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1
Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787
by Gordon S Wood -
2
Novus Ordo Seclorum
by Forrest McDonald -
3
Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution
by Richard Beeman -
4
A Revolution in Favor of Government
by Max M Edling -
5
Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788
by Pauline Maier
The best books on The US Constitution, recommended by Jack Rakove
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The Journal of John Winthrop
by John Winthrop -
2
Black Bostonians: Family Life and Community Struggle in the Antebellum North
by James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton -
3
Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families
by J. Anthony Lukas -
4
Interpreter of Maladies
by Jhumpa Lahiri -
5
Mapping Boston
by Alex Krieger and David Cobb (editors)
The best books on Boston, recommended by Jane Kamensky
The best books on Boston, recommended by Jane Kamensky
The idea of Boston as “a place of revolutionary fervour because liberty is somehow baked into its bones” is loaded with a “very heavy dose of self-mythologizing,” says American historian Jane Kamensky. Here, the Harvard professor lifts the veil on this quintessential New England city and recommends five books for understanding its history
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The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge
by David McCullough -
2
Wilderness At Dawn: The Settling of the North American Continent
by Ted Morgan -
3
The Story of American Freedom
by Eric Foner -
4
This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War
by Drew Gilpin Faust -
5
In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette
by Hampton Sides
The best books on American History, recommended by Brent Glass
The best books on American History, recommended by Brent Glass
Which are the best books on American history? Brent Glass, Director Emeritus of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, the world’s largest museum devoted to telling the story of America, chooses five standout books in a crowded field.
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Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race
by Matthew Frye Jacobson -
2
Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America
by Mae M. Ngai -
3
Between Two Empires: Race, History, and Transnationalism in Japanese America
by Eiichiro Azuma -
4
Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the Politics of Ethnicity
by David G. Gutiérrez -
5
Havana USA: Cuban Exiles and Cuban Americans in South Florida, 1959-1994
by María Cristina García
The best books on Immigration, recommended by Ana Minian
The best books on Immigration, recommended by Ana Minian
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.
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1
A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960
by Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz -
2
Macroeconomic Effects from Government Purchases and Taxes
by Robert Barro -
3
Identifying Government Spending Shocks
by Valerie Ramey -
4
Essays on the Great Depression
by Ben Bernanke -
5
The Great Depression in the United States from a Neoclassical Perspective
by Harold Cole and Lee Ohanian
The best books on The Lessons of the Great Depression, recommended by Robert Barro
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1
Expansionists of 1898: The Acquisition of Hawaiʻi and the Spanish Islands
by Julius William Pratt -
2
Denial of Empire: The United States and Its Dependencies
by Whitney T Perkins -
3
The Tragedy of American Diplomacy
by William Appleman Williams -
4
The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Expansion 1860-1898
by Walter LaFeber -
5
Cuba in the American Imagination: Metaphor and the Imperial Ethos
by Louis A Pérez
The best books on American Imperialism, recommended by A G Hopkins
The best books on American Imperialism, recommended by A G Hopkins
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.
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1
Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making
by Deborah Stone -
2
Regulating the Poor: The Public Functions of Welfare
by Frances Fox Piven and Richard Cloward -
3
The Submerged State: How Invisible Government Policies Undermine American Democracy
by Suzanne Mettler -
4
Remaking America: Democracy and Public Policy in an Age of Inequality
by (ed.) Jacob Hacker, Joe Soss & Suzanne Mettler -
5
Arresting Citizenship: The Democratic Consequences Of American Crime Control
by Amy E Lerman and Vesla M Weaver
The best books on The Politics of Policymaking, recommended by Jamila Michener
The best books on The Politics of Policymaking, recommended by Jamila Michener
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 Transnational Literature, recommended by Mohsin Hamid
Beleaguered ‘citizens of nowhere’ will be pleased to know they have their own literary genre. For anyone who has ever wondered where they belong, or why, when you leave your home country, it’s never the same when you return, here are the best five books to read—including some by the greatest authors of the 20th century.
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Is the American Century Over?
by Joseph Nye -
2
The Chessboard and the Web: Strategies of Connection in a Networked World
by Anne-Marie Slaughter -
3
The Sovereignty Wars: Reconciling America with the World
by Stewart Patrick -
4
Psychology of a Superpower: Security and Dominance in U.S. Foreign Policy
by Christopher Fettweis -
5
Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America
by Deborah Fallows & James Fallows
The best books on America’s Increasingly Challenged Position in World Affairs, recommended by Ali Wyne
The best books on America’s Increasingly Challenged Position in World Affairs, recommended by Ali Wyne
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.
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Why The West Rules - For Now: The Patterns of History and what they reveal about the Future
by Ian Morris -
2
Why Nations Fail
by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson -
3
China 2030: Building a Modern, Harmonious, and Creative Society
by Development Research Center of the State Council & World Bank -
4
The Rise and Fall of Nations: Forces of Change in the Post-Crisis World
by Ruchir Sharma -
5
Uprising: Will Emerging Markets Shape or Shake the World Economy?
by George Magnus
The best books on Emerging Markets, recommended by George Magnus
The best books on Emerging Markets, recommended by George Magnus
What determines whether a country goes backwards or forwards? Why have so few developing countries joined the ranks of rich nations? George Magnus, former chief economist of UBS, chooses books to help us reflect on what it is that societies need in order to be successful.
The best books on Saving Capitalism and Democracy, recommended by Robert Reich
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 Drone Warfare, recommended by Hugh Gusterson
The introduction of drones “makes possible perpetual war without costs”, warns the anthropology professor and security expert Hugh Gusterson. Here he selects the best books that examine their ethical, psychological and political impact upon 21st century warfare.
Stephanie Burt on Contemporary American Poetry
As distinctions between traditional and avant-garde, central and marginal dissolve, poet and critic Stephanie Burt discusses some of America’s most exciting contemporary poets, who are speaking to and from diverse experiences and backgrounds – sometimes with a disco beat
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City of Refuge
by Tom Piazza -
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The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast
by Douglas Brinkley -
3
Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City
by Jed Horne -
4
Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security
by Christopher Cooper and Robert Block -
5
New Orleans: The Making of an Urban Landscape
by Peirce F. Lewis
The best books on Hurricane Katrina, recommended by Gary Rivlin
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Drug Addicts are Human Beings
by Henry Smith Williams -
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The Murderers: The Shocking Story of the Narcotic Gangs
by Henry Anslinger and Will Oursler -
3
Murder City
by Charles Bowden -
4
The Globalization of Addiction: A Study in Poverty of the Spirit
by Bruce Alexander -
5
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction
by Gabor Maté
The best books on The War on Drugs, recommended by Johann Hari
The best books on US Militarism, recommended by Stephen Glain
American presidents may not want to send troops into battle or militarise foreign policy but, in the end, most of them do. The author and journalist explains how this happens, and why it’s not even the military that’s to blame. He picks the best books on American militarism.
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The Almanac of American Politics
by Michael Barone and Chuck McCutcheon -
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The 480
by Eugene Burdick -
3
The Rational Public
by Benjamin I Page and Robert Y Shapiro -
4
Fire on the Prairie: Harold Washington, Chicago Politics, and the Roots of the Obama Presidency
by Gary Rivlin -
5
The Emerging Republican Majority
by Kevin P Phillips
The best books on How Americans Vote, recommended by Andrew Gelman
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Atlantic History
by Bernard Bailyn -
2
Empires of the Atlantic World
by JH Elliott -
3
Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
by David Eltis and David Richardson -
4
The British Atlantic World, 1500-1800
by David Armitage and Michael J Braddick (editors) -
5
Soundings in Atlantic History
by Bernard Bailyn (editor)
The best books on Atlantic History, recommended by Bernard Bailyn
The best books on The US Intelligence Services, recommended by Tim Weiner
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.
Fran Lebowitz on New York Writers
‘The authors of these five books are people who came to New York for freedom – not so they could get rich, but so they could be free to pursue their interests and live their lives the way they wanted.’ New Yorker par excellence Fran Lebowitz recommends the writers who best capture her immutably mutable city.