"The Aid Trap: Hard Truths About Ending Poverty" by Glenn Hubbard and William Duggin. If you have any interest in foreign trade/poverty economics, it's an awesome read. It is written by two of the best economists of our time, IMO.

I enjoyed George W. Bush's autobiography, Decision Points.

 

Mmm hmm, mmm hmm. And who's the author?

It's older, but I really enjoyed Pat Buchanan's book, "Right From The Beginning."

1960 LBJ vs. JFK. vs. NIXON

'1776' - story by David McCullough of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence.

'John Adams' - biography by David McCullough unfolds the adventurous life-journey of John Adams.

'Truman' - biography of Harry S. Truman by David McCullough.

'The Boys on the Bus' (1973), by Timothy Crouse turned the eyes of the press on the press itself, and opened the way to the age of media self-absorption.

Edited January 20, 201214 yr by kygirl
punctuation

http://www.amazon.com/Bowling-Alone-Collapse-American-Community/dp/0743203046/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327077810&sr=8-1

 

Here is the amazon description of Bowling Alone:

 

Amazon.com Review

Few people outside certain scholarly circles had heard the name Robert D. Putnam before 1995. But then this self-described "obscure academic" hit a nerve with a journal article called "Bowling Alone." Suddenly he found himself invited to Camp David, his picture in People magazine, and his thesis at the center of a raging debate. In a nutshell, he argued that civil society was breaking down as Americans became more disconnected from their families, neighbors, communities, and the republic itself. The organizations that gave life to democracy were fraying. Bowling became his driving metaphor. Years ago, he wrote, thousands of people belonged to bowling leagues. Today, however, they're more likely to bowl alone:

Television, two-career families, suburban sprawl, generational changes in values--these and other changes in American society have meant that fewer and fewer of us find that the League of Women Voters, or the United Way, or the Shriners, or the monthly bridge club, or even a Sunday picnic with friends fits the way we have come to live. Our growing social-capital deficit threatens educational performance, safe neighborhoods, equitable tax collection, democratic responsiveness, everyday honesty, and even our health and happiness.

The conclusions reached in the book Bowling Alone rest on a mountain of data gathered by Putnam and a team of researchers since his original essay appeared. Its breadth of information is astounding--yes, he really has statistics showing people are less likely to take Sunday picnics nowadays. Dozens of charts and graphs track everything from trends in PTA participation to the number of times Americans say they give "the finger" to other drivers each year. If nothing else, Bowling Alone is a fascinating collection of factoids. Yet it does seem to provide an explanation for why "we tell pollsters that we wish we lived in a more civil, more trustworthy, more collectively caring community." What's more, writes Putnam, "Americans are right that the bonds of our communities have withered, and we are right to fear that this transformation has very real costs." Putnam takes a stab at suggesting how things might change, but the book's real strength is in its diagnosis rather than its proposed solutions. Bowling Alone won't make Putnam any less controversial, but it may come to be known as a path-breaking work of scholarship, one whose influence has a long reach into the 21st century. --John J. Miller --

From Publishers Weekly

"If you don't go to somebody's funeral, they won't come to yours," Yogi Berra once said, neatly articulating the value of social networks. In this alarming and important study, Putnam, a professor of sociology at Harvard, charts the grievous deterioration over the past two generations of the organized ways in which people relate to one another and partake in civil life in the U.S. For example, in 1960, 62.8% of Americans of voting age participated in the presidential election, whereas by 1996, the percentage had slipped to 48.9%. While most Americans still claim a serious "religious commitment," church attendance is down roughly 25%-50% from the 1950s, and the number of Americans who attended public meetings of any kind dropped 40% between 1973 and 1994. Even the once stable norm of community life has shifted: one in five Americans moves once a year, while two in five expect to move in five years. Putnam claims that this has created a U.S. population that is increasingly isolated and less empathetic toward its fellow citizens, that is often angrier and less willing to unite in communities or as a nation. Marshaling a plentiful array of facts, figures, charts and survey results, Putnam delivers his message with verve and clarity. He concludes his analysis with a concise set of potential solutions, such as educational programs, work-based initiatives and funded community-service programs, offering a ray of hope in what he perceives to be a dire situation. Agent, Rafe Sagalyn. 3-city tour; 20-city radio satellite tour. (June)

Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

'1776' - story by David McCullough of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence.

'John Adams' - biography by David McCullough unfolds the adventurous life-journey of John Adams.

'Truman' - biography of Harry S. Truman by David McCullough.

'The Boys on the Bus' (1973), by Timothy Crouse turned the eyes of the press on the press itself, and opened the way to the age of media self-absorption.

 

I would add to this list...

 

Washington - A Life by Ron Chernow

Theodore Rex by Edmond Morris

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. Ellis

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson

 

I've always believed that to know who we are, as a nation, we need to know who we were.

I like books like Gladwell's "Blink." Fascinating study into how our brains work.

...any Gladwell is a great read. After I finish a Gladwell book I'm left feeling both smarter and dumber. Smarter because I truly feel like I have learned something and dumber because I realize I will never be as brilliant as Gladwell.

While not overtly political, I think you would get great enjoyment out of Freakanomics by Levitt and Dubner. A very unique way to look at things and they pose interesting questions.

While not overtly political, I think you would get great enjoyment out of Freakanomics by Levitt and Dubner. A very unique way to look at things and they pose interesting questions.

 

While some of their economic models have been taken to task I thoroughly enjoyed the concept of the book.

The Law by Fredrick Bastiat. A French economist in the early 1800s. Very good read.