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John Harwood's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books John Harwood recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of John Harwood's favorite book recommendations of all time.

1
Over the last generation, the United States has undergone seismic changes. Stable institutions have given way to frictionless transactions, which are celebrated no matter what collateral damage they generate. The concentration of great wealth has coincided with the fraying of social ties and the rise of inequality. How did all this come about?

In Transaction Man, Nicholas Lemann explains the United States’—and the world’s—great transformation by examining three remarkable individuals who epitomized and helped create their eras. Adolf Berle, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s chief...
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Recommended by John Harwood, and 1 others.

John HarwoodNicholas Lemann is one of the most brilliant people writing on American politics and journalism. He explains the historical context for the atomization we’ve experienced—how a school of thought emerged from the Depression that to achieve a balance of interests for society’s benefit, big business needed to be countered by big government and big labor. He shows that, in recent decades, that balance... (Source)

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2
Politico Magazine’s chief political correspondent provides a rollicking insider’s look at the making of the modern Republican Party—how a decade of cultural upheaval, populist outrage, and ideological warfare made the GOP vulnerable to a hostile takeover from the unlikeliest of insurgents: Donald J. Trump.

The 2016 election was a watershed for the United States. But, as Tim Alberta explains in American Carnage, to understand Trump’s victory is to view him not as the creator of this era of polarization and bruising partisanship, but rather as its...
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Tony SchwartzAmerican Carnage was written by a journalist who identifies as conservative and who had great access to people who I don’t think would’ve spoken so openly to mainstream reporters. The book helps you understand, from the inside, how Trump took over the Republican Party. It’s weird and it’s fascinating. And it’s a perspective that I haven’t seen represented anywhere else. (Source)

Keith UrbahnGlowing @nytimes review for @TimAlberta: “American Carnage isn’t just another drop in the deluge of Trump books; in fact, it isn’t really a Trump book at all. Instead it’s a fascinating look at...the degrading story of the ultimate devil’s bargain.” https://t.co/ZBHPIBgd19 (Source)

Susan CooperThe great “Trump is a Christian” con continues, even though ... After 2016 Bible Slip, Trump Lashed Out at ‘So-Called Christians,’ Book Says https://t.co/gztHYNtt0k (Source)

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3
From entrepreneur Andrew Yang, the founder of Venture for America, an eye-opening look at how new technologies are erasing millions of jobs before our eyes-and a rallying cry for the urgent steps America must take, including Universal Basic Income, to stabilize our economy.

The shift toward automation is about to create a tsunami of unemployment. Not in the distant future--now. One recent estimate predicts 45 million American workers will lose their jobs within the next twelve years--jobs that won't be replaced. In a future marked by restlessness and chronic unemployment,...
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James Altucher@hallofwonders He's appealing to you and me. In any case, I highly recommend a great book, 'The War on Normal People' , by a brilliant young man named @AndrewYang (Source)

Marieme JammeThank you @AndrewYang for this awesome book. Merry Christmas to you and four family 🦋❤️#maths https://t.co/TbX5QnPXPc (Source)

Travis Akers@caro I am reading his book right now. Some great ideas. I believe I read Warren is reading it as well. (Source)

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4
The Economists' Hour is the biography of a revolution: The story of how economists who believed in the power and the glory of free markets transformed the business of government, the conduct of business and, as a result, the patterns of everyday life. In the four decades between 1969 and 2008, these economists played a leading role in reshaping taxation and public spending and clearing the way for globalization. They reshaped the government's approach to regulation, assigning a value to human life to determine which rules are worthwhile. Economists even convinced President Nixon to end... more

Greg Sargent.@BCAppelbaum has written a great new book -- a scathing indictment of the economics profession and its dogmatic faith in markets, and their role in creating our current disastrous mess. I spoke to Appelbaum about his book. A fascinating conversation: https://t.co/xbrTbBESPW (Source)

Matthew YglesiasI podcasted with @BCAppelbaum about his great new book about how economists ruined everything. https://t.co/4cD0bX7Byl (Source)

John HarwoodBinyamin’s book provides the intellectual backstory for how we got to where we are today. (Source)

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5
Widely acclaimed photographer and writer Chris Arnade shines new light on America's poor, drug-addicted, and forgotten--both urban and rural, blue state and red state--and indicts the elitists who've left them behind.

Like Jacob Riis in the 1890s, Walker Evans in the 1930s, or Michael Harrington in the 1960s, Chris Arnade bares the reality of our current class divide in stark pictures and unforgettable true stories. Arnade's raw, deeply reported accounts cut through today's clickbait media headlines and indict the elitists who misunderstood poverty and addiction in America for...
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Gerald ButtsStart 2020 off right by following Chris Arnade. His book, Dignity,* was one of 2019’s best reads. * not Integrity. Which also would have been a fine title for it. ;) https://t.co/T2zQhzfgsU (Source)

Greg Dworkin@jposhaughnessy @Chris_arnade Arnade's book has amazing (truly) photos as well (Source)

Rabbi Josh Yuter5. Favorite Book 2: Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America by @Chris_arnade. And the winner of favorite book read this year, it's also one of the most poignant books about humanity you will ever read. https://t.co/WRFRNgNC1W (Source)

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