students drop out after the first year, and only 4 in 10 graduate. One in three 18-to-34 year-olds live with their parents. From these disparate phenomena: Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse who as president of a Midwestern college observed the trials of this generation up close, sees an existential threat to the American way of life. In The Vanishing American Adult, Sasse diagnoses the causes of a generation that can't grow up and offers a path for raising children to become active and engaged citizens. He identifies core formative experiences that all young people should pursue: hard work to appreciate the benefits of labor, travel to understand deprivation and want, the power of reading, the importance of nurturing your body--and explains how parents can encourage them. Our democracy depends on responsible, contributing adults to function properly--without them America falls prey to populist demagogues. A call to arms in the tradition of The Closing of the American Mind and a manifesto for parents in the traditions of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, The Vanishing American Adult will ignite a much-needed debate about the link between the way we're raising our children and the future of our country.@amchenault Depends on what I’m writing about. When I wrote my most recent essay about Peter Thiel, I read multiple books of Rene Girard interviews. Now, I’m writing about adulthood and reading “The Vanishing American Adult.” https://t.co/HklaWOyeZq
Dark Money
Jane Mayer
Why is America living in an age of profound economic inequality? Why, despite the desperate need to address climate change, have even modest environmental efforts been defeated again and again? Why have protections for employees been decimated? Why do hedge-fund billionaires pay a far lower tax rate than middle-class workers? --Publisher.@TrevMcKendrick Dark Money and Sons of Wichita. There's a new book about Koch Industries just out (Kochland) that's on my weekend to-read.
The Strategy of Conflict
Thomas C. Schelling
Analyzes the nature of international disagreements and conflict resolution in terms of game theory and non-zero-sum games.started reading The Strategy of Conflict and if you are into game theory and social constructs it's quite interesting
The Vision of the Anointed
Thomas Sowell
Sowell presents a devastating critique of the mind-set behind the failed social policies of the past thirty years. Sowell sees what has happened during that time not as a series of isolated mistakes but as a logical consequence of a tainted vision whose defects have led to crises in education, crime, and family dynamics, and to other social pathologies. In this book, he describes how elites—the anointed—have replaced facts and rational thinking with rhetorical assertions, thereby altering the course of our social policy.@typesfast @balajis And the lack of understanding of trade offs and cost-benefit analysis. Always reminds me of this book : https://t.co/OnxkdD9fbR
World On Fire
Amy Chua
Amy Chua's remarkable and provocative book explores the tensions of the post-Cold War globalising world. As global markets open, ethnic conflict worsens and democracy in developing nations can turn ugly and violent. Chua shows how free markets have concentrated disproportionate, often spectacular wealth in the hands of resented ethnic minorities - 'market-dominant minorities'. Adding democracy to this volatile mix can unleash suppressed ethnic hatred and bring to power 'ethno-nationalist' governments that pursue aggressive policies of confiscation and revenge. Chua also shows how individual countries may be viewed as market-dominant minorities, a fact that could help to explain the rising tide of anti-American sentiment around the world and the visceral hatred of Americans expressed in recent acts of terrorism. Chua is not an anti-globalist. But in this must-read bestselling book she presciently warns that, far from making the world a better and safer place, democracy and capitalism - at least in the raw, unrestrained form in which they are currently being exported - are intensifying ethnic resentment and global violence, with potentially catastrophic results.Fire and Fury
Michael Wolff
@migueldeicaza @soledadobrien @johnregehr @nytimes I wouldn't call this centrist. This is just opportunistic access journalism. I remember reading in Michael Wolff's Fire & Fury where he wrote about Trump & Hope Hicks having daily sessions on managing Maggie Haberman so it's odd people see her as objective https://t.co/uuFkKFJvKP
How We Got to Now
Steven Johnson
This book is a celebration of ideas: how they happen and their sometimes unintended results. Johnson shows how simple scientific breakthroughs have driven other discoveries through the network of ideas and innovations that made each finding possible. He traces important inventions through ancient and contemporary history, unlocking tales of unsung heroes and radical revolutions that changed the world and the way we live in itGreat book on how innovations spread, often by accident. "An innovation, or cluster of innovations, in one field ends up triggering changes that seem to belong to a different domain altogether." https://t.co/VWMYFf9ZBg
Judgment in Moscow
Vladimir K Bukovsky
First author-approved English translation of Soviet-era dissident's book which uses stolen Communist Party archives to tell the behind-the-scenes story of Soviet collaboration with Western leaders, and the collapse of the Communist regime.Vladimir Bukovsky always warned us that there can be no common ground with dictators. His new book Judgment in Moscow documents why. Essential reading on Soviet/Russian aggression & the Western moral apathy that allows it. https://t.co/Bstdpcb2tn @BukovskyCenter
The Mueller Report
Robert S. Mueller
Just under two years ago, former FBI Director Robert Mueller was appointed to head a special investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether the Trump campaign was involved. With the investigation now concluded, his report was submitted to the Department of Justice on Friday 22nd March 2019. This is the full text of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation: it is the report and nothing but the report, presented as released by the Attorney General of the United States, with no positioning or framing apparatus - such as a celebrity introduction - that would give it bias or impede its clarity.Read the book the Attorney General wouldn't! More great work from @EPICprivacy. https://t.co/xwO8fkM2Wl
The Accidental Superpower
Peter Zeihan
I am loving this book. What podcasts (or individual episodes) pair nicely with it? https://t.co/CkAvRfqa5M
The War on Normal People
Andrew Yang
From entrepreneur Andrew Yang, the founder of Venture for America, an eye-opening look at how new technologies are erasing millions of jobs before our eyes-and a rallying cry for the urgent steps America must take, including Universal Basic Income, to stabilize our economy. The shift toward automation is about to create a tsunami of unemployment. Not in the distant future--now. One recent estimate predicts 13 million American workers will lose their jobs within the next seven years-jobs that won't be replaced. In a future marked by restlessness and chronic unemployment, what will happen to American society? In The War on Normal People, Andrew Yang paints a dire portrait of the American economy. Rapidly advancing technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics and automation software are making millions of Americans' livelihoods irrelevant. The consequences of these trends are already being felt across our communities in the form of political unrest, drug use, and other social ills. The future looks dire-but is it unavoidable? In The War on Normal People, Yang imagines a different future -- one in which having a job is distinct from the capacity to prosper and seek fulfillment. At this vision's core is Universal Basic Income, the concept of providing all citizens with a guaranteed income-and one that is rapidly gaining popularity among forward-thinking politicians and economists. Yang proposes that UBI is an essential step toward a new, more durable kind of economy, one he calls "human capitalism."The Evolution of Cooperation
Robert Axelrod
The Evolution of Cooperation provides valuable insights into the age-old question of whether unforced cooperation is ever possible. Widely praised and much-discussed, this classic book explores how cooperation can emerge in a world of self-seeking egoists-whether superpowers, businesses, or individuals-when there is no central authority to police their actions. The problem of cooperation is central to many different fields. Robert Axelrod recounts the famous computer tournaments in which the "cooperative" program Tit for Tat recorded its stunning victories, explains its application to a broad spectrum of subjects, and suggests how readers can both apply cooperative principles to their own lives and teach cooperative principles to others.New Post: Why People Cooperate. It's about a book called "The Evolution of Cooperation." This post is different. It's an example of the kind of blog post new writers should start with. It's short, sweet and to-the-point, so I'd appreciate your feedback. https://t.co/qOnOi4AUDV
Taxing Wars
Sarah Kreps
Why have the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq lasted longer than any others in American history? The conventional wisdom suggests that the move to an all-volunteer force and unmanned technologies such as drones have reduced the apparent burden of war so much that they have allowed these conflicts to continue almost unnoticed for years. Taxing Wars suggests that the burden in blood is just one side of the coin. The way Americans bear the burden in treasure has also changed, and these changes have both eroded accountability and contributed to the phenomenon of perpetual war. Sarah Kreps chronicles the entire history of how America has paid for its wars-and how its methods have changed. Early on, the United States imposed war taxes that both demanded sacrifices from all Americans and served as reminders of their participation. Indeed, thinkers from Immanuel Kant to Adam Smith argued that these reminders were exactly the reason why democracies tended to fight shorter and less costly wars. Bearing these burdens caused the populace to sue for peace when the costs mounted. Leaders in a democracy, responsive to their citizens, would have incentives to heed that opposition and bring wars to as expeditious an end as possible. Since the Korean War, the United States has increasingly moved away from war taxes. Instead, borrowing-and its comparatively less visible connection with the war-has become a permanent feature of contemporary wars. The move serves leaders well because reducing the apparent burden of war has helped mute public opposition and any decision-making constraints. But by masking accountability, however, the move away from war taxes undermines the basis for democratic restraint in wartime. Contemporary wars have become correspondingly longer and costlier as the public has become disconnected from those burdens. Given the trends identified in Taxing Wars, the recent past-epitomized by our lengthy wars in Afghanistan and Iraq-is likely to be prologue.Book 10 Lesson: Eliminating the mechanisms by which people felt the costs of war (draft, war taxes, introducing drones) has led to aimless conflicts with no predictable exit circumstances. https://t.co/QmgVQVTNZJ
The Great Alignment
Alan I. Abramowitz
@sarthakgh The Great Alignment
- Over the past two decades India has grown at an unprecedented rate. Yet while the 'Bollygarchs' revel in new riches, millions still languish in their shadows, trapped in the teeming slums of the country's megacities. From the sky terrace of the world's most expensive home to mass political rallies in the streets, James Crabtree documents the struggle between equality and privilege playing out at the heart of this emerging superpower. Against a combustible backdrop of aspiration, class and caste, reformers fight for change while fugitive tycoons and shadowy political power brokers struggle to remain hidden and out of reach. The Billionaire Raj is a vivid portrait of a divided democracy whose future will shape the world.
"The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India's New Gilded Age". Probably my favorite non-fiction book of the year. Helped me rediscover modern India. *The* book to understand the country in 2018. https://t.co/VhshVNRm6z
The Assault on Intelligence
Michael V. Hayden
In the face of a President who lobs accusations without facts, evidence, or logic, US truth tellers are under attack. American Intelligence - the ultimate truth teller - has a responsibility in a post-truth world beyond merely warning of external dangers, and in The Assault on Intelligence, General Michael Hayden takes up that urgent work with profound passion, insight and authority. He shows just how crippled the US has become in its capacity to address fundamental global changes, and points toward a series of effective responses. Because when a country loses its intelligence, democracy dies.A get well soon to @GenMhayden, who wasn't able to appear at PutinCon in March, but greatly impressed me with his insight, humor, and passion. His book "Assault on Intelligence" is also very good.
Fight for Liberty
Mark Lasswell
Anne Applebaum, Garry Kasparov, Richard North Patterson, and a constellation of other thinkers make the urgent case for liberal democracy---reinvigorating its central values in an age of doubt and discord. Liberal democracy is in crisis around the world, besieged by authoritarianism, nationalism, and other illiberal forces. Far-right parties are gaining traction in Europe, Vladimir Putin tightens his grip on Russia and undermines democracy abroad, and America struggles with poisonous threats from the right and left. But the defenders of democracy are strong too. Taking their cues from the 1788 Federalist Papers, the Renew Democracy Initiative is a collective of pro-democracy advocates from across the political spectrum, including Anne Applebaum, Garry Kasparov, Max Boot, Bret Stephens, Ted Koppel, and Natan Sharansky. This book is their foundational document, a collection of essays that analyze the multi-pronged threats to liberal democracy in the U.S. and abroad, and offer solutions based on fundamental democratic principles such as freedom of speech, a free press, and the rule of law. Fight for Liberty is a roadmap for the struggle against the rising tide of extremism and a cri de coeur in defense of the liberal world order, which sees itself threatened as never before today.Btw, one reason I was on Real Time was to mention "Fight for Liberty: Defending Democracy in the Age of Trump", the book by the Renew Democracy Initiative. @renew_democracy An amazing collection of essays that diagnose & solve (!) our current crisis. https://t.co/QK2YUhN7rC https://t.co/Ryl3kLnxcX
Fight for Liberty
Mark Lasswell
Anne Applebaum, Garry Kasparov, Richard North Patterson, and a constellation of other thinkers make the urgent case for liberal democracy---reinvigorating its central values in an age of doubt and discord. Liberal democracy is in crisis around the world, besieged by authoritarianism, nationalism, and other illiberal forces. Far-right parties are gaining traction in Europe, Vladimir Putin tightens his grip on Russia and undermines democracy abroad, and America struggles with poisonous threats from the right and left. But the defenders of democracy are strong too. Taking their cues from the 1788 Federalist Papers, the Renew Democracy Initiative is a collective of pro-democracy advocates from across the political spectrum, including Anne Applebaum, Garry Kasparov, Max Boot, Bret Stephens, Ted Koppel, and Natan Sharansky. This book is their foundational document, a collection of essays that analyze the multi-pronged threats to liberal democracy in the U.S. and abroad, and offer solutions based on fundamental democratic principles such as freedom of speech, a free press, and the rule of law. Fight for Liberty is a roadmap for the struggle against the rising tide of extremism and a cri de coeur in defense of the liberal world order, which sees itself threatened as never before today.Great evening at the Fight for Liberty book party, with nearly a dozen of it's contributors present. Each essay represents a building block of the success of the free world. https://t.co/wwuq9QATQI
The Fifth Risk
Michael Lewis
'Will set your hair on end' Telegraph, Top 50 Books of the Year 'Life is what happens between Michael Lewis books. I forgot to breathe while reading The Fifth Risk' Michael Hofmann, TLS, Books of the Year The phenomenal new book from the international bestselling author of The Big Short 'The election happened ... And then there was radio silence.' The morning after Trump was elected president, the people who ran the US Department of Energy - an agency that deals with some of the most powerful risks facing humanity - waited to welcome the incoming administration's transition team. Nobody appeared. Across the US government, the same thing happened: nothing. People don't notice when stuff goes right. That is the stuff government does. It manages everything that underpins our lives from funding free school meals, to policing rogue nuclear activity, to predicting extreme weather events. It steps in where private investment fears to tread, innovates and creates knowledge, assesses extreme long-term risk. And now, government is under attack. By its own leaders. In The Fifth Risk, Michael Lewis reveals the combustible cocktail of wilful ignorance and venality that is fuelling the destruction of a country's fabric. All of this, Lewis shows, exposes America and the world to the biggest risk of all. It is what you never learned that might have saved you.@jamescham @MazzucatoM 1. We talked about Michael Lewis’ new book The Fifth Risk (first two chapters available as free audiobook) https://t.co/uqz8g9QWPN
The Wealth of Humans
Ryan Avent
'Ryan Avent is a superb writer ... highly readable and lively' Thomas Piketty To work is human. It puts food on the table, meaningfully structures our days, and strengthens our social ties. When work works, it provides the basis for a stable social order. Yet the world of work is changing fast, and in unexpected ways. With rapid advances in information technology, huge swathes of the job market - from cleaners and drivers to journalists and doctors - are being automated, or soon will be: a staggering 47% of American employment is at risk of automation within the next two to three decades. Yet at the same time millions more jobs are being created. What does the future of work hold? In this illuminating new investigation of what this revolution in work means for us, Ryan Avent lays bare the contradictions in today's global labour market. From Volvo's operations in Sweden to the vast 'Factory Asia' hub in China, via Indian development economists and Silicon Valley venture capitalists, he offers the first clear explanation of the state we're in-and how we could get out of it. With an ever-increasing divide between the rich and the rest, Avent states, something has got to give. The traditional escape routes - improved education, wage subsidies, and new industries built by entrepreneurs-will no longer work as they once did. In order to navigate our way across today's rapidly transforming economic landscape, he argues, we must revisit our previous experiences of massive technological change - and radically reassess the very idea of how, and why, we work.I believe this is an extract from @ryanavent's wonderful book The Wealth of Humans. If you care about technology and the economy, it is one of the books you must read. Thoughtful and inspiring. https://t.co/AtFMyx5LCx
New Dark Age
James Bridle
"New Dark Age is among the most unsettling and illuminating books I've read about the Internet, which is to say that it is among the most unsettling and illuminating books I've read about contemporary life." - New Yorker As the world around us increases in technological complexity, our understanding of it diminishes. Underlying this trend is a single idea: the belief that our existence is understandable through computation, and more data is enough to help us build a better world. In reality, we are lost in a sea of information, increasingly divided by fundamentalism, simplistic narratives, conspiracy theories, and post-factual politics. Meanwhile, those in power use our lack of understanding to further their own interests. Despite the apparent accessibility of information, we're living in a new Dark Age. From rogue financial systems to shopping algorithms, from artificial intelligence to state secrecy, we no longer understand how our world is governed or presented to us. The media is filled with unverifiable speculation, much of it generated by anonymous software, while companies dominate their employees through surveillance and the threat of automation. In his brilliant new work, leading artist and writer James Bridle surveys the history of art, technology, and information systems, and reveals the dark clouds that gather over our dreams of the digital sublime.@stoweboyd I ordered it too, and an looking forward to it. It was after reading his piece on losing control of technology in The Guardian that I put my order in: https://t.co/I3TZy4x8LJ
What it Takes
Richard Ben Cramer
What It Takes is one of my favorite books on politics — highly recommended https://t.co/HdDl7wIEIQ
The Gardens of Democracy
Eric Liu
@jc1000000 That’s a quote from @NickHanauer and @ericpliu’s wonderful book The Garden of Democracy.
The Vanishing American Adult
Ben Sasse
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In an era of safe spaces, trigger warnings, and an unprecedented election, the country's youth are in crisis. Senator Ben Sasse warns the nation about the existential threat to America's future. Raised by well-meaning but overprotective parents and coddled by well-meaning but misbegotten government programs, America's youth are ill-equipped to survive in our highly-competitive global economy. Many of the coming-of-age rituals that have defined the American experience since the Founding: learning the value of working with your hands, leaving home to start a family, becoming economically self-reliant—are being delayed or skipped altogether. The statistics are daunting: 30% of college students drop out after the first year, and only 4 in 10 graduate. One in three 18-to-34 year-olds live with their parents. From these disparate phenomena: Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse who as president of a Midwestern college observed the trials of this generation up close, sees an existential threat to the American way of life. In The Vanishing American Adult, Sasse diagnoses the causes of a generation that can't grow up and offers a path for raising children to become active and engaged citizens. He identifies core formative experiences that all young people should pursue: hard work to appreciate the benefits of labor, travel to understand deprivation and want, the power of reading, the importance of nurturing your body—and explains how parents can encourage them. Our democracy depends on responsible, contributing adults to function properly—without them America falls prey to populist demagogues. A call to arms, The Vanishing American Adult will ignite a much-needed debate about the link between the way we're raising our children and the future of our country.@ffumarola @mdudas @AdamSinger @nikillinit @BlairReeves @mr_james_c @skupor @danprimack @FT I would read the Vanishing American Adult before congratulating ourselves on rearing children recently.
The Vanishing American Adult
Ben Sasse
America's youth are in crisis. Raised by well-meaning but overprotective parents and coddled by well-meaning but misbegotten government programs, they are ill-equipped to survive in our highly-competitive global economy. Many of the coming-of-age rituals that have defined the American experience since the Founding: learning the value of working with your hands, leaving home to start a family, becoming economically self-reliant--are being delayed or skipped altogether. The statistics are daunting: 30% of college students drop out after the first year, and only 4 in 10 graduate. One in three 18-to-34 year-olds live with their parents. From these disparate phenomena: Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse who as president of a Midwestern college observed the trials of this generation up close, sees an existential threat to the American way of life. In The Vanishing American Adult, Sasse diagnoses the causes of a generation that can't grow up and offers a path for raising children to become active and engaged citizens. He identifies core formative experiences that all young people should pursue: hard work to appreciate the benefits of labor, travel to understand deprivation and want, the power of reading, the importance of nurturing your body--and explains how parents can encourage them. Our democracy depends on responsible, contributing adults to function properly--without them America falls prey to populist demagogues. A call to arms in the tradition of The Closing of the American Mind and a manifesto for parents in the traditions of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, The Vanishing American Adult will ignite a much-needed debate about the link between the way we're raising our children and the future of our country.Today’s reading. https://t.co/eUyisFNLtx
Windfall
Meghan L. O'Sullivan
“Riveting and comprehensive...a smart, deeply researched primer on the subject.”—The New York Times Book Review Windfall is the boldest profile of the world’s energy resources since Daniel Yergin’s The Quest, asserting that the new energy abundance—due to oil and gas resources once deemed too expensive—is transforming the geo-political order and is boosting American power. As a new administration focuses on driving American energy production, O’Sullivan’s “refreshing and illuminating” (Foreign Policy) Windfall describes how new energy realities have profoundly affected the world of international relations and security. New technologies led to oversupplied oil markets and an emerging natural gas glut. This did more than drive down prices—it changed the structure of markets and altered the way many countries wield power and influence. America’s new energy prowess has global implications. It transforms politics in Russia, Europe, China, and the Middle East. O’Sullivan considers the landscape, offering insights and presenting consequences for each region’s domestic stability as energy abundance upends traditional partnerships, creating opportunities for cooperation. The advantages of this new abundance are greater than its downside for the US: it strengthens American hard and soft power. This is “a powerful argument for how America should capitalise on the ‘New Energy Abundance’” (The Financial Times) and an explanation of how new energy realities create a strategic environment to America’s advantage.read Windfall by @OSullivanMeghan - highly recommend if you want a comprehensive book on energy and foreign policy. https://t.co/Rbmgg5WGZd