My Favorite Books on Politics in 2007

Considering the reading scores for public schools in Kentucky (and, despite their claims to the contrary, the home schooled aren't noticeably better on average), some might be surprised that a Kentucky-based blog on politics will promote reading, and, especially, the reading of books. Strange or not, it is true. Maybe it's the fact that I have an earned Ph.D. Chalk it up to academic elitism if you want to, but although I think all the new media have great opportunities (and some dangers, as with all media), and I promote their use in classes, business, etc., I still think that books (as well as newspapers and serious journals--as opposed to endless photo magazines of cars, celebrities, etc.) are important. Widespread readership of books, papers, and journals is vital to the health of a living democracy and the decline in readership is something we should note with some anxiety--not outright fear (there's enough promotion of that, these days), but enough internal discomfort to try and rectify the situation. (The poster boy for this is, of course, Pres. George W. Bush, who does not like to read; brags about not reading newspapers--preferring his aides to give him a digest of the news with a personal "spin;" who has very little curiosity about the world; and insists that all memos, reports, briefings, etc. fit on one page of talking points! Whatever criticisms one could make of Carter and Clinton, our last 2 Democratic presidents--and there are legitimate criticisms of both--at least they read voraciously and spent a great deal of time trying to understand the world and their jobs. A president need not be an intellectual, but at a minimum we should insist that our presidents always be intellectually curious and attempting to keep well-informed--including by regular reading of newspapers, journals, and BOOKS.)

Since my perspective and that promoted by this blog is "left of center" (in U.S. terms, which is still more conservative than much of the rest of the world), readers can expect that I will especially highlight books, papers, journals (and blogs, etc.) with center to left perspectives, because I want those to become well known. But I emphatically do NOT believe that one should only read from that perspective. There is far too much reading, speaking, and thinking only within "bubbles" or "zones of comfort" in this society already. One should always know the arguments and perspectives of one's adversaries--and even where they may be right on some matters. The world is far too complex to think only one's own party or view has all the answers. But let's start with my favorite political books in 2007--which will be center-left.

• Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches, by John W. Dean (Viking, 2007). This work is all the more amazing because it is written by a former conservative Republican lawyer (who still calls himself a Goldwater conservative) who served as Nixon's White House Chief Counsel! Now a registered independent, Dean broke with the Republican party after watching it break the processes of government. This work will serve as a civics review for those who have forgotten (or never learned in high school) how the Framers designed the U.S. federal government to work--and it details the ways in which modern Republicanism (1968 forward, but especially beginning with the Reagan presidency in 1981) has warped and even broken each branch of the government and eroded the checks and balances that are essential to the system. So, especially when all 3 branches of government were in Republican control, the presidency and executive branch became far more powerful than the Framers intended, the Congress ceased all oversight and became a rubber stamp, and the judicial branch lost much of its independence, bowing to "Executive privilege." My only problem with this book is Dean's simplistic cure: As this year has shown, simply electing Democrats until balance is restored won't work. We need progressive Democrats and Independents with backbone, we need engaged and active citizens, a free and diverse media peforming vigorous watchdog responsibilities, and we need some electoral structural reforms that will give more power to the people, curb the power of money in politics, and help third parties give real options to voters without simply playing a "spoiler" role that allows the worst candidate to win. But if Dean's solution is simplistic, his analysis is vital.
• The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (Metropolitan Books, 2007) by Naomi Klein. The author is an award winning Canadian journalist who also has degrees in economics. Here she shows how the Right, following advice from the late Milton Friedman, have used the shock of disasters (wars, natural disasters, attacks, coups, etc.) to forcibly change economic structures: including radical privatization of public concerns and reaping enormous profits for big corporations at the expense of the victims of the tragedy. She wants us to see the pattern all over the world so that we will recognize it when the next disaster strikes and be able to resist successfully.
• Truth and Consequences: Special Comments on the Bush Administration's War on American Values (Random House, 2007) by Keith Olbermann. This one is a little more light hearted. It is a collection of journalist Keith Olbermann's "special comments" since August 2006. I tell even conservatives to read or listen to Olbermann--because even if you disagree, you get to see brilliant writing and eloquent rhetoric delivered with oratorical power that is almost unknown anymore. That rhetorical power itself lifts the level of discourse above the currently low level to which it has sunk (across the spectrum) in the U.S. Stretch your vocabulary, get history lessons, and read a contemporary example of the political jeremiad--something nearly extinct before Olbermann revived it. Along the way, remember the values for which this nation is supposed to stand.
• Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House (Simon & Schuster, 2007) by Valerie Plame Wilson. The author is the former undercover CIA agent whose cover and identity were deliberately leaked to rightwing columnist Robert Novak (probably illegally and definitely putting numerous lives at risk). This was done in retaliation for the way Plame's husband, former career ambassador Joe Wilson, exposed one of the lies behind the Bush administration's case for invading Iraq. Plame is not a brilliant writer, not even as good as her husband, whose memoir, The Politics of Truth makes very exciting reading. And the way the CIA "redacted" (blacked out) numerous portions of the book (even though everything Plame was relating was supposed to be declassified already), hurts even more. But it is still very important to see "Plame-gate" from Plame's own perspective. The Right has continued to portray her as a bubble head (because she's a gorgeous blonde?) who was a "glorified secretary" at the CIA, but this is not true. Plame was deep cover and worked on countering nuclear proliferation, especially in the Middle East. Outing her probably set back efforts to keep nuclear weapons technology from many very deadly nations and groups. Nice job, Bushies.
• Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army (Nation Books, 2007) by Jeremy Scahill. One of the scariest things I have read in years. Since Blackwater is a sympton rather than the entire disease, however, I suggest reading this with P.W. Singer's Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry (Cornell University Press, 2007) and/or Robert Young Pelton's Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror (Crown Books, 2006) which has just been reprinted in paperback by Three Rivers Press, 2007. Together these works add up to a scary picture of radically privatized military forces, mercenaries, as the wave of the future for neo-cons.
• The Conscience of a Liberal (W.W. Norton, 2007) by the Princeton economist and New York Times columnist Paul W. Krugman. Using Barry Goldwater's Conscience of a Conservative as anti-type (and the Goldwater volume launched the modern conservative movement in the U.S.), Krugman attempts to show how conservatism has hurt America and how a liberal perspective offers a way forward.
• Bill of Wrongs: The Executive Branch's Assault on America's Fundamental Rights (Random House, 2007) begun by the late Texas liberal columnist Molly Ivins and finished by her friend and sometime co-author, Lou DuBose when Molly finally succumbed to cancer. Ivins' writings always combined a wonderful sense of humor with her profound belief in America and scathing attacks on what she called the "sumbitches" who try to take it away. Texas doesn't produce many liberals (Alas! Neither does Kentucky!), but those it does, like Ivins, have style and backbone and humor--something liberals in the Northeast of this fair nation could use.
• Thumpin' It: The Use and Abuse of the Bible in Today's Presidential Politics (Westminster/John Knox Press, 2007) by Jacques Berlinerblau. The author is a Jewish biblical scholar and also a Georgetown University professor in political science. This is a must read book--whether or not you are religious and no matter your political orientation.

Well, gentle readers, what have missed this year that's important?