Need help understanding the upcoming election? Here are a few audiobooks to help you make sense of the current political climate.
Written by Robert Penn Warren
Performed by Michael Emerson
Published by Recorded Books
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize
All the King’s Men tells the story of Willie Stark, a southern-fried politician who builds support by appealing to the common man and playing dirty politics with the best of the back-room deal-makers. Though Stark quickly sheds his idealism, his right-hand man, Jack Burden — who narrates the story — retains it and proves to be a thorn in the new governor’s side. Stark becomes a successful leader, but at a very high price, one that eventually costs him his life. The award-winning book is a play of politics, society and personal affairs, all wrapped in the cloak of history.
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72
Written by Hunter S. Thompson
Performed by Scott Sowers
Published by Recorded Books
“The best account yet published of what it feels like to be out there in the middle of the American political process.” — The New York Times Book Review
Hilarious, terrifying, insightful, and compulsively readable, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 is an epic political adventure that captures the feel of the American democratic process better than any other book ever written—and that is just as relevant to the many ills and issues roiling the nation today.
Written by Max Boot
Performed by Graham Winton
Published by Recorded Books
Named one of the “Nonfiction Books to Read This Fall” by NPR and the New York Times
Instant New York Times Bestseller
In this “monumental and impressive” biography, Max Boot, the distinguished political columnist, illuminates the untold story of Ronald Reagan, revealing the man behind the mythology.
The Grift: The Downward Spiral of Black Republicans from the Party of Lincoln to the Cult of Trump
Written by Clay Cane
Performed by Clay Cane
Published by Recorded Books
Instant New York Times and USA Today Bestseller
Part history and part cultural analysis, The Grift chronicles the nuanced history of Black Republicans. Clay Cane lays out how Black Republicanism has been mangled by opportunists who are apologists for racism.
Women Money Power: The Rise and Fall of Economic Equality
Written by Josie Cox
Performed by Josie Cox
Published by Recorded Books
“A necessary and riveting read.”―Francesca Donner, former gender director at the New York Times
A narrative history of women fighting for financial freedom, and the social and political hurdles that have kept them from equality. Cox delves deep into the challenges women face today and the culture and systems that hold them back. This is a fascinating narrative account of progress, women’s lives, and the work that remains to be done.
A Seat at the Table: The Life and Times of Shirley Chisholm
Written by Drs. Glenn L. Starks and F. Erik Brooks
Performed by Kim Staunton
Published by Recorded Books
Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisolm rose from being the child of immigrants to running for the highest office in the land. She was both the first African American woman elected to the US Congress and the first African American woman of a major political party to make a serious run for president of the United States.
Get Off My Neck: Black Lives, White Justice, and a Former Prosecutor’s Quest for Reform
Written by Debbie Hines
Performed by Karen Chilton
Published by Recorded Books
In Get Off My Neck, Debbie Hines draws on her unique perspective as a trial lawyer, former Baltimore prosecutor, and assistant attorney general for the State of Maryland to argue that US prosecutors, as the most powerful players in the criminal justice system, systematically target and criminalize Black people.
The Klansman’s Son: My Journey from White Nationalism to Antiracism
Written by R. Derek Black
Performed by R. Derek Black
Published by Recorded Books
“The Klansman’s Son is a must-read for all who hunger for hope in these cruel times.” ―Nancy MacLean, author of Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan f
From the former heir apparent to White nationalism, an astonishing memoir of a childhood built on fear, and of breaking from a community of hate.
We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite
Written by Musa al-Gharbi
Performed by Musa al-Gharbi
Published by Recorded Books
We Have Never Been Woke details how the language of social justice is increasingly used to justify this elite—and to portray the losers in the knowledge economy as deserving their lot because they think or say the “wrong” things about race, gender, and sexuality. Al-Gharbi’s point is not to accuse symbolic capitalists of hypocrisy or cynicism. Rather, he examines how their genuine beliefs prevent them from recognizing how they contribute to social problems—or how their actions regularly provoke backlash against the social justice causes they champion.
What It Takes: The Way to the White House
Written by Richard Ben Cramer
Performed by Keith Sellon-Wright
Published by Tantor Audio
An American Iliad in the guise of contemporary political reportage, What It Takes penetrates the mystery at the heart of all presidential campaigns: How do presumably ordinary people acquire that mixture of ambition, stamina, and pure shamelessness that makes a true candidate?
The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History
Written by Ned Blackhawk
Performed by Jason Grasl
Published by Tantor Audio
National Bestseller
Named a best book of 2023 by New Yorker, Esquire, Publishers Weekly, Barnes & Noble
Winner of the 2023 National Book Award in Nonfiction
Finalist for the 2023 Los Angeles Times Book Award in History
Winner of 2024 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Nonfiction
Winner of the 2024 Mark Lynton History Prize
The most enduring feature of US history is the presence of Native Americans, yet most histories focus on Europeans and their descendants. This long practice of ignoring Indigenous history is changing, however, with a new generation of scholars insists that any full American history address the struggle, survival, and resurgence of American Indian nations. Indigenous history is essential to understanding the evolution of modern America.
Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People – and the Fight to Resist It
Written by Ari Berman
Performed by Gary Tiedemann
Published by Tantor Audio
Chilling and revelatory, Minority Rule exposes the long history of the conflict between white supremacy and multiracial democracy that has reached a fever pitch today—while also telling the inspiring story of resistance to these regressive efforts.
