These books on current events are strongly recommended because they so clearly delineate the malignant powers that are poisoning our society, exhibit how even people of the highest intentions and most heartfelt goodwill are letting it happen, and what we can \u2013 and must \u2013 do to ensure our freedoms and democratic way of life survive.<\/p>\n
The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism. 2019.\u00a0 By Katherine Stewart.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a> Religious nationalism is a movement that has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with extreme rightwing\u00a0 politics,\u00a0 and if not stopped it will destroy American democracy.\u00a0 (This book was the basis for the 2024 documentary God and Country<\/em>.)<\/p>\n The Demagogue\u2019s Playbook: The Battle for American Democracy from the Founders to Trump. 2020.\u00a0 By Eric A. Posner.<\/a>\u00a0 <\/strong>The primary fear of America\u2019s founders was that a demagogue would someday become president, and it happened when Donald Trump was elected.\u00a0 Posner offers a blueprint on how we can prevent that from ever happening again.<\/p>\n Why You Should Be a Socialist. 2021. By Nathan J. Robinson.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/a>Robinson shows , especially for doubters, why leftist politics are not just consistent and reasonable, but why elementary moral principles compel us all to be leftists and socialists.<\/p>\n The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness. 2010. By Michelle Alexander.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/a>How our society willingly and legally uses America\u2019s criminal codes to keep millions of Black people second-class citizens, and how well-meaning liberals let it happen.<\/p>\n Rebellion: How Antiliberalism Is Tearing America Apart\u2014Again. 2024. By Robert Kagan.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/a>\u00a0If\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0<\/strong>loses the 2024 election but refuses to accept the result, he is likely to call on his millions of followers to repudiate those results. That could lead to GOP-dominated states rejecting the federal government\u2019s legitimacy and effectively seceding,\u00a0 which could devastate\u00a0 America and the world.<\/p>\n The Isis Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State. 2015.\u00a0 By William McCants.<\/a>\u00a0 <\/strong>An exploration of how ISIS\u2019 leaders used religious fervor and doomsday prophecy to build the most vicious, and most successful, jihadist group in modern history.<\/p>\n Never Trump: The Revolt of the Conservative Elites. 2020. By Robert P. Saldin and Steven M. Teles.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/a>When it appeared Donald Trump would become the Republican Party\u2019s nominee for president in 2016, policy elites and conservative intellectuals formed the Never Trump movement to stop him \u2013 and they failed miserably.\u00a0 Never Trump<\/em> examines the reasons behind this unprecedented intra-party movement, why it failed, and its long-term consequences.<\/p>\n Unrigged: How Americans are Battling Back to Save Democracy. 2020. By David Daley.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/a>Republican operatives weaponized gerrymandering across the nation in 2020 to entrench GOP power in state and federal elections but, thanks largely to unrelenting grassroots efforts, their gains are being reversed.<\/p>\n