The three biggest Italian mafias remain a powerful presence, with tentacles reaching deep inside Italian business and politics, but our understanding of them is marred by myths and misconceptions. Professor John Dickie of University College London, author of three books on the mafia, recommends what to read to get a better understanding of what the mafia really is.

Throughout history, social and economic inequalities have been fueled and justified by different ideologies. French economist Thomas Piketty’s latest book, Capital and Ideology, looks at the advent and fall of these ideologies, and how they could evolve in the future. He recommends five great books to better understand these complex and always-evolving ideas, and their consequences for the world.

Why were so few of the Nazis involved in running Auschwitz brought to justice? Why did some Germans during the Holocaust risk death to hide Jewish people from Nazi persecution, while others were passive bystanders? Historian Mary Fulbrook—author of Reckonings, which won the 2019 Wolfson History Prize—recommends essential reading for understanding Auschwitz and its aftermath.

There’s nothing new about the far right and the unpleasant views that its supporters espouse. What’s changed is that some of those views have been embraced by the political mainstream and are now viewed as normal. Political scientist Cas Mudde, Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF Professor at the University of Georgia, talks us through the best books on the far right.

Under what conditions do popular uprisings end in massacres? What's the best way for someone protesting against a government to get what they want? Robert Poole, Professor of History at the University of Central Lancashire and author of Peterloo: The English Uprising, recommends the best books on uprisings.

French philosopher and sociologist Geoffroy de Lagasnerie argues for a more realist political theory, one that fully acknowledges that state violence is the one thing in your life that you can never escape. His selection includes works by Michel Foucault and Walter Benjamin, as well as a history of the Black Panther Party.

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.

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 Kurds lost 11,000 lives fighting Islamic State and hoped the West would support them in their quest for nationhood. But as the Kurdish saying goes, ‘The Kurds have no friends but the mountains.’ Author and diplomat Peter W. Galbraith, a longtime advocate of the Kurdish people, recommends the best books on the Kurds—and predicts that one day there will be an independent Kurdistan.

Every year the British Academy’s Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize is awarded to a nonfiction book that has contributed to ‘global cultural understanding.’ Cambridge professor Ash Amin, chair of this year’s panel of judges, talks us through the fabulous books that made the 2019 shortlist and explains why they’re so important.

Defined by University of Chicago historian Kathleen Belew, white supremacy is a “broad system of laws, norms and customs that create a society with unequal opportunities for people based on race”. It persists to this day, and has surprising intersections with issues of labor and women’s reproduction. Here, she recommends books for coming to grips with the history of this complex topic.

“Trump isn’t a vampire; he can’t live forever,” says Tony Schwartz, Donald Trump’s co-author on The Art of the Deal. As the prospect of impeachment looms over the 45th President of the United States, he recommends five books to better understand how Donald Trump became what he is today.

While researching Maoism, China expert Julia Lovell battled against two incorrect assumptions: “firstly that Maoism is a story of China; and secondly that Maoism is a story of the past.” Here she recommends five books for coming to grips with the global, still-relevant impact of Maoism.

Why do women kill? What does violence tell us about human nature? How do the methods of the criminal justice system speak to an era? Cara Robertson—a lawyer, author and expert on the famous Lizzie Borden case—picks five true crime books that deal in murder, individual psychology, public trials and justice.

The English legal system is struggling to ensure justice. Drastic government cuts and disastrous reforms have led to innocent people being let down by the system again and again. Reporting anonymously from the front line, The Secret Barrister sees it as their duty to keep the public informed. Here they discuss the books that have shaped the way they think about justice and its relation to the law.

How many suffragists can you name? Feminist historian Susan Ware, author of a new history of the American women’s suffrage movement, urges us to remember how important suffrage was in the fight for women’s rights, on the cusp of its US centennial—and reveals the story of women getting the right to vote didn’t just begin at Seneca Falls.

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.

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 British public-school system, with its hidden homosexuality and feelings of loneliness, encouraged subterfuge and led to a generation of great spy writers and spies, suggests author and journalist Ben Macintyre. He picks the best books on spies.

The fight for women’s liberation and equality under patriarchy spans centuries of history, and is still being waged today—but what lessons can feminist movements like #MeToo learn from suffragettes and black feminist activists? Fordham historian Kirsten Swinth explores the best books on feminism, and makes a powerful case for modern feminists listening to early foremothers.

The 21st century has seen an explosion of feminist activism, with movements like #MeToo and the Women’s March. Accompanying this heightened attention to the lived experience of women, several extraordinary books have been published. Writer, feminist, critic and broadcaster Bidisha selects the best ones.

“If we come to understand the human value and dignity of people from different backgrounds, we can do a bit to deflect inequality in our everyday interactions,” says Harvard Professor and winner of the 2017 Erasmus Prize Michèle Lamont. Here, she recommends five books that illuminate the sociology of inequality.

Should you feel responsible for helping the world become better? And if so, how should you use your time, money, and career to have the biggest possible impact? These are the questions addressed by the effective altruism movement. One of its leading figures, Will MacAskill, recommends the best books to answer them.

Journalist and Five Books editor Sophie Roell looks back on her favourite nonfiction books read this year.

2018 has been a year full of alarming political developments, but it has also proven fodder for an excellent crop of political books. Stephen Bush, special correspondent at the New Statesman, selects five of the best politics books.

Many of the current controversies over transgender rights and identities derive from false beliefs, explains the author and academic Susan Stryker. Here she selects five excellent contemporary trans titles with depth, complexity and heart, to help us reframe what has all too often become a toxic debate

Consideration of differences between men and women has been obscured by centuries of biological essentialism, argues Angela Saini – author of Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong. Here she discusses five books that examine or demonstrate the misogynistic lens through which female capability has been viewed.

The author of the only authorized history of MI6, Keith Jeffery, tells us about the evolution of the secret intelligence services, their representation in fiction, and the man Fleming may have had in mind when he created James Bond

Experts versus populists, bureaucracy versus democracy: Paul Tucker, former deputy governor of the Bank of England and a fellow at Harvard’s John F Kennedy School of Government, chooses books that wrestle with central dilemmas of today’s liberal political order

The sociologist Will Davies discusses five of the best books about moral economy: the study of norms, values, principles and ethics within the space of the economy.

If killing is wrong, how can going to war be justified? Is it always wrong to kill civilians? If a Nazi soldier were billeted in your home, should you respond when he greets you? Philosopher Cécile Fabre chooses Five Books that help explore the profound ethical dilemmas of war.

Many of us live in democracies and believe in government transparency, but the truth is our leaders have considerable scope to engage in secret operations overseas. Rory Cormac talks us through five books on ‘covert action,’ and some of the countries that have embraced it as a policy tool.

Reports of the death of the world’s only superpower may have been exaggerated, but America’s inward turn is threatening the world order it created after World War II. Foreign policy analyst Ali Wyne talks us through books to better understand America’s current role in the world.

Sometimes vilified, often misunderstood, rarely taught in universities, anarchism is a political philosophy and social movement that’s far removed from today’s mainstream politics. But it was and remains a powerful motivator. Political theorist Ruth Kinna talks us through the best books to read to get a better understanding of anarchism.

When a period of war or oppression draws to a close, how should a country face up to past wrongdoing while creating a future free of conflict? Colleen Murphy—professor of law, philosophy and political science at the University of Illinois—discusses five books that examine the issues at the heart of ‘transitional justice.’

Should America have intervened in Libya? Done more? Done less? Done it differently? The editor of Foreign Affairs, Gideon Rose, explains the tension that lies at the heart of every American foreign policy decision.

When George W Bush declared that America “has never been an empire,” he elided a half century of colonial rule over its overseas dependencies. But American expansionism has manifested in other forms too, says A G Hopkins, imperial historian and author of a panoramic new work of American history.

The Harvard University Professor Joseph Nye talks about changing power in the 21st century – and how whose story wins matters as much as whose army wins.

Renowned foreign policy expert Anne Marie-Slaughter looks at the increasingly complex networks in which 21st century states find themselves.

The foreign affairs commentator explains why US presidents have less room to manoeuvre on foreign policy than they think, and why President Obama had to set aside his “minimalist” inclinations.

Through the writing of political novels, writers might hope to speak against their time, says the American author Joshua Cohen. Here he selects five books in which the protagonist undergoes a political education.

How did the concept of United States immigration being a ‘melting pot’ of diverse nationalities come to be? In this interview, Stanford historian Ana Raquel Minian explores America’s complex, highly racialized history of immigration and recommends five of the books on the subject that have most influenced her.

The tumultuous history of Ukraine and its continuing upheavals are not well understood beyond its borders. Yale historian Marci Shore recommends the best books on the land of many identities and languages that is modern Ukraine.

A good writer must always aim to write the truth – a more complex narrative than one of heroes and villains. But to find the truth, sometimes you’ve got to get up and go there yourself, says Will Storr, journalist and author of Selfie. Here he selects five books that have inspired his own immersive approach to nonfiction.

The EU started life as a small trading bloc but now spans 28 (soon to be 27) countries with half a billion people. What can be done to help its institutions catch up with the new reality? Giles Merritt, author of Slippery Slope: Brexit and Europe’s Troubled Future, has some ideas.

The Millennial cohort is often characterised as a shallow, social media-obsessed generation that puts avocado toast ahead of the future. But in reality they are overeducated, underemployed and beset by anxiety, says Malcolm Harris, millennial and author of Kids These Days. Here he selects five books that paint a more accurate portrait of the first generation to come of age in the 21st century.

The US, the UK and many other countries have become far less equal over the past 30 years. The MIT economics professor Daron Acemoglu recommends inequality books and reading because he says it’s important we understand how and why this happened, and what it means for our societies.

‘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