Oh, so you’re also into research?! Cool cool

Here are the books I have read or referenced in researching for Bean Thinking that have informed my worldview.

Note that I do not necessarily recommend these books

For my recommendations, see my top 5 democracy books list.

This is just a running list of the books I’ve read or referenced within my research. You can often learn a lot about your own views by reading books that you vehemently disagree with. You can learn about the origins of our current discourse by reading outdated viewpoints that were popular in their time. There are some books that you may only read in selected chapters. Several books below fall into each of those categories for me. They’ve all been informative in their own ways.

These books span a range of topics including democracy, governance, justice, power, society, media, knowledge, culture, race, spirituality, and the meaning of life. All are related to how we can live better lives within a better society.

This list is in reverse chronological order by year published, then by title. It will be updated periodically as I continue my reading.

Enjoy!

Bean Thinking Bibliography

The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society, Joseph E Stiglitz (2024)

Everyday Utopia: What 2,000 Years of Wild Experiments Can Teach Us About the Good Life, Kristen R. Ghodsee (2023)

Justice by Means of Democracy, Danielle Allen (2023)

Poverty, By America, Matthew Desmond (2023)

The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market, Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway (2023)

The Case for Cancel Culture: How This Democratic Tool Works to Liberate Us All, Ernest Owens (2023)

The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism, Martin Wolf (2023)

The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time, Yascha Mounk (2023)

Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point, Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt (2023)

Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else), Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò (2022)

Freedom’s Dominion: A saga of white resistance to federal power, Jefferson Cowie (2022)

How to be Perfect: The correct answer to every moral question, Michael Schur (2022)

Liberalism and Its Discontents, Francis Fukuyama (2022)

Of Boys and Men: Why the modern male is struggling, why it matters, and what to do about it, Richard V. Reeves (2022)

Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making, Deborah Stone (2022)

The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics, Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith (2022)

The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure, Yascha Mounk (2022)

The Paradox of Democracy: Free Speech, Open Media, and Perilous Persuasion, Zac Gershberg, Sean Illing (2022)

The Persuaders: At the frontlines of the fight for hearts, minds, and democracy, Anand Giridharadas (2022)

Four Thousand Weeks: Time management for mortals, Oliver Burkeman (2021)

High Conflict: Why we get trapped and how to get out, Amanda Ripley (2021)

Laziness Does Not Exist, Devon Price (2021)

Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed or Fail, Ray Dalio (2021)

The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth, Jonathan Rauch (2021)

When The Stars Begin to Fall: Overcoming Racism and Renewing the Promise of America, Theodore Johnson (2021)

Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone, Sarah Jaffe (2021)

And: Making a Difference by Leveraging Polarity, Paradox, or Dilemma - Vol 1 Foundations, Barry Johnson (2020)

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, Isabel Wilkerson (2020)

Four Threats: The Recurring Crises of American Democracy, Suzanne Mettler, Robert C. Lieberman (2020)

Mistrust: Why Losing Faith in Institutions Provides the Tools to Transform Them, Ethan Zuckerman (2020)

The Communism of Love: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Exchange Value, Richard Gilman-Opalsy (2020)

The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good?, Michael Sandel (2020)

Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism, Anne Applebaum (2020)

Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions, Jeffrey Selingo (2020)

Why We’re Polarized, Ezra Klein (2020)

Worked Over: How Round-the-Clock Work Is Killing the American Dream, Jamie K. McCallum (2020)

How the Bible Actually Works: In Which I Explain How An Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answers―and Why That's Great News, Peter Enns (2019)

How to Be An Antiracist, Ibram X. Kendi (2019)

Scepticism: A Very Short Introduction, Duncan Pritchard (2019)

The Economists' Hour: False prophets, free markets, and the fracture of society, Binyamin Appelbaum (2019)

The History of Philosophy, A. C. Grayling (2019)

Democracy and Truth: A Short History, Sophia Rosenfeld (2018)

How Democracies Die, Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt (2018)

How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, Jason Stanley (2018)

Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 50th Anniversary Edition, Paulo Freire (2018)

Sociology: A Very Short Introduction, Steve Bruce (2018)

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, Shoshana Zuboff (2018)

The Laws of Human Nature, Robert Greene (2018)

The US Constitution: A Very Short Introduction, David J. Bodenhamer (2018)

These Truths: A History of the United States, Jill Lepore (2018)

White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, Robin DiAngelo (2018)

Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World, Anand Giridharadas (2018)

Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation's Capital, Chris Myers Asch and George Derek Musgrov (2017)

Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds, Adrienne Maree Brown (2017)

How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain, Lisa Feldman Barrett (2017)

The Death of Expertise: The Campaign against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters, Nichols, Tom (2017)

Thinking and Reasoning: A Very Short Introduction, Jonathan St B. T. Evans (2017)

We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy, Ta-Nehisi Coates (2017)

You’re More Powerful Than You Think: A Citizen’s Guide to Making Change Happen, Eric Liu (2017)

Conflict is not abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repair, Sarah Schulman (2016)

Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government, Christopher Achen, Larry Bartels (2016)

Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement, Angela Davis (2016)

Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality, Danielle Allen (2015)

So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, Jon Ronson (2015)

Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect, Bill Kovach & Tom Rosenstiel (2014)

Knowledge: A Very Short Introduction, Jennifer Nagel (2014)

Theology: A Very Short Introduction, David Ford (2014)

We Should All Be Feminists, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2014)

Edmund Burke: The First Conservative, Jesse Norman (2013)

How Change Happens--or Doesn't: The Politics of US Public Policy, Elaine C. Kamarck (2013)

Political Emotions: Why Love Matters for Justice, Martha C. Nussbaum (2013)

The Courage to be Disliked: The Japanese Phenomenon that shows you how to change your life and achieve real happiness, Ichiro Kishimi (2013)

A Gift of Love: Sermons From "Strength To Love" and Other Preachings, Martin Luther King Jr. (2012)

Governance: A Very Short Introduction, Mark Bevir (2012)

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, Jonathan Haidt (2012)

Trust: A Very Short Introduction, Katherine Hawley (2012)

Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, Switzler (2011)

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari (2011)

Why Marx Was Right, Terry Eagleton (2011)

Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error, Kathryn Schulz (2010)

Neoliberalism: A Very Short Introduction, Manfred B. Steger, Ravi K. Roy (2010)

Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?, Mark Fisher (2009)

Democracy Incorporated, Sheldon Wolin (2008)

The Spirit of Democracy: The struggle to build free societies throughout the world, Larry Diamond (2008)

Economics: A Very Short Introduction, Partha Dasgupta (2007)

Game Theory: A Very Short Introduction, Ken Binmore (2007)

Racism: A Very Short Introduction, Ali Rattansi (2007)

The Meaning of Life: A Very Short Introduction, Terry Eagleton (2007)

The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself, Michael A. Singer (2007)

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, Eckhart Tolle (2006)

Mating in Captivity: Reconciling the Erotic & the Domestic, Esther Perel (2006)

Philosophy of Law: A Very Short Introduction, Raymond Wacks (2006)

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, Barak Obama (2006)

A Brief History of Neoliberalism, David Harvey (2005)

When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America, Ira Katznelson (2005)

Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction, Colin Ward (2004)

What’s the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America, Thomas Frank (2004)

Ideology: A Very Short Introduction, Michael Freeden (2003)

Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction, David Miller (2003)

Democracy: A Very Short Introduction, Bernard Crick (2002)

Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, Edward S. Herman, Noam Chomsky (2002)

Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction, Simon Critchley (2001)

Ethics: A Very Short Introduction, Simon Blackburn (2001)

Marx in 90 minutes, Paul Strathern (2001)

The Art of Seduction, Robert Greene (2001)

Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Robert D. Putnam (2000)

Politics: A Very Short Introduction, Kenneth Minogue (2000)

Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction, Peter Just and John D. Monaghan (2000)

All About Love: New Visions, Bell Hooks (1999)

Confrontational Politics, H. L. Richardson (1998)

The 48 Laws of Power, Robert Greene (1998)

Conservatism: An Anthology of Social and Political Thought from David Hume to the Present, Jerry Z. Muller (1997)

Race Matters, Cornel West (1993)

Why Government is the Problem, Milton Friedman (1993)

Freedom Volume 1: Freedom in the Making of Western Culture, Orlando Patterson (1992)

Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems, Barry Johnson (1992)

Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, Neil Postman, Andrew Postman (1985)

Sister Outsider, Audre Lorde (1984)

Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism, Bell Hooks (1981)

A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn (1980)

Aristotle for Everybody, Mortimer J. Adler (1978)

Anarchy, State and Utopia, Robert Nozick (1974)

A Theory of Justice, John Rawls (1971)

Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals, Saul Alinsky (1971)

Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?, Martin Luther King Jr. (1967)

The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin (1963)

Capitalism and Freedom, Milton Friedman (1962)

The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hanna Arendt (1951)

New Seeds of Contemplation, Thomas Merton (1949)

Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl (1946)

The Road to Serfdom, Fredrick Hayek (1944)

Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Karl Marx (1932)

Propaganda, Edward Bernays (1928)

The Public and its Problems, John Dewey (1927)

Public Opinion, Walter Lippmann (1922)

Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education, John Dewey (1916)

The Conquest of Bread, Peter Kropotkin (1892)

On Liberty, John Stuart Mill (1859)

The Law, Frédéric Bastiat (1850)

The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx (1848)

Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville (1835)

The Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1788)

The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith (1776)

The Social Contract, Jean Jacques Rousseau (1762)

The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith (1759)

A Treatise of Human Nature: Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects, David Hume (1739)

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke (1689)

Leviathan: or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil, Thomas Hobbes (1651)

The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli (1532)

Tao Te Ching, Lao-Tzu, Translation by Jon Minford, (original ca. 4 B.C.E.)

The Art of War, Sun Tzu (5 B.C.E.)

Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle (ca. 340 B.C.E.)

Poetics, Aristotle (ca. 350 B.C.E.)

The Republic, Plato ca. (375 B.C.E.)