Fans pick 100 books like The Race Card

I was stunned to learn that this book even existed. It was written by a Jewish linguist who survived the rise of the Nazis, observing and reflecting on the language changes that took place and their effects on people he knew.

I found his reflections deeply illuminating, and I remain haunted by some of his anecdotes and turns of phrase.

I was fascinated to see an anthropological linguist turn her analytic lens on her own culture (and mine), that of White America. What she finds is a fascinating pattern of ways that White Americans talk about race.

The observations she makes will change the way you see conversations around you. I found myself first saying, “No, surely that doesn’t happen,” but then noticing that very thing happening again and again.

I found this book from 2013 deeply illuminating about how we have come to be in the place we are today. It explains how words like "welfare" have become weapons serving multiple nefarious purposes: they help to stoke racism, hatred, and division. And by doing that, they keep groups that share common goals—like low-wage workers seeking a living wage—from uniting to achieve these goals.

Although it’s not out yet, I’m eager for the 2025 revision, which will be updated to reflect all that has happened since Donald Trump's rise.

This book is a devastatingly insightful collection of essays about the killing of Trayvon Martin, the event that started the Black Lives Matter movement. They are written by a wide variety of authors, and each has a different focus. However, several of them are especially illuminating in terms of language.

Foremost among these, perhaps, is the editors’ careful dissection of the transcript of the 911 call between Martin’s killer and the police. Through doing this, they show the racist assumptions made and transmitted, even through the apparently neutral language of the 911 operator.

It’s an absolute model of what the philosophy of language can do at its best, and I teach it frequently in my classes.

Identity Crisis delivers a compelling account of the 2016 Presidential campaign.

The book explains how the election played out and what factors led to Trump’s seemingly surprising victory.

The authors explore the many plausible reasons for the outcome, eventually concluding that the racially charged language of the campaign, particularly from Trump, provoked voters’ pre-existing divisions on racial issues and prompted them to vote based on identity.

In addition, they address how identity compared to factors such as economic anxiety and dissatisfaction as explanations for Trump’s success. The 2016 election was indicative of a more apparent American crisis that raised issues such as who is American and what the values of the country are.

Gellman is a nationally-recognized historian, whose writings reflect thorough and insightful research. His earlier books – on Nixon’s time in Congress (The Contender) and as Eisenhower’s vice president (The President and the Apprentice) – meticulously debunked derogatory stories about Nixon, and this one on the 1960 campaign does the same. Many believe Theodore White’s Making of the President,1960 is the only authoritative account of that contest, but Gellman points out how White set out to idolize Kennedy and villainize Nixon – never once actually speaking to Nixon, either during or following the campaign. Gellman is an excellent writer, putting his readers right in the center of historic events. His final chapter, bringing the campaign all together is simply outstanding.

Andrew Yang stands out as an unconventional thinker who is redefining the political landscape for Americans disillusioned with the two-party system. In this book, he introduces “third way” solutions to address political crises, such as ranked-choice voting, term limits, and other common-sense reforms. The former presidential candidate has built a formidable following across the political spectrum by developing a new theory of change that balances individual autonomy with systemic reform.

I met Andrew over a decade ago—he introduced me to Tony Hsieh, the late Zappos CEO and the subject of my first book, when they first experimented with creating a more human-centered economy by revitalizing downtown Las Vegas through entrepreneurship.

In our deeply polarized era, this book gave me a renewed sense of hope by exploring how we can collectively redesign societal incentives.

Primary Colors is one of the finest illustrations of the coming of age of modern politics. 

Ripped from the headlines of the day, Primary Colors provides a true-to-life experience of what it was like leading up to Clinton’s upset over Bush. It’s a fine expose and morality play in which we see how ethics can be compromised in the pursuit of power.

Pat Buchanan joined Nixon’s staff in 1966 and was the conservative guru on his White House staff throughout Nixon’s terms in office. Totally written off for dead after his 1962 loss to Edmund “Pat” Brown as California’s governor, Nixon remerged to be sworn in as our 37th President in January 1969 – and Pat was with him every step of the way. This book is Buchanan’s insider account of how that recovery was planned, executed, and ultimately achieved. Its stories reflect lessons and insights for everyone interested in national campaigns. I served alongside Pat in the Nixon White House, but this volume fills in intimate details of Nixon’s wilderness years – before he took the oath of office.

Williams’ book is an excellent look at an earlier election with many similarities to 1988. 

As opposed to today’s elections where candidates work to motivate their bases, Democrat Jimmy Carter and Republican Gerald Ford worked to build broad electoral coalitions in 1976. They had to concern themselves with both liberal and conservative constituencies within their own parties. 

In the end, Carter was able to unite the old New Deal coalition for one last hurrah while Ford nearly provided a last gasp for traditional establishment conservatism. By 1988, the two parties were not the same big tents they were in 1976 but still featured much greater ideological diversity than they do today.