Recommendations from our site
“I love biographies and this one in particular strikes me. I don’t believe John Adams comes immediately to mind as one of the great presidents, but he was. Students of history know he had a hand in so many of the founding documents we remember today. Politics today is so polarised – but this division is not unique to our time. If you look back on the relationship between John Adams and Jefferson, it was not always smooth. Yet together they helped make the Declaration of Independence a reality. Progressives should keep their eyes on the prize, but we should never be afraid to constantly engage with those whom we perceive to be rivals…Adams was also incredibly courageous when he defended the British soldiers after the Boston Massacre. He was a patriot who understood that a democratic society cannot undermine the basic democratic rights of even the most despised in our society. There are few today who would be willing to do what he did in today’s supercharged partisan environment. I’m not sure anyone would be willing to do that today.” Read more...
The best books on Progressive America
Antonio Villaraigosa, Politician
Our most recommended books
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Lloyd George
by John Grigg -
In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War
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The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher
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Elizabeth I
by David Starkey and Susan Doran -
Mahatma Gandhi: Nonviolent Power in Action
by Dennis Dalton -
I, Claudius
by Robert Graves