Here are 10 political novels for 2005. There is a theme: if we ignore the lessons of history, we are doomed to repetition. What would you add? E-mail me to add to the list.
1776
David McCullough writes about the first year of America's war for independence from Britain. General Washington is at the center of this history, as are the citizen-soldiers of the Continental Army, who braved a harsh winter and who were clearly underdogs compared to the more experienced and equipped British army.
Freakonomics
Economist Steven Levitt and journalist Stephen J. Dubner have penned a lay person's guide to novel economic theory. It includes the controversial correlation between an increase in abortions and decrease in crime rate. Entertaining, but light on methodology.Imperial America : Reflections on the United States of Amnesia
In this collection of essays from 1975-2004, Gore Vidal tackles the war on drugs and American health-care policy; he also includes three anti-Bush . He embraces Jeffersonian anti-imperialism and places current foreign policy to the 1846 land grab that today is California.Iron Tears : America's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire
Quagmire is a word about half of America uses to describe the ongoing conflict in Iraq; even more characterize Vietnam in this fashion. Author Stanley Weintraub calls the American Revolution Britain's "quagmire." He paints a picture of the battle from 1776-1783 as one driven by hawkish leaders, ignoring guerilla tactics on a continent far from home.Our Endangered Values : America's Moral Crisis
Perhaps America's most religious former President, and certainly its most conservative Democratic President, Jimmy Carter worries in this book that fundamentalist Christianity is threatening the fundamental principle of separation of church and state. He believes that Southern Baptists have deviated from the Baptist Church's historic support of the First Amendment. From one of the country's few statesmen.Party Lines: Competition, Partisanship, And Congressional Redistricting
Curious about the electoral system? Remember "gerrymandering" from high school civics? Then check out this Brookings Institution book, which examines both the legal and political history of redistricting before turning to proposals for reform. Contributors from Harvard, Berkeley, FSU and Penn.The FairTax Book
Just say No! to the IRS. That's the core message of this book from talk-radio personality Neal Boortz and Congressman John Linder (R-GA). Scrap payroll taxes and income taxes -- and replace them with a 23 percent sales tax, with protections for low-income Americans. In other words - invoke a consumption tax on an economy that rests, fundamentally, on consumption. Intriguing.The Heritage Guide to the Constitution
The Heritage Foundation has published this guide to the US Constitution, featuring, among others, Edwin Meese III, the 75th US Attorney General. The 100 authors focus on "original intent" and provide background including notes of the founders and key court decisions.The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
New York Times writer Thomas L. Friedman has penned a breathless and unabashed tribute to the networked world and Gobalization 3.0. Friedman takes you along as he trots the globe; my favorite anecdote stars cellphones that work in bullet trains in Japan. Friedman has not meet a technology that he doesn't like. The book closes with an examination of the economics and politics of global Islamism.What Went Wrong In Ohio: The Conyers Report
Read the testimony taken by the Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee, under the direction of Rep. John Conyers (MI-D), documenting irregularities in Ohio's 2004 Presidential Election; Republican members did not participate. The book was originally published in January by the Government Printing Office. This version has been edited for readability.