The best books on Obstacles to Political Reform in China, recommended by Richard Baum
The late China specialist and UCLA professor said sometimes he felt genuine admiration for China’s technocratic leaders. Other days he shook his head at their obsessive intransigence and China’s endemic political insecurity
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.
The best books on The Truth Behind the Headlines, recommended by Lorraine Adams
Why do huge stories sometimes go unreported? Our news media are good at promulgating conventional wisdom but find it much more difficult to deal with evidence that contradicts it, says the former Washington Post reporter
The best books on Legacies of World War One, recommended by Wade Davis
The explorer and author of Into the Silence, Wade Davis, tells us that the consequences of the Great War were much more than merely political. He says the war had a noticeable impact on exploration, arts and literature, and modernity itself.
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Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787
by Gordon S Wood -
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Novus Ordo Seclorum
by Forrest McDonald -
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Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution
by Richard Beeman -
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A Revolution in Favor of Government
by Max M Edling -
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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 Almanac of American Politics
by Michael Barone and Chuck McCutcheon -
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The 480
by Eugene Burdick -
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The Rational Public
by Benjamin I Page and Robert Y Shapiro -
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Fire on the Prairie: Harold Washington, Chicago Politics, and the Roots of the Obama Presidency
by Gary Rivlin -
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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 -
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Empires of the Atlantic World
by JH Elliott -
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Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
by David Eltis and David Richardson -
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The British Atlantic World, 1500-1800
by David Armitage and Michael J Braddick (editors) -
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Soundings in Atlantic History
by Bernard Bailyn (editor)
The best books on Atlantic History, recommended by Bernard Bailyn
The best books on Wild Places, recommended by Robert Macfarlane
Robert Macfarlane, author of an acclaimed trilogy of books about landscape and human thought tells us about the intrepid, sometimes misanthropic writers who inspired his own investigation of wilderness. He chooses some of his favourite books of nature-writing.
The best books on The Russian Revolution, recommended by Roland Chambers
The Russian revolution was the beginning of the modern age, says award-winning author Roland Chambers. He tells us what Solzhenitsyn imagined Lenin was like, and about the children’s author who led a double life as a spy in Bolshevik Russia.
The best books on The Aftermath of World War II, recommended by Keith Lowe
Postwar Europe was a scene of both physical and moral destruction. The author of Savage Continent, winner of the Hessell-Tiltman History Prize, recommends essential reading for understanding the sheer scale of suffering, dislocation and fighting after the war was over.
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 Nelson Mandela and South Africa, recommended by John Carlin
Nelson Mandela was a most unusual and unusually astute leader, says journalist and author of Playing the Enemy, John Carlin. He chooses the best books to understand Nelson Mandela, who used forgiveness as a political tool, and South Africa, the country he brought peacefully out of apartheid.
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.