What people recommend, in their own words, with the receipt.
Economist and political scientist at the University of Chicago's Harris School, studying conflict, organised crime and development; author of Why We Fight.
8 things
Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth CenturyBook Charles King
But now there is a fabulous non-fictional account of Mead and her unorthodox fieldwork, by Charles King. The subtitle is How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century.
Blog post 'Best nonfiction I read this year, Part II'
chrisblattman.com ↗·2022-01-17
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern WorldBook Jack Weatherford
The Genghis Khan book was the next one to really satisfy. The leader and his troops arrived out of the desert and devastated the civilizations that had grown up, but laid the foundations for the next ones to grow.
Blog post 'Best nonfiction I read this year, Part II'
chrisblattman.com ↗·2022-01-17
TalibanBook Ahmed Rashid
It’s a great book. How the Taliban prosecuted the pre-2001 civil war is a great start to understanding why some of its leaders were unwilling to compromise with the United States.
Blog post 'Best nonfiction I read this year, Part II'
chrisblattman.com ↗·2022-01-17
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before ColumbusBook Charles Mann
If I had read this book before I entered grad school, I might have become an archaeologist. From the outside, archeology feels like a field where it’s hard to do pathbreaking work.
Blog post 'Best nonfiction I read this year, Part II'
chrisblattman.com ↗·2022-01-17
In Service of the RepublicBook Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah
If you live in a liberal democracy anywhere in the world (including the United States) and you want to try to make your government function better, this is one of the top five books you can read.
Blog post 'Best nonfiction I read this year, Part II'
chrisblattman.com ↗·2022-01-17
The Artist, the Philosopher, and the WarriorBook Paul Strathern
That’s why I was lucky to stumble upon Strathem’s book. It’s a tale of three figures: Leonardo da Vinci (the artist), Machiavelli (the philosopher) and Cesar Borgia (the warrior) and their intertwined lives. If you forgive the occasional episode of bad psychoanalysis, it’s a fabulous history book, and after reading it, The Prince is a wholly different book to read.
Blog post 'Best nonfiction I read this year, Part I'
chrisblattman.com ↗·2022-01-10
Convictions: A Prosecutor's Battles Against Mafia Killers, Drug Kingpins, and Enron ThievesBook John Kroger
There are many other great lines, such as "Mafia families have one profound organizational weakness: no clear rules for succession." I wish more career professionals would write books like this, and write them this well.
Blog post 'Best nonfiction I read this year, Part I'
chrisblattman.com ↗·2022-01-10
Violence, Nonviolence, and the Palestinian National MovementBook Wendy Pearlman
But besides offering a new and different take, I read few better histories of the Palestinian movement.
Blog post 'Best nonfiction I read this year, Part I'
chrisblattman.com ↗·2022-01-10
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