Politics Books

Emerging in the middle of the last century, political science combines data and theory to help us understand the political world. Professor Robert E. Goodin, editor of The Oxford Handbook of Political Science and co-editor of The British Journal of Political Science, introduces five seminal works from major sub-disciplines. His choices are accessible starting points that open up new ways of thinking: from big data to deep case studies, these are five books that will help you to make sense of the world – and to change it.

"Politics, in its widest sense, courses through all these books. The eight finalists...have thought long and hard about abortion, contraception, gay rights, geopolitics, corruption, religious dogma, regulating technology and treating mental illness. Though these books are all quite different, they are united in showing how much a life of political engagement is a life of purpose and connection with humanity," says Fiammetta Rocca, chair of the judging panel of this year's Orwell Prize for Political Fiction.  

In an era of Trumpism and fake news, the word ‘fascist’ is thrown around with increasing ease and little attention paid to its origins and history. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, political commentator and historian at New York University, recommends the best books for understanding fascism's history and recognizing it today.

While often associated with populism and economic dissatisfaction, the success of the MAGA movement in the United States is also rooted in a distinctive set of ideas about culture, identity, authority, and national renewal. Political theorist Laura Field recommends five books that explore the movement's intellectual challenge to liberal democracy, from the work of Carl Schmitt in 1930s Germany to cultural shifts in evangelical Christianity today.

The books shortlisted for the 2026 Orwell Prizes, the UK's most prestigious awards for writing about politics, have been announced. "As judges, we returned again and again to what George Orwell means to us: clarity of prose and unflinching intellectual bravery," said Rohan Silva, chair of the judges for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing, awarded annually for a nonfiction book. We've listed the brilliant books they chose below, from Cold War betrayals and the partition of India to the conflicts still going on in the world today.  

The word 'post-truth' may only have entered the Oxford English Dictionary in the last decade, but the phenomenon it describes is much older and deeper, connected not so much to the latest internet trend as the fundamentals of human cognition and communication. Here, linguistic anthropologist Nick Enfield, a professor at the University of Sydney and a member of its fighting truth decay research node, introduces the best books to get thinking about the complex relationship between language and reality.

Free speech is the bedrock of a healthy society, but how do we deal with the torrents of horrible comments—and worse—we see on the internet every day? Timothy Garton Ash, author of Free Speech: Ten Principles for A Connected World, outlines a plan for navigating the complexities and recommends the best books to help us think about free speech.

In early January 2026 US forces arrested the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro and took him into custody in the US, charged with drug offences. Political scientist Julia Buxton chooses five books on modern Venezuelan politics and explains that this is only the latest political catastrophe to befall a country that has been plagued by its vast oil reserves. An endowment of natural resources that was expected to make the country rich when they were discovered in the early 20th century has only succeeded in making it poor and politically unstable.

Friedrich Hayek was not a great formal economist, but he has been hugely influential politically and in the evolution of modern microeconomics, perhaps in spite of himself, argues Philip Mirowski, a historian and philosopher of economic thought. He talks us through books to better understand the Austrian émigré who ended up in the United States as the great convener of neo-liberalism in the mid-20th century and whose ideas are still influential in the new populism.

In order to have fewer failed projects, we need to address some of the deep structural incentives in the system, argues Jonathan Simcock, who spent 16 years leading and advising on large UK government projects. He talks us through books to read to understand more about big projects and why they go wrong, and how to do better in future.