11 of the Best Books on Politics: U.S. + Global Reads

Universal Basic Income is a concept that is as simple as it sounds: the government gives a fixed amount of money to every single citizen, every month. When this book first came out in 2018, it was a major issue being debated. After the stimulus checks and unemployment assistance given to people during the COVID-19 pandemic, I had assumed it would become even more of a rallying cry. Lowrey presents a deeply researched account of how UBI helps people and how global poverty is perpetuated by uncaring governments. In a time of intense income inequality, her argument for UBI is intensely relevant.

Once again, Kendall’s book is one that seemed to anticipate the problems that arose after its publication: she outlined the many ways in which the contemporary feminist movement was failing as an intersectional political movement. She deftly outlines how white feminists focus on their own power accumulation, while feminism as a way to support marginalized women has fallen to the wayside.

The far-right is an unfortunate fact of life now, and instead of assessing the why, Idriss dives into where these communities are meeting and organizing. Their tactics for recruiting are incredibly powerful and often hide within plain sight. Young people come across far-right ideology constantly on the Internet, and they can become the violent extremists of tomorrow if we don’t intervene early and often to argue against these far-right funnels.

Still a critical voice in the world of political protesting, in 2015, Angela Davis used the summer of protests in 2014 in Ferguson as a jumping off point to discuss the history of protests. That particular summer was a boiling over of many decades-long liberation movements. The global connections between these movements become clear through Davis’s writing.  

Drugs and their effects on communities are a crucial part of American political history. The rise of crack and cocaine in the United States led to an intensification of the drug war and the ballooning of the incarcerated population. Ramsey weaves the accounts of four people whose lives were affected by the drug with the concurrent history of the legal system and policing.

Before moving totally to global politics, it’s necessary to understand how the U.S. wields its military might around the world. Instead of other methods of diplomacy, the writers argue that the U.S. government has resorted to military violence more often than any other solution. There will be far-reaching implications for global politics and life in the United States.

News from Russia can occasionally feel very opaque, so Catherine Belton uses her extensive background in reporting on Moscow to demystify the history of the country and how their current strongman came to power. The Kremlin is filled with political power players with deep roots in Russia’s Soviet era, and they seek to enrich themselves and consolidate power.

Viktor Orbán, president of Hungary, is essentially the face of far-right political extremism in Europe. After the end of the Soviet Union, Hungary was much more liberal, but after his election in 2010, Orbán shifted further and further right. The writer of this book is the founder of the opposition party, Together, and she presents the reasons for Orbán’s success and the ways to resist his party’s autocratic rule.

There’s much more to South Africa’s history than the end of apartheid: from the colonization by the Dutch and the British to the many influential figures who worked alongside Nelson Mandela to end the unequal government rule. South Africa’s liberation struggle had far-reaching implications for global politics as well as the freedom of the people who lived there.