Best summer books of 2024: Politics

Rebellion: How Antiliberalism Is Tearing America Apart — Again by Robert Kagan (Knopf/WH Allen)

A brilliant analyst and polemicist, Kagan argues that the 2024 presidential election could be the last free election held in a unified United States. He justifies this dire warning with a detailed account of the right’s drift towards authoritarianism — and traces the historical roots of Donald Trump’s appeal to a long tradition of anti-liberal thought in the US.

America Last: The Right’s Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators by Jacob Heilbrunn (WW Norton)

A distinguished historian of conservative thinking in America, Heilbrunn tells a disturbing story with dry wit and precision. He shows that the current fascination of the American right with authoritarian leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán is part of a century-long flirtation with foreign dictators. Franco, Mussolini and even Hitler all had American admirers — who included such luminaries as HL Mencken, Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh.

Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present by Fareed Zakaria (Allen Lane/WW Norton)

Zakaria, like Kagan and Heilbrunn, seeks to understand the current crisis of liberalism by going back into history. But his account is global and begins in the 17th century with the emergence of liberalism in the Dutch republic. In the second half of the book, Zakaria uses his international perspective and access to decision makers — he hosts a flagship CNN show — to describe the current challenges to the liberal order posed by Putin, Xi and others. He argues convincingly that the biggest threat to the survival of liberal democracy in the US comes from within.

Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen (Torva)

The rise in tensions between the world’s nuclear-armed powers seems to be fuelling a renewed fascination with the prospect of nuclear war. Jacobsen’s best-selling book starts with a hypothetical North Korean nuclear attack on the US and then describes the ensuing cycle of escalation that destroys the world. Not one to read if you have trouble sleeping.

Empireworld: How British Imperialism Has Shaped the Globe by Sathnam Sanghera (Viking)

Sanghera has done a great deal to stimulate interest and debate in Britain about the country’s imperial legacy. His first book on the subject was on how the empire has shaped modern Britain. In his latest work, he examines British imperialism’s impact on the wider world. With the culture wars raging, Sanghera’s work has been attacked as “woke” and anti-British. In fact, it is nuanced and deeply researched — while written in a personal and very readable style.

Keir Starmer: The Biography by Tom Baldwin (William Collins)

Anybody wanting to understand the background and motivations of Britain’s likely new prime minister would do well to start here. Baldwin is a former journalist who knows how to tell a story. He is also a former adviser to the Labour party, so his book is sympathetic to Starmer and benefits from an insider’s access and understanding.

War in Ukraine: Conflict, Strategy, and the Return of a Fractured World edited by Hal Brands (Johns Hopkins University Press)

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has opened a new era in global politics. This thoughtful collection of essays by leading academics is a first effort to understand the scope of these changes. It covers crucial topics such as the role of nuclear weapons in dictating strategic decisions and the responses to the conflict of China, the EU and the global south.

Deterring Armageddon: A Biography of Nato by Peter Apps (Wildfire)

A gripping and lively history of Nato that demonstrates the alliance’s central role in postwar history. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has given Nato a renewed sense of purpose — but the prospect of a second Trump presidency has raised doubts about the alliance’s future. This account of the many crises that Nato has already survived provides a valuable perspective on today’s debates.

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The Crisis of Culture: Identity Politics and the Empire of Norms by Olivier Roy (Hurst)

A meditation on the rise of identity politics that links the phenomenon to the breakdown of national cultures and the rise of globalisation. Identity politics also leads to an effort to judge historical figures — such as Thomas Jefferson or Mozart — by the cultural and political norms of today. The FT review described Roy’s book as “illuminating and highly original”.

The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the United States and the Middle East, 1979-2003 by Steve Coll (Allen Lane/Penguin Press)

The current travails of the Biden administration over Israel and Gaza stand in a long tradition of US administrations that have been tortured by their own failures in the Middle East. In an unsparing and grimly fascinating book, Coll details the dealings of four different administrations — Reagan, Bush senior, Clinton and Bush junior — with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, culminating in the disastrous decision to invade the country in 2003.

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