The best politics books of all time capture the drama of political power, both having it and striving for it. This list contains a wide-ranging variety of topics in politics, and it includes famous political books, some of the greatest political books, and the best modern political books. If you’re looking for the best books on politics for beginners, you’ll find something here to get you launched as an armchair political scientist and sociologist. Whether it’s memoirs, theory, or investigative stories, the best political books of all time are here.
If you’re looking for the best political scientist books for teens, check out our list of the 10 Best YA Books about Politics and Social Justice.
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And now for an epic list of the best politics books of all time!
All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid by Matt Bai
Our list of the best politics books of all time kicks off with a great read by political reporter Matt Bai. All the Truth Is Out dissects the week in 1987 when Democratic presidential primary candidate Gary Hart’s campaign and career collapsed after the media frenzy about his alleged affair rocked the world. Bai argues that Hart’s scandal was the first of its kind with the fires being fed with fury by the newly established national political news media. Anyone who wants to know more about how powerful the media can be in building up and tearing down all-too-human political players should give this book a read.
How to read it: Purchase All the Truth is Out on Amazon
Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus by Rick Perlstein
Before the Storm is a can’t-miss-it read by one of the leading political analysts, Rick Perlstein, who has become the pre-eminent historian of America’s Republican party. Start with Before the Storm, Perlstein’s first book about the GOP. Before the Storm immerses readers in the rise of Berry Goldwater and situates his unlikely popularity within the cultural, historical, and political context that allowed him to rise to power. Anyone who wants to understand the conservative party needs to read Before the Storm.
How to read it: Purchase Before the Storm on Amazon
The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam
In The Best and the Brightest, surely one of the best politics books of all time, David Halberstam narrates the leaders in the White House and Congress who pushed America into military conflict with Vietnam. Halberstam, a Pulitzer Prize winner, pulls back the curtain on the men who were widely acknowledged as their generations “best and brightest” who nonetheless marched America into a quagmire of a war. It’s a fascinating look at the vulnerabilities that characterize even the most confident, competent, and ambitious politicians.
How to read it: Purchase The Best and the Brightest on Amazon
Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth by Rachel Maddow
Next up, an engrossing book by MSNBC star Rachel Maddow. In Blowout, Maddow explores the dark side of the international energy industry. Maddow unearths shocking connections linking the companies, empires, and dictators flourishing in the oil and gas sector. This book is a mind-blowing ticket around the world, with stops along the way in Russia, the United States, and other countries linked by greed, money, and ambition.
How to read it: Purchase Blowout on Amazon
A Colony in a Nation by Chris Hayes
Another bright light on MSNBC, Chris Hayes brings a young, progressive, and liberal perspective to the evening rotation. In A Colony in a Nation, Hayes tests out a hypothesis that America is composed of a Colony within a larger Nation. Hayes explains his unconventional theory in A Colony in a Nation, which weaves together multiple big factors in both contemporary and historic America, including law and order, race and class, and divisive party politics. It’s a book with a political theory you won’t want to miss and definitely one of the best politics books of all time.
How to read it: Purchase A Colony in a Nation on Amazon
A Death on W Street: The Murder of Seth Rich and the Age of Conspiracy by Andy Kroll
In the summer of 2016, Seth Rich, a low-level staffer at the Democratic National Committee (DNC), was killed in the early morning streets in Washington, D.C. But within hours, the story of his murder was hijacked by political extremists, who spun the truth into a fiction of conspiracy. Author Andy Kroll follows the spread of the conspiracy theories that co-opted the narrative of Rich’s murder while also tracing the emergence of QAnon and the fringe on either side of the political aisle. Billed as “a true-crime story for the post-truth era,” A Death on W Street is an essential book for understanding how contemporary politics has become dominated by dangerously seductive conspiracy theories.
How to read it: Purchase A Death on W Street on Amazon
Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America’s Class War by Joe Bageant
America is more divided than ever, and, generally, it seems like each side has no idea how the other half lives. In Deer Hunting with Jesus, Joe Bageant takes readers on a trip through the oft-rural landscapes of white working-class Americans who vote Republican. Reading Deer Hunting with Jesus will help humanize these voters with real names, faces, and stories about living in Red states.
How to read it: Purchase Deer Hunting with Jesus on Amazon
Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America by Nancy MacLean
A National Book Award finalist, Nancy MacLean’s Democracy in Chains investigates the so-called Radical Right, which espouses the benefits of capitalism while exploiting a faithful base that constantly votes against their own self-interest, sending political operatives to a Washington, D.C. where they have no intention of delivering on their promises to the citizens who put theme there. MacLean places the blame on the influential Nobel Prize-winning political economist James McGill Buchanan, showing how he was the architect behind the rise of a powerful movement of wealthy conservative political operatives six decades in the making. Their agenda? No less than the dismantling of American freedoms, liberties, and rights. This book is definitely a must-read political history book and one of the best politics books of all time.
How to read it: Purchase Democracy in Chains on Amazon
Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer
A good companion to Democracy in Chains, Jane Mayer’s Dark Money also illuminates the shadowy world of the rich elites who comprise the conservative oligarchy that influences America’s economic inequality. New Yorker writer Mayer is a gifted investigative journalist, and Dark Money is her magnum opus, shining a light into the darkness that plagues a deeply divided contemporary America.
How to read it: Purchase Dark Money on Amazon
Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put a Woman in the White House… Yet by Ali Vitali
From veteran NBC reporter Ali Vitali, Electable seeks to answer the question that still lingers: why hasn’t America elected a woman to the White House? After Hillary Clinton’s loss in 2016, it seemed like we were both closer to and farther away from America ever voting a female candidate into the Oval Office. Vitali here dissects the reasons why the country still hasn’t broken the ultimate glass ceiling in a highly readable, extremely insightful read.
How to read it: Purchase Electable on Amazon
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 by Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson was one of the leading proponents of “New Journalism” that emerged in the pages of American magazines in the 1960s and 1970s. But Thompson also established “gonzo journalism,” a movement that radicalized the press by having the writer immerse themselves in the story. Perhaps no book by Thompson better exemplifies gonzo journalism than Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72, which Thompson serialized in Rolling Stone magazine. Thompson’s narrative relates his experience being a reporter in the press corps covering the 1972 presidential campaign of George McGovern. An instant classic, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 is definitely one of the best politics books of all time.
How to read it: Purchase Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 on Amazon
The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis
In The Fifth Risk, acclaimed author Michael Lewis pulls the curtain up on the United States federal government, which rarely is the focus of attention but is crucial to the country operating. Lewis profiles several career civil servants who have to bend in the wind of whatever presidential administration is in power while still working on behalf of the taxpayer. This book also takes a look at the amorphous threats to America that are mitigated by extremely delicate risk management that might crumble under the wrong leadership. It’s a terrifying book that will keep you awake at night. You can’t unread this book, and yet you still should because it’s definitely one of the best politics books of all time.
How to read it: Purchase The Fifth Risk on Amazon
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist has quickly become one of the most important political books and one of the best politics books of all time. Already a new classic, How to Be an Antiracist enlightens readers on how to be an advocate for racial justice and equality by adopting principals of being “antiracist” practicing the framework of “antiracism.” Kendi’s book is an essential read for understanding the ways that racism permeates the American social, legal, and political spheres.
How to read it: Purchase How to Be an Antiracist on Amazon
The Loudest Voice in the Room by Gabriel Sherman
The contemporary American political scene is nothing without the force that is Fox News. In The Loudest Voice in the Room, Gabriel Sherman reveals the history of the Fox News network, charting the station’s transition into being the go-to source of conservative political programming. That means a close look at Rupert Murdoch, the founder and owner of Fox News, and the reign of Roger Ailes, the network’s CEO, who recruited, nurtured, and promoted personalities like Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Megyn Kelly, among others. The breathless pacing of Sherman’s writing makes this one of the must-read political books of all time.
How to read it: Purchase The Loudest Voice in the Room on Amazon
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Era of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
This influential now-classic book, definitely one of the best politics books of all time, focuses on the mass incarceration has trapped Black Americans, in particular young Black men, in a toxic cycle that reaches the same levels of systemic racism as the Jim Crow era. Michelle Alexander’s book has inspired a new generation of criminal justice reform activists. Read it and see why The New Jim Crow has quickly emerged as one of the best political books of all time.
How to read it: Purchase The New Jim Crow on Amazon
The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin
The Supreme Court of the United States of America is an odd branch of government. The nine people elected to the Court have outsized influence on the life and laws of every single American. Yet today the court is mired in ethical and political scandals. How did these nine citizens, who have a lifetime appointment, rise to become the force they are right now? You’ll discover in New Yorker journalist Jeffrey Toobin’s The Nine, for sure one of the best politics books of all time.
How to read it: Purchase The Nine on Amazon
One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy by Carol Anderson
In One Person, No Vote, Carol Anderson pulls back the curtain on the crisis of intimidation and suppression of Black voters, both historically and in our current era after the Supreme Court rolled back the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in 2013. Anderson explains how the landmark decision by the Court practically legalized tactics of discrimination that disenfranchise Black Americans. Anderson’s One Person, No Vote ensures that readers will have an understanding of how we got here and where to go next in order to fight back by reading one of the best politics books of all time.
How to read it: Purchase One Person, No Vote on Amazon
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
In On Tyranny, Yale University Historian Timothy Snyder distills twenty lessons about the downfall of democracy and the rise—and eventual collapse—of tyrannical power from the history of the twentieth century. This book is only 128 pages, but it’s packed with sobering truths that are impossible to forget. On Tyranny is great for readers looking for the best books on politics for beginners.
How to read it: Purchase On Tyranny on Amazon
The Origins of Political Order by Francis Fukuyama
In The Origins of Political Order, surely among the best politics books of all time, Francis Fukuyama analyzes the history of political order. It might not feel like it, but, given most of the history of homo sapiens, political structures are relatively new. Fukuyama here describes the world’s earliest attempts at organizing society in a political way, focusing on China, India, the Middle East, and France on the verge of revolution. If you read and like The Origins of Political Order, check out the sequel, Political Order and Political Decay.
How to read it: Purchase The Origins of Political Order on Amazon
The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
First published in 1973, philosopher Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism is a landmark work of political theory. While taking a retrospective look at the totalitarian governments in history, Arendt’s book also hones in on two classic examples of tyrannical regimes, Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia. In our current era, when political leaders around the world are threatening to embrace totalitarianism again, Arendt’s prescient masterpiece, which is for sure up there with the best politics books of all time, looks as relevant as ever.
How to read it: Purchase The Origins of Totalitarianism on Amazon
The People Are Going to Rise Like the Waters Upon Your Shore: A Story of American Rage by Jared Yates Sexton
This chilling book takes a hard look at the current of anger running through today’s political climate. Sexton’s exploration of “American rage” isn’t limited to the Right. Instead, Sexton taps into the fury that drives both parties and their voters. It’s an alarming and engrossing book all at once, and you won’t want to miss it.
How to read it: Purchase The People Are Going to Rise Like the Waters Upon Your Shore on Amazon
The Red and the Blue: The 1990s and the Birth of Tribalism by Steve Kornacki
MSNBC reporter Steve Kornacki is infamous for his data-driven analysis on the “Big Board” during tense election nights (or weeks). Now, in The Red and the Blue, Kornacki turns his sights on the the turbulent political climate of the 1990s when “tribalism” dawned, and the country fractured into two warring sides. It’s a book you won’t forget and definitely counts as one of the best politics books of all time.
How to read it: Purchase The Red and the Blue on Amazon
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt
Why are tensions so tight at Thanksgiving dinners between family members who have diametrically opposed viewpoints? Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt seeks to explain this dynamic with a sharp dive into the field of moral psychology. In The Righteous Mind, which any political scientist would deem as one of the best politics books of all time, Haidt both asks and answers the question of why people are divided along political and religious lines, proposing that our beliefs are so often fueled by gut instincts rather than intellectual lines. This fascinating look at morality makes it a key read for armchair political scientists, psychologists, and philosophers.
How to read it: Purchase The Righteous Mind on Amazon
The Speechwriter: A Brief Education in Politics by Barton Swaim
Have you ever wondered who writes the monumental speeches that establish a select few politicians as gifted orators? You’ll get the inside scoop from Barton Swaim in The Speechwriter. In this compelling (and dishy) memoir that’s definitely one of the best modern political books, Swaim reflects on his time when, as a new college graduate, he took a position as a speechwriter for South Carolina’s Republican governor Mark Sanford, a rising star who became mired in scandals that tarnished his reputation and ultimately led to his resignation of the office. Swaim’s memoir offer a rare look at the dueling feelings of optimism and disillusionment that he felt as a writer for Sanford, complicated especially by Sanford’s behavior and misdeeds. But Swaim’s memoir is never cynical. Instead, if you want an exclusive look at what it means to be writing the words that come out of an elite politician’s mouth, pick up The Speechwriter.
How to read it: Purchase The Speechwriter on Amazon
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
If you’re looking for the greatest political books, you’ve found one in Team of Rivals by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. This book tells the epic story of how President Abraham Lincoln assembled a “team of rivals” around him. Lincoln deliberately chose people who clashed ideologically for his cabinet. Instead of creating chaos, Lincoln’s strategy helped him better understand the positions of others who didn’t share his views. Goodwin’s Team of Rivals is unparalleled and one of the best politics books of all time.
How to read it: Purchase Team of Rivals on Amazon
This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral — Plus, Plenty of Valet Parking — in AmericaGilded Capital by Mark Leibovich
Veteran reporter Mark Leibovich spoofs Obama-era Washington in This Town. No one is safe from Leibovich’s satirical scrutiny, neither the Left or the Right, including media personalities, career politicians, ambitious young staffers, and lobbyists that make up “the swamp.” Funny and eye-opening, Leibovich’s This Town is a hilarious book that belongs on any list of the best political books of all time.
How to read it: Purchase This Town on Amazon
The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America by George Packer
George Packer’s The Unwinding won the National Book Award, and it’s easy to see why it’s considered among the best politics books of all time. The Unwinding is a deep exploration of the changing tides in “new America.” Packer seeks to understand the ways America is changing by putting his focus on a selection of Americans trying to get by in the years after the Great Recession. The Unwinding is a kaleidoscopic portrait of the people who make up the tapestry of the United States that takes an unflinching approach to examining the political forces that drive contemporary America.
How to read it: Purchase The Unwinding on Amazon
We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates
In We Were Eight Years in Power, public intellectual Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a retrospective of the eight years of Barack Obama’s term as president. Coates highlights both the gains and losses under Obama’s tenure and also writes of a dawning national awareness on topics like racism and criminal justice. We Were Eight Years in Power is the on-point memoir of political power that we need.
How to read it: Purchase We Were Eight Years in Power on Amazon
What It Takes: The Way to the White House by Richard Ben Cramer
If you ask enough politicos what are some of the best politics books of all time, you’ll quickly find several people dropping the name What It Takes. This 1992 bestseller by Richard Ben Cramer is one of the most-cited books by politicians as one of the greatest political books ever. Cramer’s What It Takes is the quintessential read about the 1988 American presidential election. Long before Politico Playbook, Showtime’s The Circus, or the gossipy Game Change, Cramer was there chronicling every aspect of the 1988 election, from the cut-throat Democratic and GOP primaries to the general contest between Democrat Michael Dukakis and his Republican opponent, George Herbert Walker Bush. Cramer profiles the contenders, including long shots, and unveils the early lives and careers of contestants like Joe Biden, Bob Dole, and Gary Hart. It’s a riveting story that has stood the test of time; What It Takes even has its own Wikipedia page. Read it and see why it’s one of the best political science books.
How to read it: Purchase What It Takes on Amazon
What’s the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America by Thomas Frank
How did the Right turn Kansas from a once-proudly populist state into a conservative stronghold? That’s a question Thomas Frank seeks to answer in What’s the Matter with Kansas?, a deep dive into the political history of his home state and a study that’s considered one of the most famous political books. Though it was published in 2004, What’s the Matter with Kansas? still ranks among the best political science books.
How to read it: Purchase What’s the Matter with Kansas? on Amazon
Why We’re Polarized by Ezra Klein
We close out this list of the best politics books of all time with Why We’re Polarized. This book is written by New York Times columnist and podcaster Ezra Klein, who has been reporting on American politics for well over a decade. His sharp editorials and thoughtful hot takes have established him as a leading analyst of contemporary America’s politics, policies, and socioeconomic influences. In Why We’re Polarized, Klein sets out to help readers understand, well, why we’re a polarized country. Along the way, Klein seeks to find out how we can heal the divisions that are tearing America apart. It’s a smart read that belongs on any roundup of the best political science books.
