11 best political books of all time
No one knows political books better than the staff at Politics & Prose. Opened in 1984, theWashington, D.C., bookstore is considered a “sacred space” by policymakers and literati alike. So what titles do these Beltway specialists recommend when it comes to politics? Here, according to the staff at Politics & Prose, are 11 of the best political books of all time.
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1. "Democracy in America," by Alexis de Tocqueville
In some ways, the 1830s observations of French researcher Alexis de Tocqueville have never been improved upon. De Tocqueville saw the young nation in its infancy and yet his insights into American life and government remain surprisingly current.
2. "All the King’s Men," by Robert Penn Warren
Maybe someday someone will write a better political novel than Robert Penn Warren’s 1947Pulitzer Prize winner about the rise of Willie Stark (aka “the Boss”), a power-hungry, populist Southern governor, believed to have been modeled on former Louisiana governor and US Sen. Huey Long. But it hasn’t happened yet.
3. "Team of Rivals," by Doris Kearns Goodwin
This award-winning examination of President Lincoln and his efforts to work with his cabinet through one of America’s most difficult moments is – famously – a favorite of President Obama and the inspiration for Steven Spielberg film “Lincoln.”
4. "Echo House," by Ward Just
This 1997 novel follows three generations in a family of well-connected Washingtonians, spanning a century (starting with World War I) of American politics. The story of the powerful Behl family and their interactions with a large cast of politicians, their spouses, reporters, lawyers, generals, and civil servants is dark but intelligent, compelling, and disturbingly true to life.
5. "I, Claudius," by Robert Graves
British writer Robert Graves penned this 1934 classic as though he were writing the autobiography of Roman Emperor Tiberius Claudius. Set in 1st-century Rome, this novel is packed with enough intrigue, murder, greed, and lust to make contemporary Washington, D.C., look tame.
6. "Master of the Senate," by Robert A. Caro
Many readers call this book one of the finest political biographies of a generation. In the third of a four-part series, award-winning biographer Robert A. Caro follows the life of Lyndon Baines Johnson from 1949 to 1960, the years in which Johnson, one of the most politically talented men Washington has ever seen, consolidated his hold over the US Senate. At the center of this story are both the power-hungry Johnson and the US system itself.
7. "The Bonfire of the Vanities," by Tom Wolfe
Tom Wolfe’s story of a New York bond trader caught up in a hit-and-run accident magnificently skewers the greed of 1990s New York, even as it tells a larger story about power and access and how both can serve to warp democratic ideals.
8. "The Butler," by Wil Haygood
Washington Post correspondent Wil Haygood blends the political with the personal in this portrait of White House butler Eugene Allen. Allen, an African-American, served eight US presidents (from Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan) for 34 years – a span of time that included remarkable gains in civil rights. A movie based on this story, directed by Lee Daniels and starring Forest Whitaker, is scheduled for release this month.
9. "The Handmaid’s Tale," by Margaret Atwood
In the near future, in the Republic of Gilead, a theocratic state rules and keeps women in a state of subjugation. This 1985 classic by Canadian master Margaret Atwood explores power and the ways in which women allow it to be lost and won.
10. "The Nine," by Jeffrey Toobin
The judicial branch of the US government has perhaps inspired less literature than the executive and legislative. But journalist Jeffrey Toobin helps to bridge the gap with his fascinating portrait of the US Supreme Court. This nonfiction narrative is so skillfully assembled that it qualifies as a page turner.
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11. "This Town," by Mark Leibovich
Mark Leibovich, chief national correspondent for The New York Times Magazine, takes no prisoners in “This Town,” his tell-all account of life in Washington, D.C. The media, lobbyists, politicians, and their ambitious staff members – no one comes out looking very good in this dark yet lively and compulsively readable account of the real lives of those who traffic in power.
