A bunch of really smart progressive people tell you what to read this summer.
By Dave Eggers, Larry Lessig, Laurie David, David Rees, Michael Tomasky, Gayle Smith and Daniel Benjamin
Finals are over. Summer is starting. Here are twenty-five reading suggestions that are guaranteed to educate you, entertain you and equip you to make a difference.
Michael Tomasky, Executive Editor, The American Prospect
The Vital Center by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
Any liberal, living or yet to be born, needs to read this book. Period.
All That Is Solid Melts Into Air by Marshall Berman
Not politics per se, but history, philosophy, and modernism, rendered in lightning prose. Possibly my favorite book.
Before the Storm by Rick Perlstein
Want to understand where the modern right came from? This book will tell you the first half of the story.
The Rise of the Counter-Establishment by Sidney Blumenthal
And this book will tell you the second half. Must read.
The Joke by Milan Kundera
One novel, OK? For young people who can’t quite work up the motivation to read 800-page histories of communism, this short, astonishing novel tells you all you need to know about it (and a few things about love.)
Dave Eggers, Author and McSweeney’s indie publishing impresario
Acts of Faith by Philip Caputo
I just started it myself. A novel about aid workers in Africa, Sudan in particular. Comes highly recommended.
Oh, the Glory of It All by Sean Wilsey
I know the author, but that doesn’t diminish how insanely readable this memoir is. Amazing details, and incredibly funny throughout.
The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat
I finally got round to reading this collection of stories about Haiti and Haitians in America. I’ve never called a book “haunting” before, but that’s what this book is. I just spent 40 minutes talking about it with a Haitian taxi driver in New York City.
Gayle Smith, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
Rise of the Vulcans, by James Mann
It’s always good to know what you’re up against. This book traces the evolution of the ideology that guides the inner core of the Bush Administration. More than you ever wanted to know, but much of what you should, about Paul Wolfowitz, Condi Rice, Dick Cheney, and others.
Notes from the Hyena’s Belly, by Nega Mezlekia.
A beautifully written story of an Ethiopian boyhood, this book offers insight into Ethiopia, and Africa, that are unavailable in textbooks, our media, or most books about Africa.
Shah of Shahs, by Ryszard Kapuscinski.
An exquisite tale of Iran told by a Polish writer and reporter who has covered over 100 wars, coups and revolutions, this short read makes clear that the crisis in Iran did not start last fall. Read this and then read The Emperor, The Soccer War, Imperium, and anything else by Kapuscinski.
Saturday, by Ian McEwan.
The story of a single day in the life of a brain surgeon, this novel drives home how anxious the events of September 11th and the policies of fear that followed have made all of us.
Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela.
We all need heroes, especially now. This biography about the moral icon of our time is compelling, both for the drama of Mandela’s life but also for what it says about the stakes of war, and peace.
David Rees, Cartoonist, Author of Get Your War On
The sorry truth is I rarely read books! I’m a newspaper/magazine man. So here are my recommendations:
Financial Times
This is the best newspaper. It’s British. It’s printed on salmon-colored paper and the ink doesn’t come off on your fingers. Best of all, like USA Today, none of the articles run to a second page. If you start an article on one page, rest assured it’s going to end on that same page. I find this extremely comforting. When you buy the FT, immediately throw out the B-section of the paper. It’s all about international financial markets and has too many graphs and pie charts. It’s a bunch of nonsense and I can’t understand any of it.
Current History
This is the best magazine. It looks like it was typeset using MSWorks circa 1987, but it rules. Each issue covers a particular geographical region or theme. The articles are written by academics. Yeah, I know—more of those crummy elitists. God forbid somebody write about a topic THEY ACTUALLY KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT, right? Man, that would really suck. Each issue features a back-page map of whatever continent or region is under discussion. Such a simple idea. Such a fucking awesome idea. SAVAGE IRONY: Even though this is a summer reading list, Current History doesn’t publish during the summer. (All the academics are too busy playing on the beach.)
National Review
Not quite as soft as Charmin Ultra 2-Ply, but it’ll work in a pinch.
Laurie David, Producer, Environmental activist
Boiling Point by Ross Gelbspan
This is the seminal book about global warming and a must read by everyone…..trust me, you won’t be able to put it down.
Crimes Against Nature by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
A powerful book detailing the literal crimes against nature that the current administration is perpetrating on our environmental legacy. It will make you cry and then it will turn you into an activist.
High and Mighty by Keith Bradsher
This is the book that set me on my SUV hating path. Every page will blow you away. An amazing inside look into the auto industry and how they convinced Americans to buy gas guzzling, dangerous and huge SUVs.
Science Under Siege: The Politician’s War on Nature and Truth by Todd Wilkinson
This was one of the first books I read about environmental issues and every page succeeded in making my blood boil. It’s a great inside look into our governmental agencies and how they are not properly protecting our resources.
Daniel Benjamin, Senior Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll
Will be the definitive book on America’s involvement in Afghanistan and the rise of radical Islam in the region for a long time to come. American journalistic writing at its best.
The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced By War by Andrew Bacevich
A provocative and insightful exploration of the nation’s attitudes toward the use of military power by a former Army officer who is one of the country’s most thoughtful and iconoclastic conservative thinkers.
Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America, and the New Face of American War by Evan Wright
An account of an embedded reporter who traveled with a Marine reconnaissance unit as it fought its way north in Iraq. An extraordinary piece of unsentimental reporting.
Underworld by Don DeLillo
Summers are for novels. This is surely one of the best written by an American in the last decade.
Larry Lessig, Stanford law professor and free culture advocate
So I’ve been trying to understand the Muslim world. Two recommendations so far: Reza Aslan, No God but God is a beautifully written historical account of the original and development of Islam. Akbar Amed’s Islam Today is more directly focused upon contemporary issues, but is also an excellent introduction.
Everything Bad is Good for You by Steven Johnson
Something new. A fantastic argument about the good in popular culture, which traces and explains the increasing complexity in popular culture and in technologies of culture. Beautifully written, and just the right length, and certain to change this debate for a long time.