Posted by Chip Drago of the Mobile Bay Times has asked a wide circle of folks to name the most interesting political book they ever read. Parts one and two (out of three) have been posted.
It’s a fun idea and will give you more than enough reading to get you through August. Yours truly offers up a favorite or two, but what is clear to me is that I should read All the King’s Men. It’s the title easily named most often in the first two posts.
I’d be interested to know what is the most interesting political book you have ever read, as MBT says, “fiction or non-fiction, autobiography, biography, essays, just whatever first came to mind upon considering the question.”
1984 was the first book, followed by Animal Farm, Brave New World and Durant’s The Story of Civilization.
Lincoln by Gore Vidal. Political fiction so to speak.
walt, good choices. I like V.O. Key’s ‘Southern Politics’ (on the list), Toqueville and Pierson’s ‘Toqueville in America’, and anything by Victor Davis Hanson (on the list). McCullough’s work is interesting, too.
BTW, I’m currently reading a biography of Red Warren (‘All the King’s Men’) – can’t wait to see if the nickname was from his hair or his politics…
Anyone who wants to understand Alabama politics should read Fuller Kimbrel’s from the Farm House to the State House.
That, and Dan Carter’s bio on George Wallace, “The Politics of Rage.”
,,, and two books by Grafton & Permaloff, “Big Mules & Branchheads” and “Political Power in Alabama.” Two interesting perspectives are also found in Carl Elliott’s “The Cost of Courage” and John Hayman’s book on Richmond Flowers, “Bitter Harvest.”
The Path to Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 1) by Robert A. Caro. Brilliantly written. Makes you hate and admire LBJ all at the same time. The early chapter on the Texas Hill Country is the finest piece of prose I have ever read and I was an English major.
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972 — Hunter S. Thompson
The Boys on the Bus — Timothy Crouse
The Godfather — Mario Puzo
Plunkitt of Tammany Hall — William Riordan (the best)
Boss — Richard Daley of Chicago — Mike Royko