At the end of each episode of The Ezra Klein Show, guests are asked to name three books they think the audience should read. Recommendations from past guests can be found at vox.com/EzraKleinShow.

Patrick Deneen’s book about the flaws of liberalism (as in the philosophy emphasizing personal freedoms, not the political left) Why Liberalism Failed “has been … a slow-building sensation” according to Ezra Klein. On The Ezra Klein Show, Deneen elaborates on those flaws, reminding listeners that “we’re in the midst of a several-century political experiment that we’re still assessing.”

A few of Deneen’s book recommendations, which trace the history of liberal democracy in America, come up over the course of the conversation.

1) Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville

Deneen teaches Alexis de Tocqueville’s classic study of early American democracy at least once a year to his students at Notre Dame. “It never fails to help students see the water that they’re swimming in that is otherwise invisible to them,” he says.

2) The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy by Christopher Lasch

Though the historian Christopher Lasch’s argument that elites are destroying democracy was posthumously published in 1995, Deneen says it’s “still the best diagnosis of our current political crisis in many ways.”

3) Education’s End: Why Our Colleges and Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life by Anthony T. Kronman

Education’s End argues that modern research universities and identity politics have worked together to kill the liberal arts. Deneen finds it valuable because it’s an argument “in defense of something that very few people are defending anymore.”

Bonus: Burr by Gore Vidal

Ezra gave a recommendation of his own during the outro to the podcast: Gore Vidal’s historical novel about Aaron Burr.

Fans of Hamilton will get another perspective on the musical’s conflicted villain. And Ezra points out that it’s also just “refreshing to get a perspective on the founding period that does not view these men as gods and actually understands that in a lot of ways they … were always out to gut each other,” but American democracy survived it.

You can listen to the full conversation with Patrick Deneen on The Ezra Klein Show by subscribing on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, or by streaming the episode here.

At the end of each episode of The Ezra Klein Show, guests are asked to name three books they think the audience should read. Recommendations from past guests can be found at vox.com/EzraKleinShow.

In his new book Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment, Stanford political scientist Francis Fukuyama makes the case that identity politics creates more division and bitterness. On The Ezra Klein Show this week, Fukuyama discusses the history of identity politics, its impact on economic and racial anxieties, and people whose identities are seen as simply politics.

Fukuyama’s recommendations for books “to better understand how identity politics has operated in America or in other societies” argue that our identities are much more tribal that we’d like to believe.

1) Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government by Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels

Political scientists Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels argue against the “folk view of democracy: that we are all these rational, NPR-listening voters that have opinions about policy issues and will vote for representatives that best reflect our policy preferences.” Their research suggests that we instead pick a political party — a team — and support whatever policies our team advocates for.

2) The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt

Jonathan Haidt’s book on moral psychology argues essentially the same thing — that our political decisions are much less rational than we’d like to believe — but “broadens the scope of view not just to politics but to cognitive activity in general.” Fukuyama says, “It’s very depressing if you actually believe in democracy.”

You can listen to the full conversation with Francis Fukuyama on The Ezra Klein Show by subscribing on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, or by streaming the episode here.

At the end of each episode of The Ezra Klein Show, guests are asked to name three books they think the audience should read. Recommendations from past guests can be found at vox.com/EzraKleinShow.

In her recent book, One Person, No Vote (one of New York Times reporter Dahlia Lithwick’s recommendations when she appeared on the show), Carol Anderson traces the racist history of America’s voting laws from its origins in poll taxes and literacy tests to current dog-whistle policies of gerrymandering and stringent ID requirements. She warns that “this kind of systematic, systemic destruction of American citizens’ rights to vote [won’t] leave you feeling that warm, fuzzy, patriotic glow.”

Since Anderson has given general book recommendations on the show before, Ezra specifically asked for books that will give readers “a more realistic history of the American political system.”

1) Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America by Ari Berman

Journalist Ari Berman traces the modern history of American voting rights from the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 to its gutting by the Supreme Court in 2013.

2) White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism by Kevin Kruse
3) One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America by Kevin Kruse

Anderson recommends two of Princeton history professor Kevin Kruse’s books, both of which explore the modern conservative movement. White Flight argues that the migration of white city dwellers to the suburbs caused a major transformation in conservative values; One Nation Under God challenges the idea that America has always been a Christian nation.

4) It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism by Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein

Anderson also recommended this book on the rise of extremism in American politics on her last appearance, saying that it gave her an insight into how the modern Republican Party edged out its more moderate members. Originally published in 2012, the cover of a revised 2016 edition crosses out the word “looks,” changing the title to It’s Even Worse Than It Was.

You can listen to the full conversation with Carol Anderson on The Ezra Klein Show by subscribing on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, or by streaming the episode here.

At the end of each episode of The Ezra Klein Show, guests are asked to name three books they think the audience should read. Recommendations from past guests can be found at vox.com/EzraKleinShow.

The philosopher and author Martha C. Nussbaum is working to recenter emotion in conversations about politics, philosophy, and humanity. Her latest book, The Monarchy of Fear, argues that politics are always emotional and the dominant emotion in this political moment is fear. On The Ezra Klein Show, Nussbaum explains why there’s no hope without fear, the power of “disgust rhetoric” and Donald Trump’s phobic misogyny.

Nussbaum’s book recommendations all “connect to [her] heroes,” from civil rights crusaders to her surprising pick for the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.

1) The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela by Sahm Venter

A collection of letters Nelson Mandela wrote to his family, fellow activists, and government officials while imprisoned was recently published in celebration of the South African revolutionary’s 100th birthday. Nussbaum is currently “reading it hungrily,” finding that “the courage, the generosity [and] the decency of that man as he endured 27 years of imprisonment is surely a lesson of hope.”

2) To Shape a New World: Essays on the Political Philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr. edited by Tommie Shelby and Brandon M. Terry

Nussbaum has an essay in this new collection that looks at the work of Dr. King as a philosopher, rather than a political figure. By examining some lesser-known writings, the authors draw the conclusion that Dr. King was a much more radical thinker than his watered-down legacy would suggest.

3) The Opposite of Woe: My Life in Beer and Politics by John Hickenlooper

The Colorado governor’s autobiography was given to Nussbaum by her son-in-law (a resident of Colorado). She was so impressed by his journey from laid-off geologist to craft beer entrepreneur to popular politician that he’s now “her favorite presidential candidate” for 2020. She points specifically to his “self-knowledge and humor and the ability to work on himself,” along with his economic policies and willingness to work across the aisle, as factors of her support.

You can listen to the full conversation with Martha Nussbaum on The Ezra Klein Show by subscribing on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, or by streaming the episode here.

At the end of each episode of The Ezra Klein Show, guests are asked to name three books they think the audience should read. Recommendations from past guests can be found at vox.com/EzraKleinShow.

David French, conservative author and columnist for National Review, writes about nearly every debatable, sensitive issue in politics right now. After he published an article responding to a conversation on Vox’s The Weeds, Ezra Klein invited him on his own podcast, The Ezra Klein Show, to discuss these controversial topics. Says French of the conversation, “There’s not a third rail we haven’t touched.”

French’s first two book recommendations cover the issues of identity politics and “The Great White Culture War,” which take up the bulk of the conversation on the podcast, but he couldn’t resist injecting some “sci-fi and comic book nerdery” as well.

1) The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt

This book on safe spaces and political correctness on college campuses, based on a 2015 article in the Atlantic, was just released on September 4. French says it is “a fascinating book that touches on a lot of the things that we talked about today, and a lot more,” including the cycle of polarization and the role of anxiety in parenting.

2) Coming Apart by Charles Murray

Charles Murray wrote this 2013 book on the divergence between lower- and upper-class white Americans throughout the second half of the 20th century. French found Coming Apart to be “incredibly insightful, not just on economics but on culture [and] on differences in the white community in the US.”

3) The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey

For “something more fun,” French recommends the near-future science fiction series on which the canceled SyFy show (since bought by Amazon) is based.

You can listen to the full conversation with David French on The Ezra Klein Show by subscribing on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, or by streaming the episode here.

Over the course of his conversation with Ezra Klein, productivity expert and author Chris Bailey discusses the ways our attention is hijacked by everything around us — and how we can get it back. He also talks about what it truly means to be an expert, why we should stop using busyness as a status symbol, and the virtues of knitting (or any other mindless hobby).

Bailey’s recommendations for “productivity books” take a holistic view, covering meditation and nutrition in addition to traditional productivity coaching.

1) Getting Things Done by David Allen

David Allen’s best-selling manual on time management was the book that inspired a teenage Chris Bailey to start thinking about productivity. The central idea, “that our head is for having ideas, not for holding them,” informed much of Bailey’s work in Hyperfocus.

2) Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana

While Bailey finds parts of Bhante Gunaratana’s book on meditation “a bit hippy-dippy,” he credits it as the book that introduced him to mindfulness. (A free PDF of the full book is available online.)

3) How Not to Die by Michael Greger

Michael Greger’s book on the mostly plant-based diet that can help prevent some of the leading causes of death was previously recommended by vegan activist Melanie Joy. Bailey considers it a productivity book because it “will get your back time, one of the most limited ingredients we have to living our lives.”

You can listen to the full conversation with Chris Bailey on The Ezra Klein Show by subscribing on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, or by streaming the episode here.

Author N.K. Jemisin made history last week when she became the first ever three-time winner of the prestigious Hugo Award, an annual prize in science fiction and fantasy publishing. She’s also the first black author to win for Best Novel, and the first author to have every book in a series, the Broken Earth trilogy, awarded the Best Novel prize.

The Broken Earth series, currently in development for a television adaptation, is known for immersive imagery and detailed lore. Jemisin leads a workshop on world-building to share her considerable expertise with sci-fi and fantasy authors. On this week’s episode of The Ezra Klein Show, she agreed to walk Ezra through the exercises she teaches in that course.

While Jemisin finds it hard to recommend books, she does offer up two recommendations from fellow award-winning female science fiction authors.

1) The Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells

Jemisin is “a giant fan” of Martha Wells’s Murderbot series, an “adorable little set of almost old-school science fiction.” The titular Murderbot is a rogue cyborg who works tirelessly to protect humans from themselves, though it would rather be watching soap operas. The latest novella in the series, Exit Strategy, will be released on October 2.

2) Unexpected Stories by Octavia Butler

Groundbreaking science fiction author Octavia Butler died in 2006, but two of her stories were found posthumously and published as an e-book. One of the stories in the volume, “Childfinder,” was commissioned by writer Harlan Ellison to be included in a never-published anthology.

You can listen to the full exercise with N.K. Jemisin on The Ezra Klein Show by subscribing on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, or by streaming the episode here:

When Andrew Yang founded Venture for America, a training and fellowship program for recent graduates looking to work in startups, he had a hopeful view of the economy. As Ezra Klein points out on the most recent episode of The Ezra Klein Show, that view has darkened.

Yang sees a jobless world on the horizon, with automation and AI replacing human workers. He argues in his book The War on Normal People that a universal basic income (UBI) is the best way to ensure a future of “human capitalism,” in which people are valued over dollars. It’s also the core tenet of his 2020 presidential campaign.

In this conversation, Yang elaborates on his campaign platform which includes a UBI, Medicare-for-all, and a value-added tax to pay for it. He also discusses the unfair ways in which certain kinds of work are rewarded over others, why a UBI isn’t as radical an idea as people think, and how the government ignoring big problems in the economy led to the rise of Donald Trump.

Yang’s book recommendations are all for books that he read very recently, and they all touch on topics discussed on the podcast. If you’re interested in learning more about the future of the economy, this is a great place to start.

1) Give People Money: How a Universal Basic Income Would End Poverty, Revolutionize Work, and Remake the World by Annie Lowrey

Annie Lowrey is a journalist covering economic policy at The Atlantic. She also happens to be married to Ezra Klein, but he promises he didn’t push for her book to be included. Yang says that he recommended Give People Money because it “did a fantastic job of talking about UBI around the world … [and] presents a beautiful vision that I’ve committed myself wholeheartedly to making a reality here in the US.”

2) AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order by Kai-Fu Lee

In AI Superpowers, the former head of Google China and expert on artificial intelligence predicts that advancements in AI are going to quickly make irrelevant large swaths of the American workforce. “He’s in the Andrew Yang camp of ‘This is going to get very, very bad and very hairy and very scary pretty quickly,’” according to Yang.

3) Squeezed: Why Our Families Can’t Afford America by Alissa Quart

The latest book by New York Times bestselling author Alissa Quart argues that American has failed its middle class and suggests real policy solutions to fix it. Yang couldn’t resist going into full candidate mode when describing Quart’s thesis. “Americans can’t afford America anymore, which is something that I agree with wholeheartedly. … [It’s] why I think we need to give Americans a raise and the most direct way to make that happen is through UBI.”

Chef Marcus Samuelsson was born in Ethiopia and adopted by Swedish parents; studied in Japan, France, and Switzerland; and opened the Michelin-starred restaurant Red Rooster in Harlem, New York. He is also the host of the new Eater and PBS show No Passport Required, which celebrates immigrant communities in America through food. Ezra Klein recently invited Samuelsson to appear on his podcast as “an extraordinary testament to what is possible when countries open themselves to each other.”

On The Ezra Klein Show, Samuelsson opens up about his experience as an outsider in America, what Donald Trump doesn’t understand about “the incredible city he’s called home for decades,” and how to collaborate between cultures without appropriating them. He also gets emotional about the legacy of his friend Anthony Bourdain, whose show No Reservations broke ground for a show like No Passport Required.

Samuelsson decided to keep his book recommendations to his “two loves that [he’s] had all [his] life”: cooking and soccer.

1) Pelé: The Autobiography by Pelé

In his memoir Yes, Chef, Samuelsson describes his childhood friend tossing the autobiography of the Brazilian soccer superstar Pelé to him, saying it was the first non-school book he ever read. While he admits that it’s not the most well-written of memoirs, “when you’re 8 and you’re a black kid in Sweden looking for your identity, it’s like, ‘Whoa.’”

2) Charlie Trotter’s by Charlie Trotter

“Again, not a great read,” Samuelsson says, adding that every chef he knows owns the first cookbook by Chicago culinary legend Charlie Trotter. The book compiles recipes from Trotter’s eponymous restaurant; the chef’s distinctive style changed the game in American cuisine in the 1990s. Samuelsson credits Trotter as the reason he decided to open a restaurant in the US. “I said, ‘Wherever this guy is, I gotta go,’ and I gathered my money and I went.”

3) And Still I Cook by Leah Chase

And Still I Cook is a cookbook/memoir by the 95-year-old queen of Creole cuisine, Leah Chase. Chase’s New Orleans restaurant, Dooky Chase, was open to all in a time when it was illegal for black and white patrons to eat in the same restaurant. Samuelsson calls Chase his idol and says she represents everything he loves about this country. “She kept on cooking and served everybody until the law changed. What could be more American than a black female owning her own business, raising generational cooks in NOLA?”

You can listen to the full conversation with Marcus Samuelsson on The Ezra Klein Show by subscribing on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, or by streaming the episode here:

Zeynep Tufekci warned us in 2012 that hypertargeted campaign messaging based on massive data operations set a dangerous precedent. Her fears proved to be more than justified. The UNC professor and New York Times columnist appeared on the Ezra Klein Show this week to discuss her thoughts on the intersection of technology and society, radicalization on YouTube, and how social media platforms pull us towards extremes. In this conversation, Tufekci shares her thoughts on media from the Kardashians to 1984, how targeted harassment and fake news are forms of censorship, and why being a reality TV star is the job Donald Trump most excelled at.

When listing book recommendations, Tufekci chose options — all published before 2002 — that will help put the current moment in context. (Earlier in the discussion, Ezra also recommends Amusing Ourselves to Death, which is about television but many of its insights apply to the internet as well.)

1) The Control of Revolution: Technological and Economic Origins of the Information Society by James Beniger

Originally published in 1986, The Control Revolution argues that information technology was developed first and foremost as a means of control. While Beniger mainly talks about controlling means of production, Tufekci thinks “theres a case to be made that increasingly our digital infrastructure is a form of social control.”

2) Ruling the Waves: Cycles of Discovery, Chaos, and Wealth, from the Compass to the Internet by Debora Spar

Harvard Business School professor Debora Spar tracks the history of commercial technological revolutions, from the compass and printing press to television and the early internet. (Ruling the Waves was published in 2001.) According to Tufekci, “it’s a very instructive book to anyone who thinks that technology will not be eventually taken up by power.”

3) Orality and Literacy by Walter Ong

In this classic sociological work, Ong studies cultures with no written language, exploring how society is shaped by media technologies. It’s important to study the shift from an oral to a written culture, according to Tufekci, “because now we’re in something else.”

You can listen to the full conversation with Zeynep Tufekci on The Ezra Klein Show by subscribing on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, or by streaming the episode here: