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Ben Rhodes

Ben Rhodes is a New York Times Opinion contributing writer and a co-host of “Pod Save the World.” He served as a senior adviser to President Barack Obama and worked on the Iran nuclear deal.

3 things

From the Ruins of EmpireBook Pankaj Mishra

recommended

I mean, on this last question, From the Ruins of Empire by Pankaj Mishra is a really excellent kind of intellectual history of for lack of a better way of putting it, you know, people global south or people in decolonized spaces um in the 20th century uh coming up with alternatives to Western hegemony.

Answering The Ezra Klein Show's closing question, three books to recommend, in “The Great Lie of War” (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-ben-rhodes.html). Quoted from the episode's YouTube auto-captions.

2026-03-03·youtube.com ↗

The World of YesterdayBook Stefan Zweig

recommended

Um then I personally, as someone who's been trying to make sense of what it's like to live in a collapsing liberal order, um The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig I found myself reading twice since Trump's election.

Answering The Ezra Klein Show's closing question, three books to recommend, in “The Great Lie of War” (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-ben-rhodes.html). Quoted from the episode's YouTube auto-captions.

2026-03-03·youtube.com ↗

Travelers in the Third ReichBook Julia Boyd

recommended

And then lastly, a book I read uh very recently, this last few days, uh is called um Travelers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd. And what she did is she found letters, journals, other contemporary accounts of basically British and Americans visiting Nazi Germany. And and so what were their impressions? Did they see and you know, spoiler, way too many of them did not see how bad this is going to be or were sympathetic.

Answering The Ezra Klein Show's closing question, three books to recommend, in “The Great Lie of War” (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-ben-rhodes.html). Quoted from the episode's YouTube auto-captions.

2026-03-03·youtube.com ↗

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