Politics Books

Marshalling one of the first ever televised coups, Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet's legacy is fraught. While some apologists try to justify the dictatorship on economic grounds, his time in office saw innumerable human rights abuses. Alan Angell, Emeritus Fellow in Latin American Politics at the University of Oxford, considers the regime of "a very cruel man."

Emeritus professor at the LSE's Mannheim Centre for the Study of Criminology & Criminal Justice tells us about the consequences of mass incarceration and a breakdown in social and moral cohesion

The Iraqi poet chooses books on civil and human rights. "I want to spread the word. I want people to get more involved in the political process here in Iraq"

The author and activist talks about medical ethics and selects her five top books on the subject. She raises questions as to whether we own our bodies, and the ethics behind selling human organs.

The international relations professor tells us about the special relationship between America and Israel – how it came about, what it means, and how it should change

The Editor of The Times Literary Supplement discusses the changing history of the Newspaper Editor. Suggests further reading and highlights Peter Forster's The Spike as the most accurate depiction of an editor's work.

From the House to the duck house, political scientist Philip Crowley recommends the best books on parliamentary politics.

Leading British spy writer Charles Cumming found his vocation at 25 after he was approached by MI6. He says that experience, brief but interesting, was crying out to be dramatised

Award-winning broadcast journalist and author chooses five books on Israel. He says that perceptions of Israel and Palestine are always filtered through expectation and prejudice - which makes the problem unsolvable

The author and political blogger chooses five books on the Israel-Palestine conflict and compares the Palestinians to the Jews in diaspora: as the land disappears under their feet, their identity grows stronger.