Fareed Zakaria recommends a book each week on his show, Global Public Square

Don’t Be Evil: The Case Against Big Tech by Rana Foroohar My book of the week is Rana Foroohar’s Don’t be evil. This is a fascinating highly engaging account of the rise of big technology companies and how they have betrayed their ideals and endangered American democracy. It will make you think hard about something we tend to simply accept as normal. The way technology now dominates our lives and societies. Nov 10

My book of the week is Impeachment, an American History. With impeachment on everyone’s mind, this is a clear and intelligent account of the three previous examples in American history and, of course, the current one, by Jon Meacham, Tim Naftali, Peter Baker, and Jeffrey Engel. It will help you make up your own mind as you watch the news unfold. October 20

The Professor and the Madman Book of the week – August 11, 2019

Democracies and Dictatorship in Europe Book of the week – July 28, 2019

The Guarded Gate Book of the week – July 28, 2019

Leadership in Turbulent Times : Lessons from the Presidents Book of the week – July 14, 2019

A Gentleman in Moscow Book of the week – June 30, 2019 For a book recommendation, this week, I’ll turn to my special guest, House Speaker and voracious reader, Nancy Pelosi. PELOSI: So I sent two books. One was The Island of the Day Before, which is a novel, and the other one is Longitude, about how finally longitude was able to be determined and maintained on a ship in the salty seas and the rest of that. If that doesn’t really turn you on, for a complete change of total pace of one thing I was reading recently was something called Circe, which is about Greek mythology. So that’s to get your mind off of your day job. (http://transcripts.cnn.com)

June 16, 2019

War and Peace : FDR’s Final Odyssey D-Day to Yalta, 1943-1945 Guest Autrhor – June 9, 2019

In the much-anticipated conclusion to his masterful trilogy chronicling the wartime career of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, renowned military and political biographer Nigel Hamilton aligns triumph with tragedy to show how FDR was the architect of a victorious peace that he would not live to witness. Providing the definitive account of the events in Normandy on 6 June 1944, Hamilton also reveals the fraught nature of the relationship between the greatest wartime leaders of the Allied forces.

The Shadow War: Inside Russia’s and China’s Secret Operations to Defeat America Book of the week – June 2, 2019

The Island of the Day Before Guest Book Recommendation – Nancy Pelosi

Longitude by Dava Sobel Guest Book Recommendation – Nancy Pelosi

Circe by Madeline Miller Guest Book Recommendation – Nancy Pelosi

The Great Successor : The Secret Rise and Rule of Kim Jong Un Guest book – May 26, 2019

The Death of Truth by Michiko Kakutani This week’s book of the week is “The Death of Truth” by Michiko Kakutani. We all see that truth and facts have become endangered species, but we’re not really aware of why and when it happened. It didn’t start with Trump, argues Kakutani in this rich, erudite book. She brilliantly explains the cultural and political forces that brought us to our current sorry condition — a must read.

The Hundred-Year Marathon by Michael Pillsbury Michael, pleasure to have you on. I have to say I also really enjoyed your book. It’s called “A Hundred Year Marathon,” and I very much advocate people read it because it’s a very thoughtful book about what China might — you know, what Chinese intentions are in this longer term.

21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari (2018) My book of the week is Yuval Harari’s book, “21 Lessons.” If you liked “Sapiens” or “Homo Deus,” you will enjoy this wide-ranging, speculative look at the world today and where it is going — fascinating big think.

December 9

Fantasyland : How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History by Kurt Andersen (2017) This is a powerful, well-written book about perhaps the most deeply disturbing phenomenon in America today, the way that fantasy has eclipsed fact in our politics and culture. If you want to understand why this has happened, read this essential book.

November 4

Revolution Francaise: Emmanuel Macron and the Quest to Reinvent a Nation by Sophie Pedder (2018) I read this while preparing for my interview last week. For all those intrigued by Macron, a fascinating figure on the world stage, this is the best book on him and his effort to make France great again.

November 18

Cultural Evolution: People’s Motivations are Changing, and Reshaping the World by Ronald Inglehart (2018) If you’ve noticed that people seem to be voting more on the basis of their cultural identity than economic ones, this book explains that deep and powerful trend better than any other I have read — really brilliant work.

December 16

Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment by Francis Fukuyama Fukuyama is one of America’s leading thinkers and this book is a highly intelligent account of how identity politics developed, from Plato to the “MeToo” movement. But it is also an urgent argument on how to use identity as a unifying force, not a divisive one.

September 30

Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward (Guest) ZAKARIA: When I read the book, what I’m struck by is the degree of chaos that you describe. All of which centers around a president who seems, you know, somewhat impulsive to listen to the person who last talked to him. He pits his advisers against each other almost deliberately. How much of that is normal?

September 16

The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation For Failure by Jonathan Haidt, Greg Lukianoff (guest) Jonathan Haidt has written a fantastic book, “The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation For Failure,” along with Greg Lukianoff.

September 9

Capitalism In America : A History by Alan Greenspan, Adrian Wooldridge This impressive book by the former Fed chairman and a brilliant journalist takes the reader through the history of the American economy, ending with some provocative thoughts about America’s declining productivity, declining risk-taking, declining entrepreneurship, declining dynamism.

October 14

September 2

AUGUST 19

Uncivil Agreement : How Politics Became Our Identity by Lilliana Mason There are many books now explaining why Americans are so divided. This slender academic treatise strikes me as the most persuasive. It points out that our political identity has now been fused with our social identity. If you tell me who you voted for, I can tell you where you live, shop, eat and pray. That turns out to produce extreme polarization and gridlock.

AUGUST 12

The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson My book of the week is Helen Simonson’s “The Summer Before the War.” This is a gentle sweet novel that describes how a small town in England reacts to its first female teacher on the eve of the first World War. If you like “Downton Abby,” you will love this little jewel of a book.*Other Book mentioned

August 5

Factfulness: Ten Reasons Why You Are Wrong About the World and Things Are Better Than We Think by Hans Rosling Book of the week My book of the week is “Factfulness: Ten Reasons Why You Are Wrong About the World and Things Are Better Than We Think.” The title and subtitle say it all. It’s a fact-filled book with great charts that will teach you more than thousands of pages of prose. The lead author, the late Hans Rosling, was a “GPS” favorite. He did a wonderful segment for us years ago. *

July 29

The China Mission : George Marshall’s Unfinished War, 1945-1947 by Daniel Kurtz-Phelan Book of the week My book of the week is “The China Mission” by Daniel Kurtz-Phelan. We think foreign policy has become partisan today, but this superb book reminds us that the debate over who lost China, as it went Communist in 1949, was ferocious, even engulfing the most admired man in America at the time, General George Marshall. The portrait of Marshall, who was sent on a mission to China, is, by itself, worth the price of the book. His decency and rectitude is so impressive — he refused to write his memoirs because he thought that would be improperly profiting from government service — that he stands like an ancient Roman statue in today’s Washington. *

July 15

Our Towns : A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America by James Fallows, Deborah Fallows Book of the week My book of the week is Jim and Deborah Fallows’ book “Our Towns: A 100,000 Mile Journey Into the Heart of America.” Tom Friedman said in a recent column, “If you want to be an optimist about America, stand on your head. The country looks so much better from the bottom up.” Well, that’s exactly what the married writers Deb and Jim Fallows did. They took off in their single-engine plane and looked at America’s small towns, its people, its heart. And what they found was a surprising amount of dynamism and optimism. If you are grim about America these days, read this book.*

July 1

East of Eden by John Steinbeck Book of the week My book of the week is a classic. John Steinbeck’s “East of Eden.” If you’re looking for a big fat book of fiction for the summer as I was, try this one. It is to my mind the book that best illustrates the idea of the great American novel. A rich saga of families moving westward on a vast, unformed continent making a new life and a new nation. *

June 24

American Immigration: A Very Short Introduction by David Gerber Book of the week My book of the week is “American Immigration: A Very Short Introduction” by David Gerber. It falls to a British scholar to write this balanced, intelligent and well-written primer on a controversial topic. He succeeds admirably, highlighting the contributions of immigration to America but also noting the downsides, which are largely focused on illegal immigration. In the midst of all the noise on this topic, if you want clarity, read this very short book.*

June 17

Origin Story : A Big History of Everything by David Christian Book of the week My book of the week is David Christian’s “The Origin Story.” I first came across David Christian because I would work out to his fantastic lectures on big history. Yes, I know, very nerdy behavior. This is the book version. Basically, it is the history of the universe from the Big Bang to now in a few 100 pages. If you read one book this year, make it this one. It is the most powerful example of interdisciplinary scholarship that I know of. *

May 27

Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth Book of the week My book of the week is Philip Roth’s “Goodbye, Columbus.” Roth, who died last week, was, to my mind, the most important American novelist of the last half century. In 2006 the New York Times did a survey of the best of American fiction of the prior 25 years and six of Philip Roth’s books received multiple votes from prominent critics. This is his debut, a collection of short stories written when he was 26 years old that won the National Book Award in 1960.*

May 13

Us Versus Them: The Failure of Globalism by Ian Bremmer

Book of the week

This week’s book is “Us Versus Them: The Failure of Globalism.” Ian Bremmer is a card-carrying globalist, but he is clear- eyed in this book about the shortcomings and failures of global capitalism. In a short series of essays, he intelligently sketches out the problem and possible paths forward.



May 6

Fair Shot : Rethinking Inequality and How We Earn by Chris Hughes

Book of the week

This week’s book is Chris Hughes’ “Fair Shot: Rethinking Inequality and How We Earn.” Earlier on the show Hughes told us the story of how he became a half-billionaire and described the winner-takes-all economy in which we live. “Fair Shot” is his take on how to stop runaway inequality. But it does not read like most wonky books. It’s personal, intelligent, very well-written and moves along briskly. Do get this short, fascinating brief.

April 22

How to Read a Book : The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer J Adler

Book of the week

Before I tell you the correct answer, let me recommend a book. This week, it’s a classic. Mortimer Adler’s “How to Read a Book.” This 1940 extended essay explains not just why we should read books, but how we should read them. It will help you get the most out of books, but also make you understand how to learn, comprehend and analyze any written material. It’s masterfully done.

April 15

Post-Truth by Lee McIntyre

Book of the week

My book of the week is “Post-Truth” by Lee McIntyre. This is a slender volume from MIT’s Essential Knowledge series that looks at one of the most disturbing trends of our time, the increasing dismissal of science, evidence, fact and truth itself. The author gives us an intelligent account of why it’s happened and a compelling reminder that we should all fight against this dangerous, nihilistic idea.

The Death of Democracy by Benjamin Carter Hett (2018)

My book of the week is Benjamin Carter Hett’s “The Death of Democracy: Hitler’s Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic.” People forget that Weimar Germany was probably the world’s most advanced country. How we went from there to the Nazis is a fascinating story that Hett tells, and it does have real lessons for today about the elites who either assisted or were complacent as Hitler destroyed German democracy.

April 8

The Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World by Michael Ignatieff

My book of the week is “The Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World” by Michael Ignatieff, a philosopher and former Canadian politician. Ignatieff asks a simple question, is globalization bringing us together or tearing us apart? He answers it by taking us around the world from Bosnia to Brazil, South Africa to Myanmar. The result is a fascinating and deeply engaging book.

April 1

Five Days in London: May 1940 by John Lukac

My book of the week is John Lukacs “Five Days in London: May 1940.” If you watched “Dunkirk” or “Darkest Hour” and you want more, this is a short, compelling case that Adolf Hitler almost conquered Europe in May 1940, with France of the verge of defeat, Britain alone with virtually its entire army surrounded by Nazi forces on the French coast. But one man fought back and turned the tide — riveting reading.

March 11

How to Think by Alan Jacobs My book of the week is “How to Think” by Alan Jacobs. “We suffer from a settled determination not to think,” writes the author. But he is determined to rouse us out of our intellectual laziness and brilliantly and wisely shows us why and how to think well. This book is a revelation and a pleasure. It is one of the most original books I have encountered in a long while. Run, don’t walk, to get it.



March 4

The Second Amendment: A Biography by Michael Waldman My book of the week is Michael Waldman’s “The Second Amendment: A Biography,” a fascinating biography of one line, the one line that is at the heart of America’s gun debate. Waldman makes us realize just how ambiguous and uncertain the second amendment’s meaning has been for most of American history.

February 25

Trumpocracy by David Frum My book of the week is David Frum’s “Trumpocracy.” Yes, this is an anti-Trump book, but it is written by a diehard conservative whose objections to Trump at core are not about his politics and policies, some of which the author agrees with, nor about his bad manners and vulgarity; it is about the way Donald Trump is eroding democratic norms in the world’s oldest constitutional republic. The chapter on economic corruption, “Plunder,” is worth the price of the book.

February 18

How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. My book of the week is “How Democracies Die” by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. This is not another diatribe against Donald Trump though there is some of that. It’s mainly a smart and deeply informed book about the ways in which democracy is being undermined in dozens of countries around the world and in ways that are perfectly legal. The authors remind us that what sustains democracy is not just constitutions and laws but norms and behavior. If leaders act in thoroughly undemocratic ways, democracy, over time, will collapse.

February 11

White Working Class by Joan Williams My book of the week is “White Working Class” by Joan Williams, a very smart, caustic book that tries to understand the dynamic behind Donald Trump’s legions of supporters. The author tries to explain to America’s elites why the working class resents them, professionals, who tell them how to live, work, get educated, eat, dress and behave. It’s tough love for a group that generally doesn’t get much pushback.

February 4

A Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich(1936)

A Peace to End All Peace: Creating The Modern Middle East 1914-1922 by David Fromkin (2001)

Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure by Tim Harford

Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2012)

Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty

Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism by Robert Shiller (2009)

Can Intervention Work by Rory Stewart and Gerald Knaus

Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder

Capitalism and the Jews by Jerry Muller

Bounce: Mozart Federer Picasso Beckham and the Science of Success by Matthew Syed

Catastrophic Care: Why Everything We Think We Know about Health Care Is Wrongv by David Goldhill

China Airborne by James Fallows

China Goes Global: The Partial Power by David Shambaugh

China’s Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy by Minxin Pei

Comeback America: Turning the Country Around and Restoring Fiscal Responsibility by David Walker

Civilization: The West and the Rest by Niall Ferguson

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford (2004)

Decision Points by George W. Bush

Double Entry: How the Merchants of Venice Created Modern Finance by Jane Gleeson-White

How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities by John Cassidy

Ghost Wars: The Secret History Of The CIA Afghanistan And Bin Laden From The Soviet Invasion To September 10 2001 by Steve Coll

How to Win an Election: An Ancient Guide for Modern Politicians by Quintus Tullius Cicero

Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran

Ill Fares the Land : A Treatise On Our Present Discontents by Tony Judt

India after Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha (2007)

In an Uncertain World: Tough Choices from Wall Street to Washington by Robert Rubin with Jacob Weisberg

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

Startup Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle by Dan Senor

Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power by Robert Kaplan

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson From the author of the bestselling biographies of Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein, this is the exclusive, New York Times bestselling biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

On China by Henry Kissinger In this sweeping and insightful history, Henry Kissinger turns for the first time at book-length to a country he has known intimately for decades, and whose modern relations with the West he helped shape. Drawing on historical records as well as his conversations with Chinese leaders over the past forty years, Kissinger examines how China has approached diplomacy, strategy, and negotiation throughout its history, and reflects on the consequences for the global balance of power in the 21st century.

The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World by Niall Ferguson

The Evolution of God by Robert Wright

The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order by Samuel Huntington

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis

The Death of Conservatism by Sam Tanenhaus

The Dictator’s Learning Curve by William Dobso

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

The Idea of Pakistan by Stephen Cohen

The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2000 Years by Bernard Lewis

The Idea Factory: Bells Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation by Jon Gertner

The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday: Unexpected Encounters in the Changing Middle East by Neil MacFarquhar

The Leading Indicators: A Short History of the Numbers That Rule Our World by Zachary Karabell

The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Christopher Clark

The Price of Civilization by Jeffrey Sachs

The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee

The Mantle of Command: FDR at War 1941-1942 by Nigel Hamilton

The Metropolitan Revolution: How Cities and Metros Are Fixing Our Broken Politics and Fragile Economy by Bruce Katz

The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam Industry and Invention by William Rosen

The New Cold War: How the Kremlin Menaces both Russia and the West by Edward Lucas

The New Digital Age: Transforming Nations, Businesses, and Our Lives by Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen

The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers by Richard McGregor (2010)

The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century by George Freidman

The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves by Matt Ridley

The New Machiavelli: How to Wield Power in the Modern World by Jonathan Powell

The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era by Michael Grunwald

The Next Convergence: The Future of Economic Growth in a Multi-Speed World by Michael Spence

The Oath: the Obama White House and the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin

The Origin of the Financial Crises by George Cooper

The Parties Versus The People by Mickey Edwards

The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita (2011) For eighteen years, Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith have been part of a team revolutionizing the study of politics by turning conventional wisdom on its head. They start from a single assertion: Leaders do whatever keeps them in power. They don’t care about the “national interest”—or even their subjects—unless they have to. This clever and accessible book shows that the difference between tyrants and democrats is just a convenient fiction. Governments do not differ in kind but only in the number of essential supporters, or backs that need scratching. The size of this group determines almost everything about politics: what leaders can get away with, and the quality of life or misery under them. The picture the authors paint is not pretty. But it just may be the truth, which is a good starting point for anyone seeking to improve human governance.

The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution by Francis Fukuyama (2011) Virtually all human societies were once organized tribally, yet over time most developed new political institutions which included a central state that could keep the peace and uniform laws that applied to all citizens. Some went on to create governments that were accountable to their constituents. We take these institutions for granted, but they are absent or are unable to perform in many of today’s developing countries—with often disastrous consequences for the rest of the world

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt (2012) Why can’t our political leaders work together as threats loom and problems mount? Why do people so readily assume the worst about the motives of their fellow citizens? In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding.

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (2011) In the highly anticipated Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities—and also the faults and biases—of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behavior…

The Story of the Jews (1492-1900) BY Simon Schama

The Story of the Jews (1000 BCE – 1492) BY Simon Schama It is a story like no other: an epic of endurance against destruction, of creativity in oppression, joy amidst grief, the affirmation of life against the steepest of odds. It spans the millennia and the continents – from India to Andalusia and from the bazaars of Cairo to the streets of Oxford. It takes you to unimagined places: to a Jewish kingdom in the mountains of southern Arabia; a Syrian synagogue glowing with radiant wall paintings; the palm groves of the Jewish dead in the Roman catacombs. And its voices ring loud and clear, from the severities and ecstasies of the Bible writers to the love poems of wine bibbers in a garden in Muslim Spain. Within these pages, the Talmud burns in the streets of Paris, massed gibbets hang over the streets of medieval London, a Majorcan illuminator redraws the world; candles are lit, chants are sung, mules are packed, ships loaded with spice and gems founder at sea. And a great story unfolds. Not – as often imagined – of a culture apart, but of a Jewish world immersed in and imprinted by the peoples among whom they have dwelled, from the Egyptians to the Greeks, from the Arabs to the Christians. Which makes the story of the Jews everyone’s story, too.

Truman by David McCullough (1992) – Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography (1993) The Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of Harry S. Truman, whose presidency included momentous events from the atomic bombing of Japan to the outbreak of the Cold War and the Korean War, told by America’s beloved and distinguished historian

War Made New by Max Boot

War of Necessity War of Choice by Richard Haass

When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order by Martin Jacques

We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families by Philip Gourevitch

The Tell-Tale Brain by V. S. Ramachandran

@War: The Rise of the Military-Internet Complexby Shane Harris

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel

World Order by Henry Kissinger

Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham

BOOKS BY FAREED ZAKARIA

The Future of Freedom by

Fareed Zakaria

The Post-American World by

Fareed Zakaria

In Defense of a Liberal Education by

Fareed Zakaria

SOURCE