100 books like Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger

Blessed provides a comprehensive look into why church is what it is in America today. Her approachable writing style and personal anecdotes keep the reader enthralled in a topic that could easily be presented in a dry, academic way. I’m obsessed with this false idea of a prosperity gospel and why so many people still believe it. If you have questions about why church looks more like a show today than a worship service, this book is for you. 

The book helped to validate my concerns about the prosperity gospel movement but also encouraged me to not condemn those who are in it, but to seek understanding and even relationships with those that believe differently than I do. The background and research Bowler provides were a major contributor to my book and helped lay the groundwork for the questions I pose.

This book invites questioning very established Christian ideas that many are afraid to bring up. On the opposite end, it provides a helpful resource to those looking to have tough conversations with friends about their faith. I loved this book because it helped me wrestle with my own questions about my faith and provide tools for helpful discourse with friends and family. Not exactly a light read, but immensely important.

This book was perspective shifting for me because it brings together four experts on the bible and contrasts their very different views on one of the most important topics of our faith, eternity. As someone that grew up never thinking critically about hell, this book made me realize that there were still a lot of elements of my faith that I needed to investigate.

God and Money is primarily a guide to giving. Still, it is also a testimony of how the authors, while attending Harvard, became conflicted about their extravagant lifestyles and convicted of the need to give more. In other words, something enjoyable and unique about the book is that the authors discuss finances, but it is also their story.

They also use modern-day case studies and practical ways to apply the Bible’s teaching. They followed up with True Riches, pride to gratitude, coveting to content, anxiety to trust, and indifference to love are the chapter topics.

I love the nuanced descriptions of how the four main characters and their families adapt to the changing seasonal availability of food within their households in Western Kenya.

Having worked and observed farm families in a similar environment just across the border in Uganda, I find the author’s description of the “hungry” season when the crops are in the ground but not yet ready for harvest, spot on.

I find his discussion of the importance of seed and fertilizer availability and distribution policy-relevant, and the work of the NGO involved in making it happen is inspiring.   

When I began my career as a professor at Colorado State University I knew my responsibility was to study the kinetics of herbicide degradation and soil and develop systems for weed control in agronomic crops.

During my academic career at Cornell University and Oregon State University no one ever suggested I should take class in philosophy or that agriculture had moral problems. I knew and my professors emphasized agriculture was a worthy and essential human endeavor.

When I first became acquainted with William Aiken and he introduced me to his book my view of agriculture began to change. I realized the value and essential role of moral philosophy to agriculture. I know I was viewed as a traitor to my discipline, but Aiken's book convinced me there was something wrong.

As a professor and educator I had a responsibility to begin to study and write about agricultural ethics.

When I read nonfiction books about the challenges we face in our communities, nations, and world, I want to know not just what the problems are but how to solve them. In other words, I want the book to be solutionary.

This book begins by articulating the problems with our agricultural systems, but the lion’s share of the book is about how we address those problems effectively. Monbiot’s ideas are both visionary and practical. I found myself thrilled to read someone so powerfully explore the steps we can and must take to build a regenerative future. 

The crux of this book – ‘the need of the moment’ – focuses on the critical role of agrobiodiversity.

It recognizes that the current tendency to focus on only 30 out of 30,000 edible plant species has ignored many wonderful and locally popular foods that are also crucial for healthy and productive farming systems.

The book illustrates a ‘light bulb’ moment for the future of agriculture with the recognition of the numerous untapped benefits of edible plant species that have been overlooked by modern science.

In this book, Australian farmer Charles Massey takes a ‘big picture’ view of regenerative agriculture. It’s full of personal stories but it also goes deep into the history of industrial agriculture, the damage it continues to do, and how we can heal the planet. Massey lays out an inspiring vision for a new agriculture and the vital connections between our soil and our health. It’s a story of how a grassroots revolution can help turn climate change around and build healthy communities, pivoting on our relationship with growing and consuming food. 

With unmatched research and brilliant analytical thought, Nicholas Lambert upends long-accepted explanations of a military disaster—the Gallipoli Campaign—that not only rocked Britain in World War I but reverberates in international relations to this very day. His forensic examination of the British government’s symbiotic political, diplomatic, economic, and military decision-making should be required reading for all students of those disciplines. His approach dismantles accepted histories derived from the political assignment of blame and instead gives the reader an understanding of policy decisions tortured by a wide array of then-pertinent circumstances ranging from the price of a loaf of bread to the power of a Russian Tsar. We can hear the echoes of Lambert’s analysis in today’s cable news reports regarding globalization, disruption to wheat markets, and the political impact of inflation. A timeless work indeed.