10 books like To Make Men Free

By Heather Cox Richardson,

Here are 10 books that authors have personally recommended if you like To Make Men Free. Shepherd is a community of 7,000+ authors sharing their favorite books with the world.

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy through links on our website, we may earn an affiliate commission (learn more).

Saving Yellowstone

By Megan Kate Nelson,

Book cover of Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America

An acclaimed historian of the Civil War, Nelson’s newest book connects the nation’s Reconstruction struggles with its impulse to set aside dramatic western landscapes as national parks. The compelling narrative follows not only western scientist-adventurers like Ferdinand Hayden, but also weaves the preservation of Yellowstone into the Indian Wars and the violence against freedpeople in the American South. At a time when Americans sought healing in the aftermath of a divisive war, they turned to magnificent western landscapes like Yellowstone, only to find they were also contested ground.

Saving Yellowstone

By Megan Kate Nelson,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Saving Yellowstone as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From historian and critically acclaimed author of The Three-Cornered War comes the captivating story of how Yellowstone became the world’s first national park in the years after the Civil War, offering “a fresh, provocative study…departing from well-trodden narratives about conservation and public recreation” (Booklist, starred review).

Each year nearly four million people visit Yellowstone National Park—one of the most popular of all national parks—but few know the fascinating and complex historical context in which it was established. In late July 1871, the geologist-explorer Ferdinand Hayden led a team of scientists through a narrow canyon into Yellowstone Basin, entering one of…


Not One Inch

By M. E. Sarotte,

Book cover of Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate

The book is a great guide to understand Russia’s perspective on post-Cold War developments and the contemporary crisis of relations with the West. Written by a historian, the book reconstructs the role of NATO expansion in shaping Russia’s security interests since the 1990s. The author documents opportunities, errors, and (mis)perceptions by both sides in setting their relations in the course of growing geopolitical tensions.

Not One Inch

By M. E. Sarotte,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Not One Inch as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A leading expert on foreign policy reveals how tensions between America, NATO, and Russia transformed geopolitics in a Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2021

"Sarotte has the receipts, as it were: her authoritative tale draws on thousands of memos, letters, briefs, and other once secret documents-including many that have never been published before-which both fill in and complicate settled narratives on both sides."-Joshua Yaffa, New Yorker

"The most engaging and carefully documented account of this period in East-West diplomacy currently available."-Andrew Moravcsik, Foreign Affairs

Prize-winning historian, M.E. Sarotte pulls back the curtain on the crucial decade between the fall of…


Madison's Hand

By Mary Sarah Bilder,

Book cover of Madison's Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention

In Madison’s Hand, Bilder meticulously dissects James Madison’s notes from the Constitutional Convention. Madison’s notes are widely considered to be the authoritative source on the Convention, but Bilder demonstrates that Madison revised, edited, obscured, and added to this record to suit his purposes. Carefully researched and smartly written, Madison’s Hand reveals the true story of the Convention and the creation of the Constitution. Perfect for the dads who are lawyers and Revolutionary and Founding history buffs.

Madison's Hand

By Mary Sarah Bilder,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Madison's Hand as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Winner of the Bancroft Prize
Winner of the James Bradford Best Biography Prize, Society for Historians of the Early American Republic
Finalist, Literary Award for Nonfiction, Library of Virginia
Finalist, George Washington Prize

James Madison's Notes on the 1787 Constitutional Convention have acquired nearly unquestioned authority as the description of the U.S. Constitution's creation. No document provides a more complete record of the deliberations in Philadelphia or depicts the Convention's charismatic figures, crushing disappointments, and miraculous triumphs with such narrative force. But how reliable is this account?

"[A] superb study of the Constitutional Convention as selectively reflected in Madison's voluminous…


Affairs of Honor

By Joanne B. Freeman,

Book cover of Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic

This is one of the books that inspired and provided source material for the musical Hamilton. Freeman is a Pulitzer prize-winning historian of post-1776 United States. This masterful history of the early American republic shows how dueling needs to be understood as politics by other means, as part of the mad scramble for power and prestige in the context of never-ending “paper wars” in the partisan press. They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but I’ll never forget how much the cover art captured my imagination, and how brilliantly it reflects what you will find inside.

This book is not just about duels; it also covers political alliances, gossip, insults, and elections.  But that is Freeman’s whole point, that they are all interconnected, and dueling is just one piece of a larger picture.

Affairs of Honor

By Joanne B. Freeman,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Affairs of Honor as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A major reassessment of American political culture in the days of Jefferson, Hamilton, and Burr

"[A] landmark study of Hamilton and the founders."-Jeff Sharlet, Chronicle of Higher Education

"Demands the attention of everyone with a serious interest in the history of American politics."-Pauline Maier, Washington Post

In this extraordinary book, Joanne Freeman offers a major reassessment of political culture in the early years of the American republic. By exploring both the public actions and private papers of key figures such as Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr, and Alexander Hamilton, Freeman reveals an alien and profoundly unstable political world grounded on the…


The Broken Constitution

By Noah Feldman,

Book cover of The Broken Constitution: Lincoln, Slavery, and the Refounding of America

What happened to our Constitution during the Civil War? Noah Feldman argues that Lincoln, whose goal was to save the Union, had to break the Constitution to do so. But this rupture created the possibility of a new order. The original Constitution was filled with compromises, most notably between the supporters and opponents of slavery. But a broken document could be mended to eliminate those compromises and produce an anti-slavery Constitution.

I think this book is really insightful—it will change the way you think about what it means to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

The Broken Constitution

By Noah Feldman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Broken Constitution as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice

An innovative account of Abraham Lincoln, constitutional thinker and doer.

When Abraham Lincoln assumed the presidency in 1861, the United States’ constitutional arrangements were not the ones we know today. It was widely believed that the federal government could not use armed force to prevent a state from seceding. It was also assumed that it had no authority over slavery in states where the institution existed and that basic civil liberties could not be suspended during a rebellion without the consent of Congress. As president, Lincoln broke decisively with all these precedents,…


Broken Government

By John W. Dean,

Book cover of Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches

President Nixon’s former White House Counsel, John Dean, has had the inside seat to Republican malfeasance and corruption. He utilizes his deep experience in government to write about his former party (Republican) of the 1990s and 2000s. He painstakingly documents the brutal no holds barred tactics of Republican leaders in Congress and in the executive branch. The damage former Speaker Newt Gingrich and Vice President Dick Cheney wreaked on our democracy are incalculable. Dean proves this definitively. 

Broken Government

By John W. Dean,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

The concluding volume of The New York Times bestselling trilogy

One of today's most outspoken and respected political commentators asks: How can our democracy function when the key institutions of government no longer operate as intended by the Constitution? Stepping back to assess three decades of nearly continuous Republican rule, John W. Dean surveys the damage done to the three branches of government and traces their decline through the presidencies of Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II. Speaking to what the average moderate citizen can do to combat extremism, authoritarianism, incompetence, and the Republicans' deliberate focus on polarizing…


The Last Nazi

By Andrew Turpin,

Book cover of The Last Nazi: A Joe Johnson Thriller, Book 1

From well-documented facts that the US government hid escaping Nazis after the war, comes a brutal story. This book has it all. Buried Nazi treasure, political wheeling and dealing, revenge, greed, and ruthless killers. Joe Johnson has been hunting war criminals for years after a stint in the CIA. When a story is leaked that Nazi treasure might finance the contender of the U.S. Republican party, Johnson is hired to ferret out the truth. But people don’t like having him poking into matters better left in the past. Can these types of people ever change or do they continue to hurt the weak for their own gains? From the United States to Argentina and England to Poland, this story just doesn’t stop until the last bullet is fired.

The Last Nazi

By Andrew Turpin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Last Nazi as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Dark truths uncovered . . . The buried contents of a Nazi train. An aging SS killer—with a final sting in his tail. And the World War II secrets of a US presidential hopeful’s Jewish family, hidden in London for 70 years.

★★★★★ “A great read, has more twists than a country road.” — Amazon reviewer.

In this gripping thriller, war crimes investigator and ex-CIA officer Joe Johnson uncovers links between financing for the presidential campaign, the Nazi train, and a ruthless British blackmail plot.

But the mystery becomes bigger and more deeply personal than Johnson expects when it turns…


The Jeweler's Eye, A Book Of Irresistible Political Reflections

By William F. Buckley, Jr.,

Book cover of The Jeweler's Eye, A Book Of Irresistible Political Reflections

You can’t fairly assess the sixties without understanding one of the counterculture’s more prominent antagonists. In his sharp and at times scathing syndicated columns, William F. Buckley gave the Republican party some intellectual ground to stand on as the war in Vietnam escalated. This collection of his work, read in tandem with Lynd’s book, should give readers a sharp understanding of the tension coursing through the nation in 1968. Love him or hate him, his April 9, 1968 editorial, ‘The End of Martin Luther King,’ is worth a read. “Whatever [King’s] virtues and whatever his faults,” wrote Buckley, “he did not deserve assassination.” 

The Jeweler's Eye, A Book Of Irresistible Political Reflections

By William F. Buckley, Jr.,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Jeweler's Eye, A Book Of Irresistible Political Reflections as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE JEWELER'S EYE, William Buckley is clearly at his best. He takes on everyone and everything-Gore Vidal, H. Rap Brown homosexuality, Playboy, Red China, Beatle John Lennon, the poll tax, Norman Mailer-you name it. But he never loses his poise, or lets up in his love affair with the English language.


Why the Right Went Wrong

By E.J. Dionne,

Book cover of Why the Right Went Wrong: Conservatism--From Goldwater to Trump and Beyond

Why The Right Went Wrong is a wicked, detailed, and easily digestible account of how the Right was overtaken by power-hungry ideologues bent on destroying government. This is not hyperbole. Dionne painstakingly documents the ascendancy of those radicals in the Republican Party, and how our present moment – of chaos and near-civil war – is in large part due to this movement outlined in his book. A must-read for anyone seeking to understand how we got “here.”

Why the Right Went Wrong

By E.J. Dionne,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Why the Right Went Wrong as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the author of Why Americans Hate Politics, the New York Times bestselling and “notably fair-minded” (The New York Times Book Review), story of the GOP’s fracturing—from the 1964 Goldwater takeover to the Trump spectacle.

Why the Right Went Wrong offers an “up to the moment” (The Christian Science Monitor) historical view of the right since the 1960s. Its core contention is that American conservatism and the Republican Party took a wrong turn when they adopted Barry Goldwater’s worldview during and after the 1964 campaign. The radicalism of today’s conservatism is not the product of the Tea Party, Washington Post…


All Politics Is Local

By Meaghan Winter,

Book cover of All Politics Is Local: Why Progressives Must Fight for the States

A timely and well-researched look at the right’s successful, decades-long strategy of capturing state legislatures, this book sounds the alarm—and points to a crucial path forward. I love that Winter succeeds where many academic authors have failed: she has written a book that’s both deeply informative and fun to read. I especially appreciate her concrete and practical approach to moving the United States in a more progressive direction; anyone can point out that the right is, by many measures, winning, but it takes real talent to show us what we can do about it.

All Politics Is Local

By Meaghan Winter,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked All Politics Is Local as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

After the 2016 election, the Republican Party seized control not just of the White House and Congress but of many state governments. To be precise, the GOP seized control of both legislative chambers in 32 states and governor offices in 33 states-a majority the party hadn't held since 1928. What happened?

In In the Red, journalist Meaghan Winter argues that over the last couple decades, the Democratic Party has made a very risky strategic choice to abandon state and local races in order to win federal races, while the GOP poured money into winning state governor seats and state congresses.…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in the Republican Party, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the Great Depression?

7,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about the Republican Party, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the Great Depression.

The Republican Party Explore 26 books about the Republican Party
Dwight D. Eisenhower Explore 5 books about Dwight D. Eisenhower
The Great Depression Explore 90 books about the Great Depression