I just added The Storm Is Here: An American Crucible by Luke Mogelson to the Recommended Reading List. It is the best effort to date combining the extremist influences on American politics and the possibility of a second civil war. It outlines the rise of authoritarianism in America and the danger it poses.
Three “companion” books already on the list are: Fascism by: Madeline Albright, Strongmen by Ruth Ben-Ghiat and How Civil Wars Start by Barbara F. Walter.
Recently I added Raising Lazarus: Hope, Justice, And The Future Of America’s Overdose Crisis by Beth Macy to the Recommended Reading List.
This is Macy’s second book on the opioid crisis, her first being Dopesick which is also on the list. 2 for 2; I’ll simply leave it at that.
I just added The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore to the Recommended Reading List. Moore’s book is the true story of Elizabeth Packard. Set primarily in 1860s America, it reads like a version of The Handmaid’s Tale, except is is true. It chronicles the lack of independence women of the era experienced and the asylum system.
Everyone should read this book but especially younger women and those who don’t believe the MAGA crowd is evil. This is the era many on the right thought was the last time America was great.
I just added A Brief History of Equality by Thomas Piketty to the Recommended Reading List. It is the briefest and least wonkish book by this world renowned French economist who is generally considered to be the world’s greatest authority on inequality.
I just added Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present by: Ruth Ben-Ghiat to the Recommended Reading List.
In her work historian and NYU professor Dr. Ben-Ghiat outlines the similarities of authoritarian figures of the last 100 years from Mussolini to Trump and Putin. The similarities are equally uncanny ans scary.