Obama shares summer reading list

http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/392628-obama-shares-list-of-books-hes-reading

Obama shares summer reading list
By Avery Anapol - 06/16/18 02:10 PM EDT


Former President Barack Obama shared his summer reading list on Saturday, touting the array of "good writing" and "variety of thought out there these days."

The former president often shares what he is reading, watching or listening to, but said the list of books he’s chosen in recent months is “slightly heavier” than his usual summer picks.

“There’s so much good writing and art and variety of thought out there these days that this is by no means comprehensive,” he wrote on Facebook. “Like many of you, I’ll miss ‘The Americans.’”

Obama’s picks, all non-fiction, covered a range of topics, from personal memoir to economic inequality.

One of the books, written by Jennifer Kavanagh and Michael D. Rich of the global policy think tank the RAND Corporation, details the authors’ research into “the diminishing role of facts” in American life.

“The title is self-explanatory, but the findings are very interesting,” Obama wrote of “Truth Decay: An Initial Exploration of the Diminishing Role of Facts and Analysis in American Public Life.”

“A look at how a selective sorting of facts and evidence isn’t just dishonest, but self-defeating to a society that has always worked best when reasoned debate and practical problem-solving thrive,” he added.

Obama also listed “Why Liberalism Failed,” by conservative writer and political scientist Patrick Deneed. He wrote that while he doesn’t agree with “most” of Deneen’s arguments, he found the book “thought-provoking.”

“The book offers cogent insights into the loss of meaning and community that many in the West feel, issues that liberal democracies ignore at their own peril,” Obama wrote.

Also on the list: “Futureface: A Family Mystery, an Epic Quest, and the Secret to Belonging,” by Alex Wagner; “The New Geography of Jobs,” by Enrico Moretti; “The 9.9 Percent Is the New American Aristocracy,” by Matthew Stewart of The Atlantic; and “In the Shadow of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History” by former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.