1. The Prize — 20th century history using oil as a lens.
  2. Notes of a Native Son — A collection of essays describing the experience of being a black intellectual in the 1960’s.
  3. A Hero of Our Time — A cynical Byronic hero written by Lermontov in 1841.
  4. The Internationalist — A good history that defends institutions even when they aren’t functional.
  5. Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue — A good overview of the history of taxation and the various ways governments have gotten revenue throughout time.
  6. All the Shah’s Men — Covering the CIA’s invovlement in the 1953 Iranian coup
  7. The Jakarta Method — Horrific accounting of the slaughter of nearly 1M Indonesian civilians in little covered Cold War side theatre.
  8. Thinking Fast and Thinking Slow — A book discussing humans’ 2 system approach to cognition, will be interesting to compare and contrast with Master and His Emissary.
  9. The Last Empire — Covers the final days of the USSR focusing on Gorby, Bush, and everyone’s favorite Boris.
  10. The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future — A book written about the US grid and its deteriorating condition
  11. Mother Night — Vonnegut creates a fictional Nazi spy who’s loyalty is questionable. 12 A New World Begins — The French Revolution was a polarizing current event in young America. Popkin gives a good bird’s eye view.