Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up in Brooklyn in a family that often faced financial difficulties and started working in my early teens in my father’s grocery store. These experiences made me painfully aware of the great disparities in education, security, material well-being, and opportunity in our society.  I saw how these inequalities caused some people to become cynical, resigned, or indifferent—while others became determined to overcome them. I became fascinated by them.  I felt that if I wanted to live in a more just and productive society, I first had to understand how it worked. My recommended books inspired me further and helped me to gain that understanding.


I wrote

Understandable Economics: Because Understanding Our Economy Is Easier Than You Think and More Important Than You Know

By Howard Yaruss,

Book cover of Understandable Economics: Because Understanding Our Economy Is Easier Than You Think and More Important Than You Know

What is my book about?

More Americans than ever are frustrated by the direction in which our economy is headed. Understandable Economics aims to replace…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Grapes of Wrath

Howard Yaruss Why did I love this book?

As most people know, this classic novel is about poor farmers suffering during the Great Depression and trying to make their way to a better life in California. They endure drought, foreclosure, displacement, homelessness, and, most heartbreakingly, indifference from those in a position to help. The protagonist’s resilience and determination to make the world a better place no matter the odds and regardless of the adversity he faces is truly an inspiration, particularly for those of us with so many fewer obstacles than he had.  

By John Steinbeck,

Why should I read it?

17 authors picked The Grapes of Wrath as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'I've done my damndest to rip a reader's nerves to rags, I don't want him satisfied.'

Shocking and controversial when it was first published, The Grapes of Wrath is Steinbeck's Pultizer Prize-winning epic of the Joad family, forced to travel west from Dust Bowl era Oklahoma in search of the promised land of California. Their story is one of false hopes, thwarted desires and powerlessness, yet out of their struggle Steinbeck created a drama that is both intensely human and majestic in its scale and moral vision.


Book cover of Good Economics for Hard Times

Howard Yaruss Why did I love this book?

This is the first of four book recommendations that may not be as inspirational as The Grapes of Wrath, but which make up for that by providing real-world information that can be useful to people trying to improve our world. This book shows how fresh thinking about economics can help solve some of the world’s most intractable problems. Innovative research, careful observation, and plain common sense enable these two Nobel Prize-winning MIT economists to upend a lot of conventional wisdom and develop interesting and compelling policy proposals, which they discuss in a particularly accessible way.

By Abhijit V Banerjee, Esther Duflo,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Good Economics for Hard Times as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The winners of the Nobel Prize show how economics, when done right, can help us solve the thorniest social and political problems of our day.

Figuring out how to deal with today's critical economic problems is perhaps the great challenge of our time. Much greater than space travel or perhaps even the next revolutionary medical breakthrough, what is at stake is the whole idea of the good life as we have known it.

Immigration and inequality, globalization and technological disruption, slowing growth and accelerating climate change--these are sources of great anxiety across the world, from New Delhi and Dakar to…


Book cover of Poison Ivy: How Elite Colleges Divide Us

Howard Yaruss Why did I love this book?

I believe education (what economists call “human capital”) is the key to a more productive, equitable, and happier society. After all, many rich nations, like Switzerland, Japan, and Israel, have almost no natural resources but do have well-educated populations, and many poor nations, like the Congo, Venezuela, and Nigeria, have extremely valuable natural resources but do not have well-educated populations. Therefore, I am concerned about the state of education in America and am particularly troubled that our best universities may not be achieving as much for our society as they could. This book is a searing critique of their role and makes the case that we should expect so much more from them, given their huge resources.

By Evan Mandery,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Poison Ivy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An eye-opening look at how America's elite colleges and suburbs help keep the rich rich-making it harder than ever to fight the inequality dividing us today

The front-page news and the trials that followed Operation Varsity Blues were just the tip of the iceberg. Poison Ivy tells the bigger, seedier story of how elite colleges create paths to admission available only to the wealthy, despite rhetoric to the contrary. Evan Mandery reveals how tacit agreements between exclusive "Ivy-plus" schools and white affluent suburbs create widespread de facto segregation. And as a college degree continues to be the surest route to…


Book cover of The Death and Life of Great American Cities

Howard Yaruss Why did I love this book?

Sometimes improving the world can begin at your own doorstep. This book was written in the 1960s as city planners were razing huge swaths of urban centers and replacing them with banal, alienating towers that mostly destroyed the human scale of the lost neighborhoods. Jane Jacobs, by extensively walking urban neighborhoods, discerned what makes them vibrant. She coined the term “eyes on the street” and emphasized how street life and vibrant mixed uses enlivens a city. She forever changed the field of urban planning even though she had no formal urban planning credentials.

By Jane Jacobs,

Why should I read it?

13 authors picked The Death and Life of Great American Cities as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this classic text, Jane Jacobs set out to produce an attack on current city planning and rebuilding and to introduce new principles by which these should be governed. The result is one of the most stimulating books on cities ever written.

Throughout the post-war period, planners temperamentally unsympathetic to cities have been let loose on our urban environment. Inspired by the ideals of the Garden City or Le Corbusier's Radiant City, they have dreamt up ambitious projects based on self-contained neighbourhoods, super-blocks, rigid 'scientific' plans and endless acres of grass. Yet they seldom stop to look at what actually…


Book cover of Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States

Howard Yaruss Why did I love this book?

This book brings together economics, education, and urban development by showing how our public policies advantaged wealthy suburbanites over less wealthy urban dwellers after World War II. Many people think there is a natural migration to the suburbs after couples have children. Jackson does a masterful job of showing why that is not the natural order of things. It is the result of specific policy choices such as how we fund infrastructure, what tax incentives we provide, who has access to credit, and how we draw political boundaries. His insights offer a blueprint for a more equitable society.

By Kenneth T. Jackson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Crabgrass Frontier as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The winner of the Bancroft Prize and the Francis Parkman Prize, this book is the first detailed history of suburban life in America from its origin to the drive-in culture of today.


Explore my book 😀

Understandable Economics: Because Understanding Our Economy Is Easier Than You Think and More Important Than You Know

By Howard Yaruss,

Book cover of Understandable Economics: Because Understanding Our Economy Is Easier Than You Think and More Important Than You Know

What is my book about?

More Americans than ever are frustrated by the direction in which our economy is headed. Understandable Economics aims to replace this frustration with a practical understanding of our economy and empower readers to identify and advocate for a better approach to the problems we face.

Understandable Economics breaks down our economic system in a straightforward way, avoiding jargon, formulas, graphs, and other technical material so common in books on this subject. Instead, it creates a compelling and comprehensive picture of our economy using accessible analogies, real-world observations, and entertaining anecdotes. It provides the context, tools, and foundational knowledge readers need to thoroughly understand our economy, determine which policies would work best, and champion those policies effectively.

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Secret St. Augustine: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

By Elizabeth Randall, William Randall,

Book cover of Secret St. Augustine: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

Elizabeth Randall Author Of Secret St. Augustine: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Reader Baker Teacher Matriarch Adventurer

Elizabeth's 3 favorite reads in 2024

What is my book about?

Tourists and local residents of St. Augustine will enjoy reading about the secret wonders of their ancient city that are right under their noses. Of course, that includes a few stray corpses and ghosts!

Secret St. Augustine: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

By Elizabeth Randall, William Randall,

What is this book about?

It is no wonder the ancient city of St. Augustine is steeped in secrets.

St. Johns, the oldest continuously occupied county in America, celebrated its 450th birthday on September 4, 2015. More like a European enclave than an urban landscape, it is a place of cannon fire, street parties, historical reenactments, concerts, and more. From admiring replicas of fine art at Ripley’s Believe or Not, to hunting haunts in restaurants and museums, to eating ice cream from a recipe originated by World War II bombardiers, St. Augustine has it all from beaches, gourmet dining, festivals, and attractions.


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in higher education, economic history, and the Dust Bowl?

Higher Education 38 books
Economic History 49 books
The Dust Bowl 14 books