Watch or Read Recommendations

Movies, TV Shows, Books, and Articles can help us understand current events and politics.  Below is a list of things I have enjoyed and you might find to be helpful, relevant, or just plain enjoyable. 

Books:

I like to post my thoughts on books at the website GoodReads.  It's a social media site for books.  You probably have to create a free account to view the books I have read.
Click HERE: https://www.goodreads.com/jlechelt 

Here's a great website to find a good book: FIVE BOOKS (I love their emails)

HERE is a separate page for books on Presidents and the Presidency

Beyond those recommendations, a few stand out:

• American Rage: How Anger Shapes Our Politics, by Steven Webster.  Anger is generated by savvy political players because it gets people revved up.  Important book.

• Bearing the Cross, by David Garrow.  A Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Martin Luther King (there's another King bio below).  

• Black Hawk Down, by Mark Bowden.  I haven't read tons of war books, but this is top-notch journalism.  Bowden writes of America's disastrous entry into a Somali conflict.  I recommend looking up other Bowden books.  

• Boss Tweed: The Corrupt Pol Who Conceived the Idea of Modern New York, by Kenneth D. Ackerman.  An excellent biography of one of the most famous urban political players in American history.  

• Chip War, by Chris Miller.  An excellent overview of the importance of microchips in international politics and business.  As tensions between the US and China heat up, the reader will better appreciate the importance of chips in all of this, and the business and government strategies the US and others use to try to maintain or gain an edge.  

• A Day in the Life of Abed Salama, by Nathan Thrall.  A short book that places a tragic West Bank tale in the context of so much that has happened between Palestinians and Israelis.  

• Dopesick, by Beth Macy; a journalist's account of how the opioid epidemic exploded.  Much of it takes place in southwestern Virginia.

• Dream City: Race, Power, and the Decline of Washington, DC, by Jaffe and Sherwood.  Excellent book about DC's long-serving and controversial mayor, Marion Barry.  Also great history about DC.

• Empire of Pain, by Patrick Keefe; a phenomenal book on the Sackler family and their quest to profit off of opioids - it will make you angry, but you'll learn a lot, like I did.

• Evicted, by Matthew Desmond; a sociologist writes a readable book about people who live on the edge of homelessness, and also the landlords who deal with the issue - powerful.  

• Exile, by Richard North Patterson; a fast-read of fiction that is about the tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.  

• Fatherland: A Novel, by Robert Harris; alternate history - what if Nazi Germany won WWII and continued on?  Main character learns about Holocaust in 1960s.  Exciting and interesting.

• A Fever in the Heartland, by Timothy Egan.  About the efforts of a con-man in Indiana and the rise of the KKK there in the 1910s-1920s.

• Fiasco, by Thomas Ricks; prominent military journalist investigates why the US struggled intensely in Iraq.  

• Gideon's Trumpet, by Anthony Lewis; fascinating story of how a poor man accused of a crime in Florida was able to get his case heard in the US Supreme Court, and the SCOTUS decision led to the policy that everyone accused of a crime deserves legal counsel.  

• G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century, by Beverly Gage.  A perfect biography about an important and controversial American, J. Edgar Hoover, the leader of the FBI for decades.  

• Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; a fictional story of Nigerian characters dealing with the Biafran war in their country, in the late 1960s.

• Imperial Life in the Emerald City, by Rajiv Chandrasekaran; about the many flaws that went into the US invasion of Iraq.

• King: A Life, by Jonathan Eig.  A second and more recent Pulitizer Prize-winning biography of Martin Luther King.  Excellent book.

• The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini; fictional account of the horrors of the Taliban in Afghanistan.  Also made into a movie. 

• One Minute to Midnight, by Michael Dobbs; great book on the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

• Parting the Waters, volume 1 of a 3 part series on America during the MLK years, by Taylor Branch.  An excellent and big book on the beginnings of the Civil Rights era.  Perfectly written.

• Personal History, by Katharine Graham.  Fascinating and well written memoir of a woman who built up a national newspaper in a man's world; Graham was there for Watergate and other fascinating events of the 20th century.  

• Roots, by Alex Haley. Excellent fictional telling of multigenerational black family as it tries to survive through slavery.  

• Shoe Dog, by Phil Knight.  Memoir by the creator of Nike - it's a fascinating story of a guy working his ass off to create one of the most successful companies.  

• Show Me a Hero, by Lisa Belkin; EXCELLENT book about local politics, race, and low-income housing in NY.  It was made into an HBO mini-series.  I haven't watched it yet, so I can't recommend it, but I have heard good things.  

• The Sympathizer: A Novel, by Viet Thanh Nguyen; a fictional story about the Vietnam War and its aftermath.  It's scathing towards every side.  One of the best books I have read in awhile.  

• A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini; fictional look at a few generations of women in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. 

• The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy, by Pietra Rivoli; fascinating business book about the global process of making a t-shirt.

• Triangle: The Fire That Changed America, by David von Drehle; the 1911 fire in New York City, in which a bunch of workers were killed - the tragedy led to laws to protect workers.  

• The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, by Isabel Wilkerson; excellent book on the Great Migration - the 20th century movement of blacks from the South to other regions of the country.

• Why We're Polarized, by Ezra Klein; a MUST READ for anyone concerned with the anger in America; thoughtful and important.

• The Worldly Philosophers, by Robert Heilbroner; this is a great introduction to some of the major economists of the past 250 years - each chapter is a nice biography that covers some of the basics of the main contributions, from, for example, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes.  

• Multivolume history of the United States by the  Oxford University Press: I have read most of these, and they're awesome.  Here are the list of books in the series.

• Book TV (part of C-SPAN); fabulous resource to learn about books relevant to current events and history having to do with politics.

Articles:

NOVA provides access to all sorts of great journalism through the Library.

Click HERE to gain access to that material, and other free sites that discuss current events.

If you are interest on the topics of guns and gun violence in America, I have compiled lots of stuff to read. 

Television and Streaming:

• Andor.  Star Wars.  Series is a prequel to my favorite Star Wars movie, Rogue One.  This show dives into bureaucracy and the inefficiencies of tyrannical systems.  Disney+.

• Borgen.  Fictional take on Denmark's political system.  Highly regarded, particularly for a better understanding of proportional representation and the need to form coalition governments.  Netflix.

• The Diplomat.  Fast-paced diplomacy struggle for the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom.  It's fiction, but it's interesting.  Netflix.

• Dopesick. Miniseries on the opioid epidemic, focusing on western Virginia.  Fine acting.  Important story.  This is based on a book by the same name, and as is almost always the case, the book is much better.  Hulu.

• Hamilton. The Broadway musical sensation.  Based on Chernow's book on Hamilton.  The music is wonderful, and not altogether inaccurate history.   Disney+.

• The West Wing. My favorite show of all time, ran mostly in the early 2000s.  Focuses on a fictional White House team.  Great acting and writing (early on particularly).  It's a more optimistic take.  HBO Max.

• Will Trent.  Major network shows seem corny compared to the prestige series on premium channels, but Will Trent is a real gem.  An interesting police procedural.

• The Wire.  Awesome show that focused on a number of different issues in Baltimore, like drugs, education, labor unions, and journalism.  HBO Max.

• Veep.  A raunchy comedy about a fictional White House.  Lots of laughs.  The saddest aspect of the show is that I have heard it might be most accurate as to Washington politics.  HBO Max.

• C-SPAN.  All things politics - you can find all the speeches and discussions on every issue taking place in Washington and around the world.  Everything is free.  There is no filter here between the politician and the viewer.  Probably the least biased source of information you can come across.  To find past speeches and discussions about history, American History TV.

• PBS American Experience.  Lots of great documentaries about American history, on presidents and events.  Many are free, some might be behind a paywall.  You might be able to access some through the NOVA Library.

• PBS Frontline. Current events documentaries about America and the world.  Many of them are free to watch online, and many have websites with great information, useful for college projects.  

• Marginal Revolution University (free videos on lots of economics topics; for political science, I think the course on Development Economics is particularly important).  The guys behind this website are George Mason University economists.

Movies:

• 12 Years a Slave.  Intense movie of slavery in the US.  Remarkable acting.  Hard to watch.

• 13 Days.  A fine movie about the Cuban Missile Crisis.  As with all movies, it's not historically accurate in all regards, but the viewer can get an overall sense of the situation from this.

• Air.  About Nike's pursuit of Michael Jordan. 

• All the Way.  HBO movie about LBJ's efforts on Civil Rights, with MLK featuring prominently.  

• Amistad.  Spielberg film on Amistad slave ship and slaves that sued for freedom in 1830s US.  Great case.   Some really tough scenes.  Liberty taken with history, but a quality film.

• Black Hawk Down.  As is usually the case, the book this movie is based on is far better and a fast read.  However, this movie is well done and an effective overview of America's short foray into Somalia.

• Gangs of New York.  Not a perfect film, but the portrayal of New York City during the Civil War years is valuable.  It was a rough time: lots of violence and corruption.  Daniel Day Lewis is AMAZING!

• Lincoln. Spielberg film about America's 16th president and the fight to get the 13th Amendment to the Constitution ratified.  Daniel Day-Lewis is superb as always.  Great look at the wheeling and dealing necessary to get things passed.  Based a bit on Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals.

• Malcolm X.  Spike Lee movie about the famed Civil Rights era leader, with Denzel Washington as X. 

• Path to War.  HBO movie made in early 2000s about LBJ and America's increasing involvement in Vietnam.  Fine acting.  A little heavy handed as it came amidst America's war in Iraq. 

• Rustin.  A Netflix movie focused on a lesser known Civil Rights leader, Bayard Rustin, who was the main person responsible for organizing the 1963 March on Washington, where Dr. King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.  Rustin is portrayed excellently by Colman Domingo, and the movie was produced by the Obamas.  

• Selma.  Civil Rights movie about 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, AL, with great acting and focus on Martin Luther King.  

Interesting Videos:

• 10  most important theories in Social Science, by Armchair Academics.

  • Part 1

  • Part 2