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16 Best Political Books to Read Before the 2022 Election

Dive into candidate memoirs, the Mueller report, and narrative histories to stay informed for November 2020.

The Mueller Report

The controversy surrounding Russia's interference in the 2016 election resulted in a nearly two-year investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller . A redacted version of Mueller's report was released in April 2019, which found that although the Russian government did interfere in the 2016 presidential election (therefore violating U.S. criminal law), there was insufficient evidence that President Trump or his campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy with Russia. The report did detail Trump's efforts to stymie the Mueller investigation, and whether those actions were tantamount to obstruction of justice. You can read the report in this book, which also has analysis by Washington Post reporters. And lest we forget, the Russia scandal was later upstaged by the revelation of the Ukraine affair, and Trump's subsequent impeachment by the House of Representatives in January 2020. He was acquitted by the Senate in February.

Simon & Schuster Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man

Even though the book has yet to hit the shelves, this explosive tell all by Mary L. Trump,  Donald Trump's estranged niece , is sure to make even more headlines as the year goes on. Mary, a clinical psychologist, is the daughter of Fred Trump Jr., Donald Trump's older brother. There has been much speculation and controversy about what's in the book, so much so that legal action has already taken place. After Donald Trump alleged Mary was not allowed to write the book because she signed a non-disclosure agreement in 2001, following the dispute over his father, Fred Sr.'s estate, Donald's brother Robert Trump sued Mary to attempt to stop the book's publication. A New York state Supreme Court judge temporarily blocked the publication, but an appellate judge reversed the decision, allowing the publication of the book to proceed while both sides await a court date. The pre-publication controversy will no doubt increase people's interest in the book.

Simon & Schuster The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir

John Bolton, who served as Donald Trump's former National Security Advisor for 17 months, had a contentious relationship with the President. The two even disagreed on his departure: on the morning of September 10, 2019, Trump tweeted that he had fired Bolton, who in turn said he had actually resigned the previous night. Bolton infamously did not testify in the impeachment inquiry about the Ukraine affair, but the details are all here now. Democrats have slammed him for this choice, asking why he was unwilling to make the information public at the time, but would do so now in order to secure a lucrative book deal. Bolton's book describes the toxic culture in the West Wing and his observations, frustrations, and insights over his brief, tumultuous tenure. 

This Fight Is Our Fight: The Battle to Save America's Middle Class

Every Democratic candidate puts out a memoir before the election cycle kicks into gear—it's a political rite of passage. Senator Elizabeth Warren has written a few books, but pick up her latest to brush up on her policy proposals.

American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

Politico Magazine ’s chief political correspondent takes a deep dive into how the Republican party's collapse (fueled by intra-party fighting in the post-Bush era) led to Trump's rise. 

The Truths We Hold: An American Journey

In this memoir, Democratic presidential candidate Senator Kamala Harris writes about growing up in an Indian-Jamaican household and her journey from prosecutor to politician.

Simon and Schuster Fear: Trump in the White House

Bob Woodward—who shot to journalistic fame (along with colleague Carl Bernstein) after exposing the Watergate scandal in 1972—presents a deeply reported account of operations inside the Trump White House, based on hundreds of hours of interviews with key staff, past and present.

Shortest Way Home: One Mayor's Challenge and a Model for America's Future

Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana has been one of the more unlikely candidates to emerge in the Democratic field. Pick up his memoir to learn about how he became America's youngest mayor at age 29, as well as a Navy officer and Rhodes scholar. 

Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin's War on America and the Election of Donald Trump

The story of Russia's interference in the 2016 election has consumed the nation. Unpack the puzzle with this book from the chief investigative correspondent from Yahoo! News and Mother Jones's Washington bureau chief.

An Unlikely Journey: Waking Up from My American Dream

The former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and current Democratic presidential candidate grew up in a poor household in San Antonio and went on to Stanford and Harvard Law before becoming the mayor of his home city.

Spiegel & Grau I Can't Breathe: A Killing on Bay Street

A 2014 video showing Eric Garner gasping "I can't breathe" as NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo put Garner in a chokehold on a Staten Island sidewalk became a rallying cry for Black Lives Matter. Pantaleo was not indicted for Garner's death, and the U.S. attorney general recently announced that he would not seek federal civil rights charges against the officer. This book is essential reading not only to understand this incident, but also the entire issue of police brutality and the BLM movement.

This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrant's Manifesto

Reports of appalling conditions at detention facilities at the US-Mexico border have cast a spotlight on immigration, and it will no doubt be a key issue in the 2020 election. Writer Suketu Mehta takes a step back to examine the effects of globalism and colonialism, asking why people leave their homes and what they find when they do. It's a powerful testament to the immigrant experience, including his own.

imusti United: Thoughts on Finding Common Ground and Advancing the Common Good

Senator Cory Booker has a sterling record: Stanford, Yale Law, a Rhodes scholarship. Does he have what it takes to go all the way to the White House? Read his memoir and decide for yourself.

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House

One of the most hotly anticipated books of last year, this account of the first nine months of the Trump administration deserves a re-read in the ramp-up to 2020. 

The Making of Donald Trump

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston has been writing about Trump long before the former real estate mogul's astonishing presidential win. Here, Johnston uses three decades of reporting to take us from the Trump family's beginnings, to Trump's personal wheelings and dealings in the 80s and 90s, to his 2016 ascendancy. 

Simon & Schuster Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger

The #MeToo movement brought down scores of powerful men accused of sexual harassment and assault, and its reverberations are still felt today. But women's anger as a political issue has a long history, from the suffrage movement to the Anita Hill testimony. Read up on the history of women putting their anger to use for a larger purpose. 

Liz Cantrell is the assistant to the Editor in Chief of Town & Country , covering arts and culture, and has previously written for Esquire.

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Politics & Society » American Politics

Most recommended books.

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville

“Tocqueville, in a way, was the first sociologist, though that field didn’t exist in the 1830s, when he wrote the book. In it, he looks at the formal institutions of American democracy—Congress, and the presidency, and so forth—but what everybody really takes away from it is that those institutions ride on top of the morals and mores and habits of the underlying society…Tocqueville gives you a different analysis that looks beneath the surface of the visible institutions and tries to understand the moral habits that underlie the workings of those institutions. It’s really looking at the society rather than just the formal laws and whatnot.” Francis Fukuyama , Political Scientist

What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer

“ What it Takes is unvarnished; it really shows you the intertwining politics and personalities of the participants in a campaign which had open competitive primary races on both sides. The book portrays three Democrats and three Republicans. It’s a fascinating read.” Ronald A. Klain , Lawyer

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

“This is an essential read for anyone who wants to understand the presidency and it’s beautifully written…What makes this book so important and what made Abraham Lincoln so remarkable was that he was perhaps the least known and least experienced of all the people in his cabinet, and yet managed to cultivate close relationships and real respect with his cabinet members. Lincoln’s command of his cabinet shows his political genius.” Lindsay Chervinsky , Historian

Winner-Take-All Politics by Jacob S Hacker and Paul Pierson

“This book is about rising inequality and it traces back to fundamental causes. I like books that get back to ultimate causes and that think like social scientists about these causes. The question is, ‘Why is inequality getting worse in so many different countries?’ This book particularly focuses on the US. There are a number of traditional answers, but the most prominent among them is this idea that in a modern economy there is a skill bias in technical change. Our computers and communications have led to a winner-take-all society, where only the really smart can make money.” Robert J Shiller , Economist

The Promise of American Life by Herbert Croly

“It was written in 1909 and it had an electrifying effect on America and in the formation of modern American capitalism. Teddy Roosevelt used the book in formulating his so-called “New Nationalism” which he presented to the country shortly thereafter. Barack Obama used the occasion marking Teddy Roosevelt’s speech in Kansas in 1911 on New Nationalism – I believe it was the 100th anniversary of the speech – to give what I consider the best speech of his presidency just last December, setting forth a similar set of problems and a similar set of solutions.” Robert Reich , Economist

Browse book recommendations:

Politics & Society

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• The Best Politics Books of 2022, recommended by David Edgerton

We have a very wide range of interviews covering American politics, with books recommended on every conceivable angle by a very diverse group of experts, including George W Bush’s advisor, Karl Rove,  former secretary of state under Barack Obama , John Kerry and Joe Biden's chief of staff, Ronald Klain .

On the US constitution , we have book recommendations from Jack Rakove of Stanford University. Princeton Professor and popular CNN analyst Julian E Zelizer chooses his best books on Congress , unfurling how it has evolved and how it works as an institution. And legal correspondent Dahlia Lithwick chooses her best books on the US Supreme Court Justices . (And for an inside view, we also have an interview with a Supreme Court Justice, Stephen Breyer )

We have a lot of interviews about books that look at the political divide in US.  On the left/progressive/Democrat side, John Kerry chooses his best books on Progressivism . We also have interviews on how progressives can make a difference , bringing change to America , the roots of liberalism and the evolution of liberalism .

On the conservative side, among others, E J Dionne, Fellow at the Brookings Institution, discusses the appeal of conservatism ; David Frum, former speech writer for George W Bush, chooses his best books on pioneering conservatism ; and Yuval Levin, founder of the journal National Affairs , talks about why freedom is not enough . We also have interviews on libertarianism , conservatism and culture , and how libertarians can govern .

Beyond that, Mark Bloomfield chooses his best books on lobbying and David Greenberg his best books on political spin.

The Best Jimmy Carter Books , recommended by Robert Lieberman

Stayin Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class by Jefferson Cowie

Panic at the Pump: The Energy Crisis and the Transformation of American Politics in the 1970s by Meg Jacobs

Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President by Jimmy Carter

His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life by Jonathan Alter

Thirteen Days in September: The Dramatic Story of the Struggle for Peace by Lawrence Wright

For good books to understand Jimmy Carter and his presidency, it's important to understand the context in which he was elected and served as president, argues political scientist Robert Lieberman . Here, he recommends five books on Jimmy Carter, winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize: "Carter was who he seemed to be, which is not something you often say about successful politicians."

For good books to understand Jimmy Carter and his presidency, it’s important to understand the context in which he was elected and served as president, argues political scientist Robert Lieberman. Here, he recommends five books on Jimmy Carter, winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize: “Carter was who he seemed to be, which is not something you often say about successful politicians.”

The best books on Richard Nixon , recommended by David Greenberg

President Nixon: Alone in the White House by Richard Reeves

All The President’s Men by Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein

Watergate: The Corruption of American Politics and the Fall of Richard Nixon by Fred Emery

Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power by Robert Dallek

Nixon's Shadow: The History of an Image by David Greenberg

American president Richard Nixon will be forever remembered for his role in the Watergate scandal and his resignation in 1974, a blow for a man obsessed with his image who hoped to be remembered as a peacemaker on the global stage. Here historian David Greenberg , a professor at Rutgers, recommends books on a man who elicited very strong emotions, both for and against.

American president Richard Nixon will be forever remembered for his role in the Watergate scandal and his resignation in 1974, a blow for a man obsessed with his image who hoped to be remembered as a peacemaker on the global stage. Here historian David Greenberg, a professor at Rutgers, recommends books on a man who elicited very strong emotions, both for and against.

The best books on The US Cabinet , recommended by Lindsay Chervinsky

The Process of Government under Jefferson by Noble Cunningham

The Politics of the US Cabinet by Jeffrey E. Cohen

Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris

The Man Who Ran Washington by Peter Baker & Susan Glasser

In contrast to many other countries, the secretaries who serve in the United States cabinet aren't chosen from among the country's elected officials but entirely reflect the president's personal choices. Here, presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky , author of The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, talks us through the role of the cabinet and recommends which books to read to understand more about it.

In contrast to many other countries, the secretaries who serve in the United States cabinet aren’t chosen from among the country’s elected officials but entirely reflect the president’s personal choices. Here, presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky, author of The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, talks us through the role of the cabinet and recommends which books to read to understand more about it.

The best books on Kamala Harris , recommended by Five Books

The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris

Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea by Ana Ramírez González (illustrator) & Meena Harris

Superheroes Are Everywhere by Kamala Harris & Mechal Renee Roe (illustrator)

Kamala Harris: Rooted in Justice by Laura Freeman (illustrator) & Nikki Grimes

The Truths We Hold: An American Journey (Young Readers Edition) by Kamala Harris

If you want to know more about Kamala Harris, the 49th Vice President of the United States and the first woman to hold the job, her own memoir is a great place to start, especially as there aren't (m)any books about her yet. It's available for different age groups, including children and teenagers. We've put together this list of her books at speed, and will update it as soon as we can do a full Five Books interview.

If you want to know more about Kamala Harris, the 49th Vice President of the United States and the first woman to hold the job, her own memoir is a great place to start, especially as there aren’t (m)any books about her yet. It’s available for different age groups, including children and teenagers. We’ve put together this list of her books at speed, and will update it as soon as we can do a full Five Books interview.

The Best Politics Books of 2020 , recommended by Yascha Mounk

Twilight of Democracy by Anne Applebaum

The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson

The Great Demographic Illusion: Majority, Minority, and the Expanding American Mainstream by Richard Alba

Self-Portrait in Black and White: Family, Fatherhood and Rethinking Race by Thomas Chatterton Williams

A Promised Land by Barack Obama

Despite the challenge of authoritarian populism and a new divisiveness in political debate in many countries around the world there are reasons for optimism, argues political scientist Yascha Mounk , author of The People vs. Democracy . He talks us through his selection of the best politics books of 2020.

Despite the challenge of authoritarian populism and a new divisiveness in political debate in many countries around the world there are reasons for optimism, argues political scientist Yascha Mounk, author of The People vs. Democracy . He talks us through his selection of the best politics books of 2020.

The best books on Joe Biden , recommended by Ronald A. Klain

Matters of Principle by Mark Gitenstein

Where the Light Enters by Jill Biden

Promise Me, Dad by Joe Biden

The Cure at Troy by Seamus Heaney

On January 20th, 2021, Joe Biden became the 46th President of the United States. Here Ronald A. Klain , the veteran lawyer who is once again serving as Biden's chief of staff, recommends books that show the man behind the public persona including his love of Irish poetry, the string of terrible personal tragedies that have affected his life and career, and his leading role in blocking a Supreme Court appointment that would've decimated abortion rights.

On January 20th, 2021, Joe Biden became the 46th President of the United States. Here Ronald A. Klain, the veteran lawyer who is once again serving as Biden’s chief of staff, recommends books that show the man behind the public persona including his love of Irish poetry, the string of terrible personal tragedies that have affected his life and career, and his leading role in blocking a Supreme Court appointment that would’ve decimated abortion rights.

Andrew Exum recommends the best books for Understanding the War in Afghanistan

Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History by Thomas Barfield

Heroes of the Age by David B Edwards

Before Taliban by David B Edwards

The Logic of Violence in Civil War by Stathis N Kalyvas

On War by Carl von Clausewitz

The US has repeatedly misdiagnosed the war in Afghanistan. Former soldier, Andrew Exum , tells us about flawed policy, unhappy outcomes and what could and should have been different.

The US has repeatedly misdiagnosed the war in Afghanistan. Former soldier, Andrew Exum, tells us about flawed policy, unhappy outcomes and what could and should have been different.

The best books on The First Amendment , recommended by Suzanne Nossel

The Soul of the First Amendment by Floyd Abrams

The Free Speech Century by Geoffrey R. Stone (Editor) & Lee C. Bollinger (Editor)

Words That Wound: Critical Race Theory, Assaultive Speech, And The First Amendment by Charles R. Lawrence III, Kimberlè Williams Crenshaw, Mari J. Matsuda & Richard Delgado

Speech Police: The Global Struggle to Govern the Internet by David Kaye

Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech for All by Suzanne Nossel

Frequently appealed to, less frequently understood, and by no means a free pass to say or write whatever you feel like: Suzanne Nossel , chief executive of PEN America, the nonprofit dedicated to free expression, talks us through the best books to better understand America's venerated First Amendment.

Frequently appealed to, less frequently understood, and by no means a free pass to say or write whatever you feel like: Suzanne Nossel, chief executive of PEN America, the nonprofit dedicated to free expression, talks us through the best books to better understand America's venerated First Amendment.

The best books on Populism , recommended by Cas Mudde

The People by Margaret Canovan

The Populist Persuasion by Michael Kazin

Populism by Paul Taggart

The Populist Explosion: How the Great Recession Transformed American and European Politics by John Judis

What Is Populism? by Jan-Werner Müller

After a tumultuous year in politics, 'populism' is on everybody's lips. But what is it? Is it good or bad for democracy? How is it that populist movements often have superrich leaders? Political scientist and longtime populism observer Cas Mudde recommends the best books on populism.

After a tumultuous year in politics, ‘populism’ is on everybody’s lips. But what is it? Is it good or bad for democracy? How is it that populist movements often have superrich leaders? Political scientist and longtime populism observer Cas Mudde recommends the best books on populism.

The Best Donald Trump Books , recommended by Tony Schwartz

Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild

American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump by Tim Alberta

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff

Gaslighting America: Why We Love It When Trump Lies to Us by Amanda Carpenter

The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump by Bandy Lee

Around the world, people were taken aback when the populist candidate, a real estate developer and reality TV show star called Donald Trump, was elected as the 45th President of the United States. Here Tony Schwartz , Trump's co-author on his bestselling book, The Art of the Deal , talks us through how that happened and why Trump is so mesmerising, even to those who oppose him.

Around the world, people were taken aback when the populist candidate, a real estate developer and reality TV show star called Donald Trump, was elected as the 45th President of the United States. Here Tony Schwartz, Trump’s co-author on his bestselling book, The Art of the Deal , talks us through how that happened and why Trump is so mesmerising, even to those who oppose him.

The Best Political Books of 2019 , recommended by John Harwood

Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America by Chris Arnade

The Economists' Hour: False Prophets, Free Markets, and the Fracture of Society by Binyamin Appelbaum

Transaction Man: The Rise of the Deal and the Decline of the American Dream by Nicholas Lemann

The War on Normal People: The Truth About America's Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income Is Our Future by Andrew Yang

With the 2020 presidential race underway and a possible impeachment of President Trump on the horizon, 2019 has been an action-packed year so far in American politics. Here to discuss five new political books that break down how we got to where we are is CNBC editor-at-large John Harwood , whose razor-sharp analysis has put him at the forefront of our television screens and the nation's political discourse.

With the 2020 presidential race underway and a possible impeachment of President Trump on the horizon, 2019 has been an action-packed year so far in American politics. Here to discuss five new political books that break down how we got to where we are is CNBC editor-at-large John Harwood, whose razor-sharp analysis has put him at the forefront of our television screens and the nation’s political discourse.

The best books on Impeachment , recommended by Michael J. Gerhardt

High Crimes and Misdemeanors: A History of Impeachment for the Age of Trump by Frank O. Bowman III

Impeachment in America by N. E. H. Hull & Peter Charles Hoffer

Constitutional Grounds for Presidential Impeachment by United States Congress

Impeachment: The Constitutional Problems by Raoul Berger

Impeachment: A Handbook by Charles L. Jr. Black

In the 1998 Clinton impeachment proceedings, only one legal scholar was called as a joint witness: Michael J. Gerhardt , now a Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a prolific expert on subjects of constitutional history, the legislative process, and impeachment. With the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump well underway, he recommends five books crucial to understanding the subject.

In the 1998 Clinton impeachment proceedings, only one legal scholar was called as a joint witness: Michael J. Gerhardt, now a Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a prolific expert on subjects of constitutional history, the legislative process, and impeachment. With the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump well underway, he recommends five books crucial to understanding the subject.

The best books on Congress , recommended by Julian E. Zelizer

America's Congress: Actions in the Public Sphere, James Madison Through Newt Gingrich by David R Mayhew

Disjointed Pluralism: Institutional Innovation and the Development of the U.S. Congress by Eric Schickler

The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War by Joanne B Freeman

Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol III by Robert Caro

It’s Even Worse Than You Think: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism Thomas E. Mann & Norman J. Ornstein

Is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell just as important as President Trump? Julian E. Zelizer , Princeton historian and CNN Political Analyst, thinks so—and he argues that to understand American politics, you have to understand Congress. He recommends the best books for getting to grips with the nuts and bolts of the Senate and House of Representatives.

Is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell just as important as President Trump? Julian E. Zelizer, Princeton historian and CNN Political Analyst, thinks so—and he argues that to understand American politics, you have to understand Congress. He recommends the best books for getting to grips with the nuts and bolts of the Senate and House of Representatives.

The best books on The Politics of Climate Change , recommended by Naomi Oreskes

The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable by Amitav Ghosh

Learning to Die in the Anthropocene: Reflections on the End of a Civilization by Roy Scranton

Love in the Anthropocene by Bonnie Nadzam & Dale Jamieson

The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free Markets since the Depression by Angus Burgin

The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy by Michael E Mann & Tom Toles

‘We’re on a path that is going to lead to tremendous destruction and yet most of us are going about our lives as if nothing particularly special is happening.’ The science of climate change is incontrovertible but deniers persist and political and economic solutions continue to be – systematically – frustrated. Time is running out, says Naomi Oreskes

The best books on The Politics of Policymaking , recommended by Jamila Michener

Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making by Deborah Stone

Regulating the Poor: The Public Functions of Welfare by Frances Fox Piven and Richard Cloward

The Submerged State: How Invisible Government Policies Undermine American Democracy by Suzanne Mettler

Remaking America: Democracy and Public Policy in an Age of Inequality by (ed.) Jacob Hacker, Joe Soss & Suzanne Mettler

Arresting Citizenship: The Democratic Consequences Of American Crime Control by Amy E Lerman and Vesla M Weaver

Inequality is coming not just from the economy; it is coming from politics and policy, says Jamila Michener , assistant professor of government at Cornell University. Here she chooses five books that showcase some of the best, most thought-provoking writing on the politics and consequences of policy.

Inequality is coming not just from the economy; it is coming from politics and policy, says Jamila Michener, assistant professor of government at Cornell University. Here she chooses five books that showcase some of the best, most thought-provoking writing on the politics and consequences of policy.

The best books on Hillary Clinton , recommended by David Maraniss

First in His Class: A Biography Of Bill Clinton by David Maraniss

The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan

West with the Night by Beryl Markham

Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion

The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming by Henri Nouwen

As America votes in a new president, veteran political journalist and author, David Maraniss , recommends the best books to read to get a better understanding of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

As America votes in a new president, veteran political journalist and author, David Maraniss, recommends the best books to read to get a better understanding of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The best books on Geoeconomics , recommended by Jennifer M Harris

Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart

China's Superbank: Debt, Oil and Influence - How China Development Bank is Rewriting the Rules of Finance by Henry Sanderson & Michael Forsythe

Economic Statecraft by David Allen Baldwin

Network Power: The Social Dynamics of Globalization

Spain in Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 by Adam Hochschild

With its passion for neoliberal ideology, the US uses its economic weight clumsily in terms of foreign policy, says former state department official and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Jennifer M. Harris. Here she picks the best books for understanding the vital area of geoeconomics.

The best books on Race and American Policing , recommended by Joe Domanick

The Wire by David Simon

Cruel Justice by Joe Domanick

Mean Justice by Edward Humes

Serpico by Peter Maas

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

The author and journalist describes how racism, violence, and corruption became entrenched in police departments across America. He picks five books describing a stark reality, and suggests a blueprint for change

The best books on The Reagan Era , recommended by Doug Rossinow

The Massacre at El Mozote by Mark Danner

Which Side Are You on?: Trying to Be for Labor When It's Flat on Its Back by Thomas Geoghegan

Den of Thieves by James B. Stewart

Can't Stop Won't Stop by Jeff Chang

Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi

Americans remember Reagan fondly, but what did the Gipper really stand for? The historian chooses the best books on Ronald Reagan and his time.

The best books on Ruth Bader Ginsburg , recommended by Amanda Tyler

My Own Words by Mary Hartnett, Ruth Bader Ginsburg & Wendy W. Williams

Conversations with RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law by Jeffrey Rosen

I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark by Debbie Levy & Elizabeth Baddeley (illustrator)

The RBG Workout: How She Stays Strong . . . and You Can Too! by Bryant Johnson

Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue by Amanda Tyler & Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933—2020) spent her life working tirelessly for a more just society, says Amanda Tyler , Shannon C. Turner Professor of Law at Berkeley and former law clerk to the Supreme Court Justice. She recommends the best books to read about RBG: her life, her work, and even her personal training regime.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933—2020) spent her life working tirelessly for a more just society, says Amanda Tyler, Shannon C. Turner Professor of Law at Berkeley and former law clerk to the Supreme Court Justice. She recommends the best books to read about RBG: her life, her work, and even her personal training regime.

The best books on American Presidents , recommended by H W Brands

Washington by Douglas Southall Freeman

Life of Andrew Jackson by James Parton

Abraham Lincoln by John Hay & John Nicolay

The Crisis of the Old Order by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol I by Robert Caro

The best presidential biographies contain insights into both the personal and the political, says the historian HW Brands. He chooses the best biographies of some of the greatest American presidents.

The best books on How Americans Vote , recommended by Andrew Gelman

The Almanac of American Politics by Michael Barone and Chuck McCutcheon

The 480 by Eugene Burdick

The Rational Public by Benjamin I Page and Robert Y Shapiro

Fire on the Prairie: Harold Washington, Chicago Politics, and the Roots of the Obama Presidency by Gary Rivlin

The Emerging Republican Majority by Kevin P Phillips

American statistician Andrew Gelman , professor of statistics and political science at Columbia University and author of Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State explains the (often surprising) realities of how Americans vote.

American statistician Andrew Gelman, professor of statistics and political science at Columbia University and author of Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State explains the (often surprising) realities of how Americans vote.

The best books on US Supreme Court Justices , recommended by Dahlia Lithwick

Supreme Power by Jeff Shesol

Justice Brennan by Seth Stern and Stephen Wermiel

Becoming Justice Blackmun by Linda Greenhouse

American Original by Joan Biskupic

My Grandfather’s Son by Clarence Thomas

Who are the men and women in black robes who sit on America’s highest judicial bench? Legal correspondent Dahlia Lithwick recommends the best books on the Supreme Court justices of the United States.

The best books on The Evolution of Liberalism , recommended by Eric Foner

The Tragedy of American Diplomacy by William Appleman Williams

The end of reform by alan brinkley.

Pivotal Decade by Judith Stein

To Stand and Fight by Martha Biondi

The Feminist Promise by Christine Stansell

Historian Eric Foner chooses five books illustrating how concepts of American liberalism have changed over the past 50 years, and about the tension that lies at the heart of liberalism today.

The best books on Compassionate Conservatism , recommended by Karl Rove

The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton & John Jay and James Madison

The Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater

Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman

The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith

Karl Rove recommends five historical works that define, for him, the essence of American Conservatism.

The best books on Income Inequality , recommended by Timothy Noah

The Wealth and Income of the People of the United States by Willford Isbell King

The Epic of America by James Truslow Adams

Prosperity by Bob Davis and David Wessel

Fluctuating Fortunes by David Vogel

The Race between Education and Technology by Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F Katz

Income inequality has reached a crisis point in America, says journalist Timothy Noah , author of The Great Divergence – yet with powerful nationwide pressure to address the problem, there is also an opportunity for change.

Income inequality has reached a crisis point in America, says journalist Timothy Noah, author of The Great Divergence – yet with powerful nationwide pressure to address the problem, there is also an opportunity for change.

The best books on Saving Capitalism and Democracy , recommended by Robert Reich

The New Industrial State by John Kenneth Galbraith

The Wheels of Commerce by Fernand Braudel

The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen

It's not the first period in history that American society has suffered from a crisis of inequality. Former labour secretary, Robert Reich , recommends books to help us understand the response of previous generations to the same kinds of challenges we now face.

It’s not the first period in history that American society has suffered from a crisis of inequality. Former labour secretary, Robert Reich, recommends books to help us understand the response of previous generations to the same kinds of challenges we now face.

The best books on The US Intelligence Services , recommended by Tim Weiner

The Art of War by Sun Zi (also written in English as Sun Tzu)

The Invisible Government by David Wise and Thomas B Ross

From the Shadows by Robert M Gates

The March of Folly by Barbara W Tuchman

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

The job of the intelligence services is to understand others and help leaders act more wisely, says the author of a new history of the FBI. There’s a balance to be struck between liberty and security but when the CIA and FBI do not harmonise their intelligence missions, people die.

The best books on Public Finance , recommended by Jonathan Gruber

Economics of the Public Sector by Joseph E Stiglitz

Taxing Ourselves by Joel Slemrod & Jon Bakija

Green Book by Committee on Ways and Means, US House of Representatives

Losing Ground by Charles Murray

Free For All? by Joseph P Newhouse

A key figure behind the Massachusetts and Obama healthcare reforms tells us about the purpose and uses of public finance economics, and explains how Romneycare and Obamacare are both different and alike.

The best books on The Roots of Radicalism , recommended by Michael Kazin

The Communist Manifesto by Friedrich Engels & Karl Marx

A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn

Democracy Is in the Streets by James Miller

Waging Nonviolent Struggle by Gene Sharp

History professor and co-editor of Dissent magazine, Michael Kazin , looks back at US leftist movements from abolitionism to Vietnam to see where OWS came from and what it can learn from the past.

History professor and co-editor of Dissent magazine, Michael Kazin, looks back at US leftist movements from abolitionism to Vietnam to see where OWS came from and what it can learn from the past.

The best books on Healthcare Reform , recommended by Austin Frakt

Inside National Health Reform by John McDonough

The Social Transformation of American Medicine by Paul Starr

Remedy and Reaction by Paul Starr

Bring Market Prices to Medicare by Robert Coulam, Roger Feldman and Bryan Dowd

Your Money or Your Life by David Cutler

If you were starting from scratch, no one would design a healthcare system like America’s. The health economist tells us how it evolved and what needs to change. He picks the best books on US healthcare reform.

The best books on Post-9/11 America , recommended by Peter Beinart

The Fight is for Democracy by Edited by George Packer

Dangerous Nation by Robert Kagan

The New American Militarism by Andrew J Bacevich

Rise of the Vulcans by James Mann

Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency by Barton Gellman

The neoconservative view that the US has a special mission in the world was supercharged by 9/11. There was also a sense that 9/11 could make America better. Sadly it didn’t work out that way, says Peter Beinart

The best books on Progressive America , recommended by Antonio Villaraigosa

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

John Adams by David McCullough

In the last of our series of interviews on American progressivism, the mayor of Los Angeles chooses five novels and biographies that provide lessons from the past and show what a democratic society should aspire to be

The best books on Progressivism , recommended by John Kerry

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

Letter from the Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr

The Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Wellstone

The Other America by Michael Harrington

John Kerry , the 68th United States Secretary of State, picks five books that every progressive should read, and discusses the divide in America between the haves and have-nots

John Kerry, the 68th United States Secretary of State, picks five books that every progressive should read, and discusses the divide in America between the haves and have-nots

Influences of a Progressive Blogger , recommended by Matthew Yglesias

Sovereign Virtue by Ronald Dworkin

Justice, Gender, and the Family by Susan Moller Okin

The American Political Tradition by Richard Hofstadter

Collapse by Jared Diamond

The prominent left wing blogger tells us what books have shaped his worldview. He explains why America needs to wake up to the forces preventing change, and better understand the root causes of its political deadlock

The best books on How Progressives Can Make a Difference , recommended by Cecile Richards

A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind

How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America by Cristina Page

Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton

Rain of Gold by Víctor Villaseñor

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder

Cecile Richards , American pro-choice activist and former president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, discusses the stories of struggle and resilience that have inspired her and can give encouragement to others seeking change

Cecile Richards, American pro-choice activist and former president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, discusses the stories of struggle and resilience that have inspired her and can give encouragement to others seeking change

The best books on Bringing Change to America , recommended by Andy Stern

A Country That Works by Andy Stern

Future Shock by Alvin Toffler

Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

Taking Charge by Byrd Baggett

The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell

The former union boss shares his reading list for American progressives, and tells us what makes a good leader and how it takes only a few committed people to bring change

The best books on The Roots of Liberalism , recommended by Franklin Foer

The State by Woodrow Wilson

The Metaphysical Club by Louis Menand

The Age of Reform by Richard Hofstadter

The Paradox of American Democracy by John Judis

Our weekly series on American progressivism continues with the journalist and author discussing the genesis of liberalism – and how the Civil War remade politics

The best books on Change in America , recommended by Van Jones

The Bridge by David Remnick

Means of Ascent by Robert Caro

In Struggle by Clayborne Carson

A Poetics of Resistance by Jeff Conant

Natural Capitalism by Amory Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins & Paul Hawken

In the latest instalment of our series on American progressivism, the environmental advocate and human rights activist tells us why the age of Obama will really only begin after the president has left office

The Best Books about First Ladies , recommended by Carl Sferrazza Anthony

And Tyler Too by Robert Seager

Mary Todd Lincoln by Jean H Baker

Edith and Woodrow by Phyllis Lee Levin

The Shadow of Blooming Grove by Francis Russell

Eleanor and Franklin by Joseph P Lash

From the annexation of Texas to the UN's Commission on Human Rights, first ladies have played a key role in the history of the United States. Historian  Carl Sferrazza Anthony recommends five engaging books about the tumultuous lives of some of the country's first ladies.

From the annexation of Texas to the UN’s Commission on Human Rights, first ladies have played a key role in the history of the United States. Historian Carl Sferrazza Anthony recommends five engaging books about the tumultuous lives of some of the country’s first ladies.

The best books on The Kennedys , recommended by David Nasaw

Hostage to Fortune: The Letters of Joseph P. Kennedy by Amanda Smith (editor)

Conversations with Kennedy by Benjamin C. Bradlee

Robert Kennedy and His Times by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

JFK: Reckless Youth by Nigel Hamilton

True Compass by Edward M. Kennedy

The story and tragedy of the Kennedys is so incredible you don't need to turn to fiction, says the biographer of Joseph P Kennedy, David Nasaw . He talks us through the Kennedy generations.

The story and tragedy of the Kennedys is so incredible you don’t need to turn to fiction, says the biographer of Joseph P Kennedy, David Nasaw. He talks us through the Kennedy generations.

The best books on Lobbying , recommended by Mark Bloomfield

The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky

The Lobbyists by Jeffrey Birnbaum

King of the Lobby by Kathryn Allamong Jacob

So Damn Much Money by Robert G Kaiser

Is lobbying always a bad thing? Or can it be used to effect social change? Washington insider Mark Bloomfield gives a lobbyist's perspective. He picks the best books on lobbying.

Is lobbying always a bad thing? Or can it be used to effect social change? Washington insider Mark Bloomfield gives a lobbyist’s perspective. He picks the best books on lobbying.

The best books on The Appeal of Conservatism , recommended by E J Dionne

The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America since 1945 by George H Nash

American Conservatism in the Age of Enterprise 1865-1910 by Robert Green McCloskey

Invisible Hands by Kim Phillips-Fein

The Neoconservatives by Peter Steinfels

The Redhunter: A Novel Based on the Life of Senator Joe McCarthy by William F Buckley Jr

From immediate post-war battles against the New Deal to the rise of the neoconservative movement, Washington Post columnist and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, E J Dionne traces the growth of conservatism in America

David Frum recommends five Pioneering Conservative Books

A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960 by Anna Schwartz & Milton Friedman

Thinking About Crime by James Q Wilson

The State of Humanity by Julian L Simon

The Other Path by Hernando De Soto

The CNN columnist and former speechwriter for George W Bush, David Frum , recommends five conservative books that transformed the way we think about fundamental problems.

The CNN columnist and former speechwriter for George W Bush, David Frum, recommends five conservative books that transformed the way we think about fundamental problems.

The best books on Freedom Isn’t Enough , recommended by Yuval Levin

Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs by Edmund Burke

The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek

Statecraft as Soulcraft by George F Will

The Beginning of Wisdom by Leon R Kass

The Founder and Editor of National Affairs Magazine speculates how the founding fathers of Conservatism might have been nervous about Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement

The best books on Libertarianism , recommended by Anne Heller

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

On Liberty by John Stuart Mill

Our Enemy the State by Albert Jay Nock

Radicals for Capitalism by Brian Doherty

The magazine editor, journalist and biographer of Ayn Rand selects five books that define the essence of libertarianism. Atlas Shrugged is first on her list.

The best books on Conservatism and Culture , recommended by Sam Tanenhaus

God and Man at Yale by William F Buckley Jr

Mr Sammler’s Planet by Saul Bellow

Rabbit Redux by John Updike

Nixon Agonistes by Garry Wills

Confessions of a Conservative by Garry Wills

Sam Tanenhaus , editor of The New York Times Book Review from 2004 to 2013, explains how the American right reinvented itself as a cultural counter-revolution and selects five books as backgrounders to conservatism.

Sam Tanenhaus, editor of The New York Times Book Review from 2004 to 2013, explains how the American right reinvented itself as a cultural counter-revolution and selects five books as backgrounders to conservatism.

The best books on How Libertarians Can Govern , recommended by Mitch Daniels

Free to Choose by Milton Friedman

What It Means to Be a Libertarian by Charles Murray

The Rise and Decline of Nations by Mancur Olson

The Future and Its Enemies by Virginia Postrel

The Governor of Indiana promotes a new philosophy of libertarianism and selects the books that have influenced him most.

The best books on How to Win Elections , recommended by Marko Rakar

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

The Election Game and How to Win It by Joseph Napolitan

The Audacity to Win by David Plouffe

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The campaigning expert explains what it is that makes a successful political campaign. Highlights The Election Game And How To Win It as the bible for all political consultants

The best books on George W Bush , recommended by Jacob Weisberg

The Bushes by Peter and Rochelle Schweizer

Dead Certain by Robert Draper

First Son by Bill Minutaglio

Henry V by William Shakespeare

The editor-in-chief of Slate Group says what is charming about Bush is his wit and physicality, but he needs to cut people down and does it in a very effective and cruel way. He called Karl Rove "Turdblossom"

The editor-in-chief of Slate Group says what is charming about Bush is his wit and physicality, but he needs to cut people down and does it in a very effective and cruel way. He called Karl Rove “Turdblossom”

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27 of the Best Political Books to Read to Process the 2022 Election

From candidate memoirs to journalistic deep dives.

Chances are, you've been following politics in 2020, and the years before. Ahead, a few compasses to help you navigate this time in American history through a political lens.

Henry Holt and Co. Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America

Former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams was pivotal in turning out the vote in Georgia during the 2020 presidential election. In addition to being a politician, Abrams is also a romance novelist and the author of prescient political books like  Our Time Is Now , out in June 2020. Abrams, a rising leader in the Democratic party, offers an overview of how political institutions have been eroded, and what can be done to fix them. 

Simon & Schuster The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience

Pitted against an often antagonistic media, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton have made difficult choices, for themselves and for others, with grace and fortitude. Here they share a hundred profiles of the women who have inspired them through tough moments: resilient figures from the past -- Harriet Tubman, “the Moses of her people,” and  Rachel Carson, the environmental Cassandra -- and the present, such as charismatic activist Malala Yousafzai and the virtuoso novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Aidichie. These captivating stories point the way toward a kinder future for us all.

The Economists' Hour: False Prophets, Free Markets, and the Fracture of Society

The New York Times financial writer maps the advance of economists—from the Kennedy administration onward—out of the academy and into government, elevating free markets in the sausage-making of public policy and sparking the inequity that plagues us today. 

Flatiron Books Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose

Public defender, Senator, Vice President, Presidential contender. Throughout his lengthy and storied career Joe Biden has circled back to his cherished touchstone: father. After a terminal cancer diagnosis, his eldest son Beau asked his dad to promise him he’d be okay; as Beau’s health declined, Biden performed his elected duties, jet-setting around the globe at the request of his close friend, President Obama, managing conflicts in Ukraine and Iraq even as he suffered the most wrenching agony of all: the death of a child. Read this for a stirring memoir of public service and private sorrow.

imusti United: Thoughts on Finding Common Ground and Advancing the Common Good

The junior Senator from New Jersey hitched a ride on a meteor to success. First, a Stanford and a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford, “with more degrees than July.” Then, the innovative mayor of Newark before becoming one of only eight post-Reconstruction African-Americans to serve in Capitol Hill’s distinguished upper chamber. His prescription for our ailing nation is sharp and rich, a blueprint for coming together from a politician destined to play an indelible role on the American stage.

Shortest Way Home: One Mayor's Challenge and a Model for America's Future

Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has uneasily embodied some of the most enduring tensions in our culture: a Harvard grad and urban businessman lured back to run for mayor of his Rust Belt town; a closeted Iraq War veteran; the first openly gay candidate for President; and now, most shockingly, a coolly measured voice amid the din of Twitter grievance. His is the most thrilling kind of memoir, one that's out, loud, and proud, but also reflective and gorgeously written.

No Stopping Us Now: A History of Older Women in America

While young men have fallen by the hundreds of thousands in military combat, America’s women have waged wars of their own on the home front, forcing change. This  New York Times columnist traces the enthralling arc of older women in political history, from feminist pioneers (Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth) to First Ladies (Dolley Madison, Eleanor Roosevelt); feisty agitators (Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem) to intrepid influencers (Nellie Bly, Ruth Bader Ginsburg); Republicans of integrity (Margaret Chase Smith) and legendary Democrats (Hillary Clinton). They’re all here, brought to radiant life in Gail Collins’ witty, vivid prose.

We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast

Alarmed by the spike in perilous climate change, the acclaimed writer tackles what we can do here and now, ordinary tweaks with global impact, his book a mesh of bulleted lists blended with polished literary forms—read this if you're looking for  The Overstory meets 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth.

How to Be an Antiracist

The author of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning returns with a compelling compendium of facts and figures, searing stories of tragedy and triumph as he defines what it truly means to be an anti-racist in our divisive age.  How To Be An Antiracist  is the  antidote for the toxicity of white supremacy—and a rebuke to calls for segregation.

The Meritocracy Trap: How America's Foundational Myth Feeds Inequality, Dismantles the Middle Class, and Devours the Elite

A product of public schools and the Ivy League, a Yale Law professor exposes the lies beneath aspirational meritocracy, damning it with data and anecdotes. In Markovits’s telling, the American Dream is a locked steel door that bars the middle-class from achievement and imprisons the children of elites in cells of excruciating expectations.

Audience of One: Donald Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America

Earlier this year, television critic Emily Nussbaum’s I Like to Watc h regaled us with behind-the-scenes insights into the cultural power of the small screen. Now comes the  New York Times ’ television critic with a similarly masterful study that probes how television networks built up a vulgar xenophobe to boost ratings, a meditation on “a man who, through a four-decades-long TV performance, achieved symbiosis with the medium. Its impulses were his impulses; its appetites were his appetites; its mentality was his mentality.

This Fight Is Our Fight: The Battle to Save America's Middle Class

She’s been called the “long-distance runner” of the 2020 election. The indomitable Massachusetts Senator has emerged as the wonk’s dream date, the go-to candidate for hot takes on trade, healthcare, social justice, and her signature issue of economic inequality. She’s got a plan for virtually all of our challenges, tapping the varied arenas of her life, including a hardscrabble Oklahoma childhood, plus working as a schoolteacher, Harvard Law professor, and later, policy visionary. This Fight is Our Fight  is a manifesto for those who play by the rules and still feel shafted.

The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris

In her second book,  California Senator Kamala Harris incorporates tales from her upbringing and how her mother motivated her to explain why she feels responsible for serving Americans in office. With its release, Harris is being touted as a potential 2020 White House contender, especially after saying she believes the U.S. is ready for a woman of color to be president.  

West Wingers by Gautam Raghavan

From a Latina immigration expert to a dessert chef enlisted as “spokesperson” for healthy eating, 18 former Obama administration staffers share their candid, affecting accounts of life at the White House.

Minority Leader by Stacey Abrams

Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams  was the first Black woman to lead a major party in the race for governor. In this blueprint for change, she riffs on budget battles and policy proposals while offering guidelines for a better you. 

Good and Mad by Rebecca Traister

The author of the bestselling All the Single Ladies focuses on women's rage and whether sisterhood can bridge deep divides over race, class, and gender identity.

Unladylike by Cristen Conger and Caroline Ervin

The hosts of the popular podcast of the same name bring practical tips and cheeky humor to help women fend off manspreading in the wild. Their book also comes with reminders of gender inequality: on average, women earn seventy-nine cents to every man's dollar.

Leadership: in Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Examining the legacies of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin offers an invaluable take on how leadership is forged in the fires of adversity and triumph. 

How to Read a Protest by L.A. Kauffman

A seasoned activist shares her wisdom on the struggle for social change, using political movements such as Black Lives Matter , the Women's March , and the Bonus Army as examples.

One Person, No Vote by Carol Anderson

The award-winning author of White Rage explores the drive to purge voters of their right to cast a ballot, meanwhile exposing a decades-long plot to disenfranchise people of color. Her title serves as a gimlet-eyed analysis of President Lyndon B. Johnson, Chief Justice John Roberts, and Jim Crow laws.

A former book editor and the author of a memoir, This Boy's Faith, Hamilton Cain is Contributing Books Editor at Oprah Daily. As a freelance journalist, he has written for O, The Oprah Magazine, Men’s Health, The Good Men Project, and The List (Edinburgh, U.K.) and was a finalist for a National Magazine Award. He is currently a member of the National Book Critics Circle and lives with his family in Brooklyn.  

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25 Must-Read Books to Understand Politics and Political Issues

Emily Stochl

Emily is a proud Midwesterner, living in Iowa. Reading literary fiction has always been her favorite. She also enjoys yoga and tending to her hundreds of houseplants -- you might say Emily is a bit “crunchy granola." She is the producer and host of a podcast about vintage and second-hand style, called Pre-Loved Podcast. She’s really into sustainability, and old things! IG: @emilymstochl

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A list of 25 books will never be able to cover all the great political books on a global scale, but it can provide you a starting place! This list is a compilation of some of the classic founding political theory books, an attempt to include political writing beyond what might be considered traditional “political theory canon,” an exploration of intersectionality and politics, and a reflection on some of the major topics that play a role in our political discourse today. 

While creating a comprehensive list of the best political books would be an incredibly large undertaking, and perhaps impossible, I think this list will be a great starting place for people who want to learn more about political history, and better understand some major political theories and concepts.

The Republic by Plato

The Republic is a Socratic dialogue authored by Plato sometime around 375 BCE. Plato argues that knowledge should be the determining factor as to who should rule the people, because those with the most expertise—in Plato’s view philosophers, like himself—will be the most fair and efficient leaders. This text was written prior to the time when “democracy” was first put into words a political concept, and obviously Plato’s concept of a republic led by philosophers is not really used in many of today’s modern states today. However, it was a foundational political text in the west at the time. And interestingly, we saw similar thinking in other parts of the world, like in the writings of Confucius who wrote about “ benevolent hierarchy ” in China around the same period. Much later on, philosophers would call this thinking “benevolent dictatorship” or “benevolent tyranny,” but we’ll get to that idea later.

The Social Contract by Jean-Jacque Rosseau

Jean-Jacque Rosseau was a French philosopher who published this essay about the social contract between governments and people in 1762. The basic principle of his “social contract” is that laws are binding only when they are supported by the will of the people. This concept positions the will of the people above the authority of government, which was in a stark contradiction to governance in France at that time. In Rosseau’s time, the French monarch was thought to be divinely bestowed, and, of course, they could hand down laws without regard for the will of the people. Rather, they often backed laws that served an elite few. Because of this, Rosseau’s radical treatise became a founding text for The French Revolution and the political reformation to come.

A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft

Published in 1792, this is one of the first feminist political texts. Wollstonecraft simply argues that women are deserving of the same fundamental rights as men. She specifically argues that women have a right to be educated, and makes the case by reasoning that as the the moral compasses for society, and the people responsible for raising future generations, it was logical for women to be properly educated. The context of her writing about freedom and rights is significant, because this text was published during the French Revolution. Because of the sentiment of “ liberté, égalité, fraternité ” that was in the air during the time of the revolution, this message of women’s equality was actually generally well-received in its time. Unfortunately, it wasn’t acted on politically, but the text became a foundational work for later suffragette and feminist movements to come. 

The United States Constitution

The guiding principle of the United States Constitution is that people have “unalienable rights,” which is a departure from the previously prevailing idea that human rights are “given” to the people by the state. In contrast, the founding fathers of the United States believed it was crucially important to limit the power of the state.

Though the Constitution is primarily thought of as a legal document—used to define the branches of the United States government, separate the powers of the federal government and the individual states, and outline the rights of the American people—as a text, it can’t be ignored as a foundational piece of political history and theory.

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels

This political text was commissioned by the Communist League and written by the German philosophers Karl Marx and Frederick Engels in 1848. It explores the limits of a capitalistic society and the capitalist “ mode of production .” It concludes that capitalistic societies will eventually be “forcibly overthrown” and replaced by socialism. When this manifesto was first published, it was relatively obscure. But it later became a foundational text as social democrat parties began to rise up in Europe throughout the 1870s, and especially later on during the communist revolution of 1917 that began the Soviet Union. 

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass was enslaved in Maryland until he was in his early 20s. In 1838, he escaped to freedom in New York and became a leader of the abolitionist movement. He was known for his antislavery speeches and writing, and was well-known in his time. He published three memoirs, which are collected in this particular edition, which also contains famous speeches like “ What to the Slave is the Fourth of July. ” His political writings are formative in both the abolitionist movements and the women’s rights movement—perhaps fewer know he was involved in the fight for women’s suffrage until he died. 

Animal Farm by George Orwell

This is the first novel included on this list, but I feel a must-read round-up of political books would be lacking if it didn’t include Orwell. First Animal Farm , an allegorical novella which was originally published in 1945. It’s a story about farm animals who rebel against their human owner with the hopes of creating a free and equal utopian state. After they overthrow their farmer ruler, however, a dictator pig fills the power vacuum and takes control of the farm. Under this pig, the animals’ lives are worse off than they were before.

George Orwell, a British writer and democratic socialist, wrote this book as a thinly veiled allegorical response to the 1917 Russian Revolution, and the authoritarian “reign of terror” that followed during Stalinism. 

1984 by George Orwell

Our other fiction exception on this list is Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 , which was published in 1949 and looks eerily ahead at an imagined future society. This story imagines—rather, warns—of a totalitarian future where society is governed by surveillance, lies, propaganda, and a supreme leader with a cult of personality. Again, Orwell based his fictional authoritarian government off of the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union, and he was writing in response to politics of the time.

Most recently, though, 1984 reached the number one spot on the Amazon best-seller list again in January 2017, after Kellyanne Conway—then Presidential advisor—referred to blatant lies told by then White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer as “alternative facts,” a phrase that feels all too Orwellian.  

Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin

Baldwin wrote the essays contained in Notes of a Native Son in the 1940s and 1950s—when he was only in his 20s—and the collection was published in 1955. The essays are foundational reading for the Civil Rights Movement, as is The Fire Next Time , which Baldwin later published in 1963 to instant national bestseller status. I recommend Notes of a Native Son , though, for understanding the Jim Crow era and the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, of which Baldwin is a crucial artistic and intellectual figure.

Herein, Baldwin writes about protest novels, art in revolution, rent in Harlem, the paternalism of white progressives, his time as a Black expatriate in France, and the dramatic social changes happening in the United States during this time period. 

Cesar Chavez: Autobiography of La Causa by Cesar Chavez

This is the autobiography of the Mexican American civil rights and labor activist Cesar Chavez. Chavez is an incredibly important figure in the 20th century United States workers rights movement, for his leadership boycotting supermarkets and major corporations. From 1965 to 1970, Chavez led a non-violent protest movement of largely Latinx and Filipino workers, and also called for a nation-wide boycott of non–union grown grapes, an effort which resulted in a collective bargaining agreement for the United Farm Workers Union. 

Unfortunately, labor and workers issues are still a major issue worldwide today, made even more relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic. The story of Chavez and the movement he led is foundational to understanding today’s workers movements.

The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central Eastern Europe by Václav Havel

This text was written in 1979 by Václav Havel, a Czechoslovakian writer and philosopher who would go on to become the first President of the Czech Republic in 1993. The text is critical of the communist regime that controlled the Czech state at the time, and it was originally published by underground grassroots organizers who circulated it in secrecy to avoid Soviet censorship. In it, Havel writes that totalitarian regimes, like the one he was living in, force ordinary citizens to become dissidents. His insistence is that people always have power, despite oppressive circumstances, but this was in complete contrast to pervading Soviet-era eastern European cynicism of the time. After its underground publication, this text became foundational for the revolution to come.

Women, Race, and Class by Angela Y. Davis

Political activist and academic, Angela Davis, published this work in 1981. It is a feminist Marxist analysis of United States history from the era of the slave trade, to abolition, up until the women’s liberation movement (now sometimes called the second-wave feminist movement) of the 1960s. Davis explores the ways racism and class biases have held feminist political agendas back from accomplishing their complete goals. It is a formative text about intersectionality, and still an important one to feminist political theory today.

Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

This collection of essays was written by the Black lesbian feminist writer Audre Lorde between 1976 and 1984. It is an exploration of intersectional identity, and how intersectionality must be considered regarding all political issues. Lorde makes her case with examples that were extremely relevant to the time—and also now—including war, protest, police brutality, and the importance of building diverse political coalitions to achieve change. 

Deterring Democracy by Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky is a philosopher, political activist, and social critic. He has published many books, but this one, published in 1991, is about the United States’ role of “global police” following World War II up until the present-day of the book. Chomsky criticizes the imperialistic behavior of the United States in the country’s quest to remain a dominant economic and militaristic world superpower. He likens this domination to authoritarian regimes and claims that, throughout the later half of the 20th century, the United States was more concerned with maintaining control of global resources and power than it was with—as the United States government itself asserts—spreading democracy to the world. 

No Pity: People With Disabilities Forging a Civil Rights Movement by Joseph Shapiro

This book was published in 1993 following the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. I’m including this selection because the American with Disabilities Act was one of the most significant legal and political rights victories accomplished in the modern United States, and yet the history of this political movement is often left out of narratives.

This book gives people with disabilities a voice and agency; they are not helpless, and their stories are not tragedies. Rather they are activists, fighting against society’s prejudice to demand the rights they are entitled to, just like any other citizen, and winning.

Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

This is the 1994 autobiography of the revolutionary Nelson Mandela, who would go on to become the President of South Africa. This book is published at the very start of his Presidency, and the majority centers around his anti-aparthaid activism, which resulted in his 27-year long imprisonment. Though this is an autobiography, rather than a political essay, it is crucial text about racial oppression by governments, and how South Africa moved to a majority-rule governance system under Mandela’s leadership. 

How to Spot a Fascist by Umberto Eco 

This collection was published in the summer of 2020, but it features Eco’s iconic essay “Ur-Fascism,” which was originally published in 1995. That particular essay is about Eco’s experience growing up in Italy after World War II, during and after the reign of fascist Mussolini.

The essay goes on to list the 14 defining characteristics of a fascist regime, including, traditionalism, rejection of modernism, appeals to people who feel deprived of social identity, populism, contempt for others, propaganda, and more. The other two essays in this collection also concern issues of freedom and fascism, and given the text was collected in 2020, it provides a very modern context.

My Seditious Heart by Arundhati Roy

Arundhati Roy is an Indian writer and political activist. She skyrocketed to global literary fame in 1997 when she won the Man Booker Prize for her first novel, God of Small Things . This collection, however, contains two decades worth of political essays—it is over 1,000 pages long—which Roy wrote following the publication of her novel. She is a social justice and human rights activist, and her political essays in this collection are concerned with globalization, imperialism, and the politics of modern India.  

The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffery Toobin

The Nine is a book about the United States Supreme Court published in 2007 by journalist Jeffery Toobin. Of course, the United States federal government has three branches, but this is the first book on this list to deal with the judiciary branch of government. Toobin explores the politics and dynamics of the nine supreme judges who sat on the United States Supreme Court at the time. He argues that the Supreme Court was at a major point of transition, and yet during this time of rapid change it was also determining the law of the land on major issues like abortion and women’s rights, civil rights, the separation of church and state, and corporate regulation. And of course, the 2020 reader will understand that this book, and the role of the Supreme Court, are more relevant in our contemporary politics than ever as we face another Supreme Court vacancy with the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates

This is an essay collection of works by writer and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, published in 2017. The title is a reference to the eight years Black Reconstruction-era politicians were in power before white supremacy and Jim Crow laws clawed their way back. Of course, the title is also a reference to the eight years President Barack Obama spent in power before nationalist and racist powers clawed their way back, once again, following the 2016 election.

These essays deal with a range of contemporary political issues, including Coates’s modern case for reparations, the political legacy of Malcom X, and mass incarceration.   

We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights by Adam Winkler

Corporations have been arguing that they deserve the same rights as people under the United States Constitution since 1809, when the first corporate rights case came in front of the Supreme Court. Corporations used lobbying, legal gymnastics, and even civil disobedience to make the case they, too, deserve unalienable human rights.

And these corporations have been remarkably successful. Headway for corporates rights cases was made long before civil or women’s rights, after all. This book is crucial to understanding the origins of the controversial Supreme Court decision Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby, in which the court ruled corporations could be exempt from regulations that its owners’ have religious objection to—a ruling which allowed the owner of Hobby Lobby to deny contraceptive care to their employees despite the Affordable Care Act and set precedent which still impacts us today.

As Long As Grass Grows by Dina Gilio-Whitaker

This collection was published in 2019 by Indigenous researcher, environmentalist, and activist Dina Gilio-Whitaker. It engages with the relationship between Indigenous people and American colonizers, and covers a brief history of the Indigenous resistance movements responding to colonization of their land. It is an important exploration of civil disobedience movements, and the leadership Indigenous people have offered these movements throughout centuries.

The collection also explores the relationship between Indigenous people and the mainstream environmental movement, so it will be of interest to any intersectional environmentalists reading . Its final chapters are a look forward toward what a sustainable and just relationship between Native people and the United States could look like, which is an incredibly important issue of our time that is not centered nearly enough. 

Why We’re Polarized by Ezra Klein

This book came out at the start of 2020, and it is Ezra Klein’s exploration of political polarization in the modern United States. Klein poses that the 2016 election was not as much a fissure from “politics as normal” (like the title of Hilary Clinton’s post–2016 election book What Happened implies), rather the 2016 election was shocking because politics actually played out along party lines much as they have before, even when the Republican party’s candidate was far from normal.

Klein explores identity politics, which he believes are growing more defined and extreme because of the feedback loops between people and institutions—institutions like the media which are also growing more and more polarized in our modern era. 

Winning the Green New Deal: Why We Must, How We Can Edited by Varshini Prakash and Guido Girgenti 

This collection is edited by the co-founders of the Sunrise Movement , a youth-led grassroots progressive movement that advocates for action on the climate emergency. This collection contains essays from activists, journalists, environmentalists, and policymakers about why we need the political agenda the Green New Deal proposes, and how the proposals the Green New Deal encompasses could be turned into laws. The Sunrise Movement has grown quickly and become an effective force in today’s political scene with the power to influence the Democratic agenda, build coalitions, and win elections. As electorate demographics rapidly change, and the American left undergoes a political realignment, this movement will play a crucial role in the future of politics.

Politics is for Power by Eitan Hersh

I’ll end this list with a book that claims it will show you how to move beyond political hobbyism, take political action, and make real change. As you read more about politics and become more interested in the subjects mentioned in this article, you might want to know how you can take part. Taking part in politics goes far beyond reading about the news online, complaining about politicians, signing petitions, and making donations.

Pick up this book to learn how to put it all into action. It will teach you about lobbying, advocacy, and mobilizing communities and coalitions to make a difference for the causes you care about. 

Like I said, this list, or any other list of political books, is only ever going to be a start. But hopefully this must-read list will help you understand some of the foundational concepts of politics and political issues we face today! Interested in more? Check out these politically-relevant graphic novels , or more books on international politics .

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Trump reminds us: History also repeats when people take the wrong lessons

There’s a forgotten moment from Donald Trump’s history that I think about with some regularity.

About two decades ago, Trump got into a fight with the town of Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., over a flagpole he installed at his golf course there. The pole was installed without a permit and the height violated local codes. This was not the fight he had centered on an oversized flag installed at Mar-a-Lago — a story that became part of the Trump-as-patriot lore of his followers, with details exaggerated in service to the idea that he put the display of the flag above all else.

What lingers for me about the California iteration is an interaction Trump had with Stephen Colbert, then host of “The Colbert Report.” Colbert’s shtick on the show was that he was an uncomplicated, jingoistic voice of the right, so he recorded a segment offering fake enthusiasm for the future president’s tussle. Then, at the end, he exposed Trump’s insincerity .

“What’s important is this flag,” Colbert says, with his character’s trademark bravado, “and its message of freedom — a message as important to Donald Trump as it was to the 13 original colonies.”

Cut to Trump.

“I don’t know what the 13 stripes represent,” Trump says.

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This isn’t surprising, in either the specifics or the broad strokes. The story of Trump’s tenure in national politics has been that he — often coarsely — seizes on symbols of American patriotism while showing little understanding of what they represent or the traditions they embody.

It’s true of the flag, the 13 stripes of which he has formed a habit of hugging during the past eight years. It’s true of the presidency itself, which by all outward appearances he entered while believing that it operated something like being the CEO of a private company. At no point did Trump indicate that he viewed the office as something he was entrusted to hold for four years, as his response to the 2020 election shows. At no point did he indicate that he viewed the presidency as a coequal branch of government with Congress and the Supreme Court.

This haphazard approach to American institutions and history is useful to consider, given Trump’s declaration over the weekend that he would target his perceived opponents as though they were disease-carrying animals.

“In honor of our great Veterans on Veteran’s Day,” he wrote on social media, “we pledge to you that we will root out the Communists, Marxists, Fascists, and Radical Left Thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our Country, lie, steal, and cheat on Elections, and will do anything possible, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America, and the American Dream.”

“The threat from outside forces,” he added, “is far less sinister, dangerous, and grave, than the threat from within.”

In 2015 and 2016, Trump’s rhetoric focused heavily on the purported threats from outside the country, including immigrants and terrorists (groups he often conflated). But those targets were not personally annoying to him in the way that his political opponents — and those he claims are aligned with his opponents, such as federal prosecutors and media members — are annoying. So he has shifted.

As soon as Trump offered these comments, historians (both professional and amateur) noted that they echoed the rhetoric of fascist leaders like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini . This raises a new question: Is Trump doing so knowingly — or is he simply following the same path those dictators walked?

The distinction here is admittedly subtle. It seems important to distinguish between a potential president whose clumsy anger at his opponents has him using language deployed by some of history’s worst actors and a potential president who is willfully modeling himself in their mold.

Stories about Trump’s flirtations with Hitler — or, at least, with some narrowly constructed vision of the mass murderer — have been around for decades. In 1990, Vanity Fair reported an allegation made by his wife as they were going through a divorce.

“Ivana Trump told her lawyer Michael Kennedy that from time to time her husband reads a book of Hitler’s collected speeches, ‘My New Order,’ which he keeps in a cabinet by his bed,” Marie Brenner reported. Asked about it, Trump claimed that he was given Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” as a gift and that, “if I had these speeches, and I am not saying that I do, I would never read them.”

Books released after Trump’s presidency contained anecdotes in which Trump offered words of praise for Nazi Germany to White House chief of staff John Kelly.

“Well, Hitler did a lot of good things,” Trump told Kelly according to Michael Bender’s “Frankly, We Did Win This Election.” At a moment when he was frustrated by pushback from military leaders, Trump reportedly complained to Kelly that he wished his officers could “be like the German generals” during World War II.

“You do know that they tried to kill Hitler three times and almost pulled it off?” Kelly replied, according to Peter Baker and Susan Glasser’s “The Divider.”

This is true . But Trump’s familiarity with Hitler didn’t extend so far as to understanding that there was internal dissension even given the iron fist with which he controlled the country. By all appearances, Trump just sees the fist.

Over the past eight years, this has become obvious. Trump offers praise to a range of autocrats and dictators: Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro. These are leaders who don’t share an ideology or a system of government but share an approach to the wielding of power and a popular response that Trump finds appealing.

Jonathan Karl’s new book, “Tired of Winning,” documents a conversation between Trump and another Republican politician that gets to this point, according to an excerpt obtained by Politico.

“Trump gloated to a prominent member of Congress that [former German chancellor Angela] Merkel — who detested the 45th president privately and had trouble hiding her scorn publicly — told him she was ‘amazed’ by the number of people who came to see him speak,” Karl writes, according to Politico, “and Trump said ‘she told me that there was only one other political leader who ever got crowds as big as mine.’ The Trump-allied congressman knew who Merkel was comparing Trump to, but couldn’t tell if Trump, who took Merkel’s words as a compliment, himself understood.”

“Which would be more unsettling,” Karl continues, “that he didn’t or that he did?”

That, again, is the question. Is it more alarming if Trump knows very well that Hitler used rhetoric comparing his opponents to rats that needed to be eradicated or if he simply got to the same place by himself? Is it better if Trump doesn’t know how Hitler’s story ends — taking his own life as his grotesque empire collapsed having earned a reviled position in world history — or if he does? Which possibility offers a less disconcerting set of possibilities for the post-2024 future?

And, of course, how does that distinction color other reports about what Trump has planned, that he wants to scour the federal bureaucracy of disagreement, turn federal law enforcement against opponents and imprison asylum seekers in camps?

Trump didn’t spend a lot of time lingering over his “vermin” comments on social media this weekend. He was too busy sharing and resharing video clips of his applause-drenched entrance to an Ultimate Fighting Championship event at New York’s Madison Square Garden, accompanied by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and musician Kid Rock. That’s what he enjoys: the applause and the adoration of people who came to the famous entertainment venue to see two people beat each other senseless.

In 1939, Madison Square Garden also hosted a pro-Hitler rally that disparaged the media and Jewish people. The event was soaked in just the sort of patriotic iconography that Trump adores, with only a slightly elevated level of contradiction.

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The Supreme Court says it is adopting a code of ethics, but it has no means of enforcement

The new Supreme Court code of conduct agreed to by all nine justices on Monday does not appear to impose any significant new requirements on the justices.

FILE - Members of the Supreme Court sit for a new group portrait following the addition of Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, at the Supreme Court building in Washington, Oct. 7, 2022. Bottom row, from left, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Samuel Alito, and Justice Elena Kagan. Top row, from left, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Justice Neil Gorsuch, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. The Supreme Court is adopting its first code of ethics, in the face of sustained criticism over undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices. The policy was issued by the court Monday. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

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FILE - The U.S Supreme Court is seen, Nov. 3, 2023, in Washington. The Supreme Court is adopting its first code of ethics, in the face of sustained criticism over undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices. The policy was issued by the court Monday. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2012 file photo, the Supreme Court Building is seen in Washington. The Supreme Court is adopting its first code of ethics, in the face of sustained criticism over undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices. The policy was issued by the court Monday. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday adopted its first code of ethics, in the face of sustained criticism over undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices, but the code lacks a means of enforcement.

The policy , agreed to by all nine justices, does not appear to impose any significant new requirements and leaves compliance entirely to each justice.

Indeed, the justices said they have long adhered to ethics standards and suggested that criticism of the court over ethics was the product of misunderstanding, rather than any missteps by the justices.

“The absence of a Code, however, has led in recent years to the misunderstanding that the Justices of this Court, unlike all other jurists in this country, regard themselves as unrestricted by any ethics rules,” the justices wrote in an unsigned statement that accompanied the code. “To dispel this misunderstanding, we are issuing this Code, which largely represents a codification of principles that we have long regarded as governing our conduct.”

The ethics issue has vexed the court for several months, over a series of stories questioning the ethical practices of the justices . Many of those stories focused on Justice Clarence Thomas and his failure to disclose travel, other hospitality and additional financial ties with wealthy conservative donors including Harlan Crow and the Koch brothers . But Justices Samuel Alito and Sonia Sotomayor also have been under scrutiny.

In September, Justice Elena Kagan acknowledged that there were disagreements among the justices over the contents of an ethics code, but did not specify what they were. The justices achieved unanimity Monday, but predictably offered no explanation for how they got there.

Liberal critics of the court were not satisfied, with one group saying the code “reads a lot more like a friendly suggestion than a binding, enforceable guideline.”

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., one of the loudest voices complaining about the court’s ethical shortcomings, was among several leading Democrats who mixed praise for the court with a call to do more.

“This is a long-overdue step by the justices, but a code of ethics is not binding unless there is a mechanism to investigate possible violations and enforce the rules. The honor system has not worked for members of the Roberts Court,” Whitehouse said.

A court ethics code proposed by Whitehouse that cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee without any Republican support would allow for complaints and investigation by lower-court judges.Three justices, Amy Coney Barrett , Brett Kavanaugh and Kagan have voiced support for an ethics code in recent months. In May, Chief Justice John Roberts said there was more the court could do to “adhere to the highest ethical standards,” without providing any specifics.

Public trust in and approval of the court is hovering near record lows, according to a Gallup Poll released just before the court’s new term began on Oct. 2.

As recently as last week, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the justices could quiet some of the criticism and a Democratic push to impose an ethics code on the court by putting in place their own policy.

Durbin said Monday that the code appears to fall short of what is needed.

Durbin’s panel, which has been investigating the court’s ethics, has been planning to subpoena Crow and conservative activist Leonard Leo about their roles in organizing and paying for justices’ luxury travel . The committee has scheduled a vote on the subpoenas for Thursday.

Republicans complained that Democrats were mostly reacting to decisions they didn’t like from the conservative-dominated court, including overturning the nationwide right to an abortion .

The Democratic-backed ethics bill also would require that justices provide more information about potential conflicts of interest and written explanations about their decisions not to recuse. It would also seek to improve transparency around gifts received by justices. The Democratic bill had little prospect of becoming law in the Republican-controlled House, much less the closely divided Senate.

The push for an ethics code was jump-started by a series of stories by the investigative news site ProPublica detailing the relationship between Crow and Thomas. Crow has for more than two decades paid for nearly annual vacations, purchased from Thomas and others the Georgia home in which the justice’s mother still lives and helped pay for the private schooling for a relative.

ProPublica also reported on Alito’s Alaskan fishing trip with a GOP donor, travel that Leo helped arrange. The Associated Press reported that Sotomayor, aided by her staff, has advanced sales of her books through college visits over the past decade. The AP also reported that universities have used trips by justices as a lure for financial contributions by placing them in event rooms with wealthy donors.

We are Eric Tucker and Brian Slodysko, reporters for The Associated Press. We submitted record requests to public colleges, universities and other institutions that have hosted Supreme Court justices over the past decade. The documents show the ethical dilemmas of their visits. Ask us anything! by u/APnews in politics

The court’s initial step on ethics, in the spring, also did not mollify critics. Roberts declined an invitation from Durbin to testify before the Judiciary panel, but the chief justice provided a “Statement on Ethics Principles and Practices” signed by all nine justices that described the ethical rules they follow about travel, gifts and outside income.

The statement provided by Roberts said that the nine justices “reaffirm and restate foundational ethics principles and practices to which they subscribe in carrying out their responsibilities as Members of the Supreme Court of the United States.”

The statement promised at least some small additional disclosure when one or more among them opts not to take part in a case. But the justices have been inconsistent in doing so since.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court .

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Trump Can Stay on G.O.P. Primary Ballot in Michigan, Judge Rules

The ruling notches a preliminary victory for Donald Trump in a nationwide battle over his eligibility to run for president again, even as he faces a wave of legal scrutiny in other cases.

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By Chris Cameron

A state judge in Michigan partly rejected an effort to disqualify former President Donald J. Trump from running for president in the state, ruling that Mr. Trump will remain on the ballot in the Republican primary, and that the state’s top elections official does not have the authority alone to exclude him from the ballot.

But the judge appeared to leave the door open for a future battle over Mr. Trump’s eligibility as a candidate in the general election, saying that the issue “is not ripe for adjudication at this time.”

The ruling notches a preliminary victory for Mr. Trump in a nationwide battle over his eligibility to run for president again, even as he faces a wave of legal scrutiny in other cases — including 91 felony charges in four different jurisdictions .

Plaintiffs across the country have argued that Mr. Trump is ineligible to hold office again under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which disqualifies anyone who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution after having taken an oath to support it, citing his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

These efforts have played out as Mr. Trump engages in ever-darker rhetoric that critics say echoes that of fascist dictators, vowing to root out his political opponents like “vermin.”

Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Mr. Trump’s 2024 campaign, said in a statement that the campaign welcomed the ruling and “anticipates the future dismissals of the other 14th Amendment cases.”

Judge James Robert Redford of the Court of Claims in Michigan said that the disqualification of a candidate through the 14th Amendment “is a nonjusticiable, political” issue and that it was up to Congress, and not the courts, to settle the matter.

In his 26-page ruling in Mr. Trump’s case, Judge Redford explained that the disqualification clause of the 14th Amendment presented complex questions — for example, what qualifies as an insurrection or rebellion — that were ultimately inappropriate to be resolved in court.

Judge Redford’s order ended a lawsuit that Mr. Trump had filed against Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s secretary of state. Ms. Benson had previously declined to disqualify Mr. Trump, but his lawyers argued that she had created “uncertainty” about his ballot eligibility while efforts in the state were underway seeking to disqualify him.

“I am gratified that today’s court rulings affirm my position that under Michigan law anyone generally advocated by the national news media to be a candidate for the Republican or Democratic nomination for president must be listed on the ballot in our February 2024 primary,” Ms. Benson said in a statement.

The disqualification efforts in Michigan included two cases that had sought court orders that would force Ms. Benson to disqualify Mr. Trump. Judge Redford also ruled in those cases on Tuesday, denying the plaintiffs’ requests.

The plaintiffs in one of those cases, LaBrant v. Benson , said they would appeal the ruling.

Disqualification efforts have also been rejected in other states. The Minnesota Supreme Court dismissed a similar petition last week . And a case in New Hampshire was also dismissed last month.

The rulings in these cases will not be final. They will almost certainly be appealed by the losing side, and the Supreme Court — which has a 6-3 conservative majority, including three justices appointed by Mr. Trump — is likely to have the final say.

Maggie Astor contributed reporting.

Chris Cameron is based in the Washington bureau. More about Chris Cameron

The Run-Up to the 2024 Election

Donald Trump

The former president is planning an extreme expansion of his first-term crackdown on immigration  if he is re-elected — including preparing to round up undocumented people in sprawling camps while they wait to be expelled.

Trump’s campaign rejected criticism that he was echoing the language of fascists with his vow to root out his political opponents like “vermin,”  then doubled down, saying that those who made such comparisons would be “crushed.”

President Biden

A wave of Democratic success  in off-year elections was a win for the president after demoralizing poll numbers . But some strategists argue the outcomes show only that Democrats are doing well, not necessarily Biden .

Why do Americans remain so down on the economy when economic data are trending up? Biden’s team has been consumed with that disconnect .

Other Candidates

Tim Scott: The South Carolina senator, who tried carving out a space in the Republican presidential field with a hopeful message built on his life story, has suspended his campaign .

Chris Christie: In Israel, the former governor of New Jersey said Trump’s rhetoric of intolerance had fueled the surge of bigotry confronting Jews and Muslims  after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack.

Nikki Haley: The former South Carolina governor’s latest debate performance prompted more than $1 million in donations — and drew a billionaire backer. She’s still banking on a breakthrough to catch up to Trump .

Vivek Ramaswamy: The first-time presidential candidate and conservative author is at once deeply in touch with his Indian heritage and adamant that the growing focus on diversity in America has come at the cost of national unity .

Ron DeSantis: The Florida governor, who needed a lift in his quest to beat Trump in the crucial Iowa caucuses, received the endorsement of Kim Reynolds , the state’s popular Republican governor.

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