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Polling Power!

Ring in the election season with a few life-changing polls. Goodreads members have already added heaps of polls about books and authors, but this month we noticed a few with a decidedly political bent. No matter where you're from, place your vote on Goodreads, and if you're an American citizen, please don't forget to vote for real on November 4! Find voter registration info in your state »




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Movers & Shakers: Special Political Edition

Home state, swing state, red state, blue state. It doesn't matter whether you lean right, left, or perpendicular, Goodreads can tell you what's hot in political nonfiction. Goodreads members from all shades of the political spectrum have posted some fascinating reviews, so why not read across a few party lines? If you're a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, check out a red book. If you're a staunch conservative, try something blue. If you can't decide, try some "purple" books, which Goodreaders praise for their neutral analysis of current events. Tell us what you think of these picks and more by voting on the Best Books to Become an Informed Voter list!

Blue Books

This Land Is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation by Barbara Ehrenreich
The author of Nickel and Dimed applies her signature wit to her new book about socioeconomic inequality. In each chapter, Ehrenreich takes on employment, health care, and other high-octane subjects. Goodreads member Izzy says, "It's a serious book tackling some depressing, frightening issues, so it helps that Ehrenreich has a sharp sense of humor."

The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals by Jane Mayer
New Yorker writer Mayer delineates how the war on terror has eroded constitutional rights and undermined national security. Goodreads member Maggie says, "Mayer lets the events speak for themselves, lending the narrative an unmistakable air of credibility."

Taking on the System: Rules for Radical Change in a Digital Era by Markos Moulitsas Zuniga
The founder of the popular blog Daily Kos describes how to use the power of the Internet for "netroots" activism. Goodreads member Dalebrayden describes the author as "an astute analyst of the media and society," and Aaron calls the book "a must-read for anyone politically-minded."

Red Books

Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream by Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam
Two writers from The Atlantic outline how the Republican party should alter its message to regain strength. Goodreads member Jeffrey calls the book "a call to arms for the GOP. Even though times are as tough for the party as they have ever been, there is still some hope."

Economic Facts and Fallacies by Thomas Sowell
A respected economist and Hoover fellow at Stanford University, Sowell debunks common economic misconceptions for the layman. Goodreads member Andrew says, "This book is particularly timely to read in an election year, as Sowell cuts through the plausible-sounding economic fallacies that have given rise to so many destructive policies."

A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity: A Memoir by Bill O'Reilly
An issues-based memoir from the popular host of The O'Reilly Factor. Goodreads member Brian says, "Bill can tell a fantastic story. He examines the reasons why he holds certain beliefs. I couldn't help compare his analysis of his 'why' to my own personal belief system."

Purple Books

The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism by Andrew J. Bacevich
A veteran turned professor of international relations examines how excessive consumption in American culture has led the country astray in both economic and foreign policy. Goodreads member Janet says, "This book is a quick read, but not a quick think. It is worthy of serious reflection, especially as each of us is about to vote for new political leaders."

The Forever War by Dexter Filkins
Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times correspondent Filkins recounts his experiences on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. Goodreads member Jim calls the book "a first-person account, carefully observed and plainly written. It's unpretentious and deeply-felt; whatever rage and futility he feels is between the lines, present but unobtrusive."

Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism by Kevin Phillips
Phillips predicts that the collapse of the U.S. financial sector foreshadows the end of America's superpower status. Goodreads member Michael says Phillips "will straight up make you understand what's going on in the current economic crisis. If you want to educate yourself, read this book."

Interview with Thomas Frank — Goodreads Exclusive

Don't let Thomas Frank's job at the conservative Wall Street Journal fool you — he is liberal and proud of it. The bestselling author of What's the Matter with Kansas? has a new book called The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule, which theorizes that conservatives have been systematically dismantling government for years and spreading the myth that bureaucracy doesn't work. Frank is also the founding editor of The Baffler and a contributing editor at Harper's. He talked with Goodreads about why the bailout makes him angry, the hidden uses of whiskey and hot baths, and what he predicts for the next president.

Goodreads: Let's talk about The Wrecking Crew. What motivated you to write this book?

Thomas Frank: It started when I moved to Washington, D.C., in 2003, which was high noon for Republican rule. They had both Congress and the White House, and of course the Supreme Court, which they've had for a long time. They were totally unembarrassed by their excess. They were right out in the open about everything and on top of the world. Then the corruption scandals started coming in. The Abramoff scandal broke in 2004 and really captured my imagination, because it was such a crazy story. I had been in College Republicans a long time ago, and I knew there had to be more to the story, so I started digging.

By moving to the city, I also realized that Washington is the richest metro area in America. This is a recent development, so it shocked me. It occurred to me that somebody had to theorize this place. We have lots of theories about what's wrong with Washington, but they tend to be the theories developed by the right back in the 1970s about liberals. Even when someone like George Bush goes wrong, conservatives say, "Well, he's become liberal." Liberalism is the root of all evil, and when someone does something wrong it is because they've become more liberal. But that theory really doesn't hold water, and very obviously so. These people I was watching roll around Washington, eating their fine meals at the lobbyist restaurants, all the awful stories that were in the news in '04, '05, and '06 — these people were not liberals. There's no definition of the word by which they would qualify. So we had to have a different theory. So my object was to come up with the theory for the conservative state — what made it tick and what explained everything from the corruption to the mismanagement of the federal agencies.

GR: The Washington culture you describe is so entrenched. What can the next administration do? How do you foresee either McCain or Obama responding to this system?

TF: It's funny because they're both running as reformers and they both have some credibility on that subject. McCain is, after all, the man who busted Jack Abramoff, and he was very good on some of the contractor scandals. In fact, when I came to Washington, I really liked John McCain. I thought he was pretty cool, but I don't think that anymore. Something has gone wrong with him, just in the last year or so. It's disheartening to watch him speak now.

So what is it going to take to clean it up? In the superficial sense, they've already started. As soon as the Democrats got in, they passed a lobbying reform measure that changed a lot of the superficial things about lobbying. But for the larger culture of Washington, they have to start over from square one, and I don't think McCain is ready to do that. McCain likes clean government obviously, but he has never criticized the whole politics of contracting out and privatizing, as far as I've seen. I would imagine he would even retain a lot of the Bush administration people when he gets in. He's not going to throw them out.

If Obama gets in, he'll have an enormous task in front of him, but I don't even know if he'll be up to it. It is such a huge, thankless job, because people don't even know that there's something wrong. It comes out in the headlines: Look, we have poisonous spinach! Look, child labor has come back! There are 13-year-olds working at a meat packing plant in Iowa! Or something like that. But there has been no one in the mainstream media saying that all these things are related. So what's Obama's incentive for fixing it? On the other hand, regarding the complete collapse of the financial system, Obama has been very good at pointing the finger at the culprits, whereas McCain has been utterly clueless on the subject.

GR: Do you have any book recommendations for young voters, some perhaps voting for the first time?

TF: Because of what's going on in the economy, this election is basically a referendum on what kind of nation we're going to be and what kind of democracy we're going to be. I'd like to recommend the literature of what's wrong with capitalism — how if you let it just run unregulated, it will self-destruct like it's doing right now, and it will drive millions of people into bankruptcy and kick up unemployment. People haven't written about that in a long time because we've been living in a state where we thought those problems had been solved, and now it turns out they haven't been. The classic book on that subject is called The Great Transformation by Karl Polanyi. It's not the easiest thing to read, but it's the classic indictment of pure, laissez-faire, 19th-century style economics. I get a big kick out of it.

Read the full interview »

Interview with Dick Morris — Goodreads Exclusive

Self-described conservative Dick Morris is credited with masterminding President Bill Clinton's reelection in 1996. But that was a long time ago. These days he's a well-known critic of the Clintons and a bestselling author of political commentary. His latest book, co-written with his wife, Eileen McGann, is called Fleeced: How Barack Obama, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats, Liberals Who Want to Kill Talk Radio, the Do-Nothing Congress, Companies That Help Iran, and Washington Lobbyists for Foreign Governments Are Scamming Us, and What to Do About It, and takes on both the Republicans and Democrats. He's also a frequent commentator on Fox News and a weekly columnist for The New York Post. Morris talked with Goodreads about Fleeced and what campaign advice he has for Senators McCain and Obama.

Goodreads: What does it mean to be "fleeced" in the United States?

Dick Morris: Fleeced talks about the rip-offs that we're exposed to on a daily basis in the United States, which we're seeing coming home to roost on the stock market and with the financial crisis. For example, credit card companies are now charging incredible interest rates, as high as 30% for people who have committed very minor sins — like being a few days late in paying. In fact, sometimes credit card companies raise the interest rates just simply based on another creditor who is complaining that you're late in paying him. You can be perfectly on time in paying credit card A, but because you're late in paying credit card B, credit card A raises your interest rate by 8 or 10 points. Those kinds of practices are just outrageous, and they're the product of no government regulation at all.

And, of course, we have a whole chapter devoted to how the sub-prime crisis got started. We make the point that the people who precipitated that are now long gone. They're not the big Wall Street houses that are going broke now — those are the people who are left holding the paper. The real sinners are people like Countrywide, the mortgage company, the CEO of which has long since bailed out with a $55 million golden parachute. We also talk about Congress' total lack of action on regulation of the sub-prime crisis, regulating of the mortgage lending, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. It is a whole book about rip-offs going on in the United States.

GR: Given your extensive experience in running campaigns, what is your critique of the campaigns run by Senators McCain and Obama? What advice would you give each of them in this final month?

DM: McCain needs to hammer away at one of the things we talk about in the book: the tax increases that Obama has proposed. It is clear that with the current fragility of the economy, tax increases would just tip us over into a horrific depression. We need to realize that the Great Depression was caused not so much by the stock market crash of 1929 as by the tax increases that were passed in 1932, which triggered the big banking crises of 1933, when Roosevelt had to close the banks when he took office.

From Obama's point of view, he is facing a situation where essentially the Iraq war is winding down and his spending programs seem impractical. What he needs to do now is articulate a vision that is relevant to the current situation, rather than simply do what he's done before, which is just to say, "I have my old vision — I'm just going to implement it more slowly."

GR: The majority of Goodreads members are under the age of 40. It follows that we have a lot of young voters. How do you think young voters will affect the presidential race?

DM: This is the first election in which young voters have really played a key role in the campaign. I think they are clearly for Obama. They've had a great deal to do with his surge, and they really made his candidacy possible. A lot of attention is paid to the African American vote, which was significant for Obama, but people under 30 are twice as numerous as African Americans. Their votes have been just as heavily for Obama and just as important. They want change. They want a different kind of political leadership in the country, an end to the war in Iraq, and I think Obama will give them what they want. The story here is not so much the potential of the young vote but the fact that it is actually reshaping this election.

Read the full interview »

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Poem of the Month

Where Are Your Shoes by Charlotte Erickson

There's a rusty water pump
And a bright black snake
Along this dusty road
Child, where are your shoes?

There are fallen coconuts
And huge heaps of garbage
Under this blazing sun
Child, where are your shoes?

There are elephants strolling
And baby goats roaming
Through this tiny village
Child, where are your shoes?

There's a dirty face
And one small, outstretched hand
On a beautiful girl
But child, where are your shoes?

Read more poetry »

With love,

Jessica, Elizabeth, and the Goodreads Team

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