See which books GPS faculty members recommend to understand our world better — or take a quick escape from it
GPS professors work in a variety of disciplines and across numerous subject areas. But, besides their commitment to researching ways to address the world’s biggest problems (and teaching students to do the same), if there’s one thing that our faculty members have in common, it’s that they read — a lot.
So, as spring turns to summer and members of the GPS community have at least a little more time to read, GPS News asked professors to share books they’re currently reading, and other books they recommend.
John Ahlquist
I have three recommendations: “Inventing the Renaissance,” by Ada Palmer; “The Books of Jacob,” by Olga Tokarczuk; and “Power and Progress,” by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson.
Eli Berman
I’m reading Maya Arad — I just finished “The Hebrew Teacher.” I also recommend Hannah Arendt’s “Antisemitism,” from “The Origins of Totalitarianism.”
Jesse Driscoll
When I head to Tbilisi for fieldwork, I’ll be carrying with me “Foucault’s Pendulum.” I remember telling people it was my favorite book in high school, but I haven’t taken time to reread Umberto Eco in a quarter century. The central idea — that an editor of a book, lurking behind an author, can be a literary heroic character — was novel to me at the time.
I have spent a great deal of time this year exploring ChatGPT tools in partnership with students in my capstone course. The idea that we will all be forced to become editors in the new information economy — and the fact I’ll have plenty of time this summer on planes and in airport lounges — has made me take this book down from the shelf again.
Anna Feuer
I’m reading “Hurricane Season,” by the Mexican novelist Fernanda Melchor. The novel plays on the classic murder mystery: told from multiple characters’ perspectives, it centers around a woman’s murder in a small, impoverished town and the secrets that are unearthed in its wake. But Melchor’s primary interest is in depicting — in brutal, rage-laced language — the misogynist violence that permeates day-to-day life in the town and the self-deceiving stories its residents construct to justify their complicity.
Alexander Gelber
One book that had a big impact on me was Fernand Braudel’s three-volume “Civilization and Capitalism,” which traces how capitalism affected society over several centuries in Europe.
Uma Karmarkar
I am about halfway through “Because Internet,” by Gretchen McCullough. It’s written with the rigor of a linguist and the prose of a tech-savvy internet friend. Communication technology has changed (and fragmented) culture at a breakneck pace. It’s fun to have someone offer a guided tour of what happened when, and how and why those events matter.
Ellis Krauss
First, I would highly recommend not a book, but a podcast. “The Rest is History” is one of the world’s most listened-to and loved podcasts in the world — and it is about history, which is not the most popular subject in school these days. Two British popular historians, Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, have episodes on not only British and American history — like Custer and Crazy Horse, or even the 1960s in America — but Roman and Greek history, such as Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey.” There are over 700 episodes so far, and if you are interested in history, they have encyclopedic knowledge and their banter is quite amusing and the historical facts they evaluate can be remarkable and almost unbelievable. Many people, including myself, become addicted to listening to them and finding out just how truly incredible the histories of peoples really are.
Speaking of Tom Holland, I read two of his books on classical Rome, which I would recommend for summer reading: “Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar,” and “Pax: War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age” (the second in a series). Occasionally, one will even find some striking possible parallels to the current age of would-be Caesars.
Gordon McCord
I’ve been reading “Abundance,” by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. I recommend it as a starting point to think about how to square blue state checks on government that emerged in the 1960s and ’70s with the housing and decarbonization priorities we face today.
Agustina Paglayan
My own book, “Raised to Obey: The Rise and Spread of Mass Education,” has been among Amazon’s Top 100 bestselling books on economic growth and development since its release six months ago. I hope it will be of interest to many in the GPS community!
Mateo Vásquez-Cortés
Ariana Harwicz is my recommendation. She has two novels I really like: “Die, My Love” and “Unfit.” I read them in Spanish, but I believe both are available in English. Both books explore many themes, including the struggle of trying to connect within a system or context that often excludes you in different ways. The books are surprising, a little violent at times, but very engaging and perfect for a summer read! Also, “Die, My Love” was recently adapted into a movie, so it’s a great time to read the book now!
Barbara F. Walter
If there’s a silver lining to America’s slide into autocracy, it’s this: We’re about to find out who really has power, who doesn’t, and what it might take to get it back. Here are three reads to get you started:
Anne Applebaum’s “Autocracy, Inc.” is a fast, easy read on how today’s autocrats work together to try to grab everything for themselves. She’s a Russia expert, married to the former minister of defense of Poland. She speaks Russian and Polish. She knows what she’s talking about.
Next, Gene Sharp’s “From Dictatorship to Democracy.” This is the playbook for peaceful resistance. Who knew there were so many creative ways to resist?
Finally, Erica Chenoweth’s, “Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know.” This is the research case for non-violence. They tell us what type of resistance works and what doesn’t. Erica is my blogging partner — love them!
