November 2016 may seem far away, but with the presidential campaign now underway, the news will soon be all politics, all the time. This fall’s politics and current events books explore many of the issues that will be central to the coming campaign, and there’s no shortage of punditry from both the right and the left.

Politics & Current Events Top 10

Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS

Joby Warrick. Doubleday, Sept. 29

Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Warrick reveals how the group spread with the unwitting aid of American military intervention.

The Court and the World: American Law and the New Global Realities

Stephen Breyer. Knopf, Sept. 15

With some of the most important decisions in years about to come down, a Supreme Court justice sheds light on how globalization influences America’s highest court.

The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America’s Secret Government

David Talbot. HarperCollins, Oct. 13

As the debate continues around privacy and intelligence gathering, Talbot, the founder of Salon, offers a portrait of Allen Dulles, the man who transformed the CIA.

Fracture: Barack Obama, the Clintons, and the Racial Divide

Joy-Ann Reid. Morrow, Sept. 8

Journalist and MSNBC correspondent Reid charts the complicated political relationship between Barack Obama and Bill and Hillary Clinton—just in time for campaign season.

Killing the Messenger: My Showdown with Fox, Limbaugh, the Koch Brothers, and the Right Wing Conspiracy to Steal the Election

David Brock. Hachette/Twelve, Sept. 15

The bestselling author and founder of Media Matters describes how conservatives will seek to “tear apart” Americans in the next election cycle.

A More Perfect Union: What We the People Can Do to Reclaim Our Constitutional Liberties

Ben and Candy Carson. Penguin/Sentinel, Oct. 6

As his campaign gets rolling, bestselling author, neurosurgeon, and Republican presidential candidate Carson offers his views on the Constitution.

The Nixon Tapes: 1973

Douglas Brinkley and Luke Nichter. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Sept. 22

Historians Brinkley and Nichter provide insight into Nixon’s presidency, and his downfall, based on more than 3,700 hours of recorded conversations.

The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools?

Dale Russakoff. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Sept. 8

Education will be a centerpiece in the upcoming presidential campaign, and this insightful book, written by a veteran Washington Post reporter, will grab headlines.

Saving Gotham: A Billionaire Mayor, Activist Doctors, and the Fight for Eight Million Lives

Tom Farley. Norton, Oct. 13

This is the fascinating inside story of how New York City banned smoking in bars, outlawed trans fats in restaurants, and attempted to cap the size of sugary drinks.

Then Comes Marriage: United States v. Windsor and the Defeat of DOMA

Roberta Kaplan, with Lisa Dickey. Norton, Oct. 5

With the Supreme Court set to issue another ruling on same-sex marriage, this inside account of defeating of DOMA will stand out.

Politics & Current Events Listings

Agate Midway

(dist. by PGW)

Behind the Smile: A Story of Carol Moseley Braun’s Historic Senate Campaign by Jeannie Morris (Sept. 15, hardcover, $27, ISBN 978-1-57284-176-5). In 1992, Carol Moseley Braun became the first, and to this day only, African-American woman elected to the U.S. Senate. Morris casts her story as an important precursor to Barack Obama’s senatorial and presidential runs.

Amistad

Where Everybody Looks Like Me: At the Crossroads of America’s Black Colleges and Culture by Ron Stodghill (Sept. 22, hardcover, $26.99, ISBN 978-0-06-232323-1). A richly reported account of the forces threatening America’s historic black colleges and universities—and how diverse leaders nationwide are struggling to keep these institutions and black culture alive for future generations.

Basic

Don’t Tell Me to Wait: How the Fight for Gay Rights Changed America and Transformed Obama’s Presidency by Kerry Eleveld (Nov. 10, hardcover, $26.99, ISBN 978-0-465-07489-1).

A boots-on-the-ground account of how gay rights activists pushed President Obama to the political tipping point on same-sex marriage, a historic, critical victory for the LGBT movement.

Wealth, Poverty and Politics: An International Perspective by Thomas Sowell (Sept. 8, hardcover, $28.99, ISBN 978-0-465-08293-3) One of the nation’s foremost conservative intellectuals counters recent works by Thomas Piketty, Paul Krugman, and others on the left and posits that our recent political and ideological struggles have led to dangerous confusion about income inequality in America.

Beacon

The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science Is Still a Boys’ Club by Eileen Pollack (Sept. 15, hardcover, $27.95, ISBN 978-0-8070-4657-9). A personal exploration of the cultural, social, psychological, and institutional barriers confronting women in the hard sciences and an illuminating look at the struggles women in the sciences are often hesitant to admit.

Bloomsbury

The Health Gap: The Challenge of an Unequal World by Michael Marmot (Nov. 3, hardcover, $28, ISBN 978-1-63286-078-1). One of the world’s leading doctors and public intellectuals reveals social injustice to be the greatest killer in the world, and explains how socioeconomic status directly affects health.

Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe Conspiracy Theories and Why It Matters by Rob Brotherton (Nov. 17, hardcover, $27, ISBN 978-1-4729-1561-0). Think conspiracy theorists are just a handful of people who wear tin-foil hats and have ideas about shape-shifting reptilian aliens? Think again. This book looks at how conspiracy theories have existed throughout history, from ancient Athens and Rome to present-day theories about 9/11 and who shot J.F.K., and decodes the psychology behind these beliefs.

Crown

Democracy in Black: How Race Still Governs the American Soul by Eddie S. Glaude Jr. (Jan. 12, hardcover, $26, ISBN 978-0-8041-3741-6). Princeton professor Glaude offers a powerful polemic on the state of black America. Part manifesto, part history, and part memoir, Glaude breaks down the forces that have conspired to deepen the impoverishment of black communities.

Lights Out: A Cyberattack, a Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath by Ted Koppel (Oct. 27, hardcover, $26, ISBN 978-0-553-41996-2). Renowned broadcast journalist Koppel reports that a major cyberattack on America’s power grid is not only possible but likely, and that the United States is unprepared.

Crown Forum

How to Be Right: The Art of Being Persuasively Correct by Greg Gutfeld (Oct. 27, hardcover, $25, ISBN 978-1-101-90362-9). Gutfield, a Fox News star and bestselling author of Not Cool, outlines the quirky debate tactics that have propelled him to the top of the conservative sphere, and will help readers to win any argument.

Doubleday

Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS by Joby Warrick (Sept. 29, hardcover, $28.95, ISBN 978-0-385-53821-3). Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Warrick offers a heart-pounding, moment-by-moment look at the rise of ISIS, and reveals how this strain of militant Islam spread with the unwitting aid of American military intervention.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Doomed to Succeed: The U.S.-Israel Relationship from Truman to Obama by Dennis Ross (Oct. 13, hardcover, $30, ISBN 978-0-374-14146-2). A Middle East policy maker and former Clinton envoy for Arab-Israeli peace, presents a detailed account of America’s changing relationship with Israel.

Worldmaking: The Art and Science of American Diplomacy by David Milne (Sept. 22, hardcover, $30, ISBN 978-0-374-29256-0). In this panoramic work, historian Milne suggests that U.S. foreign policy has been crucially divided between those who view statecraft as an art, and those who believe it can aspire toward the certainties of science.

Hachette

Hunting Season: James Foley, ISIS, and the Kidnapping Campaign That Started a War by James Harkin (Nov. 10, hardcover, $27, ISBN 978-0-316-30517-4). Based on his groundbreaking reporting for Vanity Fair, Harkin offers a harrowing investigation into the abduction, captivity, and execution of American journalist James Foley and the fate of more than two dozen other ISIS hostages.

Too Dumb to Fail: How the GOP Won Elections by Sacrificing Its Ideas (and How It Can Reclaim Its Conservative Roots) by Matt K. Lewis (Jan. 26, hardcover, $28, ISBN 978-0-316-38393-6). A leading voice among young conservatives proffers an impassioned argument that to stay relevant the Republican Party must look beyond short-term electoral gains and recommit to “historic” conservative values.

Hachette/Twelve

Killing the Messenger: My Showdown with Fox, Limbaugh, the Koch Brothers, and the Right Wing Conspiracy to Steal the Election by David Brock (Sept. 15, hardcover, $28, ISBN 978-1-4555-3376-3). A bestselling author and the founder of Media Matters, Brock looks at how conservatives will seek to “tear apart” Americans in the next election cycle, and how engaged and informed citizens can combat this strategy.

Harper

The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America’s Secret Government by David Talbot (Oct. 13, hardcover, $29.99, ISBN 978-0-06-227616-2) is an explosive portrait of Allen Dulles, the man who transformed the CIA into the most powerful and secretive colossus in Washington, by the founder of Salon and bestselling author of Brothers.

Harvard Univ.

Black Silent Majority: The Rockefeller Drug Laws and the Politics of Punishment by Michael Javen Fortner (Sept. 7, hardcover, $29.95, ISBN 978-0-674-74399-1) shows how punitive policies, aggressive policing, and draconian sentencing have disproportionately imprisoned millions of African-Americans for drug-related offenses.

Divergent Paths: The Academy and the Judiciary by Richard A. Posner (Jan. 4, hardcover, $29.95, ISBN 978-0-674-28603-0). The high-profile federal judge turns his attention to what he sees as a widening gap within the legal profession, between judges and legal scholars, who increasingly talk past one another.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The Nixon Tapes: 1973 by Douglas Brinkley and Luke Nichter (Sept. 22, hardcover, $35, ISBN 978-0-544-61053-8). Culled from more than 3,700 hours of recorded conversations released after 2010, this unprecedented work examines Nixon’s momentous presidency and the blueprint for his downfall.

The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools? by Dale Russakoff (Sept. 8, hardcover, $27, ISBN 978-0-547-84005-5). A veteran Washington Post reporter, Russakoff captures the titanic struggle over the future of education in the U.S., and a cautionary tale for those who care about the shape of America’s schools.

Knopf

The Court and the World: American Law and the New Global Realities by Stephen Breyer (Sept. 15, hardcover, $27.95, ISBN 978-1-101-94619-0). Supreme Court justice Breyer provides a fascinating account of how an increasingly globalized and interdependent world influences the deliberations of America’s highest court. 60,000-copy announced first printing.

Little, Brown

The Wilderness: Deep Inside the Republican Party’s Combative, Contentious, Chaotic Quest to Take Back the White House by McKay Coppins (Dec. 1, hardcover, $28, ISBN 978-0-316-32741-1). The Buzzfeed political writer probes the state of the Republican party, exposing how the battle between the party’s rising stars and established statesmen may irrevocably influence the future of the GOP.

Mercury Ink

(dist. by Simon & Schuster)

Sold Out: How High-Tech Billionaires & Bipartisan Beltway Crapweasels Are Screwing America’s Best & Brightest Workers by Michelle Malkin and John Miano (Nov. 10, hardcover, $28, ISBN 978-1-5011-1594-3). Malkin, a bestselling author and firebrand conservative columnist, and coauthor Miano argue that corrupt politicians and the media are selling out American workers.

Metropolitan

Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World by David Vine (Aug. 25, hardcover, $35, ISBN 978-1-62779-169-4). In this far-reaching examination of American power, Vine argues that the worldwide network of U.S. military bases brings with it a panoply of ills—and actually makes the nation less safe in the long run

Morrow

Fracture: Barack Obama, the Clintons, and the Racial Divide by Joy-Ann Reid (Sept. 8, hardcover, $27.99, ISBN 978-0-06-230525-1) charts the complicated relationship between Barack Obama and Bill and Hillary Clinton, illuminating one of the most intriguing political relationships in modern history. Reid is an MSNBC correspondent, the Grio.com managing editor, and a Miami Herald columnist.

Nation

Mission High: One School, How Experts Tried to Fail It, and the Students and Teachers Who Made It Triumph by Kristina Rizga (Aug. 4, hardcover, $26.99, ISBN 978-1-56858-495-9). The author spent four years reporting from the classrooms and hallways of Mission High School in San Francisco, a “low-performing” school, as it struggled against closure, defied standardization, and came up with new approaches that could improve all U.S. schools.

New Press

(dist. by Perseus)

Integration Nation: Immigrants, Refugees, and America at Its Best by Susan E. Eaton (Jan. 5, hardcover, $24.95, ISBN 978-1-62097-095-9). A spirited and compelling cross-country journey introduces us to the people welcoming immigrants as they become integral members of their new communities.

The New Threat: The Past, Present, and Future of Islamic Militancy by Jason Burke (Nov. 3, hardcover, $24.95, ISBN 978-1-62097-135-2). One of the world’s leading experts on militant Islam offers an extraordinary international journey through the roots, reality, and future of modern Islamic extremism.

Norton

Saving Gotham: A Billionaire Mayor, Activist Doctors, and the Fight for Eight Million Lives by Tom Farley (Oct. 13, hardcover, $27.95, ISBN 978-0-393-07124-5). The inside story of the most audacious public health campaign of the 21st century, as New York City banned smoking in bars, outlawed trans fats in restaurants, and attempted to cap the size of sugary drinks.

Then Comes Marriage: United States v. Windsor and the Defeat of DOMA by Roberta Kaplan, with Lisa Dickey (Oct. 5, hardcover, $27.95, ISBN 978-0-393-24867-8). Kaplan, Edith Windsor’s lawyer, recounts the gripping story of her defeat of the Defense of Marriage Act before the Supreme Court, and the story of the relationship behind the watershed case.

Penguin Press

Excellent Daughters: The Secret Lives of the Young Women Who are Transforming the Arab World by Katherine Zoepf (Jan. 12, hardcover, $27.95, ISBN 978-1-59420-388-6). Young journalist Zoepf tells the never-before-reported story of a new generation of Arab women who are questioning authority, changing societies, and leading revolutions, and bringing a new understanding of the changing Arab societies.

Strangers Drowning: Grappling with Impossible Idealism, Drastic Choices, and the Overpowering Urge to Help by Larissa MacFarquhar (Sept. 29, hardcover, $27.95, ISBN 978-1-59420-433-3). New Yorker journalist MacFarquhar looks at the individuals who devote themselves fully to bettering the lives of strangers, even when it comes at great personal cost.

Penguin/Sentinel

A More Perfect Union: What We the People Can Do to Reclaim Our Constitutional Liberties by Ben Carson, with Candy Carson (Oct. 6, hardcover, $26.95, ISBN 978-1-59184-804-2).

A bestselling author and Republican presidential candidate, Ben Carson offers his view of the Constitution and how we can get the government to stay true to the original intent of the founders.

Princeton Univ.

On Inequality by Harry G. Frankfurt (Sept. 29, hardcover, $16.95, ISBN 978-0-691-16714-5). The author of the bestseller On Bullshit proposes a philosophical look at why economic inequality is one of the most divisive issues of our time.

Think Again: Contrarian Reflections on Life, Culture, Politics, Religion, Law, and Education by Stanley Fish (Oct. 20, hardcover, $29.95, ISBN 978-0-691-16771-8). From 1995 to 2013,

Fish’s provocative New York Times columns consistently generated passionate debate. This book assembles 100 of his best columns into a thematically arranged collection with a new introduction.

PublicAffairs

The Red Web: The Struggle Between Russia’s Digital Dictators and the New Online Revolutionaries by Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan (Sept. 8, hardcover, $27.99, ISBN 978-1-61039-573-1) investigates the Kremlin’s massive online surveillance state, and the activists and rebels trying to take it down.

Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped by Garry Kasparov (Oct. 27, hardcover, $26.99, ISBN 978-1-61039-620-2). In his bold new book, former chess champion–turned–activist Kasparov argues that Vladimir Putin’s dangerous global ambitions have been ignored too long, and that America must stand up to him.

Random House

The Relevance of Religion: How Faithful People Can Change Politics by John Danforth (Oct. 13, hardcover, $28, ISBN 978-0-8129-9790-3). Former U.S. senator and ambassador to the United Nations, Danforth submits a thoughtful and deeply personal look at the state of American politics today—and how religion can offer a way out of today’s bitter partisan politics.

Scribner

Most Likely to Succeed: Preparing Our Kids for the Innovation Era by Tony Wagner and Ted Dintersmith (Aug. 18, hardcover, $27, ISBN 978-1-5011-0431-2). Two leading experts in education and entrepreneurship advance an urgent call for the radical reimagining of American education so that we better equip students for the realities of the 21st-century economy.

Seven Stories

Censored 2016: The Top Censored Stories and Media Analysis of 2014–2015, edited by Mickey Huff and Andy Lee Roth (Oct. 6, paper, $18.95, ISBN 978-1-60980-645-3). The annual yearbook from Project Censored features the year’s most underreported news stories, striving to unmask censorship, self-censorship, and propaganda in corporate-controlled media outlets.

Simon & Schuster

Beyond Measure: How Our Obsession with Success, Homework, and Testing Threatens the Health and Happiness of Our Kids by Vicki Abeles (Sept. 29, hardcover, $26, ISBN 978-1-4516-9923-4). The documentary film director presents success stories to show how students, parents, and educators can effect change and discover true untapped potential in our children.

S&S/Threshold

Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America by Dick and Liz Cheney (Sept. 1, hardcover, $28, ISBN 978-1-5011-1541-7). Former vice president Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz claim American power is unique and indispensable—and they argue that Barack Obama has damaged that power.

Skyhorse

Mayor Rob Ford: Uncontrollable; How I Tried to Help the World’s Most Notorious Mayor by Mark Towhey and Johanna Schneller (Oct. 6, hardcover, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-63450-042-5). The inside story of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford, who was caught smoking crack, accused of domestic violence, and eventually stripped of his powers.


St. Martin’s

Police State: How America’s Cops Get Away with Murder by Gerry Spence (Sept. 8, hardcover, $27.99, ISBN 978-1-250-07345-7). In this timely book, legendary lawyer Spence examines what happens when the police become the criminals, and the people become the enemy.

Time

(dist. by HBG)

Broad Influence: How Women Are Changing the Way Washington Works by Jay Newton-Small (Jan. 5, hardcover, $27.95, ISBN 978-1-61893-155-9). One hundred years after the first woman was elected to Congress, journalist Newton-Small argues that Washington is at a tipping point as women now make up at least 30% of each branch of government.

Tyndale

America the Strong: Conservative Ideas to Spark the Next Generation by William J. Bennett and John T.E. Cribb (Sept. 22, hardcover, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-4964-0593-7). Conservative thinker Bennett rails against liberal professors, the news media, and Hollywood for brainwashing kids to believe that “conservative” means extremist and intolerant.

Univ. of Chicago

Secular Faith: How Culture Has Trumped Religion in American Politics by Mark A. Smith (Sept. 11, hardcover, $25, ISBN 978-0-226-27506-2). Smith argues that religion, far from being the conservative force we imagine it is in American politics, is quite flexible and has changed over the years as society has changed.

Verso

(dist. by Random)

The WikiLeaks Files: The World According to U.S. Empire, edited by WikiLeaks, introduction by Julian Assange (Aug. 25, hardcover, $29.95, ISBN 978-1-78168-874-8). Regional experts comment on the documents leaked through WikiLeaks and reveal the scope of U.S. foreign policy around the world based on millions of top-secret State Department cables.

Viking

The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government by Mike Lofgren (Jan. 5, hardcover, $27.95, ISBN 978-0-525-42834-3). Lofgren, bestselling author of The Party Is Over, presents an acerbic, no-holds-barred indictment of business as usual in Washington, D.C.

Yale Univ.

Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections by Richard L. Hasen (Jan. 12, hardcover, $32.50, ISBN 978-0-300-21245-7). A leading expert on election law offers a compelling answer to the dilemmas of campaign finance reform, one of today’s most divisive political issues.