Lists

What to Read in the Aftermath of the Election

A reading list for after the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Where do we go from here? What can we learn from the past?

Alice Burton Nov 11, 2016

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Alice Burton

Staff Writer

Chicagoan and aspiring cryptozoologist Alice Burton has a B.A. in Comparative Literature and is an Archives Assistant with the Frances Willard Historical Society. When not booking or historying, she is singing soprano wherever people will have her. She will watch any documentary on Neanderthals or giant extinct animals, and has a Stockholm Syndrome-like love for Chicago and its winters. Blog: Reading Rambo Twitter: @itsalicetime

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I keep getting Washington’s “One Last Time” from Hamilton stuck in my head.

I wanna talk about neutrality

I want to warn against partisan fighting

Pick up the pen, start writing

I wanna talk about what I have learned

The hard-won wisdom I have earned

It’s his dedicated, motivated, focused approach to what he wants to get done.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt as motivated to have a dedicated reading list. I want to read about Andrew Jackson and his populist presidency and how people reacted. I want to read about Herbert Hoover’s disastrous administration and how FDR made the New Deal happen. I want to read about black history. I want to read about the immigrant experience. I want to read about how people have made change happen. I want to understand why the other side is so angry and how we can work on addressing that anger.

Here’s the beginning of my new reading list:

Jackson & Populism

Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times by H.W. Brands

The Populist Explosion by John Judis

American Anger

Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild

The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin by Corey Robin

Hoover, FDR, and the New Deal

Herbert Hoover in the White House by Charles Rappleye

The Great Crash 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith

The Great Exception: The New Deal and the Limits of American Politics by Jefferson Cowie

Black History/Current Events